Issue 31 on YouTube

Trying something new as I'm getting back issues posted to YouTube!

Ultra-Origins!

This month I took a break from the regular issues and introduced a new series, Ultra-Origins!  

This series will pick random characters from my universe and explore their backstory.  The plan is for the book to be quarterly for the time being, but I may try to get more issues out in the future.  

Here's the cover for the first issue:

Here's a link to the issue on YouTube:  Ultra-Origins 1, after taking a few months away from YouTube (when I was having computer issues), I finally feel comfortable enough to start uploading to there again!  Now for the first time, the color issue has been resolved and the books will have the bright, crisp colors and line work, as opposed to the earlier issues which were 'fuzzy' and dull.

If you'd like to read at your own pace, you can also find the issue on the photo site here: Photo Site

I hope you like it!

Phantom, a little magic and a lot of humor

Phantom has become a bit of a favorite of some of the people reading the comic and he is a character that I focused on a lot this year. 

I thought I would share a little about how he ended up being the character he is today, a sort of 'behind-the-scenes'.  

As I mentioned before, it was about June of when I was in fifth grade that I created the characters; and I created all of the founders on the first day.  For the very first time, I'm going back into the archives and revealing some never seen before artwork.

When I created Phantom, I didn't really create a back story for him.  I created his name and powers (real name came later), but that was about it.  Honestly, of the founding members - he's the one I put the least effort into creating any kind of story for him.  I planned all along that his powers came from his cape, but never bothered to determine where the cape came from and he was just kind of always there.

The picture below is technically the first time I drew Phantom:

As you can see, he didn't look much like the way he does now.  I actually didn't like how he turned out and I crossed out the picture, hey what can I say?  I was 11 at the time!  This actually comes from a large sheet where I drew just the founding members, before I "officially" drew them for the first time in July of that year.   I say officially as the individual drawings are the ones that I did and remembered, I had forgotten about this test sheet until I found it again about six years ago.

The picture above shows the evolution of the design.  When I next drew him (left most), my plan was that he would always have his cloak around him and we'd only rarely see his costume, which is why it is only a color guide.  In time I decided that that I didn't like that idea and that's when the costume started to evolve more into what you know today. 

Then there came a time where I walked away from my characters, for over twenty years they lived in my memory, and I did visit them for time to time, but I hadn't drawn them for ages.  In the picture above, you will see the last time I drew Phantom (left most) for a long time.  This was on a poster, done in marker, that hung fading on my wall for all of those years.

In 2012 I got the idea that maybe I could share my characters with the world and maybe, just maybe, someone else would like them too.  I began the long process of rewriting stories, fleshing out backstories and trying to draw again for the first time in about 15 years!  The middle image is when I drew him next in 2013.  At that point I wasn't happy with the artwork and the last image is when I drew him in 2015 (yes, you'll see the artwork is a lot different than the monthly comic - when I'm doing it on just paper, my artwork is much better!)

As for the story?  Well, it was between 2013 and 2015 that I finally came up with the origin for his cape's power and a new secret identity and it was in this time period that I decided to make him bisexual.  I had written stories for many straight characters, and I have a few gay characters, but I didn't have any bi ones.  When I was fleshing out his backstory, which I had basically neglected years before, I figured this would be a way to make him more unique and interesting and expand the kind of stories I wanted to tell and it just worked well with his personality.  Of course, his personality pretty much stayed the same from when I originally created him.  I did think about changing his name to Pharoh before I launched the comic, but that idea only lasted for a few months.

Oh, what about Phantom Queen (his twin sister) you ask?  Well, here's the interesting thing about her.  When I created Phantom, I hadn't even thought about a sibling.  Then three years later the idea for her popped into my head, and basically designed her as she looks today, I didn't really modify her costume any as she was created when I had already pretty much finalized Phantom's costume.  She is unique in one way though, while Phantom and the others have their future's mapped out in my head (I know how all will end up), with Phantom Queen I don't have any idea yet as to her 'final fate'.  While I made up her back story years ago, I'm still creating her future as I write the character with no endgame in mind for her. 

There is a lot more story to tell of Phantom and his exploits in the future - stay tuned!

Issue 33 Battle for the East Side Part 1

 Issue # 33 is out now, and here's a link if you'd like to read it: Issue 33

In this link we start to delve into the motivation of the villains a little more and find out what exactly the G'Ion is after.

We learn about the Cronus Shard, which first debuted back in issue # 3 and how that came to be and we learn that G'Ion's main target is the Bled Marnge, and we also learn what that is.

Here's a funny story about that.  The story of the Bled Marnge, sans name, was kicking around my head for quite a while.  I had the story mostly figured out, but wasn't sure what to call it.  Then one day I was at the gym on a treadmill and all of the treadmills had closed captioning on their televisions.  

Well, I happened to notice that the television monitor on the treadmill next to me (which wasn't being used at the time), had something wrong with it.  With each vibration on the floor the worlds became more jumbled.  

It happened to be an episode of the Simpson's on at that time and the monitor displayed Marnge instead of Marge at one point and also, at another point, bled instead of blood and that's how I came up with the name.  

The Daughter of the Sun

In the third interlude that just came out yesterday (I try to do one a year), I recount "The Daughter of the Sun" fairy tale.

The fairy tale originates in Italy, and like most it was an oral story that was passed down for who knows how long.  It was originally written down by Domenico Comparetti in the 1870's.  Then in the 1950's Italo Calvino wrote a book on Italian fairy tales and folk tales and he added a few elements to the story. 

The basic of the fairy tale is that a royal family had a daughter whom mystics said would bear a child of the sun's by her twentieth birthday, so they locked her in a tower where she wouldn't see the light of day.

As fate would have it, she does end up having a daughter of her own by the sun, but the baby is abandoned in a field before her parents find out about it.  The baby is found and raised by another royal family and she falls in love with her adopted brother, the prince.  

As her origins were questionable, the Prince's family wouldn't let them get married and instead was set up in her own cottage, where she exhibited all sorts of unusual powers and abilities and the story goes on from there.

Much of my adaptation is from Comparetti's original version, although I left out a chunk of the story that I didn't feel I needed for my telling.  In the original version the prince went through several engagements, in my version he went through only one.  Calvino introduced the concept that she could become immaterial and walk through solid objects and I kept that element as a homage to him.

I added my own element to the myth as well, as in both prior versions there is no mention of her ever meeting her birth mother, but I added that one in.  In the original version, when the prince became ill, she revealed her true origins to the court, but there was no explanation as to how she could have known them as she was abandoned as a baby, so I made a different explanation for the ending; plus of course tying it in with my universe.  

I had read the story a few years ago and I knew I wanted to incorporate it into my universe for a while, and now seemed like a good time to fit it in!

Here's a link:  Interlude 3

Issue 32

 Issue 32 is out...here is one panel from the book!

This issue is a shorter issue, in this we deal a little bit with the friendship between Titan and Magno and see how their friendship is slowly unwinding, which causes Magno to make some changes in his life.

We also see how the relationship between Titan and Crossbow is slowly growing. 

The main story though revolves around Cat and his confrontation with Ebon Wolf, a member of the IPG with a hatred for Cat's entire race.

Their fight is interrupted by the arrival of Cormorant, a new character who I've been teasing about for over a year.  Originally I introduced the character on Instagram back on July 11, 2019 and the plan was to introduce him in the comics in summer of 2021, but then the stories I originally planned changed a bit and his actual debut got pushed back to issue 24 (the January of 21 issue), but that was just an introduction and now I am actually starting to use him in the books.  It was a longer journey for him to get there than I thought it would have been, but I think the wait will be worth it.

Issue 31

 Issue 31 is out now.  This issue is the first one that I'm also publishing on Instagram, I'm hoping that some people will read it as that is where most of the followers are.

While I enjoy doing this comic, it gets a little frustrating at times as no one is really reading it.  I can see the number of views on the photo hosting site and on YouTube and hardly anyone is reading the book.  I don't know if I'm doing well or not with the story as I rarely get feedback, so while I think the story is good (and yes, I know the artwork needs improving), I don't know what anyone else would even think of it, even if someone didn't like it - and told me why, at least then I'd have an idea.  

I'm not complaining, just making an observation.....

In this issue the mysterious Water Wonder reveals his presence to the team, Phantom heads out to find out where his son is and Titan lets the others know that they are back.