Ordinarily, I take some well-known comic book
character and rework their costumes, sometimes the whole
concept to create something new and personal to me. This
time, I'm stepping outside comics, per se and into what might
be called "virtual" comics.
If you've run into me online, I may have tried to
convert you to reading these titles, which I discovered in
1999, in the jungle of strangeness known as newsgroups.
Internet neophytes may find newsgroups to be a bit daunting,
so it's fortunate that many of the virtual titles are archived on
the web, in various locations. If newsgroups don't scare you,
head over to rec.arts.comics.creative and dive in.
This month, the titles I'm talking about centers on
David Van Domelen's "Academy of SuperHeroes". Published
under the imprint "Coherent Comics, Unincorporated", Dave
has been writing, since the mid-90s, about this team of super-
heroes based in the mid-west, in the early 2020s. From what
began as a set of Champions RPG characters, ASH has grown
into an intricate and fascinating series, set in a well-conceived
universe.
Gamers may recognize Dave's name from his work on
White Wolf's pulp hero game "Adventure!" which won Best
RPG of 2001at ORIGINS, as well as his own solo creations,
RoboMACs . . . and Modern Knights . . . , a super-hero RPG set,
approximately, in Dave's ASH universe in the 1990s (I did the
bulk of the interior art for Modern Knights, so you KNOW
Im eager to see it come out . . . when?!?! WHEN?!?!?!?).
What I'm hoping to accomplish with this column, is to
turn all of you on to this great series. It won't cost you a thing,
unless, like me, you print out every story to read later. I think
comic fans would enjoy the various series, especially those of
you who're into super-heroes with a science fiction
worldview. In addition to the Academy of Super-Heroes,
there's the "prequel" series, The Academy, there's the sci-fi
martial arts of Warden, the gov't run team book S.T.R.A.F.E.
and the unique villain-focused title, The Conclave of Super-
Villains.
The characters of these books are definitely imbued
with a heavy dose of fannish flavor. Many of the characters
are reminiscent of heroes and villains we've all seen before,
but in this case, there is a twist that makes the whole thing
fresh.
Set in the near future, a generation after two-thirds of
the Earth's population perished in the "God Market". On July
6, 1998, the world changed. For a year or more, the old gods,
who were ancient, very powerful super-humans, began
actively recruiting worshippers for the first time in centuries,
millennia, even. Using modern marketing techniques, paying
for devotion with "magical" favors, the old gods brought two-
thirds of the human race under their thrall. This ploy was part
of a greater conflict known as the Causality Wars and I
recommend reading Dave's notes on his web site. He has notes
on the Causality Wars, the Timeline for the series and it's
setting and many other resources.
On July 6, 1998, in an effort to secure their power
bases, the gods called in their "markers". Absorbing their
followers at a terrifying rate, they were only thwarted in their
scheme to dominate the Earth by a coalition of every super-
human on Earth, heroes and villains, alike. The super-humans,
the "mages", erected a barrier, effectively shutting the "gods"
out of our plane of existence. The universe was saved, but at a
horrible price. Two-thirds of humanity and the entire super-
human population were gone.
The survivors managed to pull things together, over
time, but the aftershocks of the God Market are still felt in the
time of our story, the early 2020s.
By the time these stories take place, much of the world
is governed by the United World, successor to the feeble UN.
Canada, the United States and Mexico form the North
American Combine. These countries are heavily depopulated,
even a generation after Armageddon. I won't go too heavily
into the political situation, except to say that it's one of the
most interesting aspects of the various series. Anyone who
wants more information can read Dave's documents on the
subject. They make for an interesting read, in and of
themselves.
But enough of that. Let's get to the characters.
The Academy of Super-Heroes has a legacy. The
incarnation seen in the ASH series is the government
sponsored successor to a more independent super-team from
the 1990s, most of whose members died as a result of the God
Market. It helps to read The Academy, before going on to the
regular ASH title, as it introduces most of the characters and
some of the conflicts that will drive the series, later.
The team in The Academy is made up of members
who will go on to be the founding members of the 21st
Century version of ASH and some who will be part of
S.T.R.A.F.E., as well. At the end of The Academy #8, the
team is announced, appearing for the first time in their
distinctive costumes.
Wearing the alien-hybrid armor of his 20th Century
counterpart, John Zachary Taylor is Solar Max.
Sarah Grant-Taylor, the fastest woman alive is Meteor.
The mage, Howard Henderson is Peregryn.
Salvatore Napier draws his name from legend,
Gawain.
Sara Ana Rodriguez takes the name Essay.
Scott Handleman had his name legally changed to
Scorch.
Scorchs roommate in the academy, and best friend,
George Sylvester takes the name Channel, to describe his
energy manipulation powers.
And, Aaron Zander calls himself Contact.
Early in the series, another character is added to the
roster, Tom Dodson, Lightfoot, a 20th Century ASH member,
whose power to accelerate himself and anything he touches
caused him to be catapulted through time, to arrive home 25
years in his own future. Lightfoot is one of my favorite
characters for a number of reasons. Hes learning to adapt to
the world of the future, making him an excellent viewpoint
character through which the readers can learn about the world
of ASH. Also, his trip through time is perfectly explained by
both his powers and the laws of physics, which is always a
nice touch.
To save his team, Tom took a bomb into deep space,
using the Academy of Super-Heroes saucer-shaped Orbiter.
Accelerating the Orbiter to near the speed of light, he
experienced time-dilation. As seconds passed, for Tom, years
passed on Earth. He made his way back to Earth in 2023, a
living reminder of the world as it had been. In a series where
nearly every character has at least a bit of tragedy in his life,
Tom had everything he knew ripped away. Now, he's just
trying to get a handle on the world and find a place in it, for
himself.
These drawings are based on Daves own renditions of
the characters, which are small and somewhat "fuzzy"
drawings, and photos of action figures hes made of some of
the characters, or HeroClix figures hes made. Based on these
images, and descriptions in the stories, I've reworked some of
Dave's designs.
Might as well start with the big guy. Solar Max II
wears a suit of powered armor, which is a hybrid of the
original Solar Max I's armor and an alien's armored suit, from
one of his adventures in space. Solar Max was the only 20th
century super-hero to survive the God Market, because he was
lost in space, at the time. When he returned, the world was in
chaos and, while in need of a hero, afraid to trust super-
humans. He chose, instead, to help where he could and
worked to engender then next generation of super-powered
heroes.
When the first class graduated from the Academy, he
gave his armor to one of the brightest students, to carry on his
legacy and build one of his own. That's how John Zachary
Taylor, known to his friends as JakZak, became the new Solar
Max.
One of the trickiest bits of Solar Max's armor is the
"wraparound" forms of the upper arms, legs and torso. In my
head, as I draw costumes, I visualize how things fit, how they
effect movement. The is especially true in armor, with it's
rigid plates and stiffened joints. Still, I tried to keep as much
of Dave's concept in my design, attempting to make it a bit
more "functional". The bold red, "plates" ride over a flexible
crimson bodysuit. The sunburst designs I kept as close to the
original as possible. The overall design is meant to look bold
and aggressive.
Among the more obvious changes, I trimmed off one "toe" of
each foot. Looking at Dave's original 4-toed design, it looked
like he would trip over his own feet, when walking and have
to stand with his legs far apart. This looked uncomfortable,
among other things.
I tried to make the suit look a little more "organic" in
design, like the carapace of a huge insect.
Since we took Max first, let's look at his wife, next.
The women of ASH are one of the great attractions to
the series. There is such a range of personalities that anyone
can find a character to identify with. Sarah is one of the best,
though I can't say I car much for her color scheme. Green and
gold doesn't scream "Meteor", to me, so I've worked her over
a bit in that area. I suspect Dave's intent was to give her a
color scheme that was different from most of the "speedsters",
which is commendable, but hey, she still needs "fast" colors.
There's also a surplus of green on this team, anyway, so she
can get by without it. I chose red, orange and gold.
I incorporated the "M" into the bodysuit, in addition to the
"M"s on her kneepads. Her helmet is a padded sparring
helmet, with com system built-in. Her boots are based on
lightweight moto-cross boots, with hardened shin-guards and
sole-plates.
The ASH universe is built on rules, you can read more
about them in the ASH Resources section, if you want to get
deeper into it. These rules tell you what can, and cannot be
done, pretty basic, right? Well, super-powers tend to bend, or
break the rules. If you can convince the universe to go along
with you, you can do virtually anything. It ain't easy, and there
are definite costs to be paid by those who attempt "big things".
Howard Henderson is a mage, actually, to be technical, all
superhumans are "mages" in a sense, but Howard, Peregryn, is
the old-fashioned kind. He's studied and practiced to gain the
power he has. It's hard work, but he's saved the day more than
once.
I liked Dave's design well enough, I think he needed
more substantial footgear (but don't I always?) and he needs
POCKETS! Magic often requires props, gems, metals, you
know how it goes, so where does he stash that stuff? I gave
him a utility belt, of sorts, pouches for his amulets and
crystals and other useful items.
Since Howard tends to wear clothing of natural
materials, cloth and leather and the like, I thought I would
give his boots a "hand made" look and style. These are based
on Saracen "Faris" boots, from about the time of the Crusades.
I like them because they look reasonably easy to make and
have a different style to the usual super-hero boots.
Salvatore "Sal" Napier is an interesting take on the
"Brick" character type. Big, strong and tough, he tries to live
up to the archetype, playing the big, dumb, strong guy, at
times, but in reality he's anything but dumb. He's thoughtful
and unsure of himself. As Gawain, he's everything a hero
should be, but he has his problems, too. He worries that he
might not measure up and his troubles with women make him
easy for us comic geeks to identify with.
In the beginning, he wore the brown and gold of the
Arthurian Gawain, but changed to the green/brown
combination due to a misconception, when someone
identified him as the "Green Knight". The green/brown combo
works very well, I think. For my design, I simplified things a
bit, and made the arm-guards bigger and more useful in a
fight. I dropped the green "metal" at the elbows and knees, Sal
doesn't need the armor badly enough to limit mobility that
way, the arm-guards are more useful as bludgeons than they
are as armor, so they're justified. I liked that he had pockets,
so I kept them.
In almost every super-team, there's a gadgeteer.
Somebody has to build those special gizmos that super-heroes
use all the time. With ASH, that person is Sara Ana
Rodriguez, who goes by the name Essay. Now here's a chick
who dresses practically. Good boots, tool belt, guns of various
sorts. My kinda girl.
(Her and Emily Procter, playing Calleigh Duquesne on CSI:
Miami-see the episode a few weeks back where she walks
into the gun vault and says, "Be still, my heart..." or this
exchange: Horatio Caine: So what do you get when a six foot
tall man lays down with a three foot long rifle? Calleigh
Duquesne: Hot flashes...but that's just me. )
Essay is independent and clever, she's got a gift for
technology and super-tech, as well. She's also a body-builder,
so I tried to make her a little "beefier" than the other women.
I did giver her long pants, but like most of ASH, apart
from Solar Max, she could wear a variety of outfits,
depending on the mission profile. I kept the high-top, lace-up
logger's boots and padded up the knee-pads a bit more. The
tunic goes from a tank-top style shirt to soft body armor. The
gun in the right hand is a combo trank gun/grapnel gun. The
thing in her left had is my idea of a scratch-built multi-
scanner, built from bits and pieces and a power tool's pistol
grip and battery pack. She's sort of a female MacGyver. I like
short hair for her, and I changed the generic goggles to more
streamlined shades.
Scott Handleman is the one guy on the team who
seems to want to be a 20th Century-style super-hero. His
original costume, a flashy flame-themed thing and the fact
that he legally changed his name to "Scorch" point to a guy
who wants to be a celebrity hero. I can't say much for his
original costume, it's just not my style. I like the later,
armored suit, better. It's not as flashy, but it looks sleek and
functional.
I went with the armor, of course. My one beef with
Dave's design was the relatively unprotected abdomen area.
Armor cloth aside, it's our "soft underbelly" that needs the
most protection. I thought the boots could use a bit of "flair",
too, so I changed the look of them and colored them white or
very light gray.
Scorch's roommate, George Sylvester had a similar
flashy costume. His powers made his assignment, natural, if
Scott lost control of his powers, George could absorb the
energy and redirect it into a less dangerous form. George's
Channel costume is bright green, with the gold "pancho"
thing, but it's fairly bland, otherwise.
I stuck with the same basic color scheme but working in an
"arrow" design, into the suit and the belt buckle.
Later on, George goes through some changes. I won't
spoil the story, because it's pretty interesting and one of the
reasons for this column is to get you guys to slide on over to
Dave's site and read the stories.
ASH has a major villain left over from the 20th
century known as Doublecross. He was once an normal
criminal mastermind, using high technology to commit
crimes. A trip through a defective teleporter converted his
body to photons and the rest, as the say, is history. Recently,
as a result of one of Doublecross' attempts to convert
everyone on Earth into "photonic" life-forms, George obtained
a photonic body. He's learning how to make it work and how
he's going to fit into the team, now that he's a being of pure
energy.
George is going to be called "Beacon", in this new
incarnation.
Aaron Zander, Contact, is an interesting character. I
jumped on board ASH well into the "teens", by which time
Aaron had already "merged" with his deceased lover Paul.
When Paul died, it was believed that Aaron and he merged,
that Aaron absorbed Paul's mind, but this proved to be a
mistaken assumption. As for Aaron he is a limited telepath,
but his main power is to have total control over his body
functions. He can direct his psionic power to strengthen his
body, or give him temporary super-speed, making him an
excellent hand-to-hand combatant. Unfortunately, he had the
worst costume in the group!
Last month, I picked on the poor boys who ran around
bare-legged in their kiddie-costumes. Dave assures me that he
has seen the error of his ways, and he has depicted Aaron with
pants, ever since his original drawing. The figure he did of
Contact shows that his legs are covered.
Of course, I covered his legs, and arms, as well. I
changed up the metal bits of the costume so that they can
provide some protection and be used in an offensive capacity,
as well.
Lastly, there's Lightfoot. I like Lightfoot's simple
costume, but I thought I might just as well do a little work on
it, anyway. In place of the featureless armbands, I put control
pads at the wrists. Lightfoot wears "vintage" clothing, you
might say. His suit was built by the original Solar Max, whose
super-tech was renowned in the 1990s. The Safsuit is
designed to protect the wearer and enhance his abilities, when
possible. Tom "Lightfoot" Dodson's suit has integral
forcefields, for instance.
I reworked the "belt" and the wrist-bands, and the
goggles. No reason everyone should have the same eyewear.
Okay, that's the team, or most of them in the earlier
issues. If that's not enough to get your attention, this is my
interpretation of The Conclave of Super-Villains, led by
former student of the Academy of Super-Heroes, Derek
Radner, who calls himself Triton.
Triton is one Derek Radner, a student of the Academy
and the first costumed super-villain of the 21st century. This is
my interpretation of his armor,
If I've whetted your appetite, head on over to Dave's
ASH site and get busy reading! You can drop into his Yahoo
Group and comment on the stories, I'm sure he'd enjoy some
feedback.
I hope to attract a lot of new readers, maybe if we
band together, we can convince Dave and the other writers to
give up on having a "real life" and write more stories!
Month after month, I sit here at my computer and my
drawing board and rework other people's characters, but that's
not all I do, or what I've always done. I have a whole cast of
characters and a ton of story ideas that I've wanted to turn into
a comic series, for years.
I finally decided that the place to work on this stuff is
the web and I decided to put up a Yahoo Group of my own. I
hope you'll hop over and take a look at the stories I've written,
some art you may not have seen before and stories by my
good friend and sometime partner in (super) crime, Jeff
Valentine.
And while I'm advertising Yahoo Groups, I found this
one, where you can view and post artwork. Also, there's a very
good tutorial on computer coloring in the Files section, in
Vlad's Files. Check it out, if you're interested in coloring for
fun and/or profit.
You have to join, to get the file, but it's worth it.
The tutorial is in PDF format, so anyone should be
able to view it with a minimum of trouble.
