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I started HeroBlog in 2005 and began creating new characters and adapting old ones to the world I was developing. I created a team of pastiche super-heroes to be my Justice League called Legacy and I adapted some old characters to be my Crime Syndicate called Dynasty. I haven't done a lot with Dynasty since I introduced them in HeroBlog, other than killing one of them off in a cross-over storyline and having another show up in Amp's adventures a couple of times. Then I started posting art on DeviantArt and got a few responses that inspired me to do some more Dynasty art. I got to thinking about the history I'd written for them, and decided to change it up a bit. Originally I had them destroying their world before they came over to the HeroBlog Earth, but I came up with something I like better, and who would know how they came over if they hadn't told someone? I figured they've lied all along about what their home timeline was like and how they came to leave it. Rather than simply make Dynasty another team of super-villains, I imagined them as a political force, as well. If you had the power of Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, you could easily take a large part of the world and make it your own, with the genius of Batman, you could hold it, organize it, rule it. By 1997, Dynasty has taken South America and holds a large part of Central Amercia as far north as the Istmo de Tehuantepec. They have begun improvements on the Panama Canal, have ended poverty and over-crowding in the cities by use of forced relocation and ruthless suppression of dissent. They have raised the standard of living for most of their subjects, but in no way should they be considered benevolent rulers. It's simply that when things are running reasonably well at home, it's easier to focus on conquering the rest of the world.
 Abraxas is the strongest one there is, and he knows it. He's the last survivor of his race, a race of super-humans who were once worshipped as gods. Some years back, he killed his entire race and fled their refuge deep in the Pacific Ocean. Valkyrie is his consort, his empress. She is an actual Norse Valkyrie who survived Ragnarok. Raven is scientific super-genius and extraordinary military tactician and strategist, as well as a brilliant economic planner. He is the last surviving member of an American experimental military unit of cyborg super-soldiers. He'd broken his programming twenty minutes after being activated, but waited until he had an opportunity to eliminate the rest of his team before escaping and striking out on his own. As Abraxas is emperor and Valkyrie is empress, Raven is Grand Vizier, chief advisor and Executioner General for the Empire of Abraxas. And, behind them is Panzer, the walking tank, as the Empire's chief enforcer. Kneeling before the throne is Thunor, yet another version of the thunder god, Thor and the Fool, Raven's old nemesis. At this point, they're on top of the world. Thumbing their noses at the Americans and only stalled in their advance across Mexico by threats of American nuclear might. They have settled in for the long game, preferring to conquer new territory economically and philosophically, until they could add new lands to their empire.
 I numbered these as if it was an ongoing series, with some stories left untold. Sadly, the first cover is the only one I've had time to color. In this "issue", Dynasty's Overlord is fighting the first wave of an invasion that will doom their world. I plan to use an aerial photo or a 3D model cityscape for the background.
 Deathrace has his last run. In the present day, Dynasty's speedster is Quickfire, but at this time, it was her father, Deathrace. He has his final race with one of Omendon's hunters, think cyborg velociraptors on speed. Omnedon is the Big Bad in this scenario, the "man" behind the invasion and his hunters are there only to remove super-normal obstacles, though they don't limit their predations to the supers. Omnedon was the ruler of a parallel Earth, where humans never evolved. He managed to render his world uninhabitable, and fled to the safety of the spaces between universes. From there, he sends out raiding parties, armies and giant harvesters that reap the wealth of target worlds. They lack the technology for interstellar travel and so are forced to prey on Earths in various parallel universes. At times, they run into such opposition that they have to seal off the timeline to prevent reprisal. For this, they seed the sun with fusion dampeners, creating cold spots in the sun and causing it to collapse in upon itself, leading to nova-level solar eruptions.
 Serpentine and Raven, aboard one of Omnedon's giant harvesters. The end is near, but they are able to learn the secret of Omnedon's interdimensional travel. Serpentine has turned out to be the one character I've created that draws the most interest. I never knew there were so many fans of stretchy female characters, though I suppose I can see the appeal. I've decided that Serpentine and Raven are lovers. It just seemed natural, somehow.
 The end is here. This was actually the first cover I did, in this series. Abraxas has learned to fear the hunters. He is seen here killing his nemesis, Maxwell Montgomery, an American science-hero who used his technology to fight Abraxas. One last bit of business, before fleeing his world. The sun is throwing off massive coronal discharges. The Earth will be lifeless in days. And, just because I wanted to do a character shot of Valkyrie, I did a cover for her.
 I wanted to show her in full fighting form. Her bracers expand into her shield(s), she's nearly as strong as Abraxas and almost as durable. I'm working on a few short stories to go along with each of these covers and I may add others to the series as inspiration strikes.
I was going to write a whole rant about Superman giving up his American citizenship, but I realized I just don't care that much what they do, these days. I will say this, based on the Man of Steel origin, where he is "born" when his ship lands on Earth, he is an American citizen, but it's not Superman who is the American citizen, it's Clark Kent. It's Clark Kent who has a birth certificate, shot records, school transcripts, selective service registration and a passport. Superman has none of these and so he has no citizenship to give up. I understand that, in universe, the Supreme Court has declared Superman a natural-born American citizen, but without that highly dubious "declaration", Superman is simply another illegal alien living in the United States. I only wonder if this change has anything to do with DC's big move to California. I'm just saying . . .
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