Random Sketch Monday

So, a few years back, Jim Valentino’s branch of Image, Shadowline held a contest to create a new super-heroine.  I suspected my pitch would not make it to the end.  But my pitch centered around a young heroine who had great power (via a mystical amulet-which fueled the plot of the storyline)…she was rejected a by the lead of a Justice League type of group as not having the…right image for a super-heroine.  She was to chunky…this was a hurdle for her…as her dream was to be on the team.  She is befriended by a hero who is exactly what that group wanted, but has no interest in being a part of it.  Through this other super-heroine, our lead (named Grand Slam) actually stumbles upon a group of “misfits” who live in the same apartment building.

I found myself creating a rather big extended universe…I had ideas for stories set in various time frames…the misfits she meets would be shown as loved heroes in other stories.  This was the small super team I assembled..

On the far left is the only guy on the team.  He was kind of a Green Lantern/Green Arrow pastiche.  Asian and former member of the Justice League Team.  In the original pitch he would have left the team, tired of the Superman like top guys crap, he left the team, ended up as Grandslam’s boyfriend.

Next to him is a teen girl (technically, she should have a costume, but I drew her as she would be introduced-a somewhat gawky teen).  She is half black and half…um…well, not human.  Her mother sews costumes for people with powers.  Her father was an alien chameleon.  He appeared as human on earth…after he had to return to his home planet, she discovered she had limited versions of his powers.  She could not shape-shift, but she could blend in with her surroundings…and she naturally had green hair.  Her fingers were padded, allowing her to do the who Spider-man thing and climb walls.

Grandslam is in the center.  She was a bank teller who discovered a mystical amulet that gave her strength, near invulnerability and super-speed.  Only she can remove it-and it seems to grant different people different abilities (there was a scene when she let her father wear it and he could fly.  Her parents knew of her super-hero identity…her mom worried about it, but her dad thought it-and his daughter-were awesome).

Next to her, in the flashy and revealing outfit is the hero who befriends her.  She is actually an alien.  Her only *real* superpower is that her alien physiology is hyper-evolutionary.  When on her home planet, she looks small and frail-but on any planet, her biology adapts to give her the best chance of survival.  She can fly, is invulnerable and super strong only because her DNA deemed it needed.  She also is beautiful for the same reason.  Her costume is chosen to be as far from her secret identity as possible (very conservative).  Her ship landed in India, so she is Indian in ethnicity.  While I wanted to have the character be strong, likeable and independent, she was also a commentary on the excuses given for “pornification” of heroines.

The girl with the short hair has energy powers.  I liked the idea of a glowing energy mask, rather than a fabric or other tangible one.  She can fly by generating wings of energy.  The costume  is meant to evoke Kirby and the New Gods.  She is also a trans woman.

Lastly, the flying woman was a character who once loved to fly…but ridicule caused her to become sheltered.  For a time, when she was married she felt no care what other people thought…but once her husband died she lost confidence…but through her friendship with Grandslam grew confident in herself becoming a hero.

I actually lack names for a lot of the characters…because I never took the time to research after the contest was over, in spite of ideas continuing to occur to me regarding this little world.