COMICS & CHARACTERS
THIS IS HOW IT WAS ALWAYS INTENDED TO BE BEFORE MY SGRPOP SERIES EVOLVED INTO WHAT I WORK ON TODAY. BUT IN THE BEGINNING, IT WAS TMNT, GI JOE, THE AVENGERS, AND X-MEN. I FEEL LIKE I OWE THIS ENTIRE COLLECTION OF CHARACTERS A DEBT OF GRATITUDE FOR THE TIME I’VE BEEN ABLE TO SPEND ON THEM AND THE DISTRACTION THEY’VE HELPED PROVIDE ME WITH FROM THE HARDER PARTS OF LIFE. AS A CHILD THEY WERE THERE FOR ME, AND AS AN ADULT, THEY’VE NEVER LEFT.
AVENGERS
ADMITTEDLY, I WASN’T SUPER INTO THE AVENGERS AS A KID READING COMICS. THERE WERE HEROES WHOM I LOVED, LIKE HULK AND BLACK WIDOW, BUT I WAS FAR MORE ENGAGED BY GROUPS LIKE THE X-MEN OR THE UPSTART TEAMS COMING OUT OF IMAGE COMICS LIKE WILDCATS AND YOUNGBLOOD. BUT FLASH FORWARD TO WHAT THE MCU WAS ABLE TO DO IN TEN YEARS OF FILMMAKING AND I HAVE TO CALL MYSELF A FAN, AT LEAST OF THAT DECADE. HELP ME CELEBRATE THESE HEROES THAT HAVE KEPT US ENTERTAINED AND CHEERING AT THE BIG SCREEN FOR LONGER THAN ANY OF US EXPECTED.
X-MEN
UNLIKE THE AVENGERS, I HAVE BEEN AN X-MEN FAN SINCE THE FIRST TIME I PICKED UP ONE OF THEIR BOOKS. NIGHTCRAWLER, STORM AND WOLVERINE STOLE MY HEART FOR THEIR DEPTH, FLAWS, AND IT REINFORCED A BELIEF THAT NOT ALL HEROES NEEDED TO BE WHITE AMERICANS AS HEROES WERE TRADITIONALLY WERE IN THE 80s. WITH THE X-MEN YOU COULD BE ANYBODY AND STILL BE A HERO, EVEN IF YOU WERE A SHORT, POOR, AND DEPRESSED LITTLE KID LIKE ME. I KNOW I’M NOT ALONE IN MY LOVE FOR THE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS OF THE XAVIER SCHOOL FOR THE GIFTED, SO I HOPE YOU ENJOY THESE AS MUCH AS I DID MAKING THEM.
G.I. JOE
G.I. JOE WAS MY FIRST LOVE WHEN I WAS A YOUNG CHILD. I PLAYED FOR HOURS WITH THOSE COLORFUL ACTION FIGURES AND GLUE MYSELF TO THE TELEVISION SET EVERY SATURDAY AT 8:00am TO SEE WHAT ADVENTURE THEY WOULD GO ON NEXT. THE JOE TEAM TAUGHT ME THAT YOU COULD BE ANYONE AND STILL BE A HERO; THERE WERE STRONG MALE AND FEMALE CHARACTERS. THERE WERE BLACK, INDIGENOUS, FOREIGN, AND EVEN HANDICAP CHARACTERS THAT DROVE HOME THE MESSAGE TO NEVER JUDGE A PERSON BY THEIR APPEARANCE. G.I. JOE IS NEVER GOING TO MAKE THE RESURGENCE THAT THE AVENGERS HAS HAD OR THAT X-MEN IS GOING TO. BUT THIS SERIES IS ABOUT OUR PASTS, AND THEY DESERVE TO BE CELEBRATED.
THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES WERE AMONG THE FIRST SKULLS THAT I CREATED. THE FOUR BROTHERS LEANT THEMSELVES SO WELL TO THE MOTIF OF SIMPLIFYING CHARACTERS TO THEIR MOST ESSENTIAL TRAITS WHILE STILL MAINTAINING A HOMOGENOUS OVERALL DESIGN. ORIGINALLY I ONLY DID THE TURTLES BUT ALWAYS KNEW I’D RETURN TO THE COLLECTION TO ADD SPLINTER, ROCKSTEADY, BEBOP, AND SHREDDER. I STILL HAVE APRIL AND CASEY JONES TO DO, BUT ALL IN GOOD TIME.
TMNT
JUSTICE LEAGUE
OUTSIDE OF BATMAN’S INCREDIBLE GRAPHIC NOVELS LIKE HUSH, LONG HOLLOWEEN, AND KILLING JOKE, I JUST NEVER GOT INTO D.C. THAT MUCH. I WATCHED ‘SUPER FRIENDS’ ON SATURDAY MORNINGS JUST LIKE ALL THE OTHER KIDS, BUT IT DIDN’T GRAB ME LIKE MARVEL OR G.I. JOE DID. THAT DOESN’T MEAN D.C. DIDN’T GRAB OTHER KIDS’ ATTENTION, THOUGH. THIS COLLECTION IS DEDICATED TO THE DEDICATED FANS OF DETECTIVE COMICS WHO HAVE LOYALLY STUCK BY THEIR HEROES FOR ALL THESE YEARS. GOOD ON YOU.
INCOMPLETES
THE INCOMPLETES ARE EXACTLY WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE, THEY A GROUP OF COLLECTIONS THAT NEED MORE CONTENT TO MAKE THEM COMPLETE. I HAVE OPTIMUS PRIME AND BUMBLE BEE, BUT NOT MEGATRON OR STARSCREAM. IN GENERAL I TEND TO CONSIDER ANYTHING WITH MORE FIVE SKULLS TO BE A COLLECTION, EVEN IF THERE ARE STILL MORE SKULLS I WISH TO ADD TO IT.
