Author Archive: mdsmithcomics
Writer/artist for self-published comics under the 80 Pork Comics and T.A.K. Comics banners. Titles include "The Adventurers of Liberty City", "Simon Says", "Bee Sting", "The Curse of Stranglehold", "Tales From The Suggestion Box", "Confessions From The Suggestion Box", "Wichita Gravy", "FLiP On", and "T.A.K. Comics Presents". Also, I'm a husband, a father, and a music snob.
#30: Purplex
Real Name: Reg Chapman
Age: ??
Height: 5’9
Weight: 192 lbs
Character info: Purplex is another villain of the Day 15 Character: The Blue Barrel. Purplex is a confusing character; even when he’s in a pleasant mood, he looks angry. He shakes with anger and his skin takes on a reddish-purple hue at these times. More confusing is his lack of a neck completely! Regardless, The Blue Barrel will always stop the Purplex’s insanity!
#29: The Cubicle Gremlin
 Real Name: Unknown
Age: Unknown
Height: 3’8
Weight: 175 lbs
Character info: The Cubicle Gremlin is an enemy of the Day 15 Character: The Blue Barrel. The Cubicle Gremlin is a mischevious creature, who hides behind low walls to surprise and attack people. No one knows what his intentions may be, but The Blue Barrel has vowed to stop him!
#28: Landslide
Real Name: Jason Barton
Age: 19
Height: 5’7″
Weight: 156 lbs.
Powers: Able to control sections of ground and earth
Character info: When I came up with the idea for Landslide, I visually had his appearance in my head for awhile. I knew he would be a character that just wore regular clothes, not being someone who wanted to conform to a hero/villain look. That also explains a lot about his personality; he walks the line between hero and villain. He uses his powers to benefit himself, but rarely hesitates if he sees someone in trouble. I have a few different ideas of where I might use Landslide, but rest assured, you’ll see more of him soon…
#27: The Serpent
Real Name: Norman Young
Age: 29
Height: 6’1
Weight: 210 lbs.
Powers: mutated with lizard and snake DNA, razor sharp claws, enhanced strength and speed
Character info: Serpent was a villain that I put in my comics I drew as a kid, around 12 or 13 years old. I had a crazed villain named The Inventor who would convince people to take part in his animal mutation experiments. Serpent was one of the last he created (I can think of about 10 different heroes and villains I made up who were the result of these experiments). Serpent is extremely powerful and intimidating, causing trouble for any hero that crosses his path!
#26: Fracas
Real Name: Terry Newman
Age: 36
Height: 6’3
Weight: 234 lbs.
Character info: Fracas was a character I made up when I was around 14 years old. His backstory involved him being an ex-Navy Seal who went rogue for mysterious reasons, and joined up with a villain team. He has no superpowers, yet is heavily skilled in hand-to-hand combat.
#25: Black Friday
Black Friday is an evil demon who pops up once a year…starting to make his presence known a few days after Thanksgiving, preparing everyone for his oncoming attack. He forces retail outlets to offer ridiculous sales on items ($200 big screen tvs…but only 3 of them in stock, bwhahahaha) and forces them to offer those sales at insane times (it was 5 AM, then it became 3 AM, but now, he’s started doing it at the witching hour). His evil plan to distract families from spending quality time together over the Thanksgiving holidays has proven quite successful over the years…
#24: Arson
Real Name: Adrian Faulkner
Age: 34
Height: 5’10
Weight: 183 lbs
Powers: Able to emit blasts of fire from his palms
Character info: Arson was a character I created when I was 11 or 12; he led a villain team of criminals and robbers that was usually always thwarted by the heroes. I didn’t plan on reviving him for the challenge, but like some earlier entries, he popped in my head. However, I couldn’t think of any good costume change, so I left him in the second costume variation I gave him when I was around 13 or so (his original had him wearing a bandit-style mask).
#23: Cross
Real Name: Daniel Logan
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 183 lbs.
Character info: Cross has no powers; he’s a vigilante, fighting crime on his own every night. Cross was one of the first characters I ever made up, when I was about 6 years old; he was my “Batman” or “Daredevil”. He’s also one of my favorites, because he was probably one of the first who really got a serious back story as to why he was a superhero. When I drew and stapled my own comics about my characters as I kid, I did a four issue limited series that served as Cross’ origin, and I still think that comic is pretty good to this day. For a few years now, I’ve been wanting to retell this origin and I think I’m biting the bullet on that one soon. My friend Josh Talley helped me with some redesigns on the character a few years ago, bringing the current version you see here.
#22: Wrest
Real Name: Kelly Hart
Age: 28
Height: 5’6″
Weight: 129 lbs.
Powers: Telekinesis that also emits mystical light energy
Character info: Wrest is a character I made up when I was about 17 years old; she’s pretty much the same except originally her name was “Warp” and her powers were slightly different. She doesn’t really conform to the standard superhero spandex club, opting to wear her own clothes when going into a necessary “battle”. I currently have plans for her to appear in one of two different comic/graphic novels I am working on.
#21: NegaTori
Real Name: Tori Avondale
Age: 22
Height: 5’4″
Weight: 117 lbs.
Location: Liberty City, USA
Powers: Able to negate another hero or villains superpowers by being within close proximity.
Character info: NegaTori will show up in a future story arc in “The Adventurers of Liberty City” as a reluctant superhero. She’s not too fond of her powers and feels like she’s being used because of them. She’s not one much for hand to hand combat and has no true defensive powers of her own. However, her negation abilities do come in handy when threatened.
#20: Dross
Real Name: Unknown
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 312 lbs
Powers: skin make of a pitted metallic substance, lava flowing beneath this “skin” causes his metal hands to burn anything it touches.
Character info: Dross is an alien supervillain that will appear in an upcoming story arc for “The Adventurers of Liberty City”. Little is known about him other than he is extremely dangerous and evil. He does not hesitate to use his powers to get what he wants and destroy anything…or anyone…in his path!
#19: Solar Flare
Real Name: Todd Hitch
Height: 6′
Weight: 170 lbs.
Powers: Able to directly transfer heat and light from the sun into powerful energy blasts and flight.
Character info: Solar Flare is the modern day superhero son of a previous entry I did for the 30 Character Challenge, The Silver Spark. He’s a very quiet individual, probably caused by witnessing the apparant death of his parents at a young age. However, he’s extremely powerful and a valuable asset to his allies. I first created this character when I was a kid; at that time, he was a kid superhero named Cosmic Kid. When he got older, he changed his name to Solar Flare. I have two possible storylines for comics where Solar Flare will show up…not sure which one I will use yet, but his origin will remain the same. Based on which comic he ends up in, determines his interaction with teammates and his final costume design.
#18: Roadkill
Real Name: Brian Singleton
Age: 21
Height: 5’8″
Weight: 165 lbs.
Character info: Brian Singleton was a young biker who was fleeing a police pursuit after robbing a conveinence store. He eventually lost the police by driving his motorcycle into a secluded parts of the woods and hiding there. However, when night fell, Brian was attacked by a wolf living in these woods. Luckily, Brian survived, but was forever transformed into a man/wolf hybrid. He now goes by the name…Roadkill!
#17: Hejira
Real Name: Cynthia Wooderson
Age: 26
Height: 5’5″
Weight: 125 lbs
Powers: Flight, intangibility
Character info: I love this design for Hejira! Another name that I came up with years ago, but never designed a character. Until I drew this sketch, I had no idea how I would use her, but now, I definitely know what comic she’ll be in and she’ll be a perfect addition to it! As stated above, she has the ability to fly and turn her body intangible, which helps to gain access to locations and avoid confrontation from villains.
#16: Mecoptera
Real Name: Drasdell Squirk
Height: 7’1″
Weight: 122 lbs.
Powers: Giant, flying alien insectisoid with a scorpion-like stinger.
Character info: Mecoptera was a character I came up with years ago related to the superhero/pirate storyline I wanted to do (see previous entry of Cutlass for more info). However, he’ll now be used in a future space arc of The Adventurers of Liberty City. He’ll be one of the alien villains that team will be facing. He’s essentially a henchman, using his flight and stinger to attack heroes.
#15: The Blue Barrel
Name: Unknown
Height: 5’9
Weight: With or without the barrel??
Character info: The Blue Barrel is a new character that was co-created by me and a co-worker. Don’t ask how this idea came to life, cause it’s actually kinda scary. But anyway, The Blue Barrel is a wannabe superhero whose outfit is…well, a blue barrel. He tucks his arms and legs inside the barrel and rolls from crime to crime, attempting to stop them. Is he successful? Well, we’ll just have to wait until the first Blue Barrel comic to see!
#14: Cutlass
Real Name: Maria Munoz
Age: 27
Height: 5’7″
Weight: 132 lbs.
Character info: I’m not a pirate fan by any means. My past interest in pirates pretty much began and ended with “The Goonies” and “The Pirates of Darkwater”. But several years ago, I had this pirate/superhero storyline festering in my head. Some of the storylines I had for this odd mash-up were/are being used in other ways, and some of the villains I created will also be used elsewhere. But the idea of a really tough, female pirate stuck with me, and she had the name Cutlass. I never drew her until I did this sketch, but I knew that I didn’t want her to look like the typical female we see in pirate stories and movies. She wouldn’t be wearing the frilly, lacey outfit with her cleavage popping out. She would be athletic and tough-as-nails, yet still attractive. She’d dress sensibly, not over-the-top. And she’d have gloves (it always confused me why we never saw pirates wearing gloves…I’m no sailor, but wouldn’t you want to wear them if you’re pulling on and swinging from those ropes on the ships constantly??). The name, of course, is a play on words…for her weapon as well as she’s a “lass”. I’m not sure how I’ll use her…maybe I’ll salvage some of that old pirate story and do something with it. But after sketching Cutlass, it’s obvious (to me, at least) that she’s got the potential to be a very cool character in a story.
#13: The Silver Spark
Real Name: Thomas Hitch
Height: 6’3
Weight: 210 lbs.
Location: Liberty City, USA
Powers: Emits powerful blasts of silver tinted light energy from his hands; flight
Character info: I’ve been having a lot of fun with this 30 Character Challenge, because it’s paved the way for me to unleash some of the ideas I’ve had for the history of The Adventurers of Liberty City universe. We established that a team of Adventurers existed before the current team, and even further back, there was at least one superhero known as U.S.A. In a future arc, we’ll explore heroes that operated as allies of U.S.A. The Silver Spark will be one of those heroes. In fact, he’ll have strong ties to The Adventurers of Liberty City, as well as a possible spin-off I have planned called The Axiom.
He’s a classic hero in every sense. Along with U.S.A., he was viewed as an inspiring, clean cut hero. Not only do his powers make him formidable, but he’s also a tall and built individual.
#12: Carpathia
Real Name: Unknown
Age: Unknown
Height: 5’8
Weight: 135 lbs
Powers: Sorceress, mystical in nature
Character info: About 11 years ago, when I considered starting my own comic, I started brainstorming SEVERAL names for characters, heroes and villains. Some of the characters I’ve already posted had names born out of that session (Rock Solid, Black Ice, Simoom, Esperance). Carpathia was one of these names. I had no idea who she would be or what she would look like. At one point, I gave her a goth appearance and she had fire powers; this later became my character Risk in The Adventurers of Liberty City. However, I still held onto the name. When I revived Carpathia for this challenge, I immediately knew I wanted to keep her dark in nature, but making her a villain this time. I started to picture something that looked like a cross between Vampira and something that Humberto Ramos would have put into his “Crimson” comic. However, she’s not a vampire, but an evil sorceress. I’m already really liking her and can’t wait to “debut” her in a book!
#11: Black Ice
Real Name: Alex Lundy
Age: 22
Height: 5’10
Weight: 175 lbs
Powers: Able to create ice particles from his hands
Character info: Black Ice was born several years ago, when I was going to do a comic about a group of college kids who became superheroes (Rock Solid, a character I did on here a few days ago, was also part of the same team). Black Ice’s look back then is pretty much the same right here…even though I only drew his mask before, I knew exactly what I wanted his suit to look like. He will use his ice powers to make an ice snowboard at times, for fast traveling. This character may show up in a comic I am working on soon…
#10: Rock Solid
Real Name: Tyler Hamlin
Age: 15
Powers: Arms made of brick-like material, allowing him enhanced strength.
Character info: I was a teenager when I first got the idea to make a character named “Rock Solid”. I just had the name in my head, nothing else. About 10 years ago, I got the idea to create a superhero team and an early version of Rock Solid came to life. This version was a college student, however, and he looked more like he belonged to Marvel’s Wrecking Crew. While I had a pretty solid idea for that particular team, I scrapped the idea, but the name has always stuck with me.
When I decided to reimagine the character for this challenge, I got the idea to add him to a team of teen superheroes I created. I’ve been kicking a graphic novel idea around in my head involving this team, so I want to establish the roster. The idea for Rock Solid’s look just came to me as I drew it actually. He’s a cocky, sarcastic guy who suddenly has all this power. He’ll be a great addition to the team and he’ll really be tested when times get tough…
#9: Judgement
Real Name: Unknown
Age: Unknown
Powers: None; vigilante crime fighter
Character info: Judgement was a character I created when I was around 12 years old. He was a true vigilante character…he made my “darker” superheroes look like wusses. He was a “shoot-first-ask-questions-later” kind of guy. Judgement always found himself doubted and questioned by other heroes, but, as much as they hated to admit it, he was a skilled marksman, good in hand-to-hand combat, and got results. I never revealed any secret identity for him, but there was speculation in my comics that he was a former superhero that was thought to be dead. He even had a strained romantic relationship with a female superhero and she ended up pregnant with his child (yeah, I wrote some very soap opera-esqe comics as a pre-teen).
Even though he’s got a stereotypical vigilante look and backstory, I always really liked the character and I’ve wanted to bring him back for sometime. I might find some way to work him into one of my comics and so much of me wants to leave him just as I created him almost 20 years ago!
#8: Stampede
- Real Name: Jerry Browning
- Age: 35
- Height: 6’9″
- Weight: 275 lbs
- Costume: Red wrestling suit with a white pinstripe and white boots
Character info: I had no intention of including Stampede in this 30 Character Challenge, but after drawing Brown Thrasher a few days ago, this guy stuck in my head. When I was 13, I created a team of supervillains and Stampede was a new character added to the team of previously existing characters. He was inspired by the large characters I saw in those early Image Comics (haha) and pro-wrestling (hahahaha). He was a former professional wrestler who went by the name Stampede, and he decided to turn to a life of crime when his wrestling career tanked. He even carried over his wreslting tag-line to taunt the heroes…”Mess with the bull, you get the horns!” Ahhh, good stuff.
#7: Shawn McGreggor
Name: Shawn McGreggor
Age: 17
Likes: Parties, music to party to, having a good time with friends, parties, and the items found at parties (heh, heh)
Dislikes: Parents who bust up parties, cancelled parties, weekends with no parties
Character info: Shawn is a secondary character who will first show up in “Simon Says” #5. I just recently did a rewrite to the script and this character initially wasn’t in it. However, I took a few lines from other characters, borrowed the basic look and personality from a character from a story I wrote when I was a teenager, and Shawn McGreggor was born. It also helps that Shawn is loosely based on three different guys I knew when I was growing up. Since Simon Says #5 and #6 will be started soon by the artists, I had to whip up a sketch of what this character will look like. He’s THE party guy in Eastlake; he knows about all the parties and is invited to all the parties, regardless of who is throwing them. He always knows his way around. He’s the guy you knew in school that was waiting for the big blast to hit on Friday or Saturday night and knew how to score something for it. What you see is what you get with that sketch above, haha. For more info on Simon Says, check out preview pages for issue 1 here.
#6: Brown Thrasher
- Name: Steven Holt
- Age 19
- Height: 5’9″
- Weight: 153 lbs.
- Location: Liberty City, USA
- Costume: All brown
- Powers: Has bird-like wings on the underside of his arms to allow flight.
Character info: The Brown Thrasher was a character I created when I was around 11 or 12. For some reason, I had a lot of bird character and I felt the need to add another back then…maybe I wanted one that was a villain. He pretty much looks exactly the same as he did back then. David, Brad, and I were discussing some future villains to use in The Adventurers of Liberty City and we came up with a good team to have our heroes battle. Brown Thrasher will be a member of that team!
#5: Simoom
Real Name: Muthemba Bello
Age: 30
Birthplace: Kenya
Powers: Able to conjure up powerful dust storms for protection and defense
Character info: Simoom is another character whose name I came up with years ago, but never really designed until I sat down recently. Initially, I had him pegged as a hero, but as I started to draw him, he clearly had a sinister look about him and became a villain. His ability to create the dust storms are effective in disorienting and temporarily blinding his enemies, allowing him the opportunity to strike!
#4: Richard Klinger
Name: Richard Klinger
Age: ??
Occupation: “Fitness Guru”
Character info: Richard Klinger is the brainchild of mine and a co-worker’s…don’t ask how this got started. Richard claims to be a fitness guru and has mastered all forms of fitness. However, he tends to only do the super low leg stretches as you see here. Also, he’s not exactly in the best shape in the world. But hey, that doesn’t stop him from rocking out the too-short-shorts, leotard, weight lifting belt, leg warmers, and headband! Just ignore the creamy deoderant stains. Also, he tends to fiercely bite his lower lip during stretches. I may do a mini-comic about Mr. Klinger some day…
#3: Esperance
Real Name: Esperance
Height: 5’6
Hair: purple
Skin: pale blue
Costume: purple bodysuit with two toned green gloves, boots, belt, and collar
Powers/Abilities: Born on an alien world which allows her to use ether in space to fly and create force fields
Character info: I originally thought up this character about 10 years ago and she was going to be part of team of space-oriented characters that were interacting with a forgotten earth hero. When kicking around ideas for future story arcs for The Adventurers of Liberty City , this idea came up and I ran it past Brad and David. While the three of us are still trying to come up with space characters that may be used, I know that this one will DEFINITELY show up, because she’ll have a further backstory that is integral to the plot line. She’s basically very peaceful in nature; however, when her race was attacked, she was forced to fight for her freedom. That’s exactly where she stands now…fighting for the freedom of herself and her allies.
#2: Kroge
Real Name: Kristopher Oliver Gentry
Age: 45
Height: 5’11
Weight: 197 lbs
Location: Liberty City, USA
Hair: Grey-black
Eyes: Brown
Character info: Kroge was a character I created when I was a kid (probably around 9 years old). His look changed slightly from then until I was around 13. He’s always been one of my favorite villains. I decided to revamp him a little for the challenge and he no longer has a superhero type costume, instead wearing cargo pants, motorcycle boots, t-shirts, and a vest. But his origin remains the same as it was years ago…
Kroge has made it his personal mission to kill all superpowered individuals. His teenage son, Jeremy, was killed in destruction caused by a large battle between a group of heroes and villains. Kroge was adamant that action be taken against the surviving heroes involved, but the authorities didn’t listen. They were just glad that the villains were stopped, yet felt sorry for Kroge’s loss. That’s when he became a man with revenge as his only mission. He has no powers or abilities, but relies on anything he can find for a weapon to help his cause. Kroge is a character that may pop up in my comic, The Adventurers of Liberty City.
#1: Jesse Butler
Name: Jesse Butler
Age: 19
Occupation: Musician, freeloader
Location: On the road unless crashing at his parent’s house in Eastlake
Character info: I decided to kickoff the 30 Characters Challenge by working on designs for a character that will pop up in my comic, “Simon Says”. Jesse appears in a flashback in issue 4, but makes his first full appearance in #5. All of the major characters have been designed, of course, but Jesse is a secondary character that hadn’t really been established yet. He does, however, play an important role in the later part of the series. He’s the ex-boyfriend of main character Angela; the two kinda broke up when his band became moderately successful and started playing gigs outside of town. He’s a complete jerk, to put it lightly, and this will become evident by his actions in issues 5 and 6. He’s definitely a metalhead guy, so I wanted his look to reflect that. Initially, I was picturing an almost 80s metal look, but since the story takes place in 1996, that wouldn’t make much sense. So, I leaned more towards combining the looks of Jason Newsted and Phil Anselmo from the early-to-mid 90s. You can check out more info about Simon Says by clicking here!
2011 Challenger: Matthew D. Smith
Like some of the other people on this site, I was interested in entering the “30 Characters Challenge” previously, but talked myself out of it for whatever reason. I decided to bite the bullet and give it a shot this year.
Since 2007, I’ve been self-publishing comics that I’ve been writing or drawing. I’ve been fortunate in that time to meet some really great people who have been gracious enough to work on these projects with me. With David Simonton and Brad Jaskula, I work on the superhero comic, “The Adventurers of Liberty City”, and and oddity anthology called “Wichita Gravy”. I also worked on a series of mini-comics with Katie Omberg called “Suggestion Box” and the first 8 have been collected in two digests: “Tales From The Suggestion Box” and “Confessions From The Suggestion Box”. Just this past year, I wrote two horror graphic novels: “The Curse of Stranglehold” (with art by Melanie Florencio) and “Bee Sting” (with art by Jeremy Massie). I also released the first issue of a 10 issue slice-of-life series called “Simon Says”. It’s a drama/comedy following a group of high school kids in the mid 90s. The first issue features art by Desiree Pittman (her husband, Jason, supplied the cover), and I have a different artist lined up for future issues.
I figured the 30 character challenge would help me out in a lot of ways…there are several character ideas in my head for allies and villains in “The Adventurers of Liberty City”, ideas for characters to be featured in a “The Adventurers of Liberty City” spin-off, and some minor characters yet to be introduced in “Simon Says” I want to design. I have some other ideas in my head as well for characters that may find their way into “Wichita Gravy” or some mini-comics.
You can check out my stuff on-line at my blog: www.mdsmithcomics.blogspot.com
#30Characters Chatter…