Tag: jonathan rector
#25 – The Benefactor
Who is this mysterious man in the shadows?
Well, this character sheet offers some answers… but not all!
#23 and #24 – Mister Neat and Mister Tidy
I grew up on spooky English shows where budget’s were pretty non-existent and the props people had to be inventive. For some reason this made the ordinary always seem more unusual for me.
I was channel a combination of Roger Hargreaves Mr Men books and the television show Sapphire and Steel on this one – and Jonathan got the vibe instantly!
The art is from an unused page in issue one of The Hero Code – something which was re-worked and dropped, but might make it’s way into a future issue.
#10 – The Living No-One
Anyone who know me, knows how big a fan of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World characters I am. In particular the design of Darkseid – if I get sketches from artists, it tends to be of this character.
When we started working on the Hero Code, I really wanted a big, malevolent character in the background, up to no good, out to destroy the universe – this is my Darkseid, and Jonathan nailed it!
When I saw this design my first though was “wow!” followed quickly by “this would make a great action figure!”
One day…. one day…
#9 – Soldiers of the Army of the Fallen Titans
Bad guy would-be world conquerors should be backed up by as many faceless techno-soliders as possible – fact!
#8 – Mister 23
Ah, mustaches – aren’t they great? Not sure what it is about this design I like, but I do, and I’m sure the mustache isn’t hurting any.
Speaking of mustaches, Jonathan created a fantastic mini-comic called Jesop King – The Hunger. It’s beautiful done, great fun, and just filled with wonderful moments. You can read it on his blog here.
I recommend you do. It’s fantastic.
#7 – The Three
Hive minded villains are always creepy, right? Especially when they all talk using the same voice, or their eyes glow when they get angry, right? Taking over small towns and putting entire populations into stasis while they go about their grim work, building techno-organic gateways to the worlds between hell and damnation.
That’s these guys.
#6 – Binary
We really wanted some younger characters in the series, but really liked the idea of having one of the youngest and smallest being a very powerful character.
Plus children who transform in to super-strong monsters are always cool!
#5 – Scissor
And here is the last of the femme fatale threesome, Scissor! Quite the formidable trio!
#4 – Paper
Number 4 – Paper! I had a really hard time picturing this character, and a harder time describing her to Jonathan! I was this close to scrapping the idea all together, worried that I was forcing it because of the names of her team mates.
I had a vague notion about what I wanted her to be able to do, but ended up describing a mummy, a whip-handed woman and a two dimensional paper cut out at different points!
Luckily Jonathan saved the day!
#3 – Rock
One of the things I loved about the Bronze-age Marvel books which I read as a child, was the seemingly endless supply of villains which at the end of every issue would appear, normally yelling out some threat, or smashing something to get the heroes tired attention.
We wanted to create a team of bad guys (or gals) who embodied just that sense – a kind of absurd “you cannot be serious!” moment, tempered with a realization that these people are bad and want to hurt the good guys. That they may actually be a threat!
Tomorrow and Saturday will see Rock joined by her team mates…
#2 – Black Wraith
The idea behind the Black Wraith was simply “what if The Avenger’s John Steed had become Batman”
His tagline is “Looking good just became a super power”.
#1 – Optiman
And we’re off!
With Optiman we really wanted to get a sense of childlike wonder – as though you were not only entering a nostalgic world of comic heroes that you vaguely remember from when you were growing up, but also a sense that this character was feeling the same.
You just know, deep down, that this is a good guy – no hidden agenda, no borderline psychosis – just out and out one of the good guys!
#30Characters Chatter…