...Bring on the Bad Guys...

They say that you can measure the appeal and success of a superhero by the quality of his or her super-villains. You only have one hero in the strip but you need a veritable rogues gallery of bad guys to keep things interesting each month. After a brief discussion regarding super villains, we quickly got into designing arch villains for the two superheroes we created last week. 

We created LORD OF LIGHTNING to be the arch nemesis of BLIND NINJA, and 

the bane of SPIKED AVENGER'S heroic life would be BLOOD SAMURAI!!

The images of the two new villains must remain TOP SECRET for the present- or until I can get a new SD card reader for my camera. PICTURES TO FOLLOW!

...and here they are - bring on the bad guys...

Having designed a couple of villainous characters ourselves on the easel, the class got down to possibly their favourite assignment - 'Design a Super Villain! And who better to overlook and provide inspiration for such an endeavour than the blood-curdling Prince of Darkness himself - DRACULA!

Here are two new characters from Zac and Finn. The creations of Toby, Cole, K.C., Jack and James on their way... (SD card reader again).

Zac's multi-coloured villain.

Finn's 'Mystery Man'

Toby's 'Captain Nuclear!'

Finn again - 'Lightning Guy'

...begin again...

Apologies to K.C., Cole, Jack and James - unable to recover photos of your characters - will add to blog after 1st session Module 2.

Along with the Shadow and Zorro,  Dracula was inspirational
in the creation of teenager Bob Kane's Batman! 

NEXT WEEK - SUPERHEROES VS SUPERVILLAINS!!

...and last but not least...

The second installment of the 'Bite-Size History of Comics!' 

The first appearances of Superman in 1938 - and Batman in 1939 - heralds the birth of the Golden Age of Comics! From then on a veritable deluge of colourful costumed characters poured onto the newsstands as publisher after publisher jumped onto the lucrative comic book bandwagon. Not the least of which being Martin Goodman's Atlas Comics' with their Human Torch and Captain America. Atlas comics would go through a series of successes, crises and calamities before it would publish comics decades later under the name Marvel Comics! 

I listened to one student recount the origin of the Silver Surfer - being that the world-devouring GALACTUS had consumed and destroyed the planet Zenn-La, but chose Norrin Radd - the only survivor - to become his planet seeking herald. I had to interrupt, and explained that the Silver Surfer origin I read in 1968 showed a heroic Norrin Radd on a decadent land-locked planet, sacrifice himself to serve GALACTUS in order to save Zenn-La. Norrin Radd volunteered to scour the universe searching for alternative planets to assuage the hunger of the planet eater.

I rather liked the 'survivor' origin myself. Comic book continuity is pretty confusing at the best of times - we agreed that the continuity had clearly been rewritten...

Next week - The man whose lies almost 

destroyed the  comic book industry!

A big thank you to Simon and Becka at Downham first and foremost 

art shop - Framin' Art - for all their help and support!

...'How to Draw Superheroes (& Villains)!' at Framin' Art...

Well, the first session of 'How to Draw Superheroes (& Villains)!' Module 1 got off to a great start. A hearty heroes welcome to students - and potential comic artists/concept designers - Jack, Finn, K.C., Toby, Zack and James. 

In my efforts to create a veritable Batcave of a classroom with hero sketches, character designs, a selection art books on Jack Kirby, Marvel and DC Comics, graphic novels and comic books - in the brightly lit classroom it probably came off more as The Fortress of Solitude.

The classes first communal creation - 'THE SPIKED AVENGER'

Nonetheless, the room was a hive of creativity as the class and I created a couple of heroic characters of our own. First up was the almost untouchable nemesis known as 'THE SPIKED AVENGER' followed by the dynamic and mysterious 'BLIND NINJA'!

The dynamic and mysterious 'BLIND NINJA'

Once we'd warmed up on the first two characters - and after a brief refreshment break - the students were straight into the nuts and bolts of the class - designing their own heroes! 

Zack Evans creating his latest superhero

In this first wave of new super heroes - the students are using exciting costume design styles, with an additional influence of manga and popular themes such as military weaponry and attire.

    

     

   

 

NEXT WEEK - Design SUPERVILLAINS & VILLAINESSES!!

...and last but not least...

The first installment of the 'Bite-Size History of Comics!' 

With the first installment spanning 40,000 years or so, and then every decade - it goes without saying that it's going to be exceptionally concise.

I'll be covering a handful of key developments in each period, from the the 1940s Golden Age of Comics onwards. While it's unavoidable that a tremendous amount of information will be left out, I can certainly revisit the period in question and add additional pages as time permits.

In the event that any student has a particular query or question regarding comic history, they can ask me in class or via email or - dare I say - 'google it'.

And thanks James for your question - 'Who came first - The Atom or the Ant-Man?' - watch this space.

Next week - the Birth of the Golden Age of Comics!

A big thank you to Simon and Becka at Downham first and foremost 

art shop - Framin' Art - for all their help and support!

...Year 1 - EAGLEWING MAN AND LIGHTNING GIRL!...'nuff said.

DEMO DAY 1 - YEAR 1

Here at Upwell Primary School, concluding my first Demo day - 

I spent an exciting final hour with Year 1 creating a couple of heroic 

characters to rival Vampress Fab and Ethiopias created earlier that day. 

I set up my easel at the front of the class and the pupils sat on the carpet, leaving me about three to four feet clearance. The easel and it's blank silhouette loomed above the children who rose to the challenge of creating a superhero with style, imagination and enthusiasm - and often swapped places on the carpet along the way.

EAGLEWING MAN aka SPIKE - amid many raised hands and voices - appeared first on the easel, replete with spiked boots and spiked 'Wolverine' style gloves, weather-beaten metal leg armour, utility belt with (with screwdriver), holstered weaponry and chest strap over chest armour. He wore  a spiked hair-do with bubble helmet and holes to match. Of course, Eagle Wing Man would not be complete without his full-blown eagle wings!

LIGHTNING GIRL followed, hot on the spiked heels of EagleWing Man, sporting chrome arm and leg armour and glistening boots to match  - I was asked 'could she have pig feet' - this seemed to be ok with the rest of the class so I drew in pig's trotters (chrome of course) - long blonde hair - 'can she have flowers in her hair?' - with daisies, flowing white cape, the ongoing theme of spikes appeared in the form of a spiky one-piece. 'Could I draw flowers around her arms?' was unanimously agreed so in came poison ivy.

Her face had yet to be drawn in, one suggestion that came out was... 'Could she have a donkey's head?'... now this might sound kinda strange, but in a recent Fantastic Four story there was indeed a pretty cool character in the inter-dimensional Light Brigade with a horses head!* so not so weird after all.

However the class found this a suggestion too far and opted for a human face with light-ray eyes. A glowing diamond held the cape in place below her neck and after much deliberation - LIGHTNING GIRL was born!    

While Year 1 were still brimming with ideas and suggestions, I was 

running out of ink and we were both out of time. And by this time the 

pupils had shuffled closer so that I had very little space to move.

A great day was had by all, and the multi-coloured world of 

superheroes and villains never be the same again!!

*Centre is the horse headed 'KAL' of the Fantastic Four's Light Brigade!

TO BE CONTINUED!

Be here NEXT BLOG for the comic and cosmic creations of 

classes Noble and Majestic - and Year 5's comic debut 

between ETHIOPIAS and VAMPRESS FAB!!