My Superhero Blog

One day, some time ago, I was talking with my kids in our living room and the subject came up of how superheroes got their powers. I think the question asked was if a superhero always got their powers from something else--like Spider-Man getting it from an irradiated Spider. Soon a rather fun discussion started about how cool it would be to all of a sudden gain the attributes of something you happen to be standing next to, even though not all superheroes gain powers this way. We started joking about what would happen if one were to gain their super powers when standing next to different crazy things, and Taylar said something like "what if you got your powers standing next to a banana!" The idea was so fun we kept talking about what kind of attributes this superhero would have, and Taylar exclaimed "banana hair!" As Taylar got more and more excited about the idea, Ki and Kelten quickly caught the superhero bug and came up with their own.

My wife and I had so much fun hearing the incredibly creative ideas and zany powers they came up with, and saw how proud and thrilled they were with their creations, that we started getting neices and nephews involved. For whatever crazy reason, we decided to challenge each of my kids' cousins to invent a character (or at least come up with an idea for a power or theme) and I would draw it for them so they could have their own superhero, and we got some incredible results.

As much fun as this has been as a way to get to know each niece or nephew a little better, what has been the biggest thrill is how my non-superhero-fan wife, the one who hates comic books and makes fun of my superhero craziness, came up with some of the most creative, fun, and downright unique ideas for almost all of the babies not yet talking--and got as excited to see them come about as the kids! She also came up with the idea of putting the superheroes on tee shirts so the kids could wear and show off their creations, and over this last year this has been our gift for each niece or nephew's birthday.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, Kristy started this blog, which has been very handy as a place to put all the pictures together. I've grouped the characters by family and listed them starting with the oldest child's superhero. Now that I almost have all the kids done, maybe some of the adults in the family can try to come up with their own and eventually have a team of superheroes for each clan (that is, if they can be as creative as their kids).

Todd and Kristy's Family Superheroes

Here's the one that started it all! The ideas for Banana Girl's look actually started, as stated above, with the idea that Tay thought it would be cool for someone who gained their powers from bananas to have banana hair. I think we toyed a bit with the idea of making her suit a big banana from which arms and legs stuck out, but I really didn't want to do something so simple and obvious. Besides, part of the fun of this whole thing is the challenge of conveying the theme of each character by giving them a look that expounds on the original idea and attempts to draw out more crazy (and hopefully cool) nuances in the form of costumes, gadgets, or poses. So, since bananas are a tropical-islandish fruit, she ended up with a grass skirt and those wacky grass puffs on her ankles and wrists. The brown quilty-looking stuff on her suit is inspired by the look of banana tree bark (at least by how I imagine banana tree bark looks). As a banana themed superhero, what more would she need for utilily belt than few more bananas. The flowers on her shoulders are a new twist on the leigh, and the long boots and gloves are just 'cause I like 'em. Tay is the one that came up with the color scheme (with only very little influence from me). Of course, inspired by banana peels, we colored her cape yellow on the outside and whitish on the inside. So, what is her power? Hmmmm...

When Ki decided on bubbles as a superhero theme, and I asked him what a Bubble Man would have, the bubble helmet idea came out right away. Looking back, I don't remember if Ki imagined him as a guy covered with or made out of suds, or if that was my idea--but it did seem more cool than a superhero made out of just one bubble. When putting down ideas, bubble bottle boots seemed just too natural to pass up (and way fun to say), and we started talking about him as having the ability to construct himself out of bubbles, forming himself into human shape as he pops out of the bottles when needed, and able to go back to liquid or unshaped form after each adventure. This brought on the idea that if he could form himself into human shape, he could just as easily form his bubble body into any other shape as well, and can grow to any size (sort of Sand Man style, but all made out of soft soapy suds)! How handy would that be!


At the time Tay and Ki created their superheroes, one of the words little Kelten could say best was "Crocodile". Thus Crocodile Man was born. I know there have been many animal themes super characters, and they almost always take on the more useful attributes of their totem, but I thought it would be more fun to keep with the idea that a superhero is just as cool for their weaknesses and foibles as they are for their strengths, and decided that this fellow made himself a crocodile suit allowing only the last 12 inches or so of his leg to stick out because, well, crocodiles have these short little legs. The rest of his legs would be kinda stuck without much room to move like a woman wearing a tight dress. It looks cool, but man would it be funny to watch him try to run. Crocodile man is actually the first superhero I've ever colored on the computer, back when I only had the paint program that comes with Windows. Because of this I only have a poor copy of the final product and am in the process of upgrading the pic for this blog.



Platypus is Knightin's first superhero. This one (along with nearly every babys' hero) was created by Kristy so that the youngest could still have a superhero even though they weren't able to think up an idea for one on their own. My wife is a genius and has some of the most fun and creative ideas as you will see...





Flutterfly is TJ's first superhero. Again the theme was completely thought up by Kristy.

Karen's Family Superheroes

The Narrarator

Porcupine Man

Zazanna Princess of the Fairies

Ice Boy

Jon and Venisa's Family Superheroes

The Caterpillar (formerly named Ficee, I believe) is Sarah's superhero.

Carrots the Superfrog is Becca's creation.

Power Pup is Sam's and just so happens to be the only superhero thought up by an adult besides my wife. Venisa came up with the idea for this one.

Richard and Megan's Family Superheroes

Prince was thought up by my wife for Jack

Katie Bug was thought up by my wife for Kate

Jake and Louise's Family Superheroes

Energetic is Gwen's superhero.

Peter's Family Superheroes

Captain Hong Kong

Brett and Carry's Family Superheroes

Night Talon

Captain Clueless

Rat Face

Sunbeam





Explosive Dude

Asteroid Man

Roger and Mindy's Family Superheroes

Fizz

Skylla

Stone Samurai

Disc Man

David and Tanya's Family Superheroes

Timeless

Petal

Christmas Bug

Shawn and Sam's Family Superheroes

The Climber

Xam




The Roman

Aaron's Family Superheroes

Superheroes

A.J.'s Superheroes

Superheroes

Other Family Superheroes

Superheroes

Other Superhero creations

Last summer we visited the Spears in California and their two oldest boys created these fantastic super heroes, even drawing their ideas themselves! I loved the ideas they came up with and had to draw them! I've put each boy's original drawing to show their original idea as well as to show how I much I tried to stay true to their vision.

The first is Night Wolf by Ryan Spears, who wanted a werewolf type superhero with (much to the thrill of his mother) long sharp claws, pointy teeth, shaggy dark hair and a gorilla-type bare chest. Here's Ryan's original drawing.

When showing me his idea, Ryan said the pose of the character was very important so my drawing started with that. I also really loved his Godzilla/Reptile/Dinosaur shape head so tried to stay true to that as well. Why is the skin of his paw a different color than that of his chest? Just one of the mysteries of the incredible creature known as the Night Wolf!

Grant's superhero is Night Blaster, a sleek and powerful armored hero. Here's Grant's original drawing to show me his idea for Night Blaster, including handy color guide!

Finished Night Blaster--I really liked this guy's double fisted posture in Grant's original drawing, and had to put it into the finished hero.

Captain El Salvador

Bowel Care Man

Other superhero art

Here I will place scans of other superhero art done by me.

Other Art

Here I will place scans of non-superhero art done by me