Super Sunday: Superhero Aliens

If I’m going to be doing another year of creating aliens, and I am, I am going to have to mix it up from time to time to keep my interest up. This month, I’m going to retrace my steps, going through all the previous Super Sunday themes, but with aliens. This week, Superheroes:

Power Pllvm

A young Pllvm named Vmplupl was roaming through a coral forest one day when she discovered a cave that she had never seen before. Looking inside, she found a glowing rock that pulsated with otherworldly energy. Though fascinated by the sight of the beautiful stone, Vmplupl soon fell unconscious. When she awoke, she had drifted some way away from the cave, only to return and find the rock gone. The energy of the stone, however, seemed to live on inside Vmplupl’s body. She soon discovered that she had gained amazing speed, strength, durability, and other powers. Using these powers to fight crime and avert disasters, Vmplupl has become known as the Power Pllvm, a champion for the downtrodden and the weak.

Universe: Blue

Graats

Graats is the product of selective breeding and experimental nurturing and the best training that money can buy. He is the ultimate Dellwellian soldier, the very peak of combat on this world. Graats served as a loyal grunt for the army that created him, but only because they were fighting enemies that he decided were worthy of being fought. Once they tried to send him against foes that seemed innocent. After that, Graats chose to leave the army and if they thought they could stop him, he said, they were welcome to try. Now Graats makes it his business to bring down criminal organizations that specialize in things like assassination.

Universe: Orange

Shrog Manthott

Shrog Manthott is a member of the Myriad Worlds Police Service, which is a law-enforcement agency that not only serves many planets, but also traverses universes to make sure no multi-universal threats can rise to threaten all of existence. Armed with a highly durable shield (that contains incredible computing) devices and a whip-like weapon/restraint that responds to his thoughts, Manthott can face all manner of supervillainous threats. Manthott is a no-nonsense, business-minded, by-the-books cop and respects jurisdiction, so when travelling to a world that is not under MWPS purview, such as Earth, his abilities are limited. But that doesn’t mean he’ll give up. Shrog Manthott will keep doing his job until the moment he dies.

Universe: From beyond the Local Multiverse, but living in Universe White

Super Sunday: The Universes.

I think I’m done doing Superheroes on Sunday for now. It wasn’t a year, as I said it would be, but since I started doing two a week at one point, I think I’ve earned the right to move onto villains when I feel like it.

But before I do that, let us review what has come so far. I said I would populate four universes with superheroes. With the creation of the Beam(s), I started fleshing those universes out a bit. But now I’ll go considerably further.

Universe Green

Let’s say that superhumans and supertechnology first appeared in the late 1800s. The sort of scientific advancements you’d expect to see in a novel by Wells or Verne contributed to a sort of steampunk society. As time went on, portals to other dimensions (like the Narnia or Oz books) allowed humanity glimpses of other worlds and allowed still more technological progress. By the 1930s, pulpish heroes had adventures all over the world and on other planets. By the time the 1940s rolled around we got heroes that resemble those of our Golden Age of superhero comics. With a history like this it is not a surprise that by the modern day humans are spread throughout the galaxy and Earth is a complex world of advanced cityscapes. Superheroes here are relatively common, employed by law enforcement agencies and governments, but also rogues and vigilantes.

This pulp/sci-fi/Golden Age world would be home especially to heroes that fill those niches. Gus Comet is definitely here, as are the Red Shark and the Green Camera. Other possibilities include Astro-Hero, Bludgeonak, ProboscAce, Halberd-Man, and the Scarlet Cannon.

Universe Orange

Suppose that the coming of the superheroes happened during the Second World War. Their arrival ended the war years earlier than in our world, and the world had to adjust to all these colorful costumed characters. In the 1950s World War Three occurred, a war between superpower nations with superpowered soldiers. At the end of that war, William Block was the Secretary General of the United Nations and he created a unit called Block’s Elite Strike Team, which would grow to be the primary peacekeeping unit in a world filled with superhuman threats of all varieties. Through the 60s a slew of “super-criminals” came into being, many disillusioned WWIII veterans, and accordingly superpowered crimefighters came as a result. As society grew more accustomed to famous people with code names, it became common for celebrities who didn’t fight crime to take on aliases (a singer might call himself, the Mighty Voice or Songmaster or who knows what other nonsense). Supervillainy has had its effect on society as well: street gangs wear capes and masks to show their colors, and even some of the world’s military uniforms have been designed to look like super-costumes. On this Earth, superhumanity is a world-shaping force, and their constant fighting is starting to reach dangerous levels that could result in the end of humanity itself.

This is the world that is home to my Justice-Man character and all the supporting cast I made for him. Most of the other characters I made circa Junior High call this world home. That includes: Rhinoceros Woman and Rabbit, Helm, and the Strange Squad (including but not limited to Cut-Up, Forcefieldo, and Brain Pain). But it isn’t only the heroes I created then, many of the ones invented for Super Sunday would also be in here. Securer, Vanquisher, HAULER, and the Crew of the Cosmic would also be among this world’s multitude of heroes. The overall feel of this world, with its long history of superhuman activity and the overabundance of costumed chaos, kind of reflects what I would have seen in comics during my formative years (and today).

Universe Red

The bad universe. A world where bad guys are winning and good guys are few and far between. The coming of superhumans here has not been pretty. The world’s most advanced remaining societies are now dystopian nightmares and the countries that aren’t as lucky have been reduced to almost post-apocalyptic scars on the surface of the Earth.

The most prominent heroes here are Lex Techno and his Raid Force Zero (Captain Fire was a member of this group). The Blue Cloak and Killshadow. And to keep things organic, I’ll throw in some who were not specifically created to be in especially dark worlds, like Monstrona.

Universe White

A universe where superheroes haven’t yet had a huge effect on society and the jury is still out about how they will change the world. Will they bring about an end to crime and warfare, or will society crumble? This is the universe where I’m placing most of the characters who have turned up in Super Sunday that I find the most interesting. In a way it is what I consider my ideal superhero universe to write about.

Home to: Noblewoman and the Surrealist. Skullserpent. The Orbzoid. Horribloid. Volcanocles. Queen Deathknell. Drona. Demonoclast. Securitaur. The Astounding Gunk. The Guild of Crime Fighters.

Super Sunday: Dayguard and Montoroloxi

Dayguard

Do monsters only come out at night? Do only shadows hide lurking evil? Is the sunlight a safe place? No. Monsters live in the daytime. Evil exists in in the broad daylight. If there’s any safety in sunlight it is thanks to the Dayguard.

Since time immemorial, a champion has been chosen to protect the world from mystical beings and evil spirits that walk among us. They live in our cities, not our wilderness. They can look like us, they can look like animals, they can look like monsters, or they can be invisible, but they are there. And the Dayguard is the only one who can find them. Many Dayguards of old have been locked up as insane, but Kennedy Light, the current Dayguard, strives to continue her work no matter how thankless.

I’m a nocturnal person and I think of the night as a perfectly pleasant time. Other people don’t feel that way, which is why so many horror takes place in the dark. But that is not a requirement of horror, so when I drew and named Dayguard on a whim, I decided that it might be good as a setting for Daylight Horror stories.

Montoroloxi the Magnificent

Planet Szunkring is highly a highly advanced world with sprawling metropolises and wonderful technology. But there is another side to Szunkring. The world’s abundant resources are fought over and those who get some use their resources primarily to get more and protect what they have. As a result, those with wealth have power and those without, have little. This division has created a suffering, desperate class of beings, some of whom are fed up and resort to violence, but others who just dejectedly go about their lives, unable to live up to the potential their great world should allow. But then there is Montoroloxi! Having invented a powerful suit of armor that can fly, lift great weights, survive direct bomb blasts, and much more. With this power Montoroloxi is fighting the status quo. Living in the wilderness, Montoroloxi has begun his quest to change things by helping the lower class. Raiding the rich and the corrupt, Montoroloxi finances his quest to build schools and hospitals for those who can’t afford the existing ones. Montoroloxi’s radical actions are not unnoticed, though. He has caught the attentions of the Council of Bosses, a corrupt group among the wealthy, have put their Security Minions into service to seek out the armoured upstart and bring him down. Can Montoroloxi survive to see his plans to fruition?

Montoroloxi is based off an old sketch of mine. The idea that he is some sort of power-armored alien Robin Hood is new, though. What does he look like under the armor? I’ll decide that the day that it actually matters. I have no idea where I came up with that weird idea for how his planet works.

Super Sunday: Valia and Cephalophore

Valia

Valia of the Astrolympians is the space god of courage. Great and powerful, she appears on Earth to help the downtrodden in their time of need and to make the oppressed capable of challenging tyrants. Long ago, Valia’s father, the Great Genitor, fought against his ancient brothers, the Emptinesses, for the sake of the universe. Genitor was wounded, he slumped over and his blood pooled around him. Genitor felt defeated until, rising from his blood, Valia appeared to aid him in his fight. Together, father and daughter were powerful enough to banish the Emptinesses to the Outer Places. Genitor now had space in which creation could occur.

You can’t really tell in my drawing, but Valia would have the facial appearance of a black woman. Generally, if a cosmic being in comics has a humanoid appearance with a human skin tone, they look white. Why continue that trend? Anyway, if I told stories of Valia, I’d try to find some balance between old school mythological, gods who appear and inspire mortals (by posing as humans and such) and comic style gods, who fight everything always.

Cephalophore

Though beheaded, Miriam Dunville is not dead. She can not only walk and talk as well as ever, she’s actually stronger, faster, and more agile than she ever had been before. Though Miriam has no idea how she managed to survive, or how she still does, she has decided that her continued existence is a miracle and, as such, she must do everything in her power to deserve that miracle. In addition to attempting to solve the attempted murder that left her like this, Miriam takes the time to help any and all she sees in need.

It is, to put it slightly, not easy to fight crime while holding your own head. Luckily for Miriam, she is able to swing herself by her hair or throw her head at criminals with either feeling pain or taking damage.

This is the second, at least, superhero I’ve created who rams their face into opponents. What is that about, PDR?

Super Sunday: Club Man and Wizardog

Club Man

Conrad was a young construction worker who fell off a roof, but the ground he hit wasn’t the pavement below. Somehow, Conrad fell into a dimensional tear leading to Ogretropolis, a city for ogres. With no way to return home, Conrad had to fend for himself in that strange town, eventually finding a job as an exterminator (his relatively small size helped him get into areas the big ogres couldn’t and he fight the dog-sized insectoid pests). When he had made enough money, Conrad was finally able to pay a magician to send him home. Back on Earth, Conrad realized he had grown stronger and his enchanted club was more powerful than most Earth-material. With these advantages, it was easy for Club Man to continue cleaning up pests, but this time it is the criminal variety that is on the receiving end of his wallopings.

I’ve always been drawn to big dumb good guy characters. There’s something I relate to in the fellow who is strong and stupid as an ox, but it still a decent guy. I feel like that character was all over the place in my youth, but is less common now. I’m not at all surprised by the conventional “twist” on the trope by having the big guy also be smart, that happens all the time now, so I just wanted to harken back to the lovable dumb strong guy.

Wizardog

Who is a good dog? Wizardog is! Yes he is!

With mystic powers passed down from the ages, Wizardog protects mankind from various threats and creatures from Realms Beyond. Intelligent enough to communicate with humans, Wizardog doesn’t bother, with the exception of little Maggie Bronson, his owner. Wizardog wages his war in secret, expecting nothing in return, except a scratch behind the ears at the end of the day.

Super Animals are one of those elements of superhero comics that some people don’t like. As with all the other weird stuff I’ve mentioned over the course of this year, I think super animals can be done well. I won’t be happy until we get Krypto in a Superman movie. It’s a shame Hollywood hates me so much. (It’s not a superhero comic, but an excellent example of pets fighting supernatural stuff would be Beasts of Burden. Read that thing.)