Usually on my Super Sunday post I try to create some superhero that would fill some hole I see in our action heroes of the day, or I just make something up on the spot, probably based around a terrible name. Well this month I am doing something different: Last year, before the Super Sunday even began, I brought you a story about Justice-Man, a hero I made up back in Junior High times. Well the thing is that Justice-Man had a large supporting cast, and have been stuck in my notes for more than a decade. This month we’re going to have four Super Sundays dedicated to the friends of Justice-Man. (Some of them, however, may fill holes in society’s current crop of action heroes of the day, and we’re almost guaranteed some terrible names.)

Justice-Woman

Kimberly Mills was the only daughter of a former superhero, but before she was old enough to realize that, her father adopted a troubled teenage boy. The boy had been born and created to be an assassin and had only recently been freed from the organization that treated him as a weapon. While there was some concern about young Kim being in such close proximity to a former killer, but it turned out that she was a humanizing influence on Alex. They became very close. Eventually Alex Mills would grow up to be the superhero Justice-Man and Kim, who inherited her father’s super-speed powers, became Justice-Girl, hoping to be a sidekick to her brother. While Alex wanted to keep Kim out of danger, her ability to come along and help him out before he even sees her meant that she was hard to stop. Eventually, though, Kim had to leave for university. Her super-speed meant that she could still go to Toronto to visit her brother on occasion, but eventually she decided that it would be easier to just do crimefighting on her own. That continues to this day when, as Justice-Woman, she is one of the world’s foremost superheroes working as the leader of her own superhero team.

So anyway, I wanted to say that Justice-Woman was something of a change of pace from most girl versions of more well-known superheroes. She has her own set of powers, her own career, and doesn’t exist just to work alongside her brother. I wanted to say that, but when I consulted my notes, it turned out that I didn’t even have a first name written down for her. I guess that I can excuse young me for ignoring Justice-Woman’s development, I was obsessed with Justice-Man and not really trying to use him for social commentary, but I have to say I could do a better job of telling stories for her today than I did then.

Metalfist

Hugh Duval has a big suit of armor that gives him superhuman strength and the ability to shoot energy burst from his eye-slot. He uses this to fight crime alongside Justice-Man.

Metalfist is an oddity. I’ve drawn him into pretty much every sketch I ever did of Justice-Man’s friends, he exists on every list I made of that group. I have no information about the guy. If I ever did have an idea about who this guy was beyond being a friend of J-Man, I apparently didn’t write it down. To tell the truth, I feel like maybe I just drew him into my crowd scenes becaus he was easy to draw. And considering that his suit of armor there is, apparently, covering him entirely in metal, I have no idea why his fists are the part he has decided to name himself after.

Cut-Up

Cut-Up is a part time superhero, part time stand up comedian. His career in comedy began before the other one, in fact he was working at a small club in New York when he was one of dozens of people caught in an explosion caused by a supervillains doomsday machine malfunctioning. Some people were killed, some were wounded, but this comedian was instead changed: He found that he could transform any part of his body at will into blades or spikes. His minor celebrity and his newfound powers combined to lead him into the circle of superhuman celebrities (shapeshifting actors, cyborg stunt-men, super-strong wrestlers, etc.) but he found his experiences with them to be hollow or soul-numbing. It wasn’t until he met some actual superheroes and saw how they used their powers that he really understood what he could do with his life. He joined the Strange Squad and has served with them ever since, but not without taking time to do stand-up.

Cut-Up is another one of those superheroes I created as a kid. At some point I wrote down the name and the idea that he was a comedian, then did a little doodle (Cut-Up had hair then, but I figure he is older now). The decision to have him be a member of the Strange Squad was also I have to stress that if I ever made a comic with the Strange Squad, Cut-Up would definitely not be tossing wisecracks and acting wacky in the style of the “funny” members that every superhero team seems to have. Cut-Up would be dry and sarcastic, sure, but no more so than anyone else. I don’t seem to have ever given Cut-Up a real name as a kid, and I still haven’t.

Monstora

Monstora is the child of a monster and a heroic monster hunter who realized that they had more in common than they thought. She doesn’t know that, though, having been raised in an orphanage after her parents realized that they also had a lot that was not in common, then killed each other. Now called Carla Smith, she does not know the origin of her ability to transform parts of herself into monster-forms, but so far she finds it quite fun. Having used her powers to help people in her small town, she is making a name for herself as a superhero, but she has also caught the notice of a family of monsters who recognize the energy signature of the powers, and the notice of an ancient order of monster hunters who investigate such sightings. Now both of those groups are coming to that small town and Monstora will have a lot on her plate.

Monstora is one I made up on the spot. I basically just drew a hero with weird monster limbs and had to come up with something to do with that. Done.

Robotomaton

When the Robotomaton was first built, it was simply a machine, an unthinking device designed to entertain at science expos and fairs or simply by walking around. Over the course of decades, its creators continued to upgrade the machine and add more gadgets and tricks for the machine to perform. Eventually, though, it started acting in ways that they could not explain. The Robotomaton is purely clockwork, though. There is no actual “mind” in the machine, not even in computer form, but the Robotomaton had apparently developed consciousness. But nobody, including the Robotomaton itself, can explain where or when that consciousness began.

Now that it could think and reason for itself, the Robotomaton sought to find a place in society, but society was hesitant to allow it. To gain the trust of humanity, the Robotomaton took to performing humanitarian tasks like fighting fires and crime. When that became a habit, the Robotomaton found its place: as a superhero.

I mentioned with HAULER that I think robot sentience is taken for granted in superhero comics. So while HAULER would be a robot without that intelligence, the Robotomaton could be used to explore the concept philosophically. How did a clockwork man become intelligent, and is it any different than a human is intelligent? These are questions that the Robotomaton would struggle with regularly. Between punching things.

ProboscAce

While piloting an experimental aircraft, test pilot Captain Lloyd Taylor encountered an unidentified flying object. He lost control of his plane, then lost consciousness. A week later Taylor awoke as the military found him and the plane safely resting in a forest, but Taylor now had some sort of metallic appendage attached to his face. While he could not account for his whereabouts, Taylor soon discovered that the prehensile proboscis was a handy tool that could lift incredibly heavy objcts, somehow without ripping his face off, and even defect bullets. Making the most of this strange turn of events and he became the military’s new secret weapon: The ProboscAce!

I’m not going to pretend that I can justify this one as anything more than a silly idea that came to me and I knew I had to commit. I didn’t even put enough thought into it to make the pilot aspect as a conscious decision, but once I had a name that included the word “Ace” and I saw those goggle-things that almost remind me of aviation goggles, it all came together. I am confident that if I told a ProboscAce story he would be a bit of a show-off and I can guarantee that he would fly planes with his feet up, his hands behind his head, and his proboscis on the wheel.

The Red Shark

Murray Carter was an archaeologist studying a shipwreck when he was caught in a freak electrical storm. Struck by some sort of mystical red lightning bolt that caused his body to adapt to the undersea environment. Strong enough to withstand the pressures of the deep sea and able to swim faster than the quickest sea animals, Murray created the identity of “the Red Shark” to fight some pirates who tried to steal the archaeological findings. Since then the Red Shark has continued to fight crime on the high seas.

The aquatic superhero is a tradition almost as old as the superhero itself, with guys like Namor and Aquaman dating back to 1939 and 1941 respectively. While everybody loves to make jokes at Aquaman’s expense (because the Internet will always love an easy running gag), these guys are a tradition that I had to get in on, so the Red Shark is the result. It is, of course, worth noting that I probably hold the world record for writing the most Haikus about Namor.

The Green Camera

Matthew Callahan was an intrepid award-winning reporter known for putting himself at risk to get at the truth. On one case, however, Callahan was shot in the hip and left unable to walk. When appearing on a radio show to tell his story. The broadcast was picked up by aliens who, liking the cut of Callahan’s jib, came to him in the night and gave him a device they called the Green Camera.

When holding the alien Camera, Callahan can fly, but that is not its primary use. As you would expect, the Camera takes pictures. The Camera sees only the truth. In addition to being able to zoom in and all that sort of thing, its images can see through any sort of untruth. The disguises of alien conquerors and spies alike fall apart through the eye of the Green Camera. Also, it has a blinding flash that can be useful. With all this, Callahan is able to once again fight for truth and justice.

This is a pretty straight-up Green Lantern-inspired hero. I’ve always liked the image of the (I think) Golden Age Green Lantern carrying the big lantern around, so that’s why the Green Camera here gets a big bulky device, instead of a little ring (or camera phone).

Volcanocles

What happens when a radioactive meteor falls to Earth and lands in a radioactive volcano? Volcanocles happens!

Volcanocles, the volcano that walks like a man, is a fearless champion, a raucous warrior, a man of rock and magma who strides the Earth like the heroes of old. With the strength of a demi-god and the powers of a volcano, Volcanocles is a larger than life figure like those of myth. He is very concerned about his reputation and will go out to fight monsters just for the renown and he will challenge other heroes to competitions. Still, he’s one of the good guys and his grand sense of honor means that you can count on him to be on your side when there’s some big and important threat to deal with. And afterward he will be the first one to buy you all drinks (alcohol works on man-volcanos, I guess).

Diamondtough

The Fighting Diamond was a superhuman vigilante who fought crime in her crime-addled neighborhood for a decade until her powers faded. She missed the superhero life, but found other, perhaps superior, ways to support her community as a lawyer. Eventually she gave birth to a daughter, Maggie, who, upon reaching puberty, developed the same super strength and amazing durability that the Fighting Diamond had had.

Styling herself as “Diamondtough” Maggie starts her own superhero career, against the wishes of her mother, who has come to realize that beating up criminals isn’t necessarily the best way to improve the world. Maggie, meanwhile, is very aware that her powers will probably not last forever and could fade like her mother’s did and wants to do as much as she can with them as fast as she can.

Diamondtough was one of those drawn-on-the-spot sketches. We’ve got a pretty simple premise here: rebellious teenage daughter in conflict with mother. I threw the concept of her superhero identity being a legacy thing, because it really gives the mother more credibility on the topic.