RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Writer's Block The Champions : Beginnings and Origins.

In this thread, I will explain the origins of the group I have created called The Champions, and relate to you the origins of the heroes who are members of this group.

Sometime around 1966 or 67, I was getting myself ready to accompany my mother while she visited her parents.

My grandfather never spoke to me. He was a strange, aloof, unhappy old man, who had had to work very hard to support his family which consisted of himself, my grandmother, my three uncles and my mother. My grandmother had had a stroke in 1959, and was unable to walk or talk.

I knew I would be largely ignored while my mother and her youngest brother conversed. He lived at home to care for my grandparents and for my autistic uncle. My third uncle had moved to California years ago. He has since passed on, as has my autistic uncle just this past April.

I always stuffed a couple of large supermarket style bags full of toys to occupy myself there. This time was different, as my mother had thought to bring along several of those huge sheets of paper kids used in school in those days to write and illustrate their stories. The sheets had a space at the bottom for several lines of print, and a huge blank space at the top for drawing a picture.

She gave me the huge sheets of paper and a sharpened
pencil.

I got to work right away! I drew a picture of the Titanic as it was sinking in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. I added several figures on the boat, each using his or her powers to try and save the doomed ocean liner.

I created some heroes of my own that day, as I had grown weary of doodling endless sketches of The Fantastic Four, The Legion Of Super Heroes, Spiderman, Superman, The JLA, and The Avengers.

The first one I created was Lasergirl. She could fire laser beams from her hands. She was my answer to the lame super powers that most girl super heroes had back in 1967. Walking through walls, shrinking, and splitting into two or three seperate bodies were not powerful enough abilities in a world where Galactus, Blastaar, Dr. Doom, Lex Luthor, Brainiac, and The Composite Superman were continually threatening the world on a daily basis.

Lasergirl could punch holes through the strongest steel with her laser blasts. She could temporarily blind a foe with her light powers, and would gain many new wondrous powers in the years to come.

Lasergirl wore a green long sleeve, tight fitting blouse with a large black "L" in a white circle on the left side of her blouse. ( Think Laverne from " Laverne and Shirley", with the big "L" stitched onto all her sweaters and blouses!)

She had a black mini skirt, and high black go go boots. She wore her long black hair in bangs. I had seen a photo of Grace Slick on thecover of the recently released album by Jefferson Airplane called "Surrealistic Pillow", and used Grace as the template for her appearance.

Lasergirl was a strong willed character. She was very determined and a good friend.

Then there was Supergiant Guy. Remember, I was only ten or so, hence the really lame name!

He could grow to giant size, and like Hank Pym, AKA Goliath of the Avengers, could also shrink to ant size.

I changed his name to Goliath in 1982, during a period when I designed new costumes and powers for existing members, and created several new heroes for the group at that time.

Supergiant Guy wore an outfit similar to the early X Men outfits of 1964; you know, those old yellow and dark blue ones.

I created an energy based character. He was called Energy Kid. He was patterned after the Human Torch, but could turn his body into energy instead of a flaming plasma as the Torch did. He could fire energy rays, fly, go into space and underwater without the need of a protective suit.

There was Tiny Girl, my version of The Legion's Shrinking Violet.

There was also a super strong robot, a super strong male human, and a girl who wielded electricity, similar to those of Lightning Lad and Electro.

I never actually drew my own comics, not yet. Back then, I was content to just draw my heroes in battle scenes.


Next Chapter : 1971, where I finally began writing and drawing my own comic books.

Fast forward a few years in time, and I was now 13 years old ....it was January or February 1971.

I had an idea. What if I bought a sketch pad, and colored markers, and wrote and drew my own comic books?

My mom got me a Morilla sketch pad..it had 30 pages or so, and the pages were big! I used both sides of the sketch pad, which meant each issue could be a sixty page "special ", as comic books were called in those days.

I had to buy the colored markers myself.

I had by this time added my own version of the fantastic four to my group, which was now called " The Mighty Heroes", after the cartoon which featured Rope Man, Cuckoo Man, Diaper Man, Strong Man, and Tornado Man.

The line up of The Mighty Heroes in 1971:

Mr. Fantastic - Super stretching powers.

Athleto - was several times as strong, as agile, and as fast as a normal man. Lame name, though!

Invisible Girl - Could turn invisible and create invisible force fields. Surprise!

Powerman - Super strength.

Energy Kid - Possessed energy powers.

The Human Torch - Flame powers.

Laser Girl - Laser powers.

Electric Girl - Electric powers.

Robot Man - Powers similar to Iron Man, except he was a robot.

Anti Grav Kid - He could fly. That's all he could do.

Supergiant Guy - Could become a giant or shrink to ant size.

Tiny Girl - you guessed it! She could shrink to microscopic size.

I copied comics I was reading, except I threw in some things from my imagination. The art was good for a 13 year old kid, but the writing..was terrible!

I wrote lines like: " Must help the others!", " Got to use all my power now!", and, " You'll never get away with this!"

Ugh.

I never seemed to be able to finish a story. I was good at starting them, I just seemed to be unable to make up my mind on how to end them!

As I had to pay for the colored markers out of my own allowance, that ended quickly, as the markers proved to be a big expense. They ran out of color very quickly.

I did continue my home made comics into my mid teens, quitting by age 16.

There was one other character I have not discussed. He was not a member of the group. He was their mysterious
wealthy benefactor. You never saw him, but he was mentioned. He paid the bills for The Mighty Heroes' head quarters, their jets, weapons, salary, etc. He would play a big part in the group several years later.

Move ahead to 1977. It was my third and final year of college. I began drawing my own heroes again. This time, for the next 2 - 3 years, all I did was make my own versions of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and "The Empire Strikes Back", using my own heroes. I had added Mr. Spock and The Bionic Woman to my group. Hey, it was the 70's! I even killed Mr Spock in the summer 1980. He had to go aboard an alien space ship and sabotage the engines. He died saving the Bionic Woman, Lasergirl, and Athleto, who got away in the Millenium Falcon. I never did bring Spock back. Lucky thing they did that in " Star Trek 3: The Search For Spock."

Fast forward again to 1980. I turned 23 that summer. I once again picked up my comic book drawing.

This time, however, I did not use my own characters.

I began drawing my own Legion Of Super Heroes comics. Some stray pages survived; I might post them sometime.

I added Lasergirl to the Legion. She was the only one of my original characters who somehow found herself in the 30 th century.

My writing began to improve by this time. The stories and dialogue were no longer laughable. The art was steadily improving, too.

I moved the Legion in my own direction. They fought giant super robots, living planets, and advanced alien races.

I got bored with that, though. I wanted to draw and write my own characters and stories again.

I just needed a little inspiration.....

Continued soon.

1982 - 1990


It was spring 1982. March, maybe April? I was in George's 1974 Caprice Classic convertible. The car was silver, with a black top. The top was up that day, not just due to the fact that it wasn't warm enough to have it down, but because it was raining hard that day. We were enroute from West Phila. to the 100 acre farm he owned in Maryland.

The trip usually took about 3.5 hours, unless there was heavy traffic. That day, there was both. The trip seemed endless. I was 24, and quite impatient back then.

Both cats were in their travel case, as George needed no distractions while driving through the heavy downpour. The radio was silent for that reason.

I was silent, too, but my boredom must have showed.

" Didn't you bring something to do in your knapsack?" he asked me.

" Yeah, I brought a note book and pens with me."

" Why don't you write or draw in it?"

I took the marble faced composition book out from the knapsack that was in my lap, opened it up and began doodling.

I began drawing super hero battles, only I once again used heroes of my own making.

I started thinking about that extremely wealthy benefactor who had funded the group I'd created years earlier. I had drawn a giant older man with a beard, a big stomach and a ponytail who had been fighting the Legion in a comic I had drawn recently.

I made him short and a bit fatter, and put him in a superhero outfit. He appeared to be about 60, but I decided he was actually about 35,000 years old. That would have placed his life as beginning about the time that Cro - magnon man first appeared on Earth. I created an origin for him that I will go into at length in the very near future.

I called him Grampa. He was to look like a man I had met only recently, yet be like George on the inside - stubborn, determined, kind, and caring.. but was not the kind of man you'd want to piss off. Grampa soon became 6'6", as I prefered him to be an imposing figure.

I gave him powers. He was 10x as strong, fast, and agile as a normal man. He could hurl his body's natural energy in the form of lightning bolts. He could reverse the physical condition of inanimate objects; Make a wrecked car new again, or fix a rope bridge that had been cut. He could make objects fast forward in time so quickly that a gun would burst into flames from oxidizing so quickly, and reverse a street into a sticky mess to catch crooks.

He had a high IQ..about 230. He resembles Ernest Hemingway somewhat. He could heal people with a touch, but only from something their body was capable of healing from... he could not cure cancer, Aids, etc. He could heal himself, as well.. he was physically very resilient, but could die if he expended too much energy at one time, thus causing him to age..too much exertion could kill him!

Grampa is gay but was bisexual for many centuries. He had had children. They develop super powers around puberty. They do not inherit Grampa's long life span. Imagine always outliving your own children. He does have several children in the group currently.

Then I brought back Lasergirl. I struggled to give her a new costume. I drew one up for her that did just fine until I drew one for her in 1987 or so that she still wears today! I gave her the ability to fly, hurl many different forms of light energy, walk through glass, and turn into pure light.

I took Kid Comet and Moleculad from Teen Force.

I made up a Wondergirl type character and called her Elektra.

I borrowed Iceman, who was not doing much in comics back then, anyway.

I created a few characters who made it to the comics I would soon write and draw.

I brought back Hyperboy, a Superboy type I had created in 1980. I gave him a younger, super powered brother and called him Powerboy.

I created Hyperion, the 20 year old son of Grampa who had been given up for adoption by his mother. Grampa never knew of this child's existance until a chance meeting with the mother of the woman who'd had Hyperion. He found Hyperion, whose real name is George, and things did not go well at first...Hyperion was bounced from one crappy foster family to another until age 18, when he went to college.

George has powers similar to Captain Mar - Vell. He and Grampa get along well now.

Around this time of creativity, I made up Mirage, my own version of Kitty Pryde... Heavy Metal, a Hawaiian fat guy who could turn into solid steel... The Huntress, who could use any one Earth mammal's abilities at a time... Diamond Jim, a 185 year old super strong, nearly invulnerable former slave.... and Golem, another long lived black man who is one of the strongest beings on Earth, ten feet tall, and who has a kind heart.

I also created Warrior, my own version of Karate Kid, but this guy is 16 and has 10 x the strength of a normal man and knows many forms of self defense. He is not related to Grampa, but is in love with Grampa's 15 year old telekinetic, telepathic, teleporting daughter, Samantha, whom I created in 1989, along with Pulsar, Grampa's son from a parallel dimension who has all the powers of a Green Lantern..only naturally, without the need of a power ring.

The stories and writing steadily improved, as did the art.
I started and completed multi issues sagas.

Around 1982, I created a major bad guy..Lord Gra.. I got the name off of a license plate.." Gra 179." Gra is..well, you'll learn about him very soon!

I also used Selene from Marvel comics, and Deathray from DC. I created a superstrong guy named Havok, who was every bit as strong as Golem. Then there was Syphon, capable of absorbing temporarily anyone's powers and abilities. Icicle, with her Iceman - like powers, and Titania, a 7 foot tall super strong villainess.. and I also decided to use The Master from Dr. Who, because he is a terrific villain.

I gave this all up around 1990..work, a social life and living between two places was time consuming.

Around 1994, I began to really miss my heroes, who had started off in 1982 as The Ultra Heroes, but became The Champions shortly after that.

I began writing stories about the group. I still have many of those stories. You are seeing some of them finally in print in my " Tales Of The Champions" thread. I have many other ideas yet to be written.

Next : The Secret origin of Grampa!

More work on this thread - comming soon!

I think for now, this thread will be more of a talk thread. The characters origins' are coming soon in the present storyline.

The frustrating thing is, I have had all these characters in my head for 25 years ... and I know them all very well ..
but anyone reading them won't see them as friends or as being interesting, until I bring out their personalities.

In the segment I wrote late last night, I started down the path of exploring the characters more.

I know it's crazy, doing a story with about 60 characters, not to mention the bad guys and peripheral characters, but I figured it would have taken TEN years to introduce ALL the Champions, one at a time!

That would have been too long.

So I am introducing all the heroes, all at once

This particular story line could go for another 18 months to 2 more years, even if I write in it two to three times a week.

Future storylines will usually have anywhere from 1 to 12 Champions in it.

The Champions are meant to be an All Star Squadron sorta thing. That was a great comic. I loved it. Still do.

I still have dozens of old ideas to share. I am certain I will come up with new ideas, too.

I edited Chapter 50. I feel it reads a bit more smoothly now.

Chapter 51 is now posted in Tales Of The Champions.

I had edited chapter 51 before I posted it here; apparently, I had not been as thorough as I thought I had been.

I found several spelling and grammatical errors. They have been corrected.

My mother came over for a visit today.

She read the new chapter. She told me that there is a dramatic improvement in my writing since chapter 49.

She had read a few chapters prior to the more recent ones.

She informed me that I had failed at describing people, places, and objects adequately.

At first, I was upset.

I gave what she had told me some thought.

I looked at what I had been writing and realized that she was indeed correct.

I extrapolated that future chapters could improve, but only if I made a greater effort at improving my writing technique.

I am currently taking a lot more time on each chapter. I post them on another site of mine and take a few days instead of a few hours to create a new segment of this story.

I want each chapter to be better than the one that preceded it. I am working harder to ensure this.

I'm loving writing more and more, and I want it to show.

Chapter 52 of Tales Of The Champions is now posted.

I was away at the shore in Delaware during May 17 to May 20, and have been very busy with projects around the apartment, but have begun work on a new chapter of Tales Of The Champions.

I will post it as soon as it is finished and edited.

Chapter 53 of Tales Of The Champions has been posted.

Another chapter of Tales Of The Champions: Coming soon!

Coming as soon as I edit it : Another chapter of " Tales Of The Champions."

bestill my heart

Coming soon: The NEXT to last chapter of the current storyline in Tales Of The Champions!

Chapter Fifty Nine of Tales Of The Champions has been posted.

This is the next to last chapter. After that, there will be the concluding chapter.

And then.. a new story line.

Coming soon: The final chapter to the current " Tales Of The Champions" story, which I started on March 16, 2006.

After that: Another story, which will feature only a few heroes in it, and won't be as long.

I have ideas for 8 or 9 more such stories, too.

The final chapter of Tales Of The Champions has been posted!

19 months in the making.. wow.

Coming soon:

A new story! I will use only a few characters in it. This will make the stories less confusing and much easier to follow.. and, easier for me to write, as this story I just finished had over 70 characters in it!

Chapter one of a new Champions' story entitled " Return Of The Overlord " will be posted soon.

Chapter one of "The return of the Overlord" has been posted.

It's a new storyline.

Coming soon!

Chapter Two of " Return of The Overlord."

Chapter two of " Return Of The Overlord" has now been posted.

Chapter Three of " Return Of The Overlord" has been posted.

Coming soon! Another chapter of " Return Of The Overlord"

Now posted: Chapter Four of Return of the Overlord.

FYI to everyone...

Please don't post random shit in someone's story or talk thread. Besides annoying me, it breaks up the flow.

If this gets to be a problem, I've got a real simple solution. Threads will get locked, and the only way to post will be to PM me. Let's not get to that stage, folks.