The Two Spirits

In fairy tales, a hero is a hero because he’s a hero. A dragon is a dragon because he’s a dragon. They don’t have reasons to be who they are, it’s their nature to be as they are. - paraphrasing C.S. Lewis.

Modern storytelling stands at the crossroads of two ways of imagining people. One is the novelistic impulse - the drive to enter a character’s psychology, to know their fears, wounds, and private justifications. The other is the older mythic pull, where a character represents an aspect of existence itself. A witch, a king, a wanderer, a giant - they are not who they are because of complex motivations, but because of the story they inhabit.

On Archetypes

There’s a lot of discussion about character archetypes. Scott McCloud, in Making Comics, suggests cartoonists design their characters according to archetypes not simply as visual shorthand, but as a way of conveying personality - almost like applying a cartooning technique to the psychology itself.

Comics Odyssey co-host cleverly uses the Strauss–Howe generational archetypes in the Scott McCloud sense. The generational archetypes - Prophet, Nomad, Hero, Artist - will appear in his upcoming graphic novel, Threat Quotient as represented by various characters with superpowers reflective of their respective generational archetypes. It’s a very cool idea! You should go back his kickstarter.

When I looked into Generational Theory, I found myself drawn to the archetypes’ causal factors: wars, collapses, renewals - the great rhythms said to shape generations so that, on average, they share certain traits. The naive entitlement of Boomers, the sarcastic cynicism of Gen X, the conformism of Homelanders, and so on. To recognize this is to see humanity collectively living out a pattern — a myth in time.

This, I think, is what Jonathan Pageau and others mean when they speak about what comes “after the novel.” The novel’s gift is its power to immerse us in characters’ inner worlds - even villains. But that gift can trap us in the granular, forever explaining motives and diagnosing wounds, while never quite touching the pattern that makes sense of it all.

For Everything, A Season

Much of the hand-wringing over “modern storytelling” seems rooted in this fatigue - a sense that we’ve analyzed the particular enough. We are rejecting the upheaval of story in service of character. It turns out people are starting to realize they don’t really want the witch’s perspective. Out with forensics, in with mythics.

I think this same tension underlies the currently eroding boundaries between the secular and the religious. With science we can describe what things are made of, but not what they’re for. A chair may factually be a cluster of molecules - but the Truth about the chair is that it is a thing for sitting. That is a story about the purpose of the object. Molecules don’t reveal purpose; stories do*.

Making Whole What Was Broken

In contrast to what forensics do, myths cohere into whole instead of fragment into parts. Myth is more than the components which make it up. Myth - or story - is the pattern which make the components apprehensible. The characters in a myth or fairy tale are what they must be so that the larger pattern can manifest.

Martin Shaw notes that healing - making whole - happens when we find a greater story to live inside. That’s what myths do. They don’t reconcile us through psychology or forensics; they reconcile us by showing us our place within a world of symbols larger than our inner motives or passions.

I’m beginning to see that the archetype of a character is not the highest pattern within a story. The story itself gives the archetype its purpose. The character doesn’t generate meaning - it participates in it.

wisely suggested to me that the best medicine for healing the culture war is a better culture. I promised I would think deeply on this. This is me keeping my promise. Rob is right about aiming higher. But I don’t think we build a better culture, I think we discover it and give ourselves over in service to it.

So yes, I’m planting my flag here: story > character. Parts < Myth < Meaning. That is the proper order of things. All in service of Purpose.

The Return To Order

All that said, I’m a modern man. I can’t claim to stand outside time. My still developing work inevitably carries the novelist’s impulse - the craving to explore the component parts. But my job now is to keep pressing outward, toward the greater pattern.

So that’s where I’ve landed: the deeper shape of a story matters more than any one thing inside it. Characters are still important, but they make sense only when they belong to something larger than themselves. That’s why I think the real task, in writing and in culture, is not just to explain people better, but to recover the bigger pattern they’re part of. We don’t create that pattern so much as learn to recognize it and live within it.

What do you think?

* The example I use is an admittedly simple story - “ this is a thing for sitting.” The point is that when we look at a chair, we don’t experience it as anything other than “thing for sitting.” Its molecules or any other fact about the chair never factor into our perception of its purpose. The molecules could be Jell-o, it wouldn’t change anything about what the chair really is. Facts are subordinate to meaning and purpose.

Another thing to note here is that “this is a cluster of molecules” is also a story. Ultimately, submission to story is inevitable. Science, like everything else is nested in story.

My list focuses solely on the visuals as they appeal specifically to me. But there were some criteria I followed. Some costumes carry storytelling value. Cyborg's half-man-half-robot look serves his origin. But on pure visual merit, it falls short. Choices must be donned costumes only. Ghost Rider, Firestorm, or Hulk transform into alter egos. That is not a costume. I limited selections to characters who suit up for missions. This is an article about costume design, not character design. Finally, I did not include any anti-heroes like Punisher or Judge Dredd. I also omitted Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man. Those rank so obviously high that they deserve separate treatment. The following are the main areas I focused on in terms of design criteria.

1. Silhouette. When blacked out completely, is the design recognizable? How much detail needs to be added to the silhouette before identity clicks?

2. Colour. Minimalism is preferred. Is the design clearly legible against busy backgrounds?

3. Graphic read. Does the overall design “read” clearly as uniquely this character?

4. Invulnerability. Is the costume designed in such a way as to look at least moderately good when drawn by various artists?

5. Sequential context. Does the costume look good in story (not just as a pinup). Therefore, I included non-pinup examples to demonstrate how the costume looks in context

The Countdown…

10. The Question (Ditko to Cowan era)

This is a Ditko design. Featureless face under a fedora is the stand out aspect of this costume. Blue trenchcoat drapes a sharp suit. You know what they say about a sharp-dressed man. I also like what Cowan did with the character in the late 80s, giving him a puffy jacket and ball cap which grounded the heady philosophy in the book in working class esthetics. This one would rank higher due to being my favourite character but the silhouette ends up being too generic noir detective. Which is why the beige trenchcoat and hat was a downgrade as it made the costume even more generic. (click on the gallery to view each image individually)I admit bias here, he could have been omitted from the top 10 entirely perhaps but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I just really love the look of this character!

9. Huntress ( No Man’s Land Era - early 2000’s )

I really like the purple in this one. At first glance you may think this one doesn’t cut a silhouette. But like Dr Mid-Nite’s owl, Huntress’ crossbow or Bo Staff acts as an accessory which identifies her (like Green Arrow’s longbow). She has a distinctive spidery domino mask with pointy ends in some designs which protrude through her long flowing hair. She also wears a prominent cross as a nod to her Catholic faith and this can be used as an interesting visual point of interest. Huntress has suffered from too many redesigns. I’ve included what I think are the best ones in the gallery below. I do think the white striping is better to the purple striping due to it offering higher contrast.

8. Green Arrow

Though I have no special affinity for this character his costume design meets all the criteria I set. It cuts a distinct silhouette. And is unmistakably identifiable with the character. It’s also simple enough to stand out from any context. Though I am somewhat biased against the derivative Robin Hood concept, I can not deny this is a solid costume design.

7. Hawkman

Hawkman looks like he once who raided a mythological armory and left with everything. The gigantic hawk helmet alone gives him an umistakable silhouette. The harness straps form a clear X across his chest, which is a strong design in itself. The wings instantly communicate who he is from any angle, and they fill panels with shape and motion. This design looks ancient and tough. All of this also applies to Hawkgirl.

6. Dr. Fate

Dr. Fate is one of those rare costumes where you can strip away everything but two elements - the helmet and the cape - and still instantly know who you’re looking at. In fact, you could strip away the cape too and the helmet is so recognizable it would suffice (see above example). Fate works astonishingly well across artists and eras because it’s mostly big, simple shapes. It’s also one of the few “sorcerer” designs that doesn’t collapse into generic robes. Whether it’s Kent Nelson, Inza, or later legacies, the silhouette remains powerful and legible, and the costume always looks better when it’s actually doing something in-story like floating or looming in a doorway.

5. Black Bolt

Designed by Kirby, this could have been a very plain black suit, but the accoutrements elevate this design to superb. The tuning fork on his forehead is an immediate icon,. The design is spiffed up with silver chevrons and piping that cut across his torso and limbs. They form a lightning/sonic motif that’s subtle enough not to be corny. The wing-like underarm glider membranes give him a distinctive profile (I theorize he was aping Ditko’s Spider-Man here) when in flight. It’s a deceptively simple design that nearly any artist can handle (though those wingblades require patience). The design is regal and alien, which is exactly what you want from the king of a hidden race.

4. Moon Knight

The all-white concept is rare in superhero comics but this design leans into that. The cowl design is sculpted rather than realistic to make the character’s visage more ghostly. The cape which flows from the hood is enormous. It can drape like a shroud, slice across panels like a blade, or balloon into abstract shapes, depending on the artist. This character works great in gloomy night scenes, striking strong contrast against the dark backgrounds. Because the core shapes are so simple, different artists can impose their own style without losing the graphic read. Some artists draw the character’s torso in black. But on the street, under lamplight, covered in grime, the white costume actually looks better, because the dirt and shadow just make the whites that remain even more striking. The all-white concept has been improvised on with different variations and remains recognizable due to its originality.

3. Nightwing

The modern Nightwing costume is a perfect example of refining a messy concept into something sleek. The black bodysuit with a single bold blue “wing” shape stretching from chest across the shoulders and down the arms is one of the clearest graphic reads in superhero comics. Because the design is mostly one large, simple shape on black, almost any artist can draw it well, and it doesn’t fall apart in complex cityscapes or crowded team shots. In motion, it cuts a sharp line across cityscapes. Nightwing is another character who accessorizes, but with escrima sticks.

2. Daredevil (red costume)

Daredevil’s red suit is almost pure reduction: no cape, minimal ornamentation, just two tiny accents on cowl. The “DD” insignia sports the classiest font in all of superhero comics. In silhouette, the horns and club holster are enough to separate him from any other generic acrobat, especially when he’s posed on a rooftop or a church spire. IN action, those billy clubs are very dramatic looking. The solid red body reads clearly against Hell’s Kitchen’s typically dark, cluttered environments; even when drenched in shadow, the red accents draw the eye.

There are costumes with strong silhouettes, but the bold read with the DD emblem stands out so strongly against his gritty urban environment. It’s so visually simple and arresting!

1. Captain America

This design demonstrates how blunt symbols can be used for graphic clarity. The bold star-centered chest emblem anchors the entire composition. The red and white striping keeps the torso visually active. There is no ambiguity what this character is about. And that’s the point.

The overall costume is instantly identifiable even as a shadow - shield, helmet wings, and pirate boots create a silhouette that’s almost archetypal. The design does rely on colour but still works in black & white. It’s equal parts military uniform and mythic armour, the perfect hybrid of practical and iconic. Kirby’s fundamental geometry make it indestructibly legible from any angle. The star-spangled motif should feel corny but Kirby made it all work!

Let’s discuss! Agree or disagree with my list! Drop your top picks below. Stay tuned for more!

You learn a lot about people when you rent to them. I’ve seen every type as evident in my latest article about my adventures in lordland (article linked below). Chronically late payers, hotheads, quiet professionals, mysterious loners and also the more sinister types.

I’ve developed a spidey-sense for who is going to make trouble. Though it’s far from perfect. People surprise me all the time! In a good way and a bad way. But I did learn that when alarm bells go off, to not ignore that. I have and it’s cost me a lot of stress and headache.

Anyway, my wife and I were hanging out and she asked me which comic book characters would I rent to? Who would actually make it past the rental screening? Let’s find out.

The conceit of this thought experiment is that I am a civilian and do not have the special knowledge of the comic reader. Therefore, the character’s “secret identity” is what I’m going on. Clark Kent shows up, he’s a farm boy to me, not Superman.

So here we go, the list of who I would and wouldn’t rent an apartment to.

Selina Kyle (Catwoman)

No credit history, no official job. Too many cats. Smells like trouble. Application NOT APPROVED!

Clark Kent (Superman)

A shoe-in. Polite, dependable, earns steady income as a reporter. Probably shovels the walk without being asked. Clean-cut and polite. Solid handshake. Ideal tenant material. Application APPROVED!

Peter Parker (Spider-Man)

Nice kid, but no steady job. Freelance photography doesn’t cut it in this market. References say he’s late on rent a lot. NOT APPROVED!

Barry Allen (The Flash)

Somehow late for the apartment showing. Doesn’t inspire confidence. NOT APPROVED!

Matt Murdock (Daredevil)

Comes in with disability income and a partner at a law firm. Courteous, professional if a bit moody. APPROVED!

Bruce Wayne (Batman)

Doesn’t fill out the rental form. Just buys the whole building. Never returns calls, but suddenly you get a raise and crime goes down in the area.

Johnny Blaze (Ghost Rider)

Occupation: “motorcycle stuntman.” That’s seasonal income at best, and the bike noise would have the neighbours in revolt by week two. Previous landlord’s building burnt down. NOT APPROVED!

Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow)

Highly composed. Beautiful, well put together. The application looks perfect - too perfect. References, income, ID, all flawless. Probably fake. But somehow, she still gets approved. Leasing agents have their biases. APPROVED!

Logan (Wolverine)

Previous landlords report he smokes indoors, damages walls, and there’s always some blood stained footprints leading to his door. Reference says “unresponsive to conflict resolution.” SUPER NOT APPROVED!

Diana Prince (Wonder Woman)

Pristine application, regal demeanor, excellent references from “Themyscira Embassy.” Graceful, likable. A dream tenant. SUPER APPROVED!

Wade Wilson (Deadpool)

Farts on the tenancy application. Pass. NOT APPROVED!

Frank Castle (The Punisher)

Shows up early, stone-faced. Says he works “in security.” References are either dead or missing. Smells like gun oil and bad memories. But previous landlords report he helps evict bad tenants and is exceedingly efficient at it. APPROVED!

Bruce Banner (The Hulk)

Polite and soft-spoken at the showing. Seems ideal. A quiet scientist with stable income. But past landlords report damages a security deposit won’t even begin to cover. Regretfully NOT APPROVED!

Harley Quinn

Charming and bubbly until she brings that creepy boyfriend around. NOT APPROVED!

Steve Rogers (Captain America)

Old-fashioned, responsible, good energy. Writes checks by hand and reminds other tenants not to litter. A neighbour any Canadian should be grateful to have. SUPER APPROVED!

Which comic book character do you think would make an ideal neighbout? Let me know in the comments!

Read next:

Comics Odyssey: Tell us again the main premise of Threat Quotient and what is the central conflict?

Henry Brown: Threat Quotient takes place in an alternate timeline. There are differences, like many place names, and the existence of superheroes, but ideologically it is every bit as polarized as our reality in the 2020s.

The Pentagon builds a Quick Reaction Force manned by “ultrahumans” both native to that world, and alternate Earths who are falling through dimensional fissures into this reality.

See Henry’s Kickstarter and FundMyComic campaigns.

Their first mission is to keep the peace in a small Asian country where civil conflict is imminent. There’s a local ultrahuman there (Captain Dynamo) who is aligned with the faction opposed to letting Weishaupt International set up a central bank that will rule over Tinidor’s economy…and therefore their government and every other institution.

Captain Dynamo is on a collision course with the United Nations-backed super-team–and he’s going to have some help before all is said and done. The fate of Tinidor hangs in the balance.

CO: Threat Quotient has a pretty large cast of characters. Which ones are the bigger focus and who are they? What kind of challenges should we expect them to go through?

HB: Yes, there is a fairly large cast. This story leads to a clash of two super-teams, after all. I’m stoked about these characters, and would like to eventually to send many of them on their own solo adventures, but for this graphic novel, three of them are in starring roles.

Ramjet is a disabled WWII veteran who built his flying exoskeleton not just for the robotic legs, but also out of his passion for aviation and Medieval armor. While rescuing other pilots shot down behind enemy lines in Korea, he is swallowed into a dimensional fissure and spat out 70 years into the future. The culture shock between 1950 and 2020 America is a lot for him to handle. His New Deal-era blind faith in the government is going to be challenged right from the beginning. Let’s just say his character arc will extend through the entire series as he struggles to do what is right in a world where evil is called good and vice-versa.

The Juggernaut has super strength and is very tough to hurt, with a supernatural healing factor when he is. He was swallowed from 1986 in his home world. This loner prefers to just mind his own business and “do his own thing.” He does manage to make a couple good friends in this world…only for them to be wrongfully killed by overzealous paramilitary police. That sets him on a rampage. The name really fits him. He comes to the Pentagon’s attention and it turns its considerable firepower on him. Survival is going to be his most obvious challenge. But under the surface, he’ll have other struggles, like the choice between getting payback or letting it go for a chance at love and peace. And will he continue just looking out for Number One, or decide that there is something greater than himself that’s worth fighting for?

I kind of cheated by saying there are three starring roles. Phantom Force is a family. They are a non-powered, street-level team. All of them are tech-savvy and can hack into surveillance and other networks to use it for their own purpose. That purpose is similar to what Julian Assange/Wikileaks once did, and James O’Keefe/Project Veritas more recently…only on a bigger scale and with ironclad anonymity. Usually only the father and one of his four sons actually deploy for missions, while the other sons handle the remote tech backup. The father, Phantom Leader, has developed the tech they employ, like the “active camouflage” which can turn them invisible. The hands-on son, Phantom Raider, is the martial arts natural, with an aptitude for acrobatics as well. The ongoing challenge for Phantom Force is to continue exposing the truth without getting doxxed themselves. And, while putting their skills to use in Tinidor, they step on the toes of the super-team helping to rig the election there and cover it up. They are the very best at what they do, but are now going to be matched against ultrahumans.

CO: “So what’s the snake thing about? The snake on the yellow background with the “Don’t Tread on Me” slogan. I have seen that alot in association with America. But I never questioned what it was. The image is self-explanatory: step on snake, get bit. But why is it an Americanism? And why does Juggernaut wear this as his costume?”

HB: That emblem is from the Gadsen Flag, which some of the American patriots flew before, during and after our War for Independence. It’s basically how those individuals back then expressed the sentiment “fool around and find out” (FAFO) or “Get off my lawn” on a national level. It’s a warning and a show of defiance against stuff like, say, government agents marching from Boston to enforce “gun control” by confiscating cannons (militia weapons) at the Concord Armory.

I once read that Benjamin Franklin wanted the rattlesnake to be our country’s mascot, instead of the bald eagle. The rattler wouldn’t go looking for trouble with human beings, he reasoned, and wouldn’t attack unless you intruded on its territory. Even then, it would give you fair warning. But woe to the man who ignored that warning. In that aspect, it was like the collective American temperament at one time.

The Juggernaut isn’t political, and would prefer to live and let live, keeping his abilities secret from everybody but family. The Gadsen emblem really symbolizes his disposition very well. The America he lands in is being fundamentally transformed into a Third World police state. But he’s not interested in causes or crusading against injustice. But when the Man intrudes on his territory, so to speak, he will “stick it to the Man” and “fight the Power” on a scale we can only dream about.

See Henry’s Kickstarter and FundMyComic campaigns

He doesn’t look as patriotic as Ramjet, but it could be argued he embodies the classic American spirit better than any other character. The early transformation you’ll see is similar to what the stereotypical American went through from December 6 to December 7, 1941, for example.

CO: “So in Threat Quotient, a portal opens up which draws people from different times to all end up in the same time. It’s a very clever way of giving characters from different generations a way to interact on an even playing field due to them all being of roughly the same age. But because they all get pulled into OUR time it also allows these different generational archetypes to react to the current day we live in. I am particularly interested in this.

During lockdowns of 2020-22 here in Canada, it occurred to me that many of the younger ones had not yet learned to live in history. Even my generation had only minimal training at the time of the 9/11 event due to our proximity to America. I think that is part of the explanation for the overreaction of my co-citizens during covid. Many were too easily shaken. But our grandfathers lived through deeply impactful world wars. THEY had training living in history. I think that the characters in your graphic novel looking at our time through different lenses might allow readers to more clearly “see” truly what is the moment in time we live in, providing with more perspective.

Thoughts?”

HB: Yes–I hope you’re right and it does. People today (especially Millennials and Homelanders, on average) have no interest or respect for history. As Twain and Santayana warned us, that will come back to bite them unless that changes. So if my superhero epic contributes to people realizing their place in history somehow, that would be a positive side effect.

When I first encountered Generational Theory, I became borderline-obsessed with it. The more I learned about what Richard Strauss and Neil Howe had discovered, the more my own observations and experiences over the years made sense, for the first time. I had never thought in that way before, but it meshed with what I did know. It explains so much of what you so astutely observed and inferred, plus so much more.

I discovered it in the process of writing my much-interrupted magnum opus, Paradox. I couldn’t help myself, so retrofitted it into the story where appropriate. Paradox didn’t require that much modification, as it turned out, because it was already about a young man who got relocated in time from one era to another and encountered an entirely different zeitgeist as a result. It’s my most personal work, and as such it’s the most painfully honest on a personal level. Because of that, I had already noted some phenomena that I later learned Strauss and Howe codified. I was still learning about Generational Theory during editing, and my grasp on the theory was improving. The theory helped me explain more thoroughly what I had already alluded to. I could more effectively show the character’s experience and provide historical context by deliberately leaning on my newfound knowledge.

Threat Quotient is the first-ever story I began writing with this knowledge already at hand. While brainstorming, I pondered how the characters in some very familiar timeless myths, legends and folk tales conform to the generational archetypes. That’s fascinating all by itself and I partially explore it in my Substack articles for the series “Generational Storytelling.” But since I was already seeing the truths in Generational Theory in almost everything, it’s only natural I would start examining some of my own superhero concepts from that perspective.

Most of the characters in Threat Quotient have been living in my imagination for decades–a few go back to childhood, though they’ve evolved considerably–even when I assumed I’d never get a chance to make comic books. When I considered putting the Juggernaut in this ensemble epic, of course I reexamined him through the lens of Generational Theory. He’s a destroyer, an antihero, an angry young man and a violent agent of chaos. “Everything sucks, so burn it all down,” sez he. “The Black Muslim of comic book characters” as Jules Feiffer would likely have dubbed him. This character should be Generation X (Nomad Archetype), I realized. Once I figured that out, everything else about him was already there or just came to me easily: the divorced parents, the alienation, individualism, pragmatic survivalism, apathy, nihilism, distrust of institutions, even superficial details like the mullet. It’s a cliche, but he kind of writes himself.

Another character who goes way back in my imagination is the TurboKnight, who is already transitioning to the catchier name of Ramjet. I don’t want to call him a “hopeless romantic,” but he has a romantic concept of chivalry, similar to how many martial arts nerds look at Buddhism and other Eastern belief systems through rose-tinted glasses. He’s an aspirational hero: “God, mom, and apple pie.” To me, that makes him naturally G.I. Generation (Hero Archetype). When I was a young paratrooper, I had the privilege of meeting several WWII veterans at Airborne Conventions and sharing “There I Was” stories (they shared; I listened). From those guys, and some G.I. Generation church elders I knew back in the day, I picked up on their peer personality and am able to blend that with the book knowledge to flesh out this character.

I could go into detail on each character (and plan to, in my “Generational Storytelling” articles), but will leave it at this for now: I thought it would be fun and fascinating to bring all the archetypes together into one storyline. But these are superheroes–men and women of action. So they should all be in their prime, regardless of what year they were born. So I’ve got a G.I., a Silent, Boomers, X, Millennials and a Homelander all on the same playing field in roughly the same age bracket. That’s why I built a multiverse. It fits with my concept of timestreams–which I also explored in Paradox. As I assured you and your audience on the Comics Odyssey podcast, it’s not so I can kill characters off then bring them back, or justify crossover gimmicks.

CO: This question is a bit more of a challenge. Your substack bio reads: “Author of the bestselling (military thriller) Retreads Series and bestselling (time travel) Paradox Series...and, soon, based comic books. Unsatisfied (or flat out revolted) by modern entertainment? Let’s go do some fun escapist stuff.” But your graphic novel deals with real world things, such as references to wokeism, covid restrictions, and various ideologies used as artillery in the culture war. Do you think this may run counter to your “let’s go do escapist stuff” rallying cry?

HB: It’s a fair question and I understand how it might look like I’m giving mixed signals.

I’m a fan of escapist adventure, and consider myself to be a writer of it. Escapist literature, whether the classic pulps, the “men’s fiction” paperbacks, or comic books, all has an element of wish fulfillment, whether it’s Tarzan fighting greedy ivory hunters or the Executioner/Punisher gunning down hordes of gangsters.

Wish Fulfillment allows you to escape while still noticing/acknowledging aspects of reality which are unjust, depressing or infuriating. As in the case of Mack Bolan and the Punisher, the depressing reality of organized crime and its corrupt control of big cities…that ugly reality provided the very opportunity for the wish fulfillment. Would a well-armed Special Forces or Force Recon veteran really be able to effectively and single-handedly wage war on the Mafia? Uhhhhhh no. But it’s a pleasant escape to imagine it could happen. And the experience of the average reader is so far removed from the combat experience of an SF operator or Recon marine, that it can even seem plausible to them.

Go check out Henry’s Kickstarter and FundMyComic campaigns!

A reasonable person can’t honestly argue that Superman wasn’t wish fulfillment on steroids. His stories were escapism if there ever was such. Yet the Golden Age Superman stories included elements of reality like wife abuse, greedy business owners, warmongering dictators, and, as you pointed out on Comics Odyssey: bad drivers. Those were aspects of reality then and now, but they didn’t ruin the escape from the readers’ personal hardships during the Great Depression.

Comics from DC and Marvel in the Current Year are chock-full of activism while providing very little escape. I would argue part of the reason is because the writers and editors are divorced from reality–not anchored to it.

Threat Quotient is not a skinsuit for some right-wing polemic, and I don’t think I get preachy. There are simply elements of reality that I and many others notice, like fake news and mass media brainwashing; what central banks and fiat currency do to sovereign countries; and how cultural Marxism has conquered and corrupted pretty much every institution. It actually adds verisimilitude, making the wish fulfillment all the sweeter.

I fully understand that including those elements is going to upset the crowd that believes all the above are positive hallmarks of progress. They’ve still got mainstream entertainment to indulge their delusions and confirm their biases–they can indulge it to their heart’s content. I also know they’re going to call me a Nazi, conspiracy theorist, etc. Why should I try to appease such people, at the cost of discarding honesty and relevancy?

It’s not just green-haired, pierced-face sexual deviants who will take offense at me for noticing and reflecting reality. Others have been consuming leftist messaging in entertainment all their lives, supporting it with their voting dollars, and defending it as “not that bad” until it grew to the ridiculous proportions of the Current Year. But they simply won’t tolerate entertainment that notices what all that cultural conditioning has wrought. They want comic books wherein the most compelling problems in the world are bank robberies and art gallery heists.

There is a place for that flavor of escapism, and I enjoyed it immensely once. But the world in which that seemed to be an accurate view was long gone before I was born, and not what I need escape from.

It’s often hard to come across good news in our reality, and we can’t identify many real-life heroes. Well, I’ve got a treat for you in my alternate reality.

CO: Being a novelist, I couldn’t help notice that you approached comics like one. Notably, Threat Quotient is written as Book 1 in a series of 5 planned books, the series being called Tales of the Earthbound. I believe this is a better model for self-publication over mimicking the Big Two drip feed model. But can you assure us that Threat Quotient is a complete, satisfying story on its own? And also please share what you can about the additional books in the series.

HB: I assure you: Threat Quotient stands alone with a distinct beginning, middle, and end of its own. But despite the plot resolution, there is plenty of room for further adventures with these characters in this universe, beyond the conclusion of this book.

Star Wars: a New Hope stands on its own just fine; but there was plenty of room in that setting for The Empire Strikes Back and other sequels. You could compare Tales of the Earthbound to that, I guess. But I should probably admit that Paradox was written to be just one novel, which turned out to be a 1640 page behemoth. I had to break it up into a series. The resolutions of the individual books don’t work as well as the consolidated narrative. But Tales of the Earthbound won’t have that problem, even though the continuity and progression extends through all of them.

Ramjet and the Juggernaut have character arcs that will carry through the entire series, and have an impact on the overarching narrative and the other characters. Tales of the Earthbound will delve a bit deeper into “minor” characters like Thunderstreak and Captain Dynamo. Northpaw, who doesn’t show up in Threat Quotient until the climax, has a character arc I think will surprise readers…because it surprised me. Doctor Detente, Spitfire, Mind Bender and Qi Master will all have a chance to shine–and sometimes amuse.

Phantom Force plays an active role in every script. They may be under-powered physically, compared to the heavy hitters, but they pack a wallop, story-wise.

It might go unnoticed in Threat Quotient, but I’m building toward something in Book Three that I hope will strike readers as hella epic.

There’s a big left-turn coming in Book Four that I haven’t completely worked out in my mind yet, so I haven’t written that script yet. It might just have a little bit of something for everyone.

I predict fun and thrills all through Tales of the Earthbound.

CO: You are an agile writer. You’ve written a military genre novel series. But you’ve also written other genres such as a time-travel scifi series. Threat Quotient is in the superhero genre. In what way do you honour the genre, and in what way do you give it a fresh spin?

HB: Great question!

I guess the most important way I honor the genre is by depicting true heroism. Ramjet, for instance, is conflicted and confused about what is right and wrong in this status quo he finds himself in, but still civic-minded, altruistic, honest and self-sacrificial. Whatever readers might think of the faction he fights for, I don’t think there will be any doubt that he is a true hero. With some characters, heroism may be in the eye of the beholder. But with him I don’t think there will be any doubt for most readers.

Up front, I don’t consider Threat Quotient to be deconstructionist–not that such stories are fresh, anyway. There is a dose of verisimilitude you don’t get in most superhero comics. I’ve tried to combine that with the wonder and thrill of the Golden Age superhero stories when there were almost no rules and the storytelling potential was nearly limitless (but rarely achieved, unfortunately).

What might be most fresh, though, is I’ve developed a rock-steady pantheon of heroes. Readers have likely seen every power and ability on display in my books somewhere before, but these characters are not knockoffs. I loved the Marvel and DC characters at one time, but didn’t simply clone “my version” of Captain America or Iron Man. I built them from the ground up, conceiving them as real people with real personalities, just as I do with prose works. In some cases, you will find a seamless symbiosis of personality and skillset in the character concept.

There are other ways I think you’ll find this to be a fresh spin on superheroes, but I’ll finish by pointing to what I divulged about Generational Theory. To my knowledge, nobody has ever consciously incorporated that into superhero comics before.

CO: Anything else you wish I had asked you about that you would like to answer?

HB: This has been a lifelong dream for me–though it was shelved for a long time. I don’t see this as a stepping stone to Hollywood or anything like that. I want to keep making comics for as long as I’m able, and satisfy the fans along the way. I think what mainstream entertainment (including the comics industry) is doing to the fans, with good IP they inherited, is not just reprehensible, but moronic. Give me and Virtual Pulp a chance, and we’ll prove that American sequential art is as good or better than it ever was, and what any other country produces. Story is king and I’m never going to stop finding ways to improve the quality of our work.

CO: I’m very excited for Threat Quotient! Where can we buy this graphic novel?

HB: The campaign is scheduled to launch on April 7 at FundMyComic. And if you go there on the first day, you’ll qualify for the Early Bird Special. That will get you a Deluxe Edition at a whopping discount–costing even less than the normal edition for that day. The Deluxe Edition comes with either the Juggernaut or Spitfire cover, original storyboards, some raw pencilled pages, script excerpts, and behind-the-scenes content revealing how Threat Quotient went from an idea to a finished project.

The campaign lasts until April 28. I hope by the time this Q & A is posted, the campaign will be reapproved with my additions and updates. If for some reason it’s not and you get a 404 error message, don’t worry. It should still be ready to go on the 7th.

Thanks, Ulysses, for giving me the chance to talk about this book.

-From one long winded rambler to another.

See Henry’s Kickstarter and FundMyComic campaigns and watch a trailer below!

It’s a recording of a livestream from March 19 2026. Comics co-host and I engaged a debate on the topic in the title of this post. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the discussion. We’re still new to livestreaming on substack and it seems substack hates my audio setup. We’ll have opportunity to experiment with this to improve it in the future.

Thank you , , and many others for tuning into my live video with ! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Henry has a comic launching soon. Back Threat Quotient on Kickstarter or FundMyComic.

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- **00:00:01 – 00:02:06**

Intro, ring announcer parody, Bruce Buffer riff, debating sunglasses banter

- **00:02:10 – 00:03:49**

Chat greetings, why they’re debating (politics-in-art over ~10 years)

- **00:03:51 – 00:07:29**

Ulysses steelmans Henry’s “politics in art – yay” position (4 arguments: verisimilitude, hypocrisy/pushback, freedom of expression, aspirational escapism)

- **00:07:36 – 00:13:12**

Henry accepts steelman → adds medieval fantasy was political too, honesty in portrayal, avoiding preachiness

- **00:13:29 – 00:18:01**

Ulysses challenges: Starting from firm politics → limits surprise/discovery of being wrong?

- **00:18:01 – 00:27:57**

Henry: Positions evolve; Threat Quotient inspired by childhood comics + 2020 events (lockdowns, vaccine pressure); stakes must feel relevant today

- **00:27:59 – 00:37:04**

Ulysses final push: Vaccine/mandate experience → Anglo-Saxon Protestant rebellion tendency (Luther example)

- **00:37:09 – 00:43:56**

Break + chat comments (CIA/Fabian influence, X-Men metaphors, propaganda vs. politics)

- **00:44:00 – 00:48:37**

Henry steelmans Ulysses’ “keep politics out – nay” position (insincerity, poisons everything, hidden malevolence, futility)

- **00:48:38 – 00:56:05**

Ulysses adjusts: Futility → aim for higher things; reality is mythological/transcendent, not just political

- **00:56:05 – ~01:13:00**

Transcendence debate: Art should align with higher order (God → hierarchy); Spirit Girl/Northland as symbolic; rebellion vs. proper order

- **~01:13:00 – ~01:23:30**

Service-to-work vs. selfishness (Madeleine L’Engle, Michelangelo, pre-modern art tradition)

- **~01:23:30 – 01:28:02**

Epstein files / uniparty realization → both sides insincere; “hang up the phone” on politics

- **01:28:10 – end (~01:33:49)**

Wrap-up: Mutual respect, different callings, Threat Quotient plug, left–right spectrum history, goodbyes

On the other hand, I’m not alone in noticing that media attempting counter-messaging can be just as terrible, if not worse. I’m so averse to this I can’t even watch the hit show The Chosen. Not because it’s bad - I haven’t watched it - but because I’m tired and I don’t want my my mind picture of such a major topic to be messed with. Also I don’t have a TV anymore so there is that too.

I’ve heard various snappy definitions of propaganda and how it differs from art.

Art shows; propaganda tells.
If the agenda screams louder than the story, it's propaganda
Art invites questions; propaganda forces answers
Good art changes you quietly; propaganda performs for applause

But when I read 1984, I can’t help but see it as quite blunt and possibly propaganda-like. Some might say it’s because I agree with the message. But this assumes a moral relativist framework that I reject. I think objectivity exists. A sunset is beautiful and true, objectively. This is incontrovertible and indicates a hierarchy of beauty and truth. So there has to be more to my sense that certain message-y works are art, not propaganda.

The gears started turning when I watched Comics Odyssey’s co-host ’s trailer for his crowdfunded comic Threat Quotient. Henry confronts timely themes head-on. It got me wondering: why doesn’t something like this feel like propaganda? In part, it’s about trust. I know Henry, I know he is intelligent and sincere. And I know he’s an experienced writer. But also, like 1984, Threat Quotient passes my bullshit filter because it tackles something true in its time.

That’s when the subtle distinction clicked: propaganda builds an artificial reality, a constructed illusion. What often gets lumped in - like prophetic warnings - simply spotlights what’s already staring us in the face. Biblical prophets weren’t futurists; they were pointing to the current obvious. “Look at this mess- it’s barrelling toward ruin. Repent or get swept away.” There are certain times and certain things that must be said this clearly. No fabrication, just unflinching vision.

Prophets emerge in storms. Nuance, ambiguity, hand-wringing? That’s for others called to other things. The prophet artist’s role is to yell amid depravity; narrowly and specifically. The obscure is lost on a world too numb or stupid to notice. Psalmists paint broad, evocative strokes; prophets snipe with precision. The Biblical canon itself models this range - wide, encompassing aims like epic myth in Genesis alongside narrow focus (like Nathan rebuking David). Both reveal truth but differ in scope.

Of course, execution matters. If the message drowns the engagement, it’s botched artistry, prophetic or not. Great prophetic work pulls you in, grips you and engages you while provoking you as well. But prophets like John the Baptist weren’t entertainers. “Repent - the kingdom’s near.”: charismatic, riveting maybe, but blunt.

This isn’t a blanket defence of “message fiction.” Plenty of it repulses me because it prioritizes agenda over myth. The “sniper” approach does work though, when it hits truth hidden in plain sight: specific evils, precise warnings. And for those with eyes to see, provides relief, and encouragement. It says: “You are not alone”. Broad art invites interpretation and unveiling; narrow art demands reckoning. Both can be True art because neither fabricate, both illuminate.

I’ve got a temperament for the romantic. My forge is mystery, intuition, the epic and the mythic. But my encounter with ‘s Threat Quotient sharpens my appreciation of the prophet artist’s calling. There are artists who whisper cryptic secrets for the reader to unveil. Some artists take to the bullhorn.

The prophet artist points to the incoming day of judgement. Dismiss him and be swept away.

Please check out Henry’s soon to launch crowdfunder for Threat Quotient at Kickstarter or FundMyComic and you will find a trailer for the launch below.

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In the same way, I charge my creative battery with inspiration stored in pocket dimension. I’ll be pulling items out and sharing them with you.

Expect a mix of artwork, curiosities, and obsessions: music I’ve had on repeat, weird articles, plant trivia, sketchbook pages, and really whatever I’ve encountered out there in my creative explorations. It’s a place for everything that doesn’t fit anywhere else but is too interesting to not share.

Starting with…

Flags

In researching for my world building project, I’ve stumbled upon the noble science of heraldry. Did you know Canada’s flag was arbitrarily redesigned in the 1960s? This sent me down a rabbit hole of heraldry, crests, escutcheons and so forth. Here is an interesting article on the history of Canada’s flag before Pearson’s impassioned crusade to change it. I can’t blame him, the spirit of revolution was sweeping the west in that time. He was just riding its momentum, I’m sure.

Album Covers From the 80s

I’ve been considering doing Spirit-Girl 4 or 5 (or both) in colour. The idea is that I’m learning pencilling, inking and I’m already proficient in graphic design and lettering. If I can be proficient in colour then I’ll have a full suite of comic book production skills. I can use these skills to make my own comics or to be hired by others to produce their books.

The colouring is the most intimidating part for me so I’m beginning to keep tabs on what naturally attracts me in terms of colour. I have a pinterest board here for those interested. For now it consists largely of late 1970s - 1980s album covers.

Music

On the music front I continue to exhibit traits of eccentricity. Of course, the 80s album covers have me re-listening to some of that old stuff. Though I tend to fly over and not stay there. I listen to music only when drawing. I need unobtrusive music. Music-as-entertainment is too demanding of attention I feel. So I stick mainly to Brett Janzen’s Futurescapes work. As an afficionado of the ambient genre, I find he stands out as a gem. The genre is peaking currently. At the turn of the millennium I discovered Eno’s ambient work from the 1980s. I also found that Stars of the Lid were quietly putting out some of the best in the genre. But “ambient” was still a niche thing in the 2000s.

But the genre started blowing up in the early 2010s and has ballooned on youtube. Look up “ambient soundscape” on youtube and you will find an unending sea of it. The genre is often mistaken as easy to produce. But Brett puts thought into his soundscapes. Ambient pieces are supposed to be simple enough to ignore, but rich enough to pay attention to. It’s a genre that gives the listener a lot of command over how much attention they want to pay to the music. It’s perfect for drawing sessions. Good ambient music supports the listener in his aim to enter the zone.

At this point, Brett Janzen’s music is so integral to my creative process I consider him a collaborator. His work also accompanies every episode of the Comics Odyssey podcast.

I do mix it up with other types of music. Here’s a few more.

Angine de Poitrine: I caught this Saguenay, Quebec duo in my youtube algo about 8 months ago. It was just a backyard show. At that point they had hit about 15k views. I figured I’d listen a few minutes just to see what it’s about. I ended up listening to the whole 40 minute show in one sitting. I couldn’t look away! I knew they were going to blow up. They recently did after a performance on KEXP and they’ve been on fire since. That performance has now been viewed over 4 million times. They are the anti-AI music par excellence.

I can’t listen to this a lot. It’s quite stimulating which runs counter to what I use music for. But I will be catching them live if they come around my area. I think this is the time to enjoy them while they remain playful and “innocent”. I’m on guard about them due to my understanding of the imagery they are draping themselves with. Enjoy it while the fun lasts.

I’m also listening a lot to the band LOW, especially their last two albums and am enjoying the band Maserati.

Books

For books, I just finished a biography of Jean De Brebeuf, one the 8 Canadian Martyrs (and the first on the North American continent). I learned a lot more about early Canadian history and was inspired by the heroic self-sacrificial spirit of these men.

I’m also thoroughly enjoying Ostrander’s late 1980s run on Suicide Squad.

That’s it for this Pocket Dimensions Dispatch. God Bless! See you in the next one!

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As aptly noted in a Comics Odyssey chat thread, the current state of comics resembles the fall of the Roman Empire.

For the past decade, the comics industry has lived through its version of a great war - cultural and economic. The cinema-fueled boom that once seemed to promise endless glory has cooled, and the once-mighty empires of Marvel and DC resemble exhausted kingdoms (though DC seems to have found a second breath). The culture wars that raged across fandom have left everyone bruised. The boundaries now are drawn, and countless flags vie for your salute.

In the eerie post-battle quiet, something new is stirring. We’re entering the medieval period of comics - an age of fractured kingdoms, but reason for hope.

The Rise of Small Kingdoms

The great empires of Marvel and DC still hold a large field but their sphere of influence is receding. In its, smaller realms are emerging:

• Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter or IndieGoGo act as tiny nations, each sustained by passionate citizens who tithe directly to their chosen creators.

• Direct-to-consumer sales (Patreon, Substack, webshops) form self-sufficient manors producing bespoke works for loyal patrons.

• “Based” cons and local or regional cons serve as fairs - meeting grounds for trade, celebration, and alignment.

• Substack newsletters, YouTube channels and other such fan driven web-based kingdoms act as micro-fiefdoms organized around belief or sensibility - activism, faith, nostalgia, collecting, or criticism - each with its own language and customs.

The market is no longer a unified empire but a patchwork of territories.

The Formation of Guilds

In medieval times, artisans banded together in guilds to safeguard their craft. Today’s creators are doing the same. Writers, artists, and editors form loose confederations that share audiences, resources, and overlapping moral codes. Their success depends less on appealing to the empire’s gatekeepers and more on earning the faith of their communities.

Within these guilds, collaboration has nothing to do corporate interest and is more like fellowship - a shared vow to defend comics in uncertain times.

The Enchanted Rebirth

When the empire of the political and the material collapses, something older reawakens: the mythic, the symbolic, the dreamlike.

Deprived of Netflix deals and mass distribution, comics are rediscovering their ancient magic - stories woven by hand, charged with personal obsession and heart fire. The industry’s twilight has become the creators’ dawn, an occasion to rebuild from the imaginal source that bore the empire to begin with.

Outside of imperial structure, comics are discovering new power in the fractures, in the meaningful alliances that form when people find one another across borders. Each collaboration, each community, is now an act of will rather than inertia. Here, craft, conviction, and imagination once again matter more than corporate power.

The Fractured Map of Fandom

Fans, too, have chosen their castles. Where once the fandom rivalries boiled down to Marve versus DC, Online spaces like Reddit, League of Comic Geeks, and Minds have become ideological provinces where people gather according to beliefs and tone rather than by publisher. Paradoxically, this fragmentation has also rekindled the intimacy of fandom - smaller, more passionate groups bound not by marketing slogans (“Make Mine Marvel!”) but by shared passion.

We are already living through the opening chapters of this medieval age. New visions a new vision of what comics can be abound. Fewer lords command vast armies now - we now have knights errant, bards, and dreamers. The stories they’re telling is bringing back a magic all the empire’s gold could never buy.

Back Threat Quotient on Kickstarter or FundMyComic.

Comics! The Magazine #1 ($2.99) is a new comic-book formatted periodical packed with hype on titles like Absolute Batman, creator interviews, exclusive shorts, price guides, staff picks, and nods to smaller publishers. It follows in Wizard magazine’s tradition of glossy, buzz-building coverage from the ‘90s, while echoing fanzines’ DIY spirit through features like Jim Rugg’s history of the form. C!TM blends interviews and creator spotlights with playful bits like fake classifieds. Yet in the internet age, where price guides and sales data are a click away (often with more depth), much of this feels redundant; C!TM will need to find unique angles to truly stand out.

C!TMissue 1 arrives in a comic-sized format that signals its intention to target direct market customers, a pivot from Wizard’s newsstand hype aimed at luring newbies. To be fair, the traditional newsstand is dead. C!TM would be wasting effort distributing to it (though I might make a case for the checkout aisle). C!TM makes their intended target demo explicit in its opening letter from the editor:

”There is an emerging readership, raised on books by Dav Pilkey, Raina Telgemeier and Jess Smith, who hit their teenage years reading manga like Chainsaw Man and One Piece, and are now checking out all this medium has to offer, leading the the astronomical success of our cover feature [Absolute Batman]”

(…) We see a future where there is a comic book shop in every city.

The mag does not hide its desire to court the younger readers. There is a feature called “Art School” which includes an elementary level puzzle (“match the correct pouch to the correct character”). I appreciate the focus on scooping up new readers but I think the success of Absolute Batman is overemphasized. It is an undeniable hit, but without any disruption to the market which would reorganize distribution and makes floppies affordable, there is a limit to this success’s influence.

And understand, I love the direct market but it is inherently limiting, no matter how many cities a comic shop is in. I’m still waiting for clear indication that the gates of comics have opened and I don’t find it in this magazine’s amplification of the status quo.

Hits and Misses

Big-name hype (Absolute Batman, Ronda Rousey’s MMA-tied comic) lands competently as hype-mongering (I don’t use that term pejoratively). But the stand out is Jim Rugg’s “Brief History of Fanzines”: rigorously researched, meaty, the feature I lingered on longest. It’s also just nice to see Mr. Rugg getting out there lately.

The opening feature flopped for me. It’s a fake letters exchange between Chip Zdarsky (of now defunct “Zdarsky’s Comic News”) and the editor of C!TM, exaggerating fake legal tension between the two for “comedic” effect. The “Classifieds” lands better, blending real ads for indie comics disguised among silly fake ads (selling a space throne?).

This mag reveals itself as much by what it does cover as what it doesn’t. It does feature indie pub comics but “pub” is the operative word. There is a whole crowdfunding and self-pub world out there that rivals indie pub or even trounces it. But… no mention of it here.

The overall tone of the mag aims for perky! and fun! which may land for many but left a sour taste in my mouth. The boosterism vibe feels strained and tone-deaf due to it landing square in the aftermath of a decade long culture war that wreaked havoc on careers and even claimed lives. At this point we should all know that the mainstream which this magazine props up remains gatekept in favour of a niche ideology, the adepts of which have routed all non-conformists or at least keeps them silent with fear of reprisal.

I realize it’s unrealistic to expect such a downer topic in issue 1 of a hype mag. And you should know by now I’m far from being an outrage peddler - Comics Odyssey is about what there is to love in comics if nothing else - but the mainstream's continued silence on the culture war's carnage only underscores how unhealed the wounds remain - and this mag strikes me as another example of exactly that. Would it kill them to say one line, rallying the fans to be more kind, more tolerant? Just one word even hinting at this?

In Conclusion

C!TM #1 delivers crisp production and targeted fun for young direct-market fans, with Rugg’s fanzine deep-dive a rare meaty standout in the pep-rally for the status quo. But this status quo embrace and culture-war blind spot soured it for me.
C!TM says:

We’re here to introduce you to your next favourite book (…) We’re here to spotlight what’s on this week’s release wall

I just don’t see what this mag does that the internet doesn’t already do and more. Which leaves me wondering what demand this publication really answers.

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Fantastic Four #260 isn’t just a solid John Byrne cosmic brawl comic - it’s a snapshot of 1983’s pop culture frenzy. Star Wars, Atari, Hubba Bubba: every ad reveals who Marvel thought you were, and what they believed they could sell you. These original floppies beat collected editions hands-down - they’re portals to a pre-internet era of consumer desire and techno optimism.

The Outsider’s View

As a rural Canadian kid from a fundamentalist home, I was a pop culture outsider. I was hedged in by strict rules about contact with the big scary world out there. To me, pop culture was a game of fill-in-the-blank. So whenever I could get my hands on a comic book I’d read the whole thing, every ad, every copyright notice, every credit. I would often see “not available in Canada”, pouring salt on my alienation.
Looking at a map, the U.S. was right next door - just a thin line away. But nope, they couldn’t send us sea monkeys!

Star Wars Everywhere

I generally prefer trying to get the original copies of these classic comics we review on the Comics Odyssey podcast. They are a time capsule of what these publishers wanted you to pay attention to and buy. In the 80’s Marvel had a acquired the license which had saved their finances in the late ’70s. Action figures, playsets, arcade contests promising “futuristic” prizes all feature heavily in the 1983 issue of Fantastic Four episode linked above. A trench-run Atari promised immersion “you can be a rebel pilot!”. I never watched Star Wars until the 90s. We didn’t have a TV. Instead I was outside running with my dog in the woods (she was an excellent rodent hunter!) I did feel like I was missing out on the pop culture party though.

Dad taught me early: ads lie. Those kids in the catalogue, beaming over the latest gadget? Paid actors. Video games of the era epitomized this kayfabe - Atari’s Star Wars promised starfighter thrills, but delivered only chirps and wireframes. It was Star Wars in name only.

Looking back on it as an adult, that isolation… yes it was tough at the time but did I really miss that much? Outdoor adventures stimulated my imagination better than any screen. Consumer culture’s promises? Hollow; onboarding kids into lifestyles of consumer lust. I was spared a lot of that.

Ads of a Quieter Type

Next to the movie tie-ins were quieter ads for mail-order back-issue catalogues indicating that a market for back issues was gaining momentum. Old comics were now worth tracking down and assigning prices to. The very presence of that marketplace within the comics nudged readers into thinking in terms of runs, key issues, and condition.

That instinct has only intensified. Today, shop owners will tell you that back issues often form the stable backbone of their business. The seed of that collector mindset was already germinating in books like Fantastic Four #260; you just didn’t yet have the vocabulary of “slabs” and “keys.” You simply knew that somewhere, someone would sell you the issues you’d missed, for a little more than cover price, and that knowledge made your own copy feel a bit more like a treasure to hoard.

Looking at those ads, the collector market feels like it was still innocent. It was before the 90’s turned that market into a hollow hype machine.

Reading FF #260 straight, it’s a good story. Eyes on ads though, and it’s 1983’s ecosystem: licensing webs, toy hype, consumer funnels. Seen from another perspective, those ads weren’t lies - they were mirrors showing us who we thought we wanted to be. Forty years later, we’re still chasing down the same illusion, just through brighter screens.

I couldn’t get sea monkeys or play the Atari trench run, but I did learn to see magic in the woods. Maybe outsiders end up building their own fandom - one born not from what they buy, but from what they dream.

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Preview art

The Six Steps of creation might be one of McCloud’s most useful frameworks. Let’s look at them. He breaks down the creative process down into six overlapping “steps” or layers:

1. Idea/Purpose – The seed: what you want to say, the story or emotion that drives the work.

2. Form – The medium: is it a novel, a painting, a film, a comic?

3. Idiom – The style or genre: superhero, sci‑fi, slice of life, western, horror etc…

4. Structure – The composition: what stays, what goes, how the rhythm of the work is built.

5. Craft – The technical ability needed to execute the vision such as drawing, writing, inking, editing.

6. Surface – The polish: the sensory experience of the final piece, the “look” that catches the eye.

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McCloud visualizes these as layers of an apple - something with surface appeal that we bite into, but also a core where the real substance lies and several layers in between. Some works of art, he notes, are all surface and no core: shiny, stylish, but hollow inside. Others might not look glamorous at first glance, yet they reveal enormous depth once you sink your teeth in.

I did a series of videos going deep in Understanding Comics. You can get that for free by clicking here.

Where Artists Start (and Where They Quit)

It’s fascinating how artists move through (and often stall along) these six levels. The classic story: a kid falls in love with the X-Men, decides to make comics, and jumps straight to mastering the surface - the flashy drawings. The energy is pure, but there’s rarely an understanding yet of idea, structure, or form. Some move past that learning curve; others give up when their work doesn’t yet “click.”

I’ve seen something similar in music and martial arts. Students often start because they want to play a favourite song or throw a flashy kick - not to study scales or footwork or throw the same jab+cross over and over again. Without early successes in the process, the fundamentals feel meaningless. The trick is to connect skill‑building to purpose: learn the scale through a song you love; teach the jab through a combination that feels powerful. Learn to draw cool stuff as you go through the fundamentals. I switch back and forth between working on my weaknesses and exploring my strengths. This keeps me engaged in what I’m doing.

Finding Your Level

McCloud later revisits this in Making Comics, he places artists into four tribes that reflect their priorities. These tribes are specific to comics culture. I am somewhat skeptical of these categories - clearly, each artist is their own creature - but McCloud does acknowledge the limited ability these categories have of defining comics culture. But they do have some usefulness. So let’s take a look!

• Classicists pursue beauty, mastery, and enduring craftsmanship. Berni Wrightson, Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons.

• Animists focus on life, emotion, and eternal truths. Jack Kirby, Hergé, Dan Decarlo.

• Formalists experiment with the medium itself, reinvent the medium. Chris Ware, Jason Shiga and Scott McCloud.

• Iconoclasts pursue “ugly” truths, cut through pretension. R. Crumb, Ed Piskor, Daniel Clowes.

He points out that some tribes sometimes don’t mix well (iconoclasts and classicists, for instance), while others naturally go together (animists and classicists). Personally, I’m very much an animist driven by story and heart more than form for its own sake. I think most of us shift between these modes depending on the needs of a project and the stage of our journey but we do all have certain tendencies which attract us to a certain tribe.

Spirit Girl, Maps, and the Road Ahead

In my own work, the creative journey through the six steps continues with Spirit Girl 3 - which you can buy now at the Comics Odyssey store! - After this issue, I’m looking ahead to drawing Spirit-Girl 4 and a new world‑building project. I’ll be diving deep into mapping the town of Hairy Bear! It’s wild how geography can shape narrative. History, economy, terrain all direct culture and story. I’ve gotten somewhat obsessed with this mapping thing. I’ve even been out biking to measure real block sizes and house counts to inject authenticity into my maps. Comics meet cartography - what’s not to love?

Making comics, as McCloud shows and any artist learns, isn’t a straight path. You circle back through the six steps, rediscovering old ones with new awareness. Many of us start with the surface and deepen our love of craft, form and structure from there; others begin with an idea and reach outward to learn the skills necessary to make it a reality. But always what drives us is “why?”. Do you know your “why”?

Here are previous entries in the Comics Odyssey Catalogue delving deeper into some of the artists mentioned above.

Here’s a video Featuring Meanwhile by Jason Shiga, a great example of a Formalist at his best!

Finally, check out this profile of Classicist, Hergé.

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I’ve been thinking about a question for a while: should artists and writers be open about their politics? There’s no shortage of discussion on this topic. Some creators do get their numbers do go up by associating their work to political stance or social commentary. This sometimes used to justify the creation of “dissident” art as a form of protest against the mainstream. Or as form of protest against the sitting president and so forth. And yet, there’s a dissonance in these types of works I can’t ignore.

It isn’t the politics themselves. I’ve enjoyed works that touched on issues from an angle that doesn’t align with my own perspective. No, what I’m noticing is the sense of sincerity and authenticity - or, in too many cases, the lack thereof. When a work proclaims a stance that aligns with the dominant public mood, it can come across as safe, calculated, and risk-free. But when one is entirely convinced of a viewpoint prior to jumping in the creative process, the work loses the sense of exploration of a subject and comes across like a lecture or the work looks like a tactic to gain “points” in the cultural marketplace.

The art I’ve found most compelling - whether or not I personally share its politics - has something else at its core: a genuine willingness to wrestle with uncertainty and a wonder at mystery. Politics as a marketing tool tends to compress vast and complex issues into lower resolution soundbites. When that happens, the artwork risks feeling like a product of the culture war rather than a exploration of the world.

Admittedly, the politics-versus-art question is affected by what kind of politics we’re talking about.

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It’s really not complicated - I made a rough video of the process (above) - all it took was a length of 2x4, some angled cuts with a miter saw, and I had the frame of a functioning light box. The hardest part turned out to be finding a sheet of glass. I got lucky: a spare glass panel salvaged from an old gas fireplace. If you ever try a build like this, thrift stores, Facebook Marketplace are great places to scavenge from old fireplaces or discarded windows. That glass is the key component, after all - it’s what turns a simple box into a precision drawing tool.

Once the box was built and painted, I moved on to the lighting. I used small LED puck lights mounted inside, focusing them toward the center where the artwork would sit. To boost brightness and reduce shadows, I lined the interior with metallic duct tape - the kind actually meant for heating ducts. It acts as a reflector, bouncing light around more evenly and more brightly. On top of that, I covered the glass with semi-transparent sticky-back plastic (the kind used for privacy on shower doors) to diffuse the light and prevent it from blasting directly into my eyes while working.

There was some trial and error - one of the LED pucks only half-lit, so that needed replacing. I ended up switching to strip lighting. But once everything was assembled, the result was better than I’d hoped. When I layered two sheets of Bristol board, I could clearly see my sketch lines through the top page. The box worked perfectly for what I’d designed it for: cloning panels in my comic layouts with precision.

The Unexpected Value of a New Tool

Funny thing about any tool you make or buy - once you have it, you start realizing all the new uses for it. I built this light box specifically to duplicate panels, but now I use it to transfer some of my best sketches into comic pages. The tool doesn’t just extend what you can do; it changes how you think about the work itself. It opens up another layer of creative possibility that wasn’t visible before - literally and figuratively.

I’ve already used this light box on Spirit-Girl #4 pages. Incidentally, here’s how you can get your mittens on issue 3 of Spirit-Girl. Click Here to go to the Comics Odyssey store and buy the comic.

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A Comics Odyssey reader sent in a question: “How do you get over writer’s block?”

It’s a good one, because I think many of us hit those moments where you want to draw, but nothing happens. You want to write, but instead your brain farts.

I was actually talking with my wife about this the other day, and she pointed something out: “You don’t seem to get stuck like that. You just move on to the next page.”

And it made me think - why don’t I really get creative block? I’m not a magical productivity machine. I guess the reason is I’m not afraid of making bad art.

If I draw a bad page, I just draw another one. If a story falls flat, I just write a new one. That’s it. That’s the whole trick.

Making a bad drawing isn’t a crime. The art police aren’t going to kick in your door. It’s just part of the process. Every single artist makes duds.

Once you drop that fear of “this might suck,” things get much easier. You start to realize that the only real mistake is stopping. You don’t need to overengineer your creativity. You just keep putting pencil to paper day after day.

When I look back at Spirit Girl 1 and I compare it to Spirit-Girl 3 I can see major growth! That’s the power of persistence.

Here’s how you can get your mittens on issue 3 of Spirit-Girl. Click Here to go to the Comics Odyssey store and buy the comic. I expect to be shipping out copies in the second half of January.

Look at the thumbnail sketches for Spirit-Girl #4 in the video above. They are barely legible as anything beyond scratchings. They don’t need to pretty, they just need to be there. I’ll go fix them later.

So yeah-if you want to beat creative block, make bad art.

That’s it. You’re not trying to conquer the world. You’re just making the next page. And after that, the next.

And if you keep showing up, you’ll find that the block doesn’t stand a chance.

Good luck out there and God bless.

Comics, at their inception were episodic. A single episode comic came to be called “one-shots” or “done-in-one”. Ironically, they deliver what serialized comics often promise but rarely land: a story that begins, builds, and ends. No waiting for issue #47. No retcon homework. Just a complete meal. In an age of infinite Marvel/DC crossovers and perpetual second act superhero storytelling, the one-shot goes against the grain.

The Endless Arc Fatigue

The history of the rise of serialized storytelling in comics parallels the comics market moving away from the newsstand and into specialty comics shops (direct market). Because comic shops can not rely on walk-by traffic for its customer base, it must sell a habit forming product. Hence the introduction of the cliffhanger, the cross over, the “continued in…” and so forth. All designed to keep the customer coming in the store habitually. The result is that comics thrive on addiction, not closure.

Readers love serialized formats as it expands on the fictional world and makes it feel more vast and immersive. But it’s a difficult balance to strike. If it’s all tease and no reward, readers burnout. And strange questions arise such as the debate as to why the Joker is still being put behind bars after escaping for the 305th time.

Craft Under Pressure

The one-shot may run counter to market pressures but when well done, it is a delight to read! This recent episode of the Comics Odyssey podcast explores a brilliant example of one-shot storytelling!

What are the strengths of the one-shot? It stands out amidst a sea of books that are decompressed and rarely ever deliver a satisfying ending. Also, limited pages force economy. The story must be complete by the end of the book. Conversely, since the story is freed from the duty of nurturing subplots that are resolved in future issues, the main story can be given more real estate.

With Spirit-Girl I am beginning to find a recipe that works for me as a creator. All comics will now be 32 pages (including cover and back cover). Each story is intended to be readable on its own without requiring prior knowledge. And after Spirit-Girl #4, I will be exploring several one-shot books. Having come up in a time where the episodic and serial formats were blending deliciously (X-Files, Deep Space Nine) I envision doing something similar. Many one-shots with a greater overall arc peppered throughout.

In addition to this, Spirit-Girl’s story is NOT meant to go on in perpertuity. It has an ending. I already wrote it. I already know what the last panel on the last page will be.

Will there be more stories told in Northand or Estland or other lands of Toralin (the planet)? There can be, the potential is endless. But Spirit-Girl… her story WILL end someday. So get in on this right now! Grab Spirit-Girl #3 here - a complete story in 32 pages but an important chapter in the great saga.

In Defense of One-Shots

I believe the one-shot is an underused format in modern comics.

For readers: The one-shot offers a higher chance of satisfaction. You will get a complete story. Hopefully you can finish it energized, not exhausted. One-shots reread beautifully as they have a familiar three act structure and are the complete package. Also, if you don’t like the story, with one-shots, you know the next story will be different and not a continuation of the thing you dislike.

For indie creators: The one-shot is a low risk option. You get to move on more quickly to the next story which allows you to experiment without committing to the experiment over multiple issues. You also get the feeling of closure once the book is done.

How about you? Do you prefer one-shots or long arcs? What is your favourite standalone comic? Drop comments below.

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True grimdark is defined as: a subgenre of speculative fiction (fantasy/sci-fi) defined by its bleak, violent, and morally ambiguous worlds where protagonists are often flawed, self-serving anti-heroes in "crapsack worlds" that offer little hope, contrasting traditional heroic fantasy with a cynical, brutal realism inspired by the tagline "In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war" from Warhammer 40,000. It features morally grey characters, intense violence, and a focus on survival and power in dystopian settings, rather than clear-cut heroism.

Grimdark is not Batman wrestling his demons or Superman snapping Zod’s neck when faced with an impossible choice. Nor is it a tone. Because of the emotional gut punches in Snyder’s Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, those movies catch flak as “grimdark”. But BvS ends with a monologue spelling out how Batman has found hope in Superman and he vows to create a better future. These are trauma and redemption tales. Batman’s parents are gunned down in Crime Alley. Superman’s whole world - Krypton - is blown to ash and he is alienated. These characters connect deeply because they are about the different ways people face trauma and different ways of finding hope despite trauma. I believe we are all facing trauma. That’s what the fallen world is. As such, our stories feature this common experience.

Facing Fear

I can’t help but think about the strange story of the Israelites in Numbers 21. Bitten by serpents. Dying in agony Moses raises a bronze serpent on a pole - echoing Eden’s snake - to cure his people. How is that a cure?! Looking at the pain straight Grimdark has morphed from a precise subgenre label into a lazy slur for any story that dares confront trauma without constant quips. What began as Warhammer 40k's "only war" ethos—bleak fantasy/sci-fi "crapsack worlds" where self-serving anti-heroes scrap for survival amid unrelenting cynicism—now gets flung at Snyder's DC films, Watchmen, or Dark Knight Returns just for lacking "brightfluff." That's not grimdark. That's storytelling facing the fallen world head-on.is a cure for it. Facing the evil head-on. No averting your eyes, no jangling of keys or punch-up wisecracks. Healing demands confrontation. I think stories work the same way: they make us gaze at the fangs of suffering to find meaning on the other side of it.

To me, that’s at heart of superhero storytelling. Batman internalizes loss into a lifetime mission of justice. Superman carries it outward as duty despite isolation. Dark Knight Returns gets it perfectly: an older Batman, drowning his pain in drink has his scars reopened by a decaying Gotham. What does he do? He faces the problem! Miller’s book sold gangbusters because it tapped something real. People need stories that mirror their own grief, not evade it. The fact that DKR spawned a generation of weak imitators is no fault of the original. Dark Knight Returns is still relevant.

A short list of real grimdark media:

1984
Warhammer 40k
Game of Thrones
Sin City
The Boys
28 Days Later
Penny Dreadful
Walking Dead

To Be Fair

Now, I want to be fair to the critics. What is often labelled as Grimdark seems to me to be a complaint about family friendliness. And it is true the above mentioned examples (DKR, BvS, MoS) do not fit well into the family friendly category. I will not deny that.

• Warm/Fuzzy: The Incredibles, Shazam! Goonies

• Heavy/Contemplative: Lord of the Rings, Batman V Superman, ZSJL

There is a school of thought that superhero characters are for kids and that all superhero stories should be designed to appeal to kids - ie warm and fuzzy. I disagree and explained my position in a different article here.

Light, fun, quippy tales have their place too. I believe Spider-Man’s one-liners do not set him apart except in surface tone. His story is no less about trauma. He simply faces it in a different way. But drown readers in brightfluff - ie. never letting a real moment be without cracking a joke - like the MCU’s later phases, and the stories go limp. Just like all-out grimdark can fatigue, brightfluff (sometimes called lampshading or bathos - additional video at the bottom of this article) can undermine the impact of a story and come across insincere.

Balance

The magic’s in contrast. That’s how I’m building Spirit-Girl: Hairy Bear’s innocent small-town warmth makes the horrors that plague it hit harder. Ensorcelled wolves tear through, Shana dies for real, Stormhand’s bitterness boils over. Trauma, resentment, grief get stared down directly. Make no mistake, some of these stories will be heavy. Mixed in with brighter adventures to balance things out of course!

Incidentally, here’s how you can get your mittens on issue 3 of Spirit-Girl. Click Here to go to the Comics Odyssey store and buy the comic. I’m starting to ship out orders this week. It’s a story about how bitterness, resentment and lying ripples through generations and turns men into monsters.

Anyway, that’s a sliver of my opinion. I’ll be reading yours in the comments.