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!
