Finding a rabbit hole...

So, flattered and encouraged by this complimentary comment on the previous series of posts, I decided would go back through my archives do the same sort of little sketches of characters that I had actually created over the past 40 or 50 years, rather than those created by an obscure Wisconsin comics publisher.

I planned that post to look something like this:

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I had so much fun with the Madison Comics heroes, I decided to run the same exercise on my own! These are heroes that I have created, sketched, doodled, wrote about, and otherwise played with for many years. First up: The Bravos, my main super-team.

Lounging on the left is Moxie, named for the erstwhile soft drink and the current metaphorical sense of brio associated with the word. She was a random young woman who under a moment of stress - some sort of crime thing - manifested the power to produce bio-blasts (that's what I recall them calling the Wasp's power bursts, innit?). She wears a Marty McFly vest and in her original incarnation, leg warmers (yep, she's been around a while).

Swooping in the large open window is Osprey, a reclusive winged freak/mutant/something from the Oregon Coast, where he lived the life of a hermit, known only to locals, whom he helped out when he could, until he was recruited for the Bravos. He has those Nightcrawler-like prehensile feet and, IIRC, is a good marksman/sniper as well.

Hanging out lower right its Monad, a research scientist experimenting with quantum-mumble-mumble which somehow accidentally reduced the intra-atomic spaces in his makeup, compacting him to about 18 inches high and, of course, granting super-strength and durability. His protective science-guy suit is pretty invulnerable too, since it shrunk with him.

Posing dramatically front and center is Virago, leader of the Bravos, sort of a cross between the Golden Age Superman and Doc Savage. I think she was a retiring but benevolent millionaire adventurer (something I find hard to square with my socialist sensibilities) and I remember she was headquartered in Analog Tower in Seattle.

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And that would be that, and I would follow up with some other characters from time to time.

After I got that sketch ready for publication, though, I went through some files thinking to find some details in my notes to add to the post. What I found was this:

Um, deja vu? Osprey is flying there, shirtless this time; Moxie is there, with the leg warmers as well as the energy blast; Virago is posing in the same way, wearing an outfit from an early design that was ripped off from Thundra; and Monad is little and going bang instead of leaning.

As I flipped through the files I realized I had what seemed like hundreds of sketches of The Bravos, and dozens of other characters, already on hand. I wondered why I would continue the same revelatory practice that I had started with the Madison Heroes, with all-new sketches. Clearly, this was more of an archeological process, if I want to continue to explore the character creation aspect of the exercise.Quite frankly, my artwork has not improved enough in any significant way to make it worth redoing this oeuvre; in fact, while the latest stuff may have a bit more control of detail, I find my earlier works have an unselfconscious energy that I am quite envious of.

So I am going to dust off those sketches and inflict them on the world. Be warned: a tsunami of superhero goofiness is coming your way.