On Comic Books, And Making a Special One

by Doug

A couple of years back, in a personal quest to change things up from the endless cycle of Wiggles and Baby Einstein videos that we had been watching, I introduced Brady to the Justice League. Specifically, the Justice League Unlimited series that had been running on Cartoon Network, and had recently been purchased on DVD.

We ended up watching those videos nonstop, but at least I could tolerate that.

Then Brady wanted to read some of my comics. She read some of them, and I got her a few of her own to look through. She couldn't read quite read yet, but she wanted to look at all the pictures and see all of these heroes in action. They say that the best storytellers are the ones that can get the idea across of what was happening, even if there was no dialogue. Needless to say, Brady was able to figure out what was going on, even if she didn't know what they were saying (this would later be rectified by her asking me to read the comics to her, thus fulfilling my secret desire to become a voice actor).

When Brady was about to turn five, I was stuck on what to get her for her birthday. I wanted to give her something special and unique. Then it hit me: What better thing to give her than her very own comic that she was in! And not just any comic; a comic where she got to be with some of her favorite super heroes, and it was she who saved the day!

Now, as a writer, I'm a pretty good artist. So, I talked to my friend and Ten Ton Studios-mate, Kurt Christenson to help flesh out and write this story I had in my head, where she would get to team up with Spider-Man and the Flash. Totally unauthorized, but what the hell...she's the only one who gets a copy. Stacey then helped out by coming up with some true Brady-isms that Kurt and I overlooked, and voila! We have a comic.

Phil was nice enough to help out on this endeavor by painting up a sweet cover for the comic. I printed the whole thing up, bound it, and it was all set to give to her.

Only thing was, her birthday was in March, and we finished the project up several months later. So, it became less of a birthday present, and more of a "Welcome to Kindergarten!" present. Whaddyagonnado?

What was her reaction, you wonder? She had a death grip on that book for a week. She showed it to everyone. At school, at home, to friends, to family. Everyone. She had me and Stacey read it to her (as she started to read more, she would say her lines). She would read it to herself. She even went to bed with it.

I think she liked it.

I was told once that the best presents you can give someone are the ones that you make yourself. After making that one-of-a-kind comic book for my daughter, and seeing her reaction to it, I'd have a hard time disagreeing.