Allen Steadham's Blog: From Allen - Write Away! - Posts Tagged "superheroes"

I started writing at the age of ten. Back then, I created my own comics, almost entirely superhero-related. I grew up on DC and Marvel comics. I read Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and the Avengers. But when I found the Uncanny X-Men, I found a new muse. I related to the brooding Scott Summers (aka Cyclops - long before he became the unlikable dude he is today). I created my own original superhero team and forged stories around them, their powers, their foes, the battles with those foes. Then I developed their character and relationships. They even became a generational superhero team. I wrote and drew them for twenty years, they became like family in a way.

But my own life changed and my need for drawing superhero scenarios dwindled. I got married, got a "real" job, became a father and became a Christian.

My wife had always been my "editor" for my comics, I trusted her (and still do) implicitly. So I wanted to create a new comic with her, a Christian comic. We took our time and prayed over it and eventually, Due East was born. Due East was more of a slice-of-life comic. It was about a multiracial family with a mixed-race (Chinese and Caucasian) man who married and African-American woman and they had two daughters. But conflicts arose, they separated and divorced. Still, they stayed in touch regarding their children (the oldest daughter lived with the father who moved to Canada for his job and her sister lived with her mother in Texas) and their love re-kindled, prompting him to move back with plans to re-marry. The spiritual aspect of the comic involved the younger daughter's best friend, who was a Christian. The series debuted online as a webcomic in 2007 on The Duck Webcomics and won Best Spiritual Comic and Most Profound Comic at The Duck Webcomics Awards in 2008. Due East ran from 2007 to 2009.

By 2008, my wife and I got used to scripting Due East's pages before I drew them. This became instrumental in ironing out plot details and dialogue.

A few years after Due East ended, I started a new webcomic called Super Chibi Girl (SCG) about a mixed-race (Caucasian father and African-American mother) young woman who gets involved in an extraterrestrial civil conflict that breaks out on Earth. I scripted the pages of SCG the same as we did Due East. SCG ran from 2012 to 2014.

In November 2013, I challenged myself to participate in National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) and write a 50000 word first draft for a book. I had a simple premise: take characters and story elements from my first superhero team comic (which was called "The AR-MEN," no relation to the X-Men), modernize those elements and make a Christian novel with superhero characters -- without actually making it a superhero story!

I named the novel Mindfire , after its lead protagonist, a young woman named Leia Hamilton. She had superhuman powers of telekinesis (moving objects with her mind) and pyrokinesis (the ability to set objects on fire). I revised plot elements so Leia did not know that her father had been a superhero once and her mother had been a supervillain.

Mindfire quickly turned into two stories in one, each affecting the other in unforeseen ways. It became a mystery which gradually unfolded. The characters with more-than-human abilities were tragically human and flawed. No one was perfect but all were striving to be something more than they were. It became a story about love and redemption.

I self-published Mindfire on Amazon in June 2016. It is 286 pages long and geared towards teens and older.

Since then I have been working on a trilogy of science-fantasy books with a young woman as the protagonist. And they have spiritual and Christian elements as well. I hope to release "Jordan's World" this year.

Thanks for reading this!

I’m going to share a small excerpt from my current work-in-progress Unto Dust (A Mindfire Prequel). This story starts off in 1992, twenty-one years before the events in Mindfire. This excerpt features Sue Sanchez, who is 19, a model, and a superhero known as The Cat.

*Excerpt begins*

As she drove off, Sue cranked up the air conditioner in her brand-new sports car, a white Mazda Miata MX-5 coupe. The CD-player began playing in the middle of “Vision of Love” by Mariah Carey. Sue cranked the volume and sped up a little, signaling before she changed lanes.

She sang the lyrics and slowly bopped her shoulders from side to side as she proceeded into her neighborhood. She eased alongside the curb in front of the house she lived in. She rented half of the duplex, and her side was a small two-bedroom. Sue had grown tired of apartment life, preferring this cozy area of town that had clearly been constructed in the 1970s. The houses were all made with red brick and quaint siding, accented by big windows. She loved it. It reminded her of the house she grew up in with her sisters. And Papá.

Sue smiled as she got out of her car, remembering how she used to run outside to meet her father when he got home from work. He would pick her up and put her on his shoulders, ducking to keep her safe as he entered the house. She knew it made her sisters Sandra and Leticia very jealous, but it was her special time with Papá.

She unlocked her door and turned on the lamp to her left as she entered. A familiar beeping noise let her know to check her answering machine atop the kitchen counter. The sleek black box with black-and-red digital display showed she had four messages waiting. She quickly pressed the review button.

BEEEEP!

“Hey Sue, this is Margaret. I have an update about the magazine shoot next Tuesday. I’m sorry but they canceled. They’re looking for fifteen- to eighteen-year-old girls, it’s not personal.”

“They canceled because I just turned nineteen,” Sue said derisively, looking with contempt at the answering machine as if it were the fashion liaison for Visual Sports magazine. “How can that not be personal?”

*Excerpt ends*

This is still in draft form and could change between now and publication. Still, it gives you a glimpse and I hope you enjoyed it.

This excerpt is from Unto Dust (A Mindfire Prequel), my current work-in-progress. The scene features Steve Hamilton (Crusader, the co-leader of the AR-MEN superhero team) and his then-girlfriend, Angela Merrick. It is set in 1992 in Digby, California. This is 21 years before the events in Mindfire.

NOTE: There might be changes to this scene by the time the book is published, due to the editing process. But this will give you a good first look.

*Excerpt begins*

“You really want to break up with me?” she had said, sitting with her torso turned to him in the passenger seat of this car. She had looked at him with hurt in her emerald-green eyes as she folded her arms across her waist line.

“It’s not that I want to break up with you, Angela,” Steve had replied. “I just think that it’s best. You know what almost happened today. You could have been killed.”

Though it was a fine Spring day outside, within the parked car, their storm was raging. It was as if they were in a separate space from the world around them.

“You protected me,” she had countered. “Isn’t that what matters?”

“Angela, Togarr is a barbarian that I take seriously. He’s from another dimension and he’s a killer. Clever, strong, and experienced. When he had you, with one arm wrapped around your waist and his axe blade an inch from your throat, I was terrified for you. If I didn’t have super speed, I wouldn’t have been able to fly in, disarm, and K.O. him. You would have died.”

She had looked down, as though reliving that moment. “I know,” she replied softly.

“The fact is, I protected you this time. I might not always be able to do that,” he had added. “And what if one of the AR-MEN’s enemies learned you’re my — Crusader’s — girlfriend?”

Angela had lifted her head and made sharp eye contact with him again. “This is because I don’t have powers like you,” she had interjected bitterly.
Steve had sighed and hung his head. “Yes, I’m afraid so.”

She had looked down, balled her hands into fists, and cursed under her breath. Then she locked eyes with his, sadness and fury warring within.

“We have something good, Steve! We’ve been building this relationship. I know it hasn’t been that long, but I want a life together with you,” she began. “I may not have a suit of armor like John or fox powers like Dana, but I’m intelligent and resourceful. Most of the time, I can take care of myself very well. I can stay out of sight or get out of the way when you go into action. I can learn how to use a gun.”

Even though her eyes were misty, and her face was reddening from stress and anger, she conveyed a confidence that surprised Steve. He shook his head. “Please, don’t buy a gun. That could just as easily be used on you.”

“Fine,” she huffed. “This is more important anyway: I understand you. I can be there for you and give you a perspective you need.”

What she was saying had made sense to him. He knew she was right, and he wanted what she wanted. But over the next several seconds, his responsibilities and fears lashed against his hopes until he couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Don’t you get it?!” he roared, venting his frustration. “None of that matters if they hunt you down and —” He had stopped himself from going further, but he knew he’d already said too much.

Angela was visibly stunned, but only briefly. “None of that matters,” she repeated numbly. She closed her eyes and he could see her own tension build until it erupted. “I can’t believe this! You want to throw away what we have and kick me out because of the chance that something might happen to me?!” she raged, her voice filled with resentment.

Steve looked at the dashboard, then downward at the car door next to him. He could look anywhere but at Angela. Every time he did, he saw that her face was brimming with frustration and disappointment. And that made him regret doing this, despite how firm he was in his decision.

“Do I really mean that little to you?” she said in a near-whisper. He had heard the tears in her voice, and it tore into him. He held his breath and tensed up.

He had turned his head to face her, starting to reach over to offer some kind of comfort. But before he could speak, she had opened the car door and stepped out.

“Fine. I’ll go get my things and pack them into my car. Don’t even think about helping me,” she had said, standing next to the car with the door still open. She paused a moment, then poked her head into the car with daggers in her eyes. “Oh, and you can keep the bed.”

After that, she slammed the car door and walked away furiously.

*Excerpt ends*