Hi, Folks:
I’ve been listening to “Johnny Cash: Solitary Man,” one of his great recordings near the end of his days, and before that I was listening to Neil Young’s “Comes A Time.” Needless to say, I’m in a pensive, wistful, bittersweet mood, and loving it. I’m not sure if the mood inspired the choice of albums, or the albums inspired the mood, but there you go!
As a lot of the Spire City characters you’ve come to know appear in the new Johnny Saturn stories, many of them will have new or modified costumes or hairstyles. I’m a firm believer that, while metaheros are well aware of personal branding issues and their logos, they also will change their costumes regurally. In our world, for example, we don’t demand that pop stars always dress the same way. They might have a fashion style, a mode of dressing that is recognizably them, but they change clothing daily. That’s the way Spire City is. If I licensed these characters out for various products, then I would have a different take on this issue, but I do not license them.
As a corrallary to this, I also allow characters to age and change. One founding character has but on about 60 lbs, and another has to use bifocals to read from her PDA. Age happens, and I see no reason to freeze these characters in their youth. I admire and love old people, always have, so our metaheroes are allowed to age too.
