Another concept sketch of Dr. Wissenschaft, this time drawn in colored pencils.  Sometimes, characters like this are designed years before they show up, and key plot points hang out in the indeterminate future, waiting for their placement in the story.  Dr. Wissenschaft had no trouble waiting his turn to appear.

Ah, my first concept sketch of Dr. Wissenschaft.  The idea of this old villain came to me complete, as sometimes happens.  Where a character like Titanium Tom called for almost endless design sketches, I guess the idea of an ancient Nazi villain is so engrained in our collective unconsciousness as to be a no-brainer.  I remember seeing the “The Boys from Brazil” in my teen years, and I believe that movie had a big effect on characters like Dr. Wissenschaft and Dr. Synn.  The idea of this frail, ancient villain being more dangerous than all the super-powered muscle heads in Spire City appealed to me.  There is no super power that trumps genius, even a dark genius like that of Dr. Wissenschaft.

I just added the covers to issues 7, 8, and 9 to the archives.  Enjoy!

Most of you know it by now, but Benita Story is an integral part of the team that creates Johnny Saturn. She is also my wife. What follows is a casual conversation about what she does, and her views on it.

Scott: Benita, how did your role as a co-writer on “Johnny Saturn” come about?

Benita: I’m not really sure, actually. I think we just started tossing ideas around about a story we’d like to tell, and one thing lead to another. I remember a lot of “What if…” and “What about…” and “That’s a great idea, but what if we did…” It’s like the story of twin boys – what one doesn’t think of, the other will. That’s us!

Scott: Well before you assumed the co-writer’s mantle, you were making up characters for the series. Would you tell us about that?

Benita: Ahhh… Dr. Synn. Well, you had this temporary name for the villain of the Johnny Saturn story, Dr. Synn. I liked it and it immediately conjured up the character pretty much as he ended up being. First, though, I knew what he looked like. I remembered a line from the movie “Addam’s Family Values.” They were at a school function (Halloween?) where the kids were supposed to be in costume. The teacher looked at Wednesday, who was not in costume, and asked, “And what are you supposed to be?” Wednesday deadpanned, “I’m a homocidal maniac.  We look like everyone else.” That’s why Dr. Synn is dressed like a businessman in a white linen suite, fedora and walking stick. I wanted him to be able to walk down the street in any city and no one pay much attention to him. I wanted him to be proper and polite, even to the point of leaving a tip in a café that he blows up theminute he’s out of it.

And then, there are Tara and Mollie. You had drawn a picture of a blond girl with cupie-hair in your sketchbook. She just spoke to me and said, I am Tara, the grand-daughter of Karl Wissenschaft. But, the further I delved into her character, the more conflict I felt in her for all her perfect exterior. It was then I realized she was a robot based on the successful experiments Dr. Wissenschaft had done on a homeless girl.  Also, I realized he had done more than based her physical aspects on this girl, but had gone so far as to download the memories and personality of this girl into Tara. But who was this homeless girl? Mollie. She came to me whole and complete as she is. A mutilated survivor of Dr. Wissenschaft’s life’s work. The Yin to Tara’s Yang. And that’s all I can say, because I don’t want to give away some important plot elements.

Scott: Benita, for those who aren’t privy to the process, how would you characterize how you and I work together? Especially, how do we collaborate on the writing?

Benita: Lots of arguing. No, really, we usually discuss new scenes or story lines over Sunday morning breakfast at the local Original Pancake House. We go back and forth with ideas, keeping some, discarding others, keeping some for future uses. Then we divide who writes the scenes based on our strong points. I’m best at interpersonal relationships and drama, and you are best at action and physical conflict. Even after some of the scenes are written, we revisit them, boiling them down to the points that advance the plot, even if it means getting rid of favorite parts. The story is always the most important element.

Scott: Editing a long-running series like this can be pretty intense. Can you explain your thoughts on this, and how you’ve helped guide me in my artistic duties?

Benita: Sometimes, artists are too close to their own work to see it for its true merit. I’ve seen you discussing glowing terms panels that look like a 10-year old drew them, and I’ve seen you dismiss something else that I saw as brilliant. An artist should NEVER edit his/her own work. Also, I can be very honest in my editing. I sometime wince when I know I’m going to say something that might hurt your feelings, or make you redraw something when you are behind schedule and are exhausted. But my name, as well as yours, is going onto the finished product, and I want to give the audience the absolute best we can at any given time. Even though Icannot draw, I have definite ideas of how things should look.

Scott: You’ve developed into a very skilled, and, dare I say, innovative letterer. Can you let me in on the thought process behind this?

Benita: I seriously think about how people talk in day to day life. I listen to rhythms of speech, what words are emphasized by what personality type. I listen to phraseology and terminology. Also, I try to use the word balloons to lead the eye to the next for smoothness of flow. Then, there are the word balloons themselves. If they overlap, then the words are said in quick succession, and the further apart they are the more of a pause there is. I try to convey a thinking process behind the words, much like we think about what we are saying as we talk. Comics aren’t movies, but I want people to see and hear a movie soundtrack as they read. Inflection,tone, etc. It all has to be there for the story to come across properly. People dismiss letterers, but they shouldn’t because the dialog is just as important to telling the story as the art is.

Scott: As the dialogue writer, you manage to find the right voice for each character. Can you tell me about your process here, how the dialogue comes about and how you refine it?

Benita: You know, it’s funny. I don’t decide on the right voice for a character. That’s just how they talk.   Creating a character isn’t all creation, but letting the character be who he/she wants to be. Some are wordier(Utopian), some cut to the chase (John Underhall), some are thoughtful or introspective (to a certain point Greg Buchanan), some are snide (anytime the Taylor talks to Greg), some are bossy (Staff of Life before the War in Heaven), and some are smooth and proper (Dr. Synn). I didn’t decide this, but they let me know that this is how they are. The only thing I do try to do is not let the character get to telling speeches. Utopian is hard to rein in at times. So is Dr. Wissenschaft. I try to think of concise, plot moving elements of what they have to say, then let them say it.

Scott: The Comic Community isn’t the only place you are active. Can you tell us a bit about what else you do,and what those communities are like?

Benita: As much as I love story-telling, I LOVE the fiber arts fields – I even have my own website based on this. When I was a child, I started sewing my dolls’ clothes, which lead to me making my own clothes, which lead to my learning how cloth is constructed. Now, I am an avid weaver, natural dyer, spinner, knitter and designer. My colleagues in the fiber area range from organic farmers and fiber animal breeders, doctors,physicists, college professors, nurses, teachers, etc. And we all have a couple of things in common – a love of creating art and practical items with natural fibers and taking care of our planet. I belong to a wonderful not-for-profit organization called SWIFT (Spinners and Weavers of Indiana – Fibers and Textiles), of which I am the newsletter editor. Also, I am a copy editor for WeaveZine, an on-line weaving magazine ran by Sci-Fi writer, Syne Mitchell. But, in the comic book area, I think I am best known as “The Spinning Lady” because I take my spinning wheel to the conventions and spin another type of yarn as I visit with everyone.

Scott: When it comes to the Webcomic Community, you’ve chosen to let me be the public figure while you maintain our privacy. What are your thoughts on this?

Benita: Well, that’s simple, really. People would rather talk with the artist than the writer. Besides, with the comic industry being your full-time, day job, you are way more knowledgeable with the details than I am. I just want to tell stories. I’d like to get more involved, but my time is very limited. I would like to start a club of sorts, though, of the wives of husband/wife comic creator teams. A lot of times we are overlooked as “shirt-tails grabbers,” but that just is not true. Look at Kaja Foglio, for example. In some ways, her role is more important that her husband’s because it is the writing and story-telling that keep people coming back to their strip.

Scott: In our writing, there is always an ironic or dark twist to the plot. Is that a function of me, you, or both of us as storytellers?

Benita: I think it is a product of both of us. We are both pretty quirky writers, and neither of us enjoys old, over-told plot lines. I think that between the two of us, we keep things original, lively and mind-blowing. My favorite comments always start with “Wow! I didn’t see THAT coming!” Then I know we’ve accomplished what we set out to do.

Also, let’s face it, bad things happen to good people, and sometimes the bad people get away. This is part of life, and we just don’t believe in glossing over it. Life can be very ironic.

Scott: We all know that I’m a big fan of Superhero stories, but that doesn’t really apply to you. What are your literary inspirations, both in and outside comics?

Benita: Oh, gee… Within the comic book arena, I love Terry Moore’s Strangers In Paradise, have enjoyed Fables, think Batman is way cooler than Superman, read webcomics like Phoenix Requiem, Pibgorn, 9 Chickweed Lane, Frazz, Secret Asian Man, Earthsong, Wayfarer’s Moon, Two Kinds, Sheldon and Basic Instructions.

Outside the comic book area, I mostly read mysteries. I love Agatha Christie, Ellis Peters, Elizabeth Peters, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Laura Childs, Monica Ferris, Maggie Sefton, Ellery Queen, and Edgar Alan Poe. I also really enjoy the writings of Miss Read, Jan Karon, James Herriot, L.M. Montgomery, Jane Austen, Anthony Trollop, and writers who lived and wrote from the 1950’s back.

Biographies, diaries and journals are another reading passion of mine, which actually can tie back into the comics. Reading about other peoples’ lives gives me an insight to human nature that I can take back into the characters I create for the stories I write.

Lastly, I tend to read lots of books that pertain to the fiber art area. I, always, am trying to up my game in this area, and the more I learn, the better I will be informed and the better I can teach and pass this information forward to others.

Scott: Thanks, Benita! This has been really informative!

This Johnny Saturn pinup was originally drawn as a Frumph.net contest prize and was awarded to the winner of a webcomic scavenger hunt.  It was won by Deth Invictus of Australia.  I like the basic theme of this drawing enough that I think I’m going to adapt it for a Johnny Saturn. Cover.  It has an old fashioned pulp feel to it, especially with the skull hanging overhead.  Does the skull stand for Johnny Saturn’s nemesis Dr. Wissenschaft, or for Johnny’s own imminent demise?  Time will tell.

Recently, I requested a critique for “Johnny Saturn” on a certain forum, and several of my webcartooning peers were kind enough to offer their opinions.  One such critique set me to thinking, though: It stated that many of our “Johnny Saturn” villains were evil for evil’s sake, and that we didn’t offer good reasons for them to be this way.  This criticism centered on Tactical and Dr. Wissenschaft.

As much as I welcomed the critique, I have to respectfully disagree with this assessment.  There is that old Stan Lee adage, that “there are no villains, just fallen heroes.”  That same line of reasoning goes on the express that everyone is the hero in their own story, and every villain believes he’s on the side of the angels no matter how awful their deeds.

I don’t buy it.

Josef Mengele, the so called Angel of Death, is a loose inspiration for Dr. Wissenschaft.  This should be pretty obvious to those of you who know anything about 20^th century history.  Did Mengele feel he was walking a moral high ground in doing the things he did?  I doubt it.  My guess is that he was all about the science, and that he was a total sociopath, devoid of any empathy for his victims.

Tactical, in his origin as a Balkan war criminal, is loosely based on any number of similar war criminals, both those that have been brought to trial in the Hague, and those that have yet to be apprehended.  Did these men relish the slaughter they ordered and oversaw?  Did they feel terrible about the massacres and rape camps?  I doubt it.  I think they performed their deeds in a misguided sense of nationalism.

Does every villain have some defining moment in their life when they become evil?  An “origin,” you might say.  Or, are they all sociopaths and psychopaths?  This is the standard comic book way, but I don’t think it’s the real way.  I think many of these people grow up in hell holes, and they grow up with cruelty.  It’s what they know.  They become inured to the suffering of others by their environment, and they learned cruelty as a second nature.

To put a point on it, many of the “Johnny Saturn” villains are simply those who put the ends before the means.  If they want something, they will do anything to make it happen.

In the real world, we know some people are bad, and we neither know (nor usually care) what made them bad.  The same rule applies to the “Johnny Saturn” villains.

Scott.<-->

Recently, a friend and I were talking about the different types of superheroes operating in Spire City, and I realized that there is a pretty wide spectrum. As a group, we call them meta-humans, but this isn’t all inclusive. I imagine I’ll return to this subject and flesh it out many time in the future. Here is the short list:

• Android: A robot that appears sufficiently human to easily pass for a human. Tara 5.0 is a prime example of an android.

• Cyborg: A human surgically augmented with scientific implants. Many of Dr. Wissenschaft’s mercenary soldiers are cyborgs.

• Gadgeteer: A human who invents or adopts gadgets of some sort to work as a vigilante. Tilt counts as a gadgeteer, as does Staff of Life, Captain Barometer, and Hyperspace.

• Mad Scientist: While technically norms, superhuman brilliance is arguably the most potent meta power. Combine this with mental illness (Dr. Synn) or amorality (Dr. Wissenschaft), and you have a foe not to be taken lightly.

• Mecha: A robot with an onboard human driver or pilot. The difference between a mechanaut and a mecha is often one of size; if the driver can wear it, he’s a mechanaut; if the device is large enough to be a vehicle, it is a mecha.

• Exonaut: These are normal humans who wear powered exoskeletons, wearable robots, or other similar costumes that scientifically augment their wearer. Examples would be Tactical and Deco. Mechanauts are sometimes also called human tanks and power armors. Non-powered armor, such as a bullet-proof vest, does not make someone a exonaut.

• Meta-human: Any person who is “more than human,” whatever the source of that power. Most of the superheroes and super villains in Spire City fall into this category. There are subgroups of meta-humans, such as Speedsters (Hotfoot, Celerity), Brutes (Alaric, Skorn), and Winged Wonders (Peregrine, Free Ranger).

• Mystery Man: Non-powered, themed vigilantes more common in the 1930’s through the 1950’s. Johnny Saturn I would be a good example of a classic mystery man.

• Norms: Within the meta community, standard humans are usually called Norms. Martial artists are still usually norms; if they adopt a theme and become vigilantes, they graduate to mystery men.

• Paranormal: This covers all humans (and other creatures/entities) that are magically based. A standard human adept in magic would be a paranormal, as would angels and demons and elementals. Examples include Persephone Synn Underhall, Norgiel the demon, and Turiel the angel. Many characters who are living avatars/embodiments of certain principles belong to this group, as do mythological humans (such as the late Musclebound, son of Hercules).

• Robot: Artificial scientific constructs. These often have humanoid shape, but they cannot pass for humans as can androids. A robot with a human pilot is a mecha. A good example of a robot would be the self-aware Oppression Wave.

• Zomborg: A clinically dead human that is surgically augmented and turned into a mindless cyborg. Dr. Wissenschaft regularly recycles his slain mercenaries and cyborgs into zomborgs.

Being Johnny Saturn – Part I by Benita G. Story. Copyright 2008 Story Studios, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Greg unlocked the door to his apartment. “It’s been over three days since I was last home. It feels like three years.”

Greg stumbled across his threshold, pushed the door closed and began pulling off pieces of his costume as he tripped, bounced off the walls of his hallway and finally fell onto the mattress on his bedroom floor. He was asleep before he had the chance to cover himself with the single blanket on his bed.

Sniff. “What?” Greg slowly fought his way to consciousness. As he did, he realized that his bladder was screaming in agony. Carefully, he groped his way into a standing position and headed toward the bathroom. As his body began to awaken, the screeches, pops, and cracks from his muscles and joints joined his bladder in a symphony of pain. He had never felt more like giving up and dying more so in his life than at that moment.

After what felt like an hour, his bladder finally emptied and his brain began its journey toward reality. Sniff. “Is that bacon I smell?” Greg’s head came up from being slumped against his chest, which caused a series of pops and cracks to issue from his upper vertebrae.

Greg slowly washed his hands. Then he splashed cold water onto his face and gasped as the water hit his face. All of a sudden, Greg was fully awake and he opened his eyes to the face in the mirror. “Holy shit! Is that face mine?” What peered back at him was a series of bruises and swellings that barely resembled anything human. He glanced at his watch. 10:30. “Morning or night?” Without waiting for an answer, Greg left the bathroom.

Sniff. “Coffee? I smell bacon and coffee.” Greg stumbled down the hallway toward what would have been a living room in a normally furnished apartment. As he walked the short distance, the smells became stronger and when he finally reached his kitchen, he stopped in awe at what he saw.

There, standing at the stove, was a man with shoulders as wide as a bull-dozer. The man had his back to Greg and was taking something out of the skillet.

“It’s about time you woke up!” came a gruff voice. Greg just stood there with his mouth open.

The man turned around, a plate in one hand and a mug in the other. He was about 6’4”, had short, dark hair graying at the temples, and was well dressed in a polo shirt and neatly creased slacks. “You’ve been asleep for over two days,” the man said.

Greg watched the man as he sat the plate and mug down on the counter in front of Greg.

“I’d put this on a table for you and offer you a chair,” the man said as he looked around at the bare living space, “but it seems we are short on those this morning.”

Greg swallowed hard. “You are John Underhall.”

John smiled and said, “So, you aren’t a total imbecile this morning, Greg. Good. We have a lot to talk about.” He then thrust a fork at Greg.

Greg took the fork and began shoveling food into his mouth. For several minutes the only sound to be heard was munching and slurping as Greg gulped down the hot food and liquid. As he ate, John turned back to the stove.

When John finished cooking his own breakfast, he leaned against the counter next to the stove and slowly ate. As he did so, he watched Greg closely. When Greg finished his meal, John reached into the pocket of his pants and tossed something at Greg. Greg barely caught it. It was a medicine bottle.

“Vicoden.” Greg stared at the bottle.

“It’ll help with the pain,” John said as he paused in eating.

Greg continued to stare at the bottle, then, slowly, he placed it on the counter in front of him. “No, thank you.”

John shrugged his shoulders. “Suit yourself. But, if you keep treating your body like you have in the past several days, you are going to need it.”

Greg looked up. “And be like you? I heard you were a pain killer junkie.”

John continued eating. “Used to be. Not anymore.”

John took his now empty plate over to the sink and rinsed it off. He then reached for Greg’s and did the same thing with it. Greg kept a tight hold onto the mug. John glanced at him, grinned and asked, “You want some more coffee?”

Greg’s face muscles contorted into the closest semblance of a smile it could make at that time. “Sure!”

John laughed and poured both of them another cup from the coffee maker next to the stove. Then he picked up his cane and led the way over to a wall next to a window. Greg watched as John slowly eased himself down into sitting position on the floor. Once John had settled, Greg slowly, and achingly, joined him.

Greg looked at John Underhall. “What do we need to talk about?”

John took a sip of the coffee and leaned his head back against the wall. “You. You and your future as Johnny Saturn.”

Greg looked surprised. “My future as Johnny Saturn? You mean you aren’t here to tell me to cease and desist?”

John shook his head. “Do I look like I’m in the position to take the job back?”

“Well….”

“No. I’m here to help you become Johnny Saturn in more than just name.”

Greg sat silently for a minute. “How?”