The Deadly Kids

IT ALL STARTED WHEN:

I decided that I needed to challenge myself as a writer. I had written Burdens of Draco as a space epic with intense drama. I had never tried to write something really lighthearted and over the top. The original title was “The Dead Kids” because Mars and Mia got hit by a semi at the beginning of the story. It was easy to see how this could be off putting to many so we ran through some ideas and finally landed on the title.

THE IDEA:

I have a love for Guardians of the Galaxy and other stories of space stuff mixed with misfit heroes. This idea of a couple of outcast teenagers came to me and pretty soon I killed them off (like page-two kind of soon). That’s when the idea of these kids being like Iron Man came to mind. What if these kids have amazing abilities and are being sent to another dimension? What if they are experiencing something so monumental but all they really want is a burger and fries.

The scene of these two trying to eat in a city actively being destroyed by a giant monster cracked me up so I ran with it.

THE EXECUTION:

A mentor of mine, Ron Mazellan, was an art professor at a local college at the time and he had suggested Jessi as a possible artist. I knew it would be too much for Charissa (Burdens of Draco artist) as she was currently and is still working on the BOD series. Plus sometimes in creative projects its just good to have a fresh take.

Jessi did some samples of characters and pretty soon was on the Matchstick Comics team. She brought a new art style to the comic that fits the action packed comedy style I was looking for. Huge kudos to Jessi as this is her first comic and very well drawn and produced.

TAKE AWAYS:

You may be wondering- Why do all this work for a little 16 page one shot comic?

The answer is simple. Sometimes ideas are so burned into your mind that you just have to let them out. I wrote other chapters for this story and have more I would love to tell but sometimes its better to take a story one comic at a time than to jump head first into a giant series. I’m excited to see the response to this story and curious to see if it pushes into a necessary next chapter or is happy just putting smiles on people’s faces by itself.