NaBloPoMo Post #3 - Support Group

As promised, a quick view of Faith's besties and helpers in her globetrotting quest to rescue her parents and fight the forces of evil.

We'll start with Faith best friend, Akira.  Akira is wildly intelligent, basically a walking encyclopedia.  Writing his dialogue required more research than I've ever done on anything, possibly including high school term papers.  Of course, there was no Google when I was in high school.  For example, when our heroes find themselves in Cairo, Akira knows all about the local customs and culture, but I didn't, so yeah, some research there.  He basically fights with his mind, because he's a bit of a geek, but he combines his "book smarts" with a heavy dose of street savvy, since he grew up there before he was caught pick-pocketing and soon adopted by...

Hoyt Manning, our man of action!  Hoyt is a good friend and loyal employee of Faith's parents, so when they kidnapped by the terrorists, he vows to ensure her safety and accompanies her on her crazy missions (and besides, someone has to drive!)  Hoyt does actually have a hand, but our first artist thought it would be cool to give him what he called an "Impact Arm, " and we thought that was just awesome.  We originally told him to draw him as Duke from the old 80's G.I. Joe cartoon, but he's not a military man, so he was drawn as a more engineer-type. His official title is "weapons tester," I believe, but I always thought of him more as "Rhodey" from the older Iron Man comics, sort of a Jack of all trades.  Writing Hoyt required less research. since he's pretty much a meat-and--potatoes kind of guy. In fact, he was probably my favorite character to write the dialogue for, because he is rather fearless, so no matter what hair-raising situation he may find himself in, he can crack a joke, and I love writing a witty zinger when appropriate.  I hope John doesn't mind me spoiling my favorite line of dialogue from issue #1.  When he sees the villains have launched missiles at them, Hoyt reacts by saying, "We've got trouble... Heat-seeking trouble."  Hehe.  It's the little things...  Sometime down the road, you may see the Hoyt solo story that John and I penned.  That's a classic.

So, those are the good guys.  Hopefully, tomorrow I will reveal what little there is to reveal about the villains, but secret terrorist organizations usually keep things under wraps, so we'll see.  In the meantime, go see Wreck-it Ralph.  Good times if you love Pixar and/or video games.  And get there early to see the Paperman short that plays before it.  Ridiculously funny and, dare I say, sweet.