Concepts

On this page, you will find numerous concept pieces that were never properly developed. Despite that, I had plenty of ideas for them. Typical…

TRIXTER

Trixter was a creation of my friend Jamin Sponaugle that I took and adapted into a horror story with sequel potential. He had sketched drawings of this killer clown, then drew a full-page narrative that showed the clown’s traumatic childhood. This gave me a simple enough concept to start batting around story ideas.

At first, I considered using the character as a villain for Lightning Bolt. I even drew a piece of concept art that showcased the exact issue he would have been introduced. However, I knew this idea was not meant for the superhero space. Horror is where it belonged, so I decided to expand the idea conceptualized by Sponaugle. If he was abused as a kid, why would this turn him into an evil clown?

Original Trixter sketch from Jamin Sponaugle. The Lightning Bolt addition was mine.

I eventually landed on the idea of Matt Jones, a man with a history of childhood trauma that begins killing abusive parents he notices as he works for a traveling carnival. I remember writing in a very pointless but ultimately necessary plot point about a mask that the main character finds and wears that creates a more demonic appearance. The mask was meant to be supernatural, so Trixter could be as well. Matt becomes involved with Jill Frost who ultimately becomes his foil. Once she learns the truth, the story ends with Trixter’s beheading.

Being a fan of Full Moon Entertainment during this time, I blatantly lifted the revival concept of Trixter with that of the film Subspecies 2. The main villain in that series, Radu, had also been beheaded but his little minions helped him get his head back on. So, when plotting for Trixter 2, I gave him random demon imps to help him reattach his head. This demon twist did allow me the opportunity to introduce Zack and Demonic from the Demon in the Box series into this series. They were now working as demon hunters and made their way to the carnival to investigate.

Zack and Demonic fight a newly revived Trixter in Trixter’s Return, but Jill soon learns that she is with child. Matt’s child. Despite that, Zack and Demonic ensure Trixter is dead and buried. He won’t be coming back anytime soon.

Because I was loving this concept, I began working on a third entry that would see a major time jump with Matt and Jill’s kid now being a teenager. He soon finds himself haunted by voices and visions that lead him to cemetery where he discovers the grave of his long-dead father. The teen wants to know who Matt Jones was and soon gets his answers. Thinking there must be a reason he’s communicating with his father, he follows instructions that lead to Trixter’s revival and even the teen’s own transformation into a killer clown of sorts.

Zack and Demonic, accompanied by fellow hero Device, protect Jill and fight Trixter and his son in Trixter: The Resurrection. I wasn’t sure why I defaulted back to Zack and Demonic. I think I wanted to see Demonic, or Dominique in his human visage, have a relationship and was slowly shipping him and Jill. He would always be a good foil to Trixter, at least that’s how I saw it. That said, I didn’t want to continue down the same path I had thus far. So, I began thinking hard about what the next entry could be and it led me down a deep well.

The idea for the fourth entry started with a name: Trixter’s World Tour. This led to concept art that enforced the idea that Trixter was going global. But what would be the crux of that concept? That led back to Jill, who has been traumatized by all these events. She’s isolated herself from everyone and stays on the run, in hopes of never being noticed by anyone and keeping her free of Trixter’s return. Little does she know; he’s already following her. I never did finish this story, but the idea always excited me. The trauma angle would make for a great entry as it has in other horror features.

The fifth entry, Trixter: Burial Ground, was meant to be the end of the character. But I’ll be honest, I cannot remember what the basic plot was centered around. Whatever it was, I’m sure it had something to do with putting his body in the ground for good. Or some sort of druid sacrifice. It also sounds good in the moment.

I’m not sure what spurred on the idea of a sixth entry. And just like the fifth, I’m not sure what Trixter: Life After Death was meant to be about. It looks to see Trixter revived in the future and has a new partner in crime who is no doubt named Trixie. Whatever happens in this entry, it would have led to the end of civilization and even Trixter. Earth would be destroyed. And this would have been a great stopping point. But my brain likes ideas.

The seventh and final entry was named Trixter’s Alternate Future which would see the demonic presence escaping hell and traveling through time to change history for his benefit. The premise alone intrigued me. And I feel there were more details that I’ve forgotten over time because THIS idea excited me to think about.

Trixter has the potential to be a horror icon and I would love to have my friend’s creation become legendary like all the ones he loved growing up. Here’s hoping I can make that dream a reality.

3 FATES

The basic premise of 3 Fates came from the idea of a superhero family that passes on abilities and identities throughout the generations via a ring. Hopefully, I can break this down without it being complicated. There are three heroes: Speed Demon, Power Lord and Father Mind. Each hero is related. Father Mind is the parent of Power Lord and grandparent of Speed Demon. When Father Mind dies, Power Lord will become Father Mind and Speed Demon will become Power Lord. The oldest child of the NEW Power Lord will be tapped to become the NEW Speed Demon. Got it?

Utilizing a very clever tagline, I gave this idea plenty of thought. What would that conversation be when your father and grandfather come to you and ask you to be a superhero? It tweaks the idea of a parent trying to keep their kids away from it. Here, it must be embraced. I even considered that embracing it wasn’t about tradition, but very much about the powers themselves. Without an heir, the powers would dissipate and the trio would be no more. That thought process led to another idea…

Considering this family had clearly been passing these powers along for generations, I thought it could be fun to explore the first three Fates. It would be told as a flashback to Speed Demon by Power Lord as Father Mind lies on his deathbed. Power Lord is concerned about the lack of a third member and the time it would take for there to be another, seeing as how Speed Demon is still in high school. I’m sure there was a timetable for all of this. Possibly something I hadn’t quite thought through yet. In any case, while discussing the story of the first three, it becomes apparent that the original three were not related at all and perhaps their power hierarchy isn’t family dependent.

Since I love a good trilogy, I couldn’t very well leave the plot threads dangling. In the concept art, I mention a new threat emerging but I’m almost positive I planned for it to be the return of the evil threat last seen in the past. Furthermore, I mention this threat must be helped with the help of a new partner but never specify would had been tapped. At least it’s a woman, right? I was the world’s worst at inclusivity. Not that I was racist or sexist as a kid. Rather that I was creating characters that I related to. Plus, I never felt like I drew women all that well or drew people of color properly. That would sometimes feel racist to me. This got off topic… point is, the find a new member who’s probably not related.

While I never wrote anything down beyond a tagline line and some barebones plot synopses, I do enjoy thinking about this idea. I feel it could be a fun family superhero story that could center around estrangement. Plus, I do enjoy drawing these characters every now and then. The idea of character variations has always intrigued me for some reason.

THE OUTCASTS

During the summer of 1997, I was fortunate to have some great friends and pretty decent memories to accompany them. Since cell phones weren’t what they are today, my friends and I resorted to CB radio communication when we were hanging out together in town. And since such radio chatter was usually accompanied by clever nicknames, we all adopted a moniker that fit who we were. As weird as it might seem to a normal mind, this was superhero stuff to me. Because of that, I wrote stories about fictional adventures I wished we could have had. Bad guys, car chases, finding love… it’s all there. That’s pretty much the first story of the Outcasts.

Opening page of a planned remake of the Outcasts

In the Outcasts 2: The Return of Shades, we see that Shades had moved on from those times in his life only to be brought back in by the return of the bad guy from the last story, looking for payback. The story got a bit dark. Maybe a bit too dark for something that came off more like an action comedy. The third idea, The Outcasts III: Greatest American Heroes, would see the group going on a road trip to help Shades, who’s caught up in his own problems. While the story was at least half written, I worked out a soundtrack for this film idea and knew exactly where each song would go.

Once I’d tapped out the trilogy, I thought about the future. Seeing as how I’d recently become a father; I began wondering about our kids and who they would be. What would happen if these two generations collided? Seemed like a fun idea. Beyond that, I conceptualized so many other ideas like the Outcasts as superheroes or as babies. I even thought how cool it could be having the Outcasts meet the Destructors. Shades meeting “S” is like seeing two parts of myself collide.

These were nothing more than fantasy takes on reality that I still ponder from time to time. There could be a good movie in there somewhere. Just not sure how original it would be.

CLANDESTINE

Clandestine was an idea developed by me and a former acquaintance, Stephen Foster. He and I had worked on several short films together, but our first brainstorm produced this project. It simply began as an idea about a homeless man who finds a tattered costume in the trash, puts it on and decides to fight crime. At first, it seemed that the costume was meant to play a bigger role in the narrative, but that idea was quickly abandoned.

Soon, we began to focus on the homeless man’s mental state. Perhaps he was combating amnesia, had a whole life he didn’t remember, perhaps a special ops agent. The list went on, full of possibilities. We wanted our hero (or anti-hero) John Doe to be a formidable threat. A threat against who was the next question which led us to a criminal underworld, filled with gangsters, family heads and kingpins. Clandestine, which was the name of the city, had never had problems with vigilantes and was a criminal’s paradise. Once John starts taking out the men of Blaine Ashton, the local crime family boss, the hunt begins for John.

We never had any big plans or connections to the main characters. Nothing was going to be revealed where they learned they were brothers or something. It was about two opposing forces, both of which were a bit crazy. An outline for the first story was written, as was the art for most of the first issue. This was the first comic idea I thought I might see in print. But like most things I’m involved in creating, I must do all the heavy lifting and the idea fell by the wayside. That said, I did work in plans to incorporate the characters into the Neo City plot lines, sticking with most of the ideas and adjusting them to work within that world.

Like everything else, there’s a great idea here. It just needs some work to be great.

GOMIRAH

Gomirah (or G.o.M.i.R.a.H. if you wanna get technical) was me wanting to create my own Godzilla movies. I’m not sure what I wasn’t getting from those films that these ideas would rectify. From the concept art alone, it seemed to be a take on the “Zilla” design (aka US Godzilla 1998) but giving him powers. Something that particular version was severely lacking in. At the time, I believed Godzilla would never see the US shores again, at least not using modern technology. It’s amazing that Japan is one of the world’s most advanced technological countries, yet their CG feel years behind the US. Anyway, I created a main lizard, a bit of backstory (genetic modifications or something), and monsters for it to fight.