ANTHOLOGY SPOTLIGHT: ELECTRON

One of my favorite characters in SENTINELS was Electron. He was just a fun character to write. When I first began working on the series, I would do sketches of characters and costumes while sitting in acting class (being bored watching someone ham it up doing Hamlet for the hundredth time). I'd just be daydreaming and playing around to see what worked and one of those throw-away sketches was of Electron. I don't know why, but I just liked the colors I came up with for him. I thought they were unique and worked well. Once I decided I wanted to use him for SENTINELS, I worked out his back story and powers and thought I had figured out his personality. But like many writers say, sometimes your creation takes on a life of it's own.

With Electron, you can see in the first few pages of SENTINELS Book 1: Footsteps, that he was a slightly different person. I originally thought him to be a kind of smartass, but sensitive sort of guy. But once I started writing him, the smartass personality quickly vanished. What emerged was the down-on-his-luck, sensitive-yet-strong, hero that people seemed to care about. It was hard to write him sometimes because he had such a compassionate side and I didn't want him to seem weak. Hopefully, it read that way. I think his character truly grew into a hero by the end.

When Luciano joined on as artist on SENTINELS, he really made each of the characters his own. With Electron he added many elements that, at the time, I wouldn't have thought to. Though I had created each of the characters to be as unique as possible, by trying to make them different heights, weight, race, etc., it was Luciano who added many of Electron's characteristics. The visible tattoo was my idea, but all the other tats and the body hair were Luciano's input. Also, Luciano really strived to make the characters body language unique too. You'll notice in many panels that Electron is shyly to the back of the scene or his posture is somewhat inward to indicate his insecurities. I think this sort of detail set Electron apart from the rest of the team and just as he had his own voice, he also had his own look.

One of the main arcs in Electron's story was his relationship with the somewhat vain, Splash. Being the last two team members I created, it's funny that they ended up together. Even though they were totally opposites, I think they fit. I grew to believe their love for one another as I wrote it. I'll even admit that at times I fought to find a reason for Electron to want to be with Splash after how crappy she usually treated him. But, in the end, I think they both made each other whole and was proud of how Electron evolved.

When it came time to decide who would be working on Electron's story for the Anthology, I knew I wanted creators who would do him justice. And in my opinion, Todd Latoski and Matias San Juan are just those guys. Both of them really seemed to understand who Electron was and I'm proud of their work. Like the team responsible for Firebomb's story, I'm excited to see their work printed. I'm really lucky to have so many talented people working on the Anthology!