ANTHOLOGY SPOTLIGHT: SERPENTA

When I first came up with the idea for SENTINELS, I went through my old sketches and pulled a few characters I liked from other projects I was dreaming of and used them for the book. Blaster, Rapture, Adlivon, Silver Owl, Flare and Serpenta were among them and all of them except Blaster were created as villains. But when I looked at my old sketches for Serpenta I thought she'd make a much more interesting hero. I threw out all my old notes and did the total opposite of what I originally thought I would with her.

As soon as I decided she'd be a member of SENTINELS, I worked out Serpenta's personality and it just seemed to click. Sweet, innocent and happy, Serpenta became the heart of the team to me in many ways. She pretty much stayed that way through the entire book. Sure, her arc had conflict with the triplets and deciding to be a mother, but she never lost her upbeat outlook on life. Right up until the end when she said her goodbye with a smile on her face. I still love that last panel of her that Luciano did so well. It was almost as if she was saying farewell to readers too.

I'm always surprised by how much people seem to like Serpenta (and the triplets). So, when it came time to find a team to tell her story in the Anthology, I knew I wanted a team that understood her personality well. Ryan McLelland and Andrew Charipar have both published their own comics and both have a wicked sense of humor that I really love. They proved to be an awesome team and infused a lot of that humor into her story. They were also the first ones to complete their part in the Anthology and I'm really proud of the work they did. I hope one day I can return the favor to them and can't wait to see their Serpenta story printed.