Lyla Grace Has Superpowers

Because my pal Frank Tempone finally updated his blog, I owe it to the world to do the same. Plus, next week will be a big week for me (yeah, New York Comic-Con where my GRANT MORRISON BOOK WILL LAUNCH), and I will be using this blog to keep all of the new fans up-to-date. So, if you're one of my new fans...hey, what's up?

Anyway, back to this post.

"Lyla Grace Has Superpowers," as mentioned a month or so ago, and as pictured above in her very first sketchbook appearance, will be part of my Bag of Glass Comics anthology that will probably never happen because I'm so busy, but you never know. I'm bound to do something with Lyla and her precocious turtle one of these days. I like the sketch. I think the character has potential. I drew Lyla a year and a half ago (as you can see by the date), and came up with her supporting cast right away. It's your basic fish-out-of-water-coming-of-age-superpowers-as-symbolic-wish-fulfillment-heroic-quest-existential-docu-drama, but in high school. With energy blasts. And teachers who wear luchador masks.

It's badass stuff, obviously. Oh, and if you were wondering, Lyla's pants were inspired by my purchase and subsequent viewing of Gatchaman Volumes 1 +2 in the summer of '05. Jinpei (aka Keyop) wears some pants like that, and since he's a Science Ninja, he obviously has mad style. I couldn't find a pic of him with the stripey pants, but you can see in the image below that he has crazy Science Ninja fashion skillz:



Ah, Jinpei. You know, I watched Gatchaman every day after school back in the 70's when is was edited for American consumption and broadcast as Battle of the Planets, and I only saw it in color once (at a friend's house) until I got those dvds. We actually had a black-and-white television until the late 70s. I can pinpoint the exact year we got a color television, by the way. It was 1978, and I remember only because I was watching Battlestar Galactica in black and white during a thunderstorm and the antenna on our roof was struck by lightning, killing that television. We went shopping for a color television the next day. Fascinating. Now, of course, I won't stand for anything less than 57" of HD television. If I had watched Battle of the Planets and Battlestar Galactica in 57" HD as a child my head would probably have melted due to awesomeness, though.

Maybe not.

Back to Lyla Grace! I also sketched some of the supporting cast, like her older sis, who goes by the stage name MK Ultra, and her sis's crony, Skazz:



If you want to see more of Lyla Grace, keep bugging me. I will cave in to peer pressure. Because although I'd love to do a 100-page graphic novel detailing Lyla's first romance and/or battle with Extra-dimensional Viking Nazis, I'm lazy. But I do respond well to taunting and offers of cash prizes.