Progress Report: Lightning Girl Loves Rocket Boy

I thought that today's post would be a great time to look at Scott Arnold's excellent designs for the cast of the Hypersmash comic, Lightning Girl Loves Rocket Boy! Allow me to introduce this lovable bunch:


This is Marcus Joseph Marshall, also known as the teenage crime-fighting hero, Rocket Boy!

In real life, I'm a little old-fashioned so, at first, I wasn't all that crazy about his sideburns. But then I gave it some thought, and decided that I'm basically out of touch with the youth culture of today, so it's fine if he has a hairstyle that I don't really understand.

(Click on each image to enlarge.)







Here's a model sheet for Marcus, in and out of costume. He's got a fin on his head and a jetpack strapped to his back. That, my friends, is pure, classic Superhero Design 101!

(And please note: in case you are wondering what to get me for my birthday, I have just added "Rocket Jetpack" to my Amazon wishlist. Hint, hint. Thank you in advance!)






Here we have a look at some preliminary colors for Rocket Boy. Both Scott and I have taken a couple of shots at picking out his costume colors. We haven't really settled on anything yet. Stay tuned.






This is Jodie, also known as the power-packed dynamo, Lightning Girl! She's your typical college sophomore. She runs track, practices yoga, and has brilliant instincts as a tutor. Oh, and she flies around and shoots lightning bolts out of either hand. Like I said, typical college sophomore.

In a tribute to surefire comic book logic, Jodie hides her secret identity by letting her hair down and putting on a pair of transparent goggles when she's in superhero mode. Foolproof, right? (Take that, Clark Kent!)

Here's the first sketch Scott ever sent me of Lightning Girl's costume. I liked it, but I thought she needed a chest insignia to help make the costume more dynamic visually. And I also pointed out that those big, mitten-type gloves seemed a little impractical if she wanted to do something esoteric like -- oh, I dunno -- write down some notes, or use a keyboard while surfing the net, or something.

And Voila! Problem solved.

Chest insignia, brilliant.

And big, clunky mittens -- gone.

Spiffy, no?

(Note: Scott has a decidedly different approach to designing a costume than fellow Hypersmash Studios artist, Jason Hoagland.)

This is Owen, Rocket Boy's best friend. When the comic gets published, we'll make sure to experiment with some grayscaling options to properly indicate Owen's skin tone.

And what kind of a superhero comic book would we have without a good villain? This is the mad scientist known as Dr. Straitjacket! Jason came up with the cool name. And it was Scott's idea to indicate that our doc would probably perform some type of radical home surgery on his own brain. (I think both ideas are awesome.)

And, of course -- Madbots! Everyone's mad about Madbots! Indestructible combat machines, they pose a challenge for any hero that has the misfortune of running into their path.

Madbots!





And there you have it! I hope you get the same jolt of excitement that I do when looking at Scott's work. I can't wait until we can finally publish copies of this book and get it into the hands of you, the faithful reader. This has truly been a labor of love, and I think that it's a story people out there will really enjoy.

Lightning Girl Loves Rocket Boy one-shot (52 pages) by Roel Torres and Scott Arnold is scheduled for release from Hypersmash Studios in 2008.