When I was a little girl, I was never one who took to dolls or princesses or any stereotypical female interests. My younger brother had a superhero phase consisting of him yelling out the names of his favorite heroes in a song he would make up.
“Superman. Batman. Spiderman. Superman! Batman…”
You get the gist - it’s riveting stuff. We used to watch Adam West as Batman in his 1966 movie everyday after school. However, I was never able to relate to the male-dominated roles that composed the superhero universe.
This year as I was talking to my dorm parent, she told me that her daughter wanted to be a superhero for Halloween. When asked what hero she wanted to be, she said she wanted to make her own. It was this fundamental instinct of creativity and individuality that drew me to my senior project.
For the past four weeks I have been writing and drawing a comic book for my original superhero- Volkaan. One thing that I have learned through my research on the art of constructing a comic book is the fact that many contain what Alan Moore refers to as an “idea.” The “idea” is essentially a deeper message that the comic book is trying to convey. I have taken on the “idea” of using my comic book to address climate change. I’ve enjoyed hiding secret allusions to the environment in my story as well as working towards using the plot itself to act as a metaphor for mankind’s impact on our earth.
I am fairly practiced in the art of storytellings and many of the classes that I have taken during my four years here at Tabor have prepared me for this creative writing challenge, but this is my first time putting a pen to paper with the intention of creating visual art. I have been using a book written by Marvel superstars Stan Lee and John Buscema as a guide to teach myself the fundamentals of drawing. Slowly but surely, the pages started adding up. I began publishing my progress on an instagram account called @volkaancomics, which has gained support from various members of the Tabor community. What is really cool about this project is I have been able to teach myself a new artform and watch my vision come to fruition.
With only two weeks remaining, it is time for me to switch into hyper speed to make sure that I can get my comic book to the printer on time. Luckily, this project barely feels like work at all!
