Creative Polymath

A creative soul who's recently found his nerve to take leaps of faith where his creative outlets are concerned. Undiagnosed ASD (>90% certainty of Asperger's). Are you fed up with the monolithic, impersonal, and tastelessly robotic direction the creative market is headed in? I sure am! Here comes a holdout from the days of traditional artistic media, shaped at Pratt Institute and refined under the radar over the past decade: it’s me, the 1withapencil! I design logos, signs, flyers, and my personal favorite, character portraits, on commission and never use AI for any step in the process! Ko-Fi site TBD. Shoot me a message and let’s see what splendor we can create together!

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It’s a @1withapencil first: a collaboration with the coolest colorist I know, @hermitollien ! There’s no universe where I wouldn’t eventually collaborate with Ollie, and it’s safe to say this is but the first of many such team-ups to come!

Dynamo Knight, shown here when she was still known as Kid Dynamo, was a scrappy youngster who fought an oppressive, dystopian regime in her home dimension armed only with her magic and portals and inimitable style! Bonus points if you recognize the pose as inspired by a famous Japanese manga/anime character! 🐺3️⃣

Character, Colors, & “Dynamo” graffiti by @hermitollien

Linework & Background Art by @1withapencil

NOTHING by AI

This is REAL artistry!

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I posted this to IG back in January last year, but I think now is exactly when such a hero ought to reenter the public consciousness. After all, a wizard is never late nor early, but arrives precisely when he means to. Hafiz el-Ruqayyah is a member of an order of Zoroastrian wizard-monks who spend their lives observing, preserving, and breeding Rocs: gigantic birds of prey spoken of in Persian legend sporting plumages blue as the sky, white as clouds, and red as the setting sun. The sages revere the Roc as sacred emissaries of Ahura Mazda—the prime deity and source of all light, warmth, and good in the universe—and many sages, like Hafiz, specialize in the magics of air and lightning—without the former, fire cannot burn, and the latter being able to spark fire. Hafiz was at the end of his training, having mastered the sword and receiving his mentor's Damascus steel scimitar in recognition of his prowess, as well as unfailing command over the power of the storm. The final step was to travel to the southern shores of the Caspian Sea to assume guardianship over a juvenile Roc who would serve as Hafiz's familiar. But at the very moment the rare bird was bestowed on him, it was whisked away, summoned from a vast distance by an evil conjurer. Determined to reclaim his sacred charge, Hafiz tracked down the conjurer to Dubai, across the Persian Gulf in the UAE. When he arrived, the young sage was appalled at the disparity of living conditions between the obscenely wealthy and their slaves, for it went against every righteous teaching and instinct that Hafiz had learned his entire life. Though rescuing the Roc—whom after the ordeal he named Shamshir—tested his every skill, Hafiz realized his life's work had only just begun: to liberate the slaves of this modern society, vanquish the evil that gripped the slavers' hearts, and serve as a symbol of freedom and hope for the downtrodden across the Arabian Peninsula. By the light of day or moonlit night, whether Shamshir casts her shadow on scorching desert sands or towers built on forced labor, all who view the Keeper of the Roc know the winds of change are soon to blow through their lives.

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Among Harold Long’s many codenames, callsigns, epithets, and noms de plume, Operator Maxim is his favorite as the standard of excellence he holds himself to.

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as the only son of a wealthy banker on what was then “Black Wall Street,” Harold Long wanted for precious little growing up. He had friends in high places, but his early onset talent as a community organizer made him popular even among those children of more modest means. A certain 1916 city ordinance drove a wedge between Harry’s parents, and the heir was only too happy to graduate high school and attend Tuskegee University if only to escape his parents’ bickering.

While at University studying Communications, Harry rubbed elbows with the likes of George Washington Carver and his contemporaries. Surrounded by such pivotal figures, he did what he did best, which was to coordinate events led by these giants of the era. Harry believed that the key to the 20th century was in telecommunications, and he wanted to be the one to direct where the cables were laid.

Tragedy struck just as Harry was to begin a radio station job in New York City. The trouble brewing at home erupted into a blaze when the Longs and 300 other innocent black people were murdered in the Tulsa Race Massacre, thousands more injured. Harry’s parents, childhood home, and uncountable friends had suddenly gone up in smoke. The millions of dollars he inherited were a cold comfort compared to the immeasurable loss suffered. But the spark of hope was soon rekindled when a costumed vigilante broke up a cell of local Klansmen. It was a messy affair, but did prevent a yet greater crime from occurring. Harry had the means, the motivation, and now the idea for how he might avenge those senseless deaths.

One year and some quiet acquisitions later, three boroughs of NYC hosted a network of telephone hotlines used regularly by the city’s new colorful team of public servants: the Heraldic Society of America, or simply the Heralds! With Operator Maxim coordinating their efforts and delivering dramatic retellings over the airwaves, the roaring ‘20s saw the start of the Golden Age of the Superhero!

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Another founding member of the Heraldic Society of America, Firecracker Jack made his debut as an icon of America during the Golden Age of Heroism in the 1920s and ‘30s. When Charlie Jackson’s childhood dream of playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team was undone by a bullet to the knee in WWI, he had all but lost his will to live. However, upon hearing the stories of war heroes like Major Valor and the all-powerful Chosen One, Charlie discovered his new calling in life. Once honorably discharged from the army (sent home early due to his knee injury), Charlie resolved himself to intense training while, and after, his knee healed. By day, he built muscle constructing the skyscrapers that would eventually comprise New York’s famous skyline, and by evening, he honed his batting, pitching, and catching skills at the ballpark while paying special care to strengthen his knee by running the bases. Two years later, with his body in peak condition, Charlie fashioned a baseball uniform to represent the nation he adored, and took his wartime experience to New York’s criminal underworld for the next two decades. Along the way, he would come to meet, fight alongside, and form the Heraldic Society of America with the other heroes in his beloved city: Amber Light, Mobian of Molorak, the first Sapien, and eventually his very own sidekick, Bullpen Bobby.

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On today's episode of flooding Tumblr with my work, may I introduce Mobian of Molorak, the Ambassador of Mars! Full disclosure right off the bat: Mobian isn't actually from Mars. In fact, Zachary Moses Alaverdian is quite human. His appearance is due simply to the psychically imbued Waistband of the Beheld which allows its wearer to alter their physical characteristics while worn. The remaining suite of his powers can be attributed to others in his collection of Relics from his past lives, for indeed, Zachary is a previous incarnation of Ankhmage Mobius (read all about him in a previous post of mine!), and as such is the inheritor of a soul steeped in 12,000 years of magical experience. However, Zachary is also the inheritor of a strong psychic lineage, which—due to the mutually annihilating nature of magics and psionics—meant every ounce of power he has attained in his current life, every shred of his past lives, had to be earned or reclaimed through great effort. As for why he chose the guise of a "green Martian," he found that a personage straight out of the pulp science fiction novels of the early 20th century would be a convenient euphemism for and draw more attention to the Armenian diaspora that preceded his birth, to make it easier to digest considering the delicate sensibilities of New Yorkers at the start of the roaring '20s. Plus, with the public's nascent fascination with the "super-hero" as a concept, Zachary was able to openly practice his psychic abilities in service of New York's citizens so long as he did so as Mobian of Molorak. In history's curious way of repeating itself and foreshadowing future events, Mobian wound up becoming a founding member of the Heraldic Society of America (stay tuned for the other members in future posts!), the modern age's first true team of superheroes, and thus kicked off the Golden Age of the Superhero.

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Young Tobias Michaels first put on the guise of 1-Ups Man at age 14, and became one of the staunchest allies of many New York-based crimefighters, but his path to heroism began at half that age. When his beloved grandmother was hospitalized with multiple organ failures, all it took was one look of intense, concentrated will from 7-year-old Toby to bring her back from the brink, and for him to discover a miraculous power when she made a full recovery. As an enthusiast of all things four-color and daringly heroic, Toby was eager to begin saving the day, but instead he honored the sage advice of his father to wait until he was "old enough to hold a job." In the meantime, he learned all he could from every subject of his school curriculum, but truly found his calling, his passion in invention, the practical application of his academic aptitude in novel ways. Some of Toby’s inventions would even be field-tested by the likes of Sapien, Carbonclad, Gun Runner, and Osprey Man before becoming part of his arsenal of gadgets once he finally donned his own costume, to say nothing of the rapid-healing services he would frequently provide. Whether it was his inborn gifts or his practiced skills that earned him the title of “super” is a matter of perspective; the desire to use them in the service of others is indisputably what made him a hero.

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Sapien's first true sidekick, Devon Neely was a Bronx kid who grew up around the fisherfolk on City Island. Even when he and his father were forced to sell their boat and move to an apartment project far from the shore during the 2008 housing crisis, he would return to defend his home turf when he grew out of the shadow of his mentor, fully fledged as his own hero: Osprey Man! When Sapien moved away to a new city in 2013, he knew he was leaving the Big Apple in good hands. Devon had come a long way from the scrappy kid he was as Sapien’s protégé, and used his righteous fury creatively to fuel his passion for justice rather than let it consume his humanity. Variously known as the Sea Hawk, Fish Hawk, or Flyfisher, Osprey Man fights crime primarily with his Multi-Pole—both as a weapon and as a tool for reaching faraway objects or sowing mischief among organized crime. And like the predatory bird of his namesake, Osprey Man is comfortable both high in the air and below the waves (though sea salt is the least of his concerns about swimming in NYC’s waterways).

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Spring has sprung on this Women's History Month, and to celebrate, Macrocosm Comics presents one of its most innovative heroes: Miss Fission! Brought into the world in the border city of Peshawar, Pakistan, Kirana Patel's first memories were created in Chicago, Illinois, where her family immigrated to escape Taliban extremism. Now settled in the US, Kirana's mind had the opportunity to develop in safety, and she rapidly absorbed knowledge and became fluent in four languages by age six. In the third grade, Kirana was attacked randomly by a handful of her classmates who tore off the hijab she'd been wearing for Ramadan. Following this trauma, she renounced Islam and wouldn't touch so much as a scarf again until she started college. For the next decade, Kirana's lifestyle change and rebellious streak put her at constant odds with her parents and her teachers despite her promising intellect, and would often sleep over with the few true friends she made in school. Before her Freshman year classes began at Malcolm X College, Kirana—and three friends she made during orientation—visited an antiques store in downtown Chicago one evening (while under the influence of "college experimentation") and purchased an old tome written in Arabic. By studying its thousand-year-old pages, Kirana discovered it contained the instructions for over one hundred magical rituals, including those that pertained to the ancient Greek philosophy of Atomism. Her friends, having bought similar antiques, found their purchases were also of an arcane nature! Unable to return the artifacts—as the antiques store had mysteriously disappeared—Kirana and her friends resolved to learn how to use their newfound powers. Within the year, Miss Fission and the Windy City Wonders made the headlines of newspapers across Chicago—for better or worse...

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Before he became a household name, Sapien was a novice, naïve vigilante just trying to help make his neighborhood a better place, to help those still reeling in the wake of 9/11 heal, though not as a direct result of the event. In doing so, he joined forces with his childhood friend and compulsive inventor, Flint Mackey, who crafted the armored vest, gloves, and utility belt portrayed in these images. What immediately stands out about the early life of Percy Lundeberg—the man who would grow up to be the second to take the mantle of Sapien after the original from the 20th century golden age—is that it wasn’t marred by personal tragedy like so many other heroes. Both his parents are alive and well, he has a close circle of friends, and his career path is fulfilling. He hadn’t even realized he had the makings of a hero until he stopped a case of domestic violence while thrift shopping for a ski mask on a cold winter’s day. That’s when it hit him: his martial arts background, his wealth of knowledge, and most of all his joie de vivre—if nothing else, such is the very essence of a hero.

As you can see, I've been cooking this one for a very long time... the more I lived and learned about what it means to be a human being in the 21st century, the richer and more robust the character of Sapien became. I can't wait to publish Macrocosm Comics Instant Classics No. 1 in its entirety and share my brainchild with you all, my dear viewereadership!

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The youngest member of the Valor Corps, El Águila Azul, The Blue Eagle, is freedom incarnate. As a boy in his hometown of La Paz, Mexico, Justino Calderón was a passionate fan of lucha libre, and as far back as he could remember, he always wished to fly free like his favorite luchadores--Mil Mascaras, Eddie Guerrero, and Rey Mysterio. Despite the pressure put on him to provide for his family by any means necessary, Justino refused to walk the same lifepath as his cartel gangster father. During this turbulent time in his adolescence, Justino found himself enamored with the American Dream, which became the Desperate American Escape when he discovered his mother—the only source of familial support Justino had in La Paz—dead by his father's bloodied hands. For two agonizing weeks, with scant food and water supplanted by an indefatigable will to live, 14-year-old Justino hiked north along Baja California towards the US border, and by nothing short of divine intervention, crossed unharmed. The next night, in a slumber deeper and more relaxed than ever he had before, Libertas—the Roman goddess of Liberty—visited him in his dream and, in recognition of his unbreakable spirit, blessed him with a fraction of her power. Justino awoke the next morning, clad in the suit of his self-styled luchador persona, and possessed of a metaphysical power to liberate himself and others of their trappings, burdens, and shackles, thus making manifest Justino’s childhood dream: El Águila Azul! Among the Valor Corps, Águila Azul is something of a wild card. With the scope of his powers not easily categorized beyond the ability "to liberate," and his obvious youth, Justino's teammates insist he finish high school and pursue his professional wrestling career, calling on him only when a problem or threat arises that the inhibition and complexity of adulthood can't solve... but that doesn't stop El Águila Azul from sneaking in a midnight crimefighting exploit every now and then!

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The fourth of the initial membership of the Valor Corps, Roadrunner is, by his own description, "the fastest and loosest" member of the team. Quick to act and "run his mouth," he also employs great restraint so as to not cause excessive harm with his extraordinary abilities. Grant Marks' childhood hero was Jesse Owens, so he always tried to emulate the Olympic Gold Medal sprinter. However, such was no easy task with his Sickle Cell Anemia. Not his medical treatments, not his U.S. Marines training, nothing in the conventional world could alleviate his condition. Discharged dishonorably from military service and at the lowest point of his life, Grant was recruited by Mr. Fahrenheit to be a courier for the Pearlgate Club. Unbeknownst to him or the wider public, the Club was a front for the Order of the Eldritch Oyster, a fanatical cult with millennia-old apocalyptic designs and an unhealthy obsession with destroying magical artifacts. To test his loyalty, Grant was sent to seek out and destroy the Boots of Icarus. In legend, the gleaming orichalcum sabatons were forged by Daedalus and blessed by Hermes to give the wearer superhuman speed, agility, durability, stamina, and control over elemental air--but were lost along with the laboratory of their creation when the fabled inventor was forced to flee the isle of Crete with his son. Regardless, Grant finally had a means of living his childhood dream, and the cult would see it killed. Upon finding the artifact, Grant did not destroy it as ordered. He instead put them on and fled, running thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean to return home. With some invaluable family advice, and to honor the nation he once served, Grant burned his bridges with the Pearlgate Club, donned a costume with the Boots of Icarus, and began fighting crime as Roadrunner! More than a few people who approach Roadrunner have asked him, "why green? Are you trying to look like Hustle the Hamster?" To which he would answer with something to the tune of, "Last I checked, SAGA doesn't own the copyright on the color green!"

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Dorothy Kwan wasn't born an Arbiter of the Cosmic Balance, but she was thrust into the role by the unfathomable workings of the universe. Graced with a brilliant mind that earned her a PhD at age 18 and led her to work in a nuclear fusion reactor in the year 2000, Dorothy was bombarded with dark matter and dark energy during a disaster which forced the facility to shut down. Miraculously, she and several others were preserved by the strange energies at play then. Now endowed with the power of opposing universal forces, Dorothy goes by Dr. Cynosure as homage to the miracle of joined opposites she came to embody. Standing by her Socratic Oath, she uses her science for the betterment of humankind. As part of the Valor Corps, she serves as her team's heavy hitter, blaster, and tank, while also lending her scientific mind to matters of extranormal physics.

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Around 10,000 BCE, give or take 100 years, there lived a man whose name would go unrecorded in the annals of history, but whose legacy would be intrinsically tied to it. As one of the first humans to master Magic, his skills became the only reason his village survived the rampage of the dreaded Terrask--a revenant monster with a voracious appetite that became larger and stronger each time it returned to life--he alone survived its second frenzy. Grieving and desperate, the ancient mage understood that he had to be ever-present to do battle with his nemesis whenever it reared its head. He thus performed a ritual of permanent reincarnation, allowing his soul to be ever reborn into an infant human body at the moment of his death, and store the sum of his life experiences inside the Ankh-shaped brand on his chest. In exchange for this power, he made it impossible for his mortal form to be healed, or his current life prolonged, by supernatural means. Thus, history saw its first Ankhmage come to be. Throughout the eons, the Ankhmage lived upwards of 1,000 lives, counting him, her, or themself among nearly every culture, every civilization, ever developed by humankind in every corner of the world; legendary figures such as Daedalus, Gilgamesh, Solomon, Joan of Arc, and Merlin were all lives lived by the one whom the present calls Mobius. As part of the Valor Corps, Mobius deals chiefly with threats and phenomena of a supernatural nature and happily helps his fellow heroes understand them, even if he doesn't always succeed.

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Carbonclad, the Manhattan Dragon, is a founding member of the Valor Corps, and one of New York’s greatest heroes. A baby boomer born in Gloucester, UK, doctor of science Lloyd Stevenson’s pride in his Welsh heritage is second only to that in his genius-level intellect. Growing up with his father’s stories of serving in WWII, he emulated his brother in arms, Lt. Col. “Mad” Jack Churchill, whose swordsmanship and archery earned Churchill his place in history. Seeking to forge armor that could stand up to the weapons of modern warfare, Lloyd’s fascination with the potential applications of ultra-thin yet near-impenetrable graphene fueled his work earning a science doctorate from Harvard University at just 21 years of age. It was also during this time in the States when plastics was becoming a huge industry in the early 1970s. Although he failed to convince corporate executives of the superior properties of graphene and carbon nanotubes, he decided he would convince the masses instead. Designing a suit of armor made of the novel material he so espoused, he made a modest name for himself moonlighting as Carbonclad. Alas, after hardly a year into his escapades fighting the criminal element of Boston, MA, an executive order was issued by then-President Gerald Ford that outlawed the activities of costumed heroes. Carbonclad was forced to adopt a more covert style of crimefighting in the following years, and by the 1980s, he had retired from heroics to raise a family. Come the 21st century, Dr. Stevenson had made a fortune from developing a process to recycle single-use plastics for use as armor and insulation for many industries, but kept his process of manufacturing graphene a closely guarded secret. Seeing some of his former colleagues in heroics take up the cape and cowl again in the wake of 9/11, Dr. Stevenson was freshly inspired to rejoin the fight against the world’s evils. By helping found the Valor Corps in 2003, Carbonclad at last became a name recognized by the public consciousness whenever they saw him soaring overhead among New York City’s skyscrapers. Though he defers often to his close friend, Adaptain, and his century's worth of life experience, Carbonclad is a natural leader who readily steps into the Valor Corps' leadership role when the elder hero is indisposed, and may do so permanently should he one day retire.

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The first member of the Valor Corps, and the de facto leader during its earliest years, Adaptain is a veteran hero—and I do mean veteran! The last time he saw action before the 21st century was during the first World War! This is because Edgar Joseph, secret identity of Adaptain, is actually a member of a strain of ancient humans whose civilization predated even the onset of neanderthals. Terrans, or Homo terranins, have since the rise of modern humans been living deep underground, where their technology, refined over nearly 100,000 years of recorded history, allows them to live healthily well into their second century, among other practical applications.

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The universe of Macrocosm Comics is one that brims with extraordinary people, phenomena, and events. On Earth, some of these extraordinary people, dubbed superheroes, have united to form the Valor Corps: the preeminent supergroup of the early 21st century. Founded officially on July 4th, 2003, it stands as a beacon of hope for humanity, piercing the darkness when the straits are dire.

The initial six members inducted to the Valor Corps, (some of whose names I reserve the right to change flexibly until their debut comic appearance) from left to right, top to bottom: Adaptain, Carbonclad, Ankhmage Mobius, Dr. Cynosure, Roadrunner, and Águila Azul!

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Relatedly to my first comic book, this is Sapien! Granted, this Sapien is further along in his heroic career than in his debut comic appearance, but his goal is the same: to embody the greatest virtues of humanity, and thereby demonstrate that, even in a world of supremely gifted people, one doesn’t need superpowers to do a good deed.

Stay tuned for a short origin story in a future post!