Over the last three years I've essentially been building up my own superhero universe through short fiction released in different collections and through digital literary magazines. This began thanks to "Generation Dead #37: Why I Won't Eat At The Food Court," which From Beyond Press published in their mall horror anthology Escalators To Hell. Though retroactively, this will include the heroes who appeared in "To Do Good," my first published story released in What's Left? by Arledge Comics.
DNA Comics (formerly known as "Dan & Ann's Comics" in the 1940s) combines the concepts of 90s superheroes with 90s horror. Set primarily on Earth-1990, with some stories featuring Earth-1989 and Earth-2003. Below is a list of the established heroes and hero teams who've already appeared, have been mentioned, or are going to appear at some point.
AMERICA'S ADJUDICATORS: When the U.S. government demanded representation in the 90s superhero community, they decided to revive heroes who fought and died during WWII and the Cold War. The heroes they brought back were disgusted by the government's corruption and would've been brainwashed had they not been liberated by the magical MOTHER HUBBARD. Now YANKEE JONES, JOHNNY REBEL, KITTY KELLY, and the SPIDER HAG OF THE OZARKS are living in Hubbard's haunted mansion in the small town of Chesler Corners waiting for a chance to save the rest of their resurrected brethren. (NOTE: These heroes were created by Chesler Comics in the Golden Age and are now public domain)
FREEDOM FRATERNITY: Once the premiere superteam of the 1940s. Most of its members disappeared, having been captured inside a film reel by the Vaudevillain. They've since been liberated in the 90s and have semi-reformed, while some of its members are also helping Guts & Glory. The full roster includes PARAGON, SUNFALL, HONOR, JACK RABBIT, THE BLANK PAGE, AGENT PUCK, JOLLY ROGER, BANKSHOT, ACROBAT, MEDIEVAL, SUPER-AMERICAN, WASP WITCH, EARTHBOY, TONIC-MAN and BIG DADDY MOJO. They were sometimes assisted by sidekicks CLOUDY, now DAWN, and STRIPE, now SCRATCH.
GENERATION DEAD: The sole survivors of grotesque experiments conducted at the now destroyed Area 52, these five college students were killed and resurrected with incredible powers. While attending class at Roswell Falls University, POSE, RAINBOW, WINTER, AIRGUN, and SEATTLE are trying to protect the world from human and inhuman threats to existence. Or they might just kill each other. It wouldn't be the first time!
GENERATION UNDEAD: Lucretia Pine, a.k.a. the Stump Woman, swore revenge on Generation Dead when they escaped her Garden of Sin. She created her own team of monsters by killing and burying seven college students in her garden. An unexpected eighth resurrection thanks to the Goddess of Silence ended up saving Gen Dead and their attackers. Now free from Lucretia's control, ACE, DJINNKO, GISELLE, MEDJED, COTTON, MANXIE, and CRUNCH are led by SILENZIA.
GUTS & GLORY: If you don't have the guts, you don't get the glory. The premiere superteam for the 90s, an organization of gun toting badass heroes. No one's quite sure who's on the Guts team and who's on the Glory team. Led by WARDEN and SUPER-AMERICAN, G&G's most well known members are BUCKSHOT, RHYTHM, and JETSTONE.
THE HALLOWEEN GIRLS: The town of Shephard's Falls is more well known as Slaughter Falls, due to the alarming amount of serial killers the town's birthed every October. However, in recent years, a group of six have emerged to counteract the inevitable autumn deaths. GRETA, ALICE, SERENA, ROXANNE, PRISCILLA, and DANIELLE don blonde wigs and terrible masks to try and save the youth of Slaughter Falls. But is that really such a good idea?
HERO WATCH: No one told them life was gonna be this way. This eclectic team of 30-somethings are all trying to navigate adult life and the perils of being a superhero. Consists of SWEETHEART, THE JERSEY DEVIL, MAGIC LAMP, QUEEN RIMA OF THE GOLDEN CITY, BRAXTON, and OSPREY.
THE JUSTICE NUNS: Exactly what their name implies. These super sisters have taken it upon themselves to fight against those who would corrupt the sanctity of belief and those who exploit the word of God for their own xenophobic, fascist desires. They include THE GOTHIC ROSE, MOTHER SUPERIOR, MAGDALENE, MESSENGER, CANDLEMAS, LOURDES, SOL SISTER, and THE RUBY RULER (no relation to the Ruby Scimitar).
THE LI'L GUTS: A training program for Guts & Glory, and also a sort of halfway program. These children and teenagers survived horrific encounters with ghosts, aliens, monsters, and otherwordly creatures, and it left them transformed for better or worse. When they graduate, they have a choice to join the Guts team or the Glory team. Some of its members include BACON, BUZZ, CHAMPION, HARROW, and the robotic twins SHOCK & AWE. Former teammate TADPOLE left them recently.
MISS MERRIWEATHER'S SCHOOL: A special school built for those designated a "spellchild," someone born with a miraculous power. Miss Merriweather's is so big it's hard to keep track of all the students and student squads, such as THE ODDBALLS, consisting of CALIFORNIUM, CANDY DOT, JETLAG, OKRA, and SOCKS.
THE POWER PALADINS OF THE 33RD CENTURY: What started as a book club for teens who love horror became the most prominent super team of the far future. Roland Wheaton, Cissy Wahlgren, and Gray Milder were inspired to use their powers to do good after they accidentally saved the life of the greatest hero the world will ever known. Taking inspiration from their favorite Stephen King books, they became GUN KING, PROM QUEEN, and FUSE DUDE. Over the years their ranks have grown to include the likes of LAWN BOY, ROSE WITCH, AUTO LAD, PETSHOP BOY, PONY BOY, FROG PRINCESS, and HOME GIRL (a.k.a. PERENNIAL).
STARRY RIVER: A small American town where almost everyone is either a superhero or a supervillain. One of its most well known residents is WOMBAT WOMAN, a semi-happily married woman raising two sons and trying to look after her elderly mother in the early stages of Alzheimer's. Others include AMERICAN SULTAN, BLACKJACK & CHIP, BOUFFANT & DOTTIE, THE BUTLER, CARROT CAKE and POOL BOY, CRUDERELLA, JITTERBUGS I-II and JITTER, OVERCAST, THE PLATINUM PLUNGER, SHROOMSTICK, SNOWPEA, and TULIP.
STEEL-SUITED MAGNOLIA SQUADRON: An armored squadron of five young woman whose base of operations is located under a kitschy hair salon in the Southern United States. They defend the world with their giant robots against the alien menace of BADDIES UNITED TO TERRORIZE SPACE, all the while unsuspecting their supposed dead sixth member was reborn as the amnesiac metal warrior PERDITA.
THE TERRIFI-TEAM: Formerly the Terrifi-Teens, these former teen sidekicks have now finally reached their 30s after four decades and have taken on adult identities as fully realized heroes. But after all these years, you'd think SCRAPPER, GILL MAN, TIM TORNADO, ATALANTA, and THE RUBY SCIMITAR could get through the week without breaking up and reuniting. The Ruby Scimitar's got enough on his hands trying to raise his daughter JEWEL.
THE VAGABOND CLUB: A mismatched misfit assortment of superpowered kids and teens from different eras and different universes, travelling across time and space on a magic train that takes them where they need to be. Those currently riding the rails are ABEDNEGA, CORONIS, SWAT BOY, PHANTASMIA, and GEORGIA PEACH (a.k.a. BINDWEED)
X-TREME GENES: Five college students attended an archaeological dig with their history professor and found hyperintelligent aliens sleeping deep within the Egyptian pyramids. The aliens unlocked hidden abilities within their x-treme genes, and now VANITY, CHINDI, UMBRIEL, WIPEOUT, and HOURGLASS are gonna kick some x-treme butt!
Assorted Solo Heroes: COOL GUY, MARDUK, MOLLY PITCHER, PURPLE TIGRESS, RICH THE WITCH, STAIN, TARANTULO
Okay so it's a country fair in a rural state, so theres a lot of animal shows. But also once you get in all the rides are free! The games you pay money, but you dont need to buy tickets for rides! Just entry for the fair! I went on sooo many rides...
there was one ride that has those kind of seats where its kinda the indentation and you sit on it and has those y-shaped bars keeping you stable, and they were in rows and there were 4 rows in a kind of square shape and faced each other, and the design was marvel theme. anyways I did not watch what happened and went on it and it went like waaay up in the air, and spun you around, so you were like 70 feet up in the air, barely supported by the thing (it was perfectly safe), face facing the ground, and... I'm never going on that mf again.
i was on a bunch of other rides though and it was fun!! oh and there was a circus! with a dog show and a clown (i wasnt a volunteer sadly...) and a juggler (who juggled lit torches and swords!!!!!) and a rope dancer (like a pole dancer but with a long rope thing, and there was a moon shaped-thingy she danced around near the top) (I admit I was looking at her a bit disrespectfully... but I also objectively have to commend the upper body strength and flexibility needed to dance like... that..).
Oh and I tried to go on this one thing that's like the ferris wheel but its cages and you go with someone else and you go fast n upside down. It seems I'm a nervous babbler because I was jabbering away the whole time and uhhh I regret saying half of what I did in front of my father.
after the death trap ride (see second paragraph), the "alien ship" ride that pushes you against the wall with physics (it crushes your organs... my asthmatic ass could barely breath with the lack of fresh air in the room and my lungs being pressed), and general agony of satan's waterfall, i was feeling ill and kinda dissociated a bit lol. I feel fine now though dw, it was just a busy day for my brain.
