Welcome to the City, once called
Salem, changed to Slam, a bit of scratching on the road sign. Maybe
its a change in the atmosphere, more rays allowed through, but here
people could do amazing feats. Just the kind of feats I wanted to do as a
kid.
Slam City is where you can
find
a slender robotic assassin with
ebony liquid skin, probably inspired by The Matrix;
a man with implements on his feet
large enough to cause an earthquake. I called him Stamper, imagined his
thudding steps shattering the world to its center.
A guy who could leap a tall
building in a
well, you know. Kangaroo. I drew him once or twice, complete
with hat and bionic legs.
Because who wouldnt want
bionic legs?
A figure from my dreams with
gun-metal gray hair and a mouth sewn shut, stitched dark clothing, went by the
name Silence. He was probably inspired by The Crow.
I drew his costume in between
drawing the one I would wear when I could save the world. Superhero was going
to be my hobby, I suppose. I settled for writing about them
instead.
An unfortunate fool who turned
the wrong knob in an experiment and became a living creature of stone, dubbed
Cement.
My family pet, the barky
Chihuahua, blown up into a fifteen-feet tall monster, his bug-eyes bouncing
along a dark street.
A character inspired by Jim
Carreys Mask with purple skin, a lavender suit, and two ping- pong
paddles to spin him into manic orbit. He would deliver jokes I had not
written yet.
Maybe I read too many comics.
Maybe I watched too many films. These days, I embrace my graphic novel
reading and blog about it.
To finish this world out, an
entire race called The Lizards who lived on the bottom, darkened level of the
metropolis, led by a scarlet-clad reptile man called Levine. Surely
this many-leveled world was inspired by my frequent visits to Batman
Forever.
Another race of creatures called
The Sand who live in the outer recesses where the urban landscape meets what
used to be forest.
I dreamed their stories daily in
my childhood walks with my father and his large black dog.
In those reflections, I saw a
figure with the wings of a hawk and the body of a man who could swoop down
deliver them all, if he only cared.