AMA: Strip search

Q.: In a world where you worked in traditional big 2-3 comics instead of your own playground, which character would you have wanted to work on?

A.: I've said that working on someone else's intellectual property didn't interest me. But let's say I absolutely had to! Here are the three I would like to put my mark on.

Plastic Man

Plastic Man has long been one of my favorite superheroes. And he never seems to get A-tier treatment from DC. There's so much to work with there. One of the best iterations of Plas was by Phil Foglio in the late 80s. He re-wrote Plastic Man's origin story to include that the chemicals that turned Eel O'Brien into the "India Rubber Man" also left him with a permanent contact high — which explained his looney behavior! 

I'd re-imagine Plastic Man as a mentor to a group of younger superheroes who are not quite ready for prime time. Part teen supergroup / part young adult romance / part screwball comedy. Plas would be a reluctant mentor — think Tom Hanks' character in "A League of Their Own" — who finds his true calling in leading the group.

It would feel extra great to work on Plastic Man because the character's creator, Jack Cole, is someone whose career I can closely identify with. When he wasn't doing superhero comics, he was doing cartoons for "Playboy" magazine. The man's art chops were formidable.

Captain Vincible

If I wanted to do a comic strip, I couldn't think of a better choice than the little-known, under-appreciated "Captain Vincible" by Ralph Smith.

Captain Vincible rarely (if ever) fought supervillains. Rather, he was pretty much "Ziggy" in a cape. I would, of course, love to change that, giving him an arch-nemesis, a rogues gallery, and, yes, a love interest. I wouldn't go so far as "Captain Vincible After Dark," but a simple girlfriend for the poor guy might be nice.

The comic ran from 1983-89, ending shortly after Smith's friend, Dik Browne, died. Brown was the creator of "Hägar the Horrible," and it is rumored that Smith left "Vincible" to assist with the more popular feature. According to his LinkedIn profile, Smith is the editorial cartoonist at "Sarasota Herald Tribune," and he writes "The Grizzwells" with artist Bill Schorr.

Boner's Ark

Since Ralph is still alive and thriving, he might take umbrage over some upstart taking over his feature. So I'll throw in a second strip: "Boner's Ark." It was created by Mort Walker (the creator of "Beetle Bailey") under the pseudonym "Addison." It had a wonderfully minimalist character design, tons of room for improvisation, and one of the best titles in all of newspaper comics.