Thrillseekers

Author notes

Orbit and The ThrillSeekers

Crash Platypus

on Sept. 25, 2011

The team that Orbit leads is called The ThrillSeekers.

Back then, it took me a while to redesign what was originally called PowerTrip. I still wanted it to be comedy, but not so much joke-a-day like the original version.
So, I kept Orbit, but ditched or changed the other oddball superheroes.

I also kept StarHammer, but he's not in this pic. I regressed them to teenagers, as I have more than a few issues with teen superheroes that can be expressed here.

We have, from left to right:

Nathan O'Neill, aka Swarm, a self-replicator and martial artist. in civilian life, kind of an oddball. He'd be the kid in the corner talking to himself and drawing cartoons. (No resemblance to anyone REAL, I assure you… *ahem*) He's a lateral thinker.

Then there's Ben Campbell, aka Orbit. All American boy, All American superhero.
Originally (or, i should say, secondarily, his origin was that his dad was a hero, but disapproved of him following in the Family Business. Orbit was his third superheroic identity, so his dad doesn't find out. I changed THAT origin to having been captured and experimented on by aliens.)
Being a superhero is all he ever wanted, and he's a natural, but he has low self esteem due to teenage trials and tribulations in civilian life, including a father with a decidedly anti-metahuman stance.

Next to Orbit is Recoil. Recoil's a shapeshifter. He was originally called The Worm and wore a pink costume.
I made him all gothy-like on purpose because shapeshifters are almost always clowns, or just plain crazy, so I decided to to the opposite of canon and make Recoil a dour, depressing grouch. There's also a big secret about Recoil that I never reveled. Considering the circumstances, I should do it now, but, I may still use it later, so, sorry. No spoilers.

Next is Jenny Tanner, aka UberWoman. She's the 16 year old baby of her family. Her parents treat her like a china doll, and her older siblings overshadow her in every way. UberWoman is her way of cutting loose and relieving stress. If only her parents knew that their fragile little princess can bench a city bus, fly and deflect bullets. (Don't call her UberGIRL, or UberBABE or anything to that nature. She HATES that.)

lastly, there's Rev, the speedster. If anyone's the class clown of the group, it's him, though his humor's kinda dry. Rev, aka Vernon Long is a dichotomy of attention-seeking humor and zen outlook on life. If you can't laugh in the face of danger (or angry parents, or talking to girls, or trying out for sports) then life isn't worth living.
Rev still enjoys his coffee, and his powers are augmented by caffeine and sugar, but not as much as his original design.

Put these teens together, lacking all the hightech gadgets, money and organization that the adult heroes just seem to manifest out of thin air, you get what I HOPED would be an interesting and funny superhero comic.

I was not sure if I was gonna incorporate them all into my core "serious" superhero universe or not, but it sounded like a cool idea to do so, thus, eventually, I did.