Books have origin stories, too. An idea forms, merges with another idea, and with a little luck and lot of work, something great can rise from a humble beginning. I’m always fascinated by the “story behind the story”, and especially by how different the end result can be even for stories that start out very similar, when processed through different creative minds. Take the examples above: both authors started with an idea to transform an average young man into a superhero, but the choices they made (such as time period of the setting and method of transformation) make Spider-Man and Captain America two very different but equally compelling characters. You can read the book for the origin story of Captain Kissy-Face the character, but here’s the origin story of Captain Kissy-Face the book:
Those two drawings were one-offs, but they stuck in my head. I have to admit, there is a lot of weird and wonderful stuff stuck in my head, the trick is to find a way to put any of it to good use. In this case, I did. Months passed again, as they do, and I found myself looking at the calendar, thinking about Christmas gifts. In part to save money, and in part just for the heck of it, I decided to write my children a book as one of their gifts. I sat down to ponder what the story would be. It had to include all three of them as characters somehow, which is tough because they are all so different from one another (again, like stories, people can start from the same point and become unique as they grow.) More than that, it had to convey how much I love them and how proud of them I am, but still be fun. And it had to be fair. Parents will understand this. I didn’t have time to write three books by Christmas, to make each of them the star of their own story, so I needed a story in which they could all star together. I decided to make them superheroes in training. I took elements from their personalities to create their characters’ powers. The drawing of Invisible Max, which I had toyed with writing a story about more than once, finally found a place to fit in. I just needed something to tie the story together, so I added a fourth character and put him in the center. What would his power be? Would he be friend or foe? As I thought about those questions, a lot of the comics I read as a child (and, I admit, as an adult) bubbled in my brain. So did that drawing of Invisible Max, and eventually, also that long-ago sketch of Captain Kissy-Face. And from that, a hero (and a story) was born.
