Lloyd Smith is a comic book creator who’s star-spanning character Ultimus first appeared in the pages of Blue Moon Comics. Ultimus is currently showcased in the pages of Red Leaf Comic’s Daring Adventures.
Mr. Smith compiled a overview of the character and his universe…
Ultimately, Ultimus
When I was 11, my favorite writer/artist, Jim (Captain Marvel) Starlin, began his renowned turn as writer/artist for Adam Warlock. Those comics really and truly blew me away like nothing I’d read since Jack Kirby’s New Gods. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, “How hard is it to impress an 11 year old?” Well, I can honestly say that, as a kid growing up with comics in the 1970s…it was pretty hard. I cut my teeth on the Kree/Skrull War, after all. But the thing is, nothing has ever even come close since then. Sure, I’ve enjoyed a lot of comics over my 40-plus years as a comic book fiend, but to this day, Starlin’s Warlock tops them all.
It should come as no surprise, then, that my favorite creation, Ultimus (now appearing in Daring Adventures, natch) began life as an homage—no, let’s be brutally honest—a rip-off of Warlock, with more than a heaping helping of Kirby’s (and Gerry Conway and Don Newton’s) New Gods. To get to the creation of Ultimus, let’s travel back a (long) bit.
For as long as I’d been in comics, I’d wanted to write and draw my own. I’d get a pencil and some typing paper and trace, copy, and copy some more from my favorite artists. I’d re-design costumes, create new characters, and draw tons of comics featuring characters I was going to make comics about. Never drew more than two or three interior pages, ever.
Until one day when I was barely 13. I’d been messing with designing a bunch of new characters combining bits and pieces of cool stuff I’d seen in costumes designed by Starlin and Kirby (and Gil Kane, and John Romita, and many more). One day in a fit of artistic flurry I drew this huge picture of a virtual army of super-folks on some art paper. Some of the characters really grabbed my imagination, so I took out a sheet of typing paper and began to design a cover for Heros and his side-kicks. Heros looked just like Adam Warlock, except he wore a blue, “puffy-sleeved” shirt like Dr. Strange’s with the plunging “v” collar like Iron Fist’s. He also sported a billowing red cape, red shorts, and red boots. The most original part of his costume was his golden belt that had a buckle that pulsed with red light.
Heros (dunno how I came up with that name—take the “e” out of “heroes” maybe?) was flanked by two more characters Nioro (Orion jumbled) and Polaris on the cover of his first issue. Nioro and Polaris were brother and sister. Nioro was a wise-cracking archer (yeah, I know, “how original”) wearing a version of Green Arrow’s suit colored purple and blue (yeah, more originality points—hey, at least he had brown hair instead of blond). Polaris of the long, black hair (a la Madame Hydra) wore a shiny blue version of the Scarlet Witches bathing suit with matching thigh-high boots, opera gloves, and choker, and a red Jean Gray/Phoenix belt. Mix-n-match heroes, that was my thing!
Anyway, I was so enamored of these characters that, once the cover was finished, I drew a back cover. Before I knew it I was drawing the first couple pages of the story. Over the next few days, I drew a full 28 page story chronicling the adventures of Heros and his friends battling the minions of Heros’ evil twin brother, Soreh (I know, I know… and consider this: Soreh looked exactly like Heros, except his skin was silver and the colors of his identical-to-his-brother’s costume were reversed). The longest, hardest part of the creative process was coloring the pages (with pencil crayons—they didn’t bleed through the typing paper). Days after finishing the first issue, I began the second. This one introduced even more characters and pinched scenes and plot points from everything from Claremont and Cockrum’s X-Men to Mantlo and Byrne’s Champions to Gerber and Milgrom’s Guardians of the Galaxy to Mike Grell’s Warlord, Legion of Super-Heroes, and Green Lantern/Green Arrow. That one took about a month for me to write, draw, and color, then I took some time off. I would write complete two more issues of Heros over the next six or so months before trying my hand at some other “original” characters. I still have those old Heros comics, by the way.
The moral of the story is that even something unoriginal as Heros can have a life of its own. When I started self-publishing, bringing back Heros was high on my “to do” list. I promised myself I’d have to come up with a better name, a more original plot, and find a truly awesome artist to do the character justice.
If you’ve been reading Daring Adventures, you can tell me if I kept my promise.
Daring Adventures can be purchased at the Red Leaf Comics web store here:
Print Version: ($2.99)
http://redleafcomics.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=61
Digital Version: (.99)
http://redleafcomics.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=68
