Hello y’all!
Welcome to the final Trading Card Tuesday of 2023 here at the New Futurists! We have a giant-sized post for you today, chock-full of character designs, behind-the-scenes development notes, and world building secrets!
Special greetings to all of our new subscribers who joined up during NEWvember! And MAJOR thanks go out to our ride-or-die, long-term readers for spreading the word about our publication! Reader recommendations are one of the main ways we build our community, so if you know someone who might dig the stories we tell, by all means spread the word!
As we barrel into the holiday season, I want to reiterate my appreciation for all of you who read our work. Would you like to receive a holiday card from the New Futurists? E-mail me your mailing address at thenewfuturists@gmail.com by December 15th and I will GLADLY drop you some holiday cheer!
I didn’t get my shit together in time to create charity prints this year. BUT, we will be making an end-of-the-year donation to The National Center for Transgender Equality for everyone who purchased our “Friends of Emma” tee. And we’ll be retiring this design at the end of 2023, so if you want to snag one, act fast!
One last piece of business: if you’d like to drop us a message ahead of our first-ever Omniverse fan correspondence feature, just hit reply to this message, email us directly at thenewfuturists@gmail.com, or DM us on IG. Please remember to include “okay to print” in your message! Y’all have sent some really fun questions and messages and Luis and I look forward to talking with you about the Omniverse in 2024!
Now on to the main event! The Omniverse saw some dark times in the wake of the October villain takeover. This month, we’re going back to the Golden Age— to the “good old days when times were bad” to quote the great American poet, Dolly Parton. Get ready to meet the Omniverse’s first team of heroes: the provident protector’s of peace— the CHAMPIONS OF JUSTICE!
Ben Bolling: Luis notes below that this iteration of the Defender was the first character we worked on together. You can read about the genesis of this project here, but as I was working with artists to find the perfect collaborator for the Omniverse trading cards, The Defender and Maven were the characters I commissioned folks to design. Luis immediately got the assignment. Curtis served in the U.S. Army during World War II, so it made sense to me that the “mature” iteration of his costume would draw on elements from his military uniform. I’ve waxed poetic about my love for Luis’s line and color work in the past, but this Defender design sold me on his overall artistic vision for the Omniverse!
Luis Valero-Suarez: Curtis Cooper, aka The Defender, the man from another world sent to Earth to become its champion! This design was the very first I got to work on for this project. Actually, when Ben provided descriptions for the character, he also included a sketch of what he thought he could look like, and I decided to go off that concept. I felt the formal militaristic suit with white formal gloves and Jack boots just fit his character. I studied the designs of uniforms soldiers would typically wear during the 40’s and 50’s via photographs and artwork from the time to get the details right while taking some liberties to make him uniquely him.
I also looked at pulp characters and superheroes from that era such as the Green Hornet, Captain America & Bucky, Superman, etc. and I personally liked that specific mask look worn by The Green Hornet, The Lone Ranger, Robin, etc. that was common for that time. I felt it gave it a campiness that grounds it specifically in 50's, so I decided to go for it. I also included a non-masked look at his face which I loosely based on Calvin Lockhart. I wanted him to have a Clark Kent warmth and earnestness to him while still looking assured and stoic.
Luis: Roza Kovshova aka Fleet is a Soviet speedster with the ability to travel at superspeed via manipulating the space-time continuum. This was a fairly simple suit design that I made to look like some sort of prototype crash test or racing jumpsuit, something that could withstand high velocities, that had been retrofitted and recolored to become her hero costume.
Obviously, the most popular speedster in comics is the Flash from DC who is costumed in red tights with yellow accents in the form of lightning bolts. I wanted to pay homage to that while also going in a bit of a different direction. Given that her powers deal more with space-time manipulation, I decided to take her in a space/cosmic direction. The comic Nexus was a reference for me particularly with the goggle design. Flash Gordon also popped into my mind as I aimed to capture that campy and colorful space adventure look and feel. That’s part of the reason why I incorporated the fin on her head. Thought it would be a nice feature like it helps her cut through the fabric of reality. It’s why I also included the sharp edges to her gloves and boots which I think added to the speedster theme giving it a bit of energy and movement to the suit.
Ben: In my original outline document for the trading card series, Fleet was a total afterthought. I wasn’t sure how much time we would have in the production process, so I suggested that our “team” cards shouldn’t feature the ENTIRE team, but should instead focus on one of the team members who wouldn’t receive a showcase card of their own. I pitched Luis that Signet should get the spotlight on a Champions of Justice card.
Imagine my excitement when Luis sent me the full team portrait that appears on the front of this card. The time Luis spent fleshing out Roza Kovshova immediately inspired me to expand her origin story. You may have noticed that I like to draw on “weird history” to empower the characters in the Omniverse. One of my favorite mysterious events— the Tunguska incident— provided the perfect origin for our Siberian speedster. I love all of the retro-sci-fi vibes of Fleet’s design, from the nods to Flash Gordon to that wicked-cool goggle design. I’ve only started to imagine what happens to Fleet in the post-WWII world!
Luis: DC Comics characters Alan Scott Green Lantern and Doctor Fate were ones that I really did not care for when I was younger but grew to really appreciate and fall in love with as I got older, particularly when it came to their designs. There’s a simplicity that coexists with a majesty and fortitude that just works so well for those two characters. That is something that I wanted to bring to Aaron Auerbach aka Signet who wields a magic ring with the seal of Solomon that can create and control cosmic constructs.
The cape with a giant collar, the golden boots and gloves adorned with ancient runes, the royal purple colored Rocketeer jacket that not only contrasts with the yellow/gold but ties to the story of King Solomon and his rumored purple died fabrics -- all elements I felt gave him that mystic presence.
The mask was the hardest part to come up with. I went through several designs that were either too derivative, over-designed or not intriguing enough. I had to remind myself – keep it simple! I remembered Iron Man’s V-shaped pointed mask that he wore in his early comics and decided to go in that direction whilst keeping some ambiguity and mysticism by only making his white eyes visible. However, I liked the mask just being a mask and not a full helmet like Iron Man or Doctor Fate.
Ben: The Champions of Justice are our Justice Society/Justice League analogues but I wanted to draw on some more “weird history” for Signet rather than making him a vague Green Lantern knock-off. I was honestly surprised that the legendary Seal of Solomon hadn’t already been mined for comics inspiration! Long and short, the seal was said to have been a brass and iron ring engraved directly by God to allow King Solomon control over supernatural beings like demons and djinn.
I first wrote Signet as a teen boy who finds Auerbach’s long-lost ring in the year 2050 and becomes a Justin Bieber-inspired celebrity hero. Maybe we’ll see that version of Signet some day?
I was absolutely dead for Luis’s design for Aaron Auerbach. I lobbied for a Doctor Fate influence and Luis sure did deliver. I love how he channels the grand, regal qualities of those classic magic characters like the OG Green Lantern, Doctor Strange, and Doctor Fate. This design also gives me big Jack Kirby vibes, which is probably the most sincere compliment I know how to give a character designer!
Ben: Designing a layout for the team cards became necessary when Luis went above and beyond envisioning our characters and creating truly brilliant illustrations of the marquee teams in the Omniverse. I remember studying the team cards with extra care as a kid. I particularly appreciated learning what issue of a comic I needed to track down for the first appearance of a team. I also liked getting to see the group’s headquarters— which inspired me to do a quick illustration of the Champion’s Fyrbåk Lighthouse for this card! I also wanted to highlight Luis’s character designs to give a clear look at the team’s roster.
Oh I love this one!
I would watch this animated series!