Mad Genius Comics

This is the first in a series of quick character studies to give new readers a better sense of who’s who, and older fans a few new facts about their friends (and foes). More to come, as characters are introduced…

DOCTOR TITANIA CHALLENGER is a scientific Jane-of-all-trades, and comes from a family of world-reknown adventurers. Internet rumors speculate she is the great-granddaughter of Professor George Edward Challenger, from Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel The Lost World— rumors I have been unable to confirm or deny. It’s true Tina has the same sharp intelligence and fierce determination as the Professor, although, thankfully, not his abnormally large head. As a character, she’s cut from the same cloth as Doc Savage— one of those people who is very smart, and very good at just about everything they do.

SAM WILDMAN has learned everything the hard way. Nothing happens easily for him. He usually finds himself outnumbered, outgunned, or in over his head. The only reason he ever has a chance of coming out alive is that he is quick-thinking, resourceful and never, ever gives up. Plus, he has a flaming sword. In the ’80s Sam fronted the punk band “Fort Charles”— named for Charles Fort, the first chronicler of the odd and unexplained— and played CBGBs a number of times, always with thrillingly disastrous results.  His fellow fictional soldiers-of-fortune include Indiana Jones and Captain Easy— the “takes a licking and keeps on ticking” type of heroes.

I couldn’t pass up the chance to pair a “Superman” archetype with an “Everyman” archetype— they compliment and contrast each other so perfectly. Giving Tina and Sam a… complicated personal history only made it that much more interesting. And as different as they are, they share one character-defining passion: a fascination with the unknown and unexplainable. It’s what attracted them to each other in the first place.