Superheroines!

When I was about 9-10 years old, KakAmnah created a band of superheroes known as The Zodiacs, and she got my eldest sister, (and the one who is most talented at drawing,) KakAsma to draw the concept art. Each member of the group represented an astrological sign. I can't remember what exactly their superpowers were, but I'm guessing Libra had a super sense of justice, Scorpio had deadly stinging abilities, and Sagittarius was something like DC's Green Arrow. Maybe. I can't remember.

I thought the whole idea was so cool, so I set to work creating my own gang of superheroes. First I had The Planets, because I used to be fascinated with all things that had to do with astronomy.

Circa 1996.

Pluto was my favourite planet, so I drew her the most. But aside from kicking alien butt, I never came up with any ideas on what superpowers to give them, and having to draw 9 different characters would be too hard, so I gave up.

I was reading one of Papa's encyclopaedias on Matter, and I came across a page with medieval artwork of the four elements -Earth, Air, Water and Fire- in human form. That's what inspired me to create a group of Superheroines known as:

The Four Elements.

From left: Ignis (Fire), Aqua (Water), Terra (Earth), Aer (Air).
Circa 1997.
Hence the fugliness.

Yesterday night I felt a bit nostalgic, so I decided to draw an updated version of The Four Elements. My comic-geek brother Firdaus came in and we started talking about what kind of story I should give them, even if I wasn't ever going to start writing a comic book. He inspired me so much with his idea, I decided I should blog about it.

DISCLAIMER: Story contains complete and utter bullsyirik like most superhero stories do. But it's all for good fun!

It is the year 2040. Planet Earth is overpopulated, and its resources are on the brink of exhaustion. Human beings are obsessed with material wealth, for nations that own the most have the most power. Thus, machines that mass produce anything and everything take up most of the planet's space, emitting all kinds of dangerous forms of pollution, just to keep human beings satisfied.

Massive, tall structures made of bricks and cement that reach thousands of miles high serve as homes and offices for these human beings, and they occupy 95% of the Earth's surface. Plans to build cities underground have already been made.

There is no room left for the original inhabitants of the Earth.

No room for nature.

No room for life.

***

So from the earth sprang four fully grown creatures:

From the scorching heat of the Earth’s core came Ignis—Fire.

From the darkest, deepest point of the Mariana Trench came Aqua—Water.

From just under the Karman Line, the boundary between the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space came Aer – Air

And from within dark, majestic tunnels and caves built under the Earth’s crust came Terra—Earth.


These creatures were forced to appear on the Earth’s surface in order to put a stop to the human beings and their slow murdering of Mother Earth.

Unfortunately, human beings turned a deaf ear to their initial warnings, thus they disregarded the soft approach.

Instead, with their ability to manipulate matter, they now use brute force, cunning, dangerous superpowers and violence.

They are feared by all.

They are The Four Elements.


Cheesy as heck, right? Haha! But believe me, before I turned them into antiheroes, they were even cheesier.

So here we have the first of the Four Elements:

Name: Aer
Place of Origin: The Karman Line
Superpowers: Possesses ability to alter and control weather.
Other specialties: Can fly at the speed of sound; invisibility.
Known for: Her mood swings. Can be extremely calm one moment, and completely mental the next. Unpredictable, like the weather.

The drawing proves I still need to study the human anatomy more. I don't usually try drawing humans realistically, so I think I need to practice drawing muscles and different poses more to make them look more powerful.

So anyway, now that one out of four of the girls have been unleashed, you'll have to stay tuned for more of The Four Elements while I practice drawing... :P

Lots of love,

from Me.