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TWO FRANCHISES MEET TO RISE TO THE MOMENT
Sneakers’ U-Force #13 and Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts*
Last night I took some time to really appreciate how far I’ve come with not just my personal life, but also my side career as a hobbyist cartoonist/graphic novelist. OmniLegend Tales was something I started back in mid-2008 after me and Nick Vollmer parted ways with our former indie publisher Alterna Comics, following a short but successful launch of the first issue of our comic books series Lil’ Hero Artists through unexpectedly winning a runner-up spot in the publisher’s 2007-2008 submissions contest. Though the experience was great and taught us both a lot of cool things/lessons of the trade, ultimately we both felt leaving at the time was the best decision as we both had demanding jobs (I was working my first job and going to a community college, so I had very little to invest in creating comics). I personally thanked the editor-in-chief for the great opportunity and even donated a bit to help Alterna when it fell on hard times.
In a way, both Lil’ Hero Artists and Sneakers’ U-Force are an extension of my own life experiences. Lil’ Hero Artists symbolizes my journey once as a perfectionist artist and the search for validation before finding true peace in the creation of art while Sneakers’ U-Force is more general and focused on a mix between my childhood experiences and my internal struggles during my adolescent years. But in the case of Sneakers, I realized last night that I touched on a very new struggle I had been through, and recently.
Sneakers’ U-Force #13, published in February of 2025, is such a story; it was released during a very difficult time in my life – the loss of five good friends and family of mine, and how to handle that cumulative grief. After cornering the master bandit Skett in a strange temple, Sneakers Squirrel and Kwame Lizard stand at the ready while Spike Honeybee attempts to arrest Skett for his numerous thefts from villagers nearby the Unitopian Shrine, Team Pollinator’s base of operations. Skett, ever the cocky hound, opens a large chest containing what he believes is a “big score”, only to be shocked as he releases a strange silver mist instead. After an unsuccessful attempt to take Skett into custody, Kwame and Spike witness Sneakers overtaken by the strange mist and rendered unconscious. They are horrified when Sneakers awakens and immediately triggers a shocking transformation into a new persona; his tan fur becomes a metallic sliver sheen, while his usual friendly, can-do outlook has been replaced with one of cold aggression. Spike grimly nicknames him “Silver Sneakers”.
Silver Sneakers proves to be a force to be reckoned with, with all his agility now augmented by a monumental boost in strength and durability – he effortlessly takes on and nearly cripples Spike and Kwame. As the enthralled squirrel prepares to finish off Spike, Kwame uses his telepathic abilities to reach the emotionally pained Sneakers inside. With gentle words of encouragement, Kwame helps Sneakers successfully eject the silver mist with the latter returning to his normal form as he faints. The episode ends with Kwame and Sneakers heading back to the Unitopian City; Sneakers is over-apologetic, unable to accept the harm he dealt to both Kwame and Spike back at the temple despite them both having forgiven him multiple times before Spike returned to the Shrine. Sneakers eventually acknowledges that he “didn’t know what [he] was doing”, which Kwame confirms with a comforting hand on his shoulder. He suggests the eerie silver mist was responsible for Sneakers’ change in character before reassuring his friend that regardless of what happened in the temple, at the end of the day no one got serious hurt or worse, possibly killed. Sneakers finally understands and decides for now to be grateful for the present moment – the fact that he and his teammates are still alive, and still the best of friends. He contemplates an important truth, though; while the malevolence of the silver mist is gone, his “Silver Sneakers” persona is now permanently a part of him and feels tied to raw emotions, and he resolves to learn how to properly manage the persona going forward.
Interestingly, three months after I launched Sneakers #13 on Global Comix and Comic Fury, Marvel Studios released its latest film. In May, as I was readapting to my old job while having been promoted to an assistant instructor, I was tasked to a pop culture-themed class where the top instructor gave an interesting lecture about May being Mental Health Awareness Month. More so, as the top instructor and I are comic book afficionados, we also knew that Marvel Studios had just released the highly-anticipated and acclaimed film Thunderbolts* (later rebranded the New Avengers after the credits roll through an interesting path of visuals and a musical motif referencing Alan Silvestri’s iconic “Avengers” theme). Though I didn’t see the film until it released on Amazon Prime Video due to time constraints, I was curious as the main instructor tied the release of Thunderbolts* to Mental Health Awareness Month (the film was officially released nationwide on May 2, 2025). When the film finally became available on Amazon Prime Video, I took a Sunday to check it out.
I was not only super-impressed, but super moved; I don’t often talk about my own mental health issues – major depressive disorder and bipolar – as they aren’t comfortable things to talk about in today’s society. I was well aware of that back in late 2023 when a White bar doorman refused to admit me on grounds that I was “twitchy / having Tourette’s” in front of two of my best friends (one of whom I later lost in a tragic house fire Christmas morning in 2024 – Steven Weatherford Jr.) and a crowd of disturbed bystanders in San Francisco. The doorman’s inability to even hand me back my admission fee (he handed it to my other best friend) carried a connotation of several “-isms”, with racism and ableism being the two most obvious. Of course I couldn’t tell him what that “twitchiness” was, if it was even that big of a deal to begin with; I was restless, but it is a side effect of one of my antidepressant medications. However, a Black guy revealing that in San Francisco? Not the best of ideas – especially since I later learned that one of the participants at my job faced the same discrimination when he attempted to enter a gallery building in another part of SF and was barred from entry because an ignorant bystander called the cops on him thinking he was a homeless guy with stolen goods. Those “stolen goods” were actually his art exhibitions, which he was on the way to install. But the SF police were soon on the scene, and they interpreted his angry reaction to be a sign of aggression; in truth, our participant was having an autistic response. And yet, for having autism, he was taken back home by his advisor while his close friend, who is a fiery and brave activist called the injustice while also shedding tears at what she saw. And in April of 2024, it didn’t help matters any further when Black 15-year-old Ryan Gainer was fatally shot by two San Bernadino police officers who knew him from two prior encounters but for some reason saw his autistic reaction to seeing cops as a “threat to their safety” – and we all know what that leads to when it comes to Black children.
I was not only super-impressed, but super moved; I don’t often talk about my own mental health issues – major depressive disorder and bipolar – as they aren’t comfortable things to talk about in today’s society. I was well aware of that back in late 2023 when a White bar doorman refused to admit me on grounds that I was “twitchy / having Tourette’s” in front of two of my best friends (one of whom I later lost in a tragic house fire Christmas morning in 2024 – Steven Weatherford Jr.) and a crowd of disturbed bystanders in San Francisco. The doorman’s inability to even hand me back my admission fee (he handed it to my other best friend) carried a connotation of several “-isms”, with racism and ableism being the two most obvious. Of course I couldn’t tell him what that “twitchiness” was, if it was even that big of a deal to begin with; I was restless, but it is a side effect of one of my antidepressant medications. However, a Black guy revealing that in San Francisco? Not the best of ideas – especially since I later learned that one of the participants at my job faced the same discrimination when he attempted to enter a gallery building in another part of SF and was barred from entry because an ignorant bystander called the cops on him thinking he was a homeless guy with stolen goods. Those “stolen goods” were actually his art exhibitions, which he was on the way to install. But the SF police were soon on the scene, and they interpreted his angry reaction to be a sign of aggression; in truth, our participant was having an autistic response. And yet, for having autism, he was taken back home by his advisor while his close friend, who is a fiery and brave activist called the injustice while also shedding tears at what she saw. And in April of 2024, it didn’t help matters any further when Black 15-year-old Ryan Gainer was fatally shot by two San Bernadino police officers who knew him from two prior encounters but for some reason saw his autistic reaction to seeing cops as a “threat to their safety” – and we all know what that leads to when it comes to Black children.
All of this went through my mind in the months after I watched Thunderbolts*. And last night, I saw a striking similarity between the theme of that film and that of Sneakers #13 and its own connection to my cumulative grief from the losses of 2024. As I mentioned, my best friend Steven Weatherford Jr. – whom I’ve known since 1998 and who was a HUGE supporter of my art since even before the Alterna Comics days, and whom I reciprocated my appreciation for his support and overall true friendship by helping him get his own unique crime/thriller/action massive novel published and on both Amazon.com and through IndieBound.org & Bookshop.org among other things – passed away on Christmas morning in 2024 after a fire broke out in his father house during a family get-together. Steven was able to get everyone out safely – being his own family and loved ones as well as his girlfriend’s family and loved ones, as he meant to propose to her the following New Year’s Eve – but could not save himself as the fumes from the blaze reportedly disoriented him and rendered him unresponsive. What the firefighters probably didn’t know was that Steven also struggled with asthma his entire life, which I know for a fact made him especially vulnerable.
Even after his memorial back late January of 2025, Steven’s loss is the one that pains me the most. Not just because of how we lost him, but the context. Facing a new year after a multitude of consecutive losses is an excruciatingly hard thing, especially while carrying a mental illness. So as I reflected on the unifying theme of Thunderbolts* – a group of anti-heroes with their own internal burdens coming together to face an embodiment of the worst aspects of those burdens, each with a mental aspect – the fact that it was released at the start of Mental Health Awareness Month 2025, and that it followed the release of Sneakers #13 in February 2025 prior brought a wider realization to me: that both experiences not only got me through the worst of my cumulative grief but also neatly symbolize internal struggle with a central character in a way that I think is easily identifiable.
Even after his memorial back late January of 2025, Steven’s loss is the one that pains me the most. Not just because of how we lost him, but the context. Facing a new year after a multitude of consecutive losses is an excruciatingly hard thing, especially while carrying a mental illness. So as I reflected on the unifying theme of Thunderbolts* – a group of anti-heroes with their own internal burdens coming together to face an embodiment of the worst aspects of those burdens, each with a mental aspect – the fact that it was released at the start of Mental Health Awareness Month 2025, and that it followed the release of Sneakers #13 in February 2025 prior brought a wider realization to me: that both experiences not only got me through the worst of my cumulative grief but also neatly symbolize internal struggle with a central character in a way that I think is easily identifiable.
The characters Silver Sneakers and Bob/The Sentry/The Void both represent the transformative effects of mental anguish. For Silver Sneakers, it was inner turmoil and emptiness which resulted in a sense of unrestrained brutal aggression towards Kwame and Spike. In Bob’s case, as The Sentry he was fueled by his traumas and mental illness which he used to terrifying effect as he subdued the entire Thunderbolts team in mere minutes without a single scratch. As his mental illness turns to an unforgiving god complex, Sentry undergoes a further transformation into the Void, with all of his features covered in shadow that translates into his ability to shroud the entire city of Manhattan and its citizens in darkness.
Silver Sneakers was brought to his senses through the love of his friends, while Bob was rescued from the Void through the support of the Thunderbolts, who weren't just his teammates but also his friends. And I feel the reason why Thunderbolts* succeeded for so many (including me) and Sneakers #13 was also so well received by readers (and one of my favorite episodes personally) is because of the emotional resonance of each story. And at the end of the day, it symbolizes that emotional vulnerability and mental illness are not weaknesses or defects – they’re a part of being human, and any of us that lives with such vulnerabilities knows that for sure. And I feel that both Thunderbolts* and Sneakers’ U-Force #13 work together to dispel the stigma that ostracizes those of us who simply need help sometimes, and not judgment. There’s been progress, but so much more work remains to be done.
And they told us that comic books and comic book movies don’t teach us anything...
Peace and love to you all, and I hope this entry stirred some thoughts.
Nana
--“Jason Deroga”
