Review-Journal readers tell about their superheroes

Starhawk - Prologue

By Charles Ruffing, 39, Pahrump

Dr. Charles Hawke, a research physicist at Area 51 laboratories, has unlocked an exotic alien technology, the Zellian power core. This discovery will change the world. The applications of this power source will be endless, but with a flick of a switch Dr. Charles Hawke lost everything. Through sinister methods and diabolical plans, the evil giant power corporation Zytrell has enforced a ruthless takeover of the labs at Area 51. It was no secret; many knew that whoever controlled the technology of Area 51 controlled the world. With Charles Hawke out of the way and the Zellian power core attained, Zytrell would rule the universe.

Zytrell's most cunning dark agent, "Cutter," was issued to assassinate Dr. Hawke at a top-secret test facility in the Utah desert. But in a freakish mishap, agent Cutter's assassin's bullet found not only its target but shattered the power core's protective cylinder that Dr. Hawke was clutching tightly to his chest. The glowing green liquid that contained the Zellian power core violently engulfed Dr. Hawke; it literally poured itself into him, ripping through every cell of his body (as) he became a massive spinning green ball of power and light. The test facility buckled and quaked under the awesome energy that was released. Agent Cutter and his assault team barely escaped the doomed installation.

Then just as quickly as it had begun it was over. The only thing that remained of Dr. Hawke was a crystallized statue of pure Zellian, highly toxic and impenetrable. No one knew that anything like this could happen; human hands had never touched the Zellian power core. What remained of Dr. Hawke was moved to a nuclear waste contamination plant for safekeeping until a way of retrieving the power core that was encased deep within the cocoon that entombed Dr. Hawke could be found.

For his failure Zytrell reassigned agent Cutter and his assault team to less than favorable duties in the back streets of Las Vegas.

They all thought that it was the end of Charles Hawke, and in many ways it was. Everything that he was did die in that laboratory in the desert, yet as it is in the universe so it is on Earth. With every death there is a new beginning, and with every new life there is a new purpose.

"Angel of Death"

By Michael Moscoso of Las Vegas

Las Vegas 2012: The sun has not shown itself in three days. The war in Iraq is raging on. Society itself is crumbling; Mother Nature is fighting back the only way she knows how, with storms, earthquakes and other natural disasters. The human race is living the remainder of its days.

Our hero, not born of this world, not conceived or carried by humans, was placed on Earth by Satan himself. Michael, the son of Acheron, a powerful demon, takes on a human form once he arrives on Earth to be raised by nuns in an orphanage. While in the orphanage, a demon posing as a priest keeps a close eye on him and ensures he is steered in the direction of evil.

As the boy grows older, he feels the evil he has inside is getting stronger. When our hero is desperate for answers, Satan makes his move and propositions Michael to work for him. He must collect hell's greatest generals to lead Satan's army in the war between heaven and hell. To ensure this is done, Satan takes the soul of the woman our hero loves, but when the job is completed, Satan doesn't keep his end of the deal. He doesn't return the soul of his love.

Armageddon has begun and hell on earth is in Las Vegas. Satan then tries to kill Michael but, in the midst of this, our hero sacrifices himself for the life of a child, thus redeeming him and allowing the powers of light to see this. The angels in heaven grant him the strength of angels, making our hero a half-breed with superspeed and strength. Now, with the power of the light on his side, he must battle his way to the center of Las Vegas, where Satan's fortress stands and the soul of his love is kept. As he continues to fight the darkness of the evil, he fights to bring the light back to the world.

Aquamarillo

By Kyle Sims, 30, of Las Vegas

Aquamarillo is a cowboy who protects and guards over 70 percent of the Earth -- doing so underwater. He roams the oceans' currents upon his giant seahorse, Country, and is occasionally accompanied by his special porpoise, Slick Willy.

For protection from all manner and size of carnivorous or hostile sea creatures, he carries two pistols, his "P-Shooters," so named because they shoot pearls coated with deadly blowfish toxin. Aquamarillo also has a collection of knives made from a number of assorted undersea life forms, such as coral and narwhal tooth. Aquamarillo regularly uses the tip of a sawfish like a machete to hack through thick seaweed or attacking cephalopod tentacles. He also sometimes carries a bow that shoots shark-tooth tipped arrows, and a rapier made from a swordfish's nose. Despite having this deadly cache of weapons, Aquamarillo normally tries a nonlethal method for subduing his opponents; he uses a lasso composed of tough fibrous material to ensnare his enemies.

Given the number of weapons at his disposal, Aquamarillo also naturally possesses a slew of talents. He is an expert in archery, underwater tracking and combat, swimming, marksmanship, undersea-husbandry, lasso-throwing, knot-tying, and edged weaponry, such as swords and knives.

He also has a number of inherent abilities that stem from his undersea environment. He communicates telepathically with undersea life, and has limited control over more simple sea creatures, such as Country. However, more intelligent life forms, such as the semi-humanoid Squid Men of Mu, or the instinctual mania of a shark's blood-lust, can overcome his mental control. He can breathe underwater using gills located on his neck, located underneath his seaweed scarf (which he wears when traveling through whirlpool storms or plankton beds), but he is not amphibious (an air- and water-breather); he can operate on land for short periods of time without having to re-submerge, due to a supply of water that is not only retained in his gills, but in his scarf as well. His physiology is also adapted to living in harsh underwater environs in the following ways: he can see in both the visible and the ultraviolet spectrums due to the presence of a special membrane located in his eyes, allowing him to see not only on glaring water surfaces but in the dark depths of the ocean floor as well; his bluish green skin not only acts as a limited form of underwater camouflage, it also protects him from freezing water temperatures; the pointed shape of his ears allows for better hearing via improved water deflection and increased sonic absorption; and finally his hard and soft body tissues are considerably more durable than a regular human's in order to survive the crushing pressure at the ocean's bottom.

His appearance is very much that of a land-based cowboy of the Old West, but with slight differences that relate to underwater life. For example, his cowboy hat has a clam-shaped brim ornament. His badge is a real starfish, his vest is made of strong shark skin, and his boots are eel-skin with an ability to pack a walloping electric jolt!

Originally an Atlantean (a rare mutant race of humanoid underwater dwellers), Aquamarillo was a brave and curious hunter-gatherer named Keerg. That is, this was the case until he came upon a shipwreck that held a treasure trove of books written in English. Fascinated by the illustrations within dime novels about the American Old West, Keerg eventually learned to read the text within the tales in his free time, adopting the look, demeanor and speech pattern of the protagonists within the Westerns he read. In turn, he went from the hunter Keerg to Aquamarillo, Cowboy of the Seven Seas!

Even though he is a wanderer at heart, Aquamarillo still has a special place he likes to hang his hat and call home when not protecting the oceans from sea monsters and demons, the Okay Coral Reef. When at Okay, he herds fish schools, whale pods and sea turtle bales with the help of his dog fish, Spiral, protecting them from a host of predators, including great white sharks, barracuda, giant octopi, and even Man, who may arguably be his greatest threat, given their ability to so drastically alter the sea's environment and life within it.

Granny Squares

By Marlea Mitchell, 49, of Las Vegas

1. NAME: As a group they are called Granny Squares. Individually their names are Abigail Collins, AKA Granny Knit; Doris Witherspoon, AKA Cookie; Alice Matthews, AKA Tapestry; and Millicent Grover, AKA Hooks.

2. POWERS: Granny Knit uses her super knitting needles and lightning fast speed knitting to duel with her enemies and truss them up in knitted drawstring bags, which she hangs from trees and lampposts for the police to find.

Cookie can manifest cookie dough in her hands and throw it at bad guys, sticking them to walls. They become sticky, but oh so sweet.

Tapestry uses her sewing needles as throwing stars, penetrating the enemies' pressure points and causing them paralysis; she studied in Tibet.

Hook uses her crochet hooks, which can become large. She grabs her enemies by the neck with the hooks and throws them very far.

They are all a lot more active and stronger than they look.

3. WEAKNESSES: Granny Knit -- sometimes her needles get bent, and if she drops a stitch, also scissors and other things that can cut the yarn can be a hazard to her.

Cookie -- water can make her weaker.

Tapestry -- she can get tired and beaten because her powers are really just knowledge of the martial arts, and not anything too super. She has to watch out for other martial arts champions.

Hooks -- her weakness has to do with snags getting her all tangled up.

4. SECRET WEAPONS: As noted above, knitting needles, sewing needles, cookie dough and crochet hooks are their main weapons. They also travel in different ways. Granny Knit travels on a rocket-propelled rocking chair; Cookie travels in a giant bowl with a steering wheel, propelled by egg beaters; Tapestry travels on a flying latch-hook rug, which is slow but is usually towed by Hooks, who travels on her supersonic flying scooter chair. They also use their cell phones a lot.

5. SIDEKICKS: Granny Knit's nephew, Josiah Miklans, is leader of the Jones Street Irregulars, a bunch of street savvy kids who spy for Granny Squares. They look out for weird goings on and report via text messaging to the Granny Squares when something is going on that needs their attention. That is why the cell phones are a part of their secret arsenal.

6. HIDEOUT: The Granny Squares hide out on the front porch of the Daisy Lied Assisted Living Home. Most of the residents are so old they are either deaf or half-blind, and the staff, of course, doesn't pay any attention. Granny Knit says, "The best place to hide is in plain sight, that way no one will ever see you, or know where you are."

7. ARCHNEMESIS: They have several, chief of which is Dr. Dashears. He likes to cut things with his giant scissors, like phone lines, entitlements to the elderly, etc., but he never cuts gas prices. Dia Lysis: she likes to use her needles of a different sort to steal the life energy of the elderly. They also, frequently, fight child abusers and robbers who prey on the elderly. They also fight a fiendish criminal mind, called The Gordian Knot. He literally likes to tie people into knots, as well as traffic.

SOME HISTORY

Granny Knit, AKA Abigail Collins, comes from a long line of superheroes, but, what with getting married and raising a family, she never had time to do much superdeeding. After her husband died and she came to Daisy Lied Assisted Living and found that it was being terribly managed by Nurse Krimcol and Doctor Dashears, she led a revolt and got them sacked, which is why they bear her a grudge, she then began to become interested in reviving the family business, so she recruited her bridge partners to help her, Doris, Alice and Millicent.

Alice had already had some superhero experience from her days in China during the war, World War II, and they had both noticed something peculiar about Doris, who spent a lot of time in the kitchen baking cookies. Turns out she had acquired her superpower of manifesting cookie dough from an accident at the kitchens of the Nevada Test Site, and Hooks was just plain radical and a real snoop, so they couldn't hide anything from her. They decided to go into business together. Granny Knit considers herself a late bloomer, but says that she always had the genes from her family.

Her nephew, Josiah, became involved when they had to chase away his abusive alcoholic stepfather one day. He's been helping them ever since, though he pretends to be a tough guy to keep the bad folk off his track, and he has a lot of friends who help him, the Jones Street Irregulars, the eyes and ears of the Granny Squares. He wants to grow up to be a police detective.

The Granny Squares' favorite pastimes are playing bridge, making craft and cookie projects to sell at the local art fairs for charity, and bingo.

As Granny Squares put it, "We are saving the world before bingo."

Octo-Man

By Shayne Stephens, 50, of Las Vegas

Octo-Man is Dr. James T. Walker, a marine biologist who works for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Falmouth, Mass. While experimenting with a way for humans to breathe underwater, Dr. Walker mixed the DNA of many amphibians and underwater life to concoct a serum to allow humans to breathe water as air. The experiment was fully researched and all previous tests were satisfactory. All that remained was a human trial. Dr. Walker used himself as the human test subject.

Unbeknown to Dr. Walker, his lead assistant, Dr. Max Seekins, was an agent of CENTIPEDE, an independent terrorist organization backed by the Soviet Union and China, that wants to cause the fall of the United States of America. Dr. Seekins sabotaged the electronic hardware necessary for the completion of the experiment.

Hence when Dr. Walker injected the serum into his arm and placed himself into the specially constructed tank and began the procedure, the entire laboratory was destroyed and Dr. Walker had changed into Octo-Man.

Octo-Man has the ability to breathe underwater as well as above it. He can change into a duplicate of any man (as an octopus can change colors). This ability can only last for a finite length of time. The length of time depends on Octo-Man's overall health, the length of previous changes, how rested he is and his energy level. He can throw bolts of electricity from his upper tentacles (similar to the charge of an electric eel). He can also release stingers from his lower tentacles like a jelly fish.

He lives and works at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and while not researching a cure for his issue, he is involved in experiments and research in trying to lengthen the time he can remain in human form. Because of his constant pursuit of scientific knowledge, Dr. Walker/Octo-Man does not have a sweetheart. He is a close friend of Peter Lucky, a part-time private detective who was in the lab when the experiment was sabotaged. They do work together often on cases for UNITED.

Octo-Man's villains include Isamare and Waswere, hippy terrorist twins who work for CENTIPEDE.

Green Gal

By Melanie Chambers, eighth-grader in Deanna Finke's class at Miller Middle School, Henderson

SUPERHERO FILE

NAME: Green Gal, code name GG

ALIAS: Megan Green, reporter for the San Francisco Herald

SUPERPOWERS: Ability to bring life to plants, ability to speak to animals, supervision, ability to separate recyclables from a trash can with the blink of an eye.

SIDEKICK: Eco-Eddie, the spunky crime fighting squirrel.

SECRET LAIR: If you ever visit Redwood National Park, find the tallest tree west of the Misty Road, and give a tug on the lowest branch. You will be sucked up a chute leading to GG's secret forest rooftop lair, where the leaves are walls and the branches are floors. At such a high altitude and with her supervision, GG can see danger as far away as North Dakota. However, if trouble occurs farther away, GG's messenger hawk delivers the news within minutes.

SECRET WEAPON: Control of the elements.

SECRET SWEETHEART: Jacob Jenkins, window washer of Megan Green's building. Does not know of Megan's superhero life.

Aquanite

By Kaylene Pecora, eighth-grader in Deanna Finke's class at Miller Middle School, Henderson

Aquanite, a superhero who can control water in any form, also has the power to throw ice balls out of her hands, and to shield herself from any attack. Her secret weapon is her headpiece that she wears that can create blue lightning sparks that can electrify her enemies. Her hair is normally brown, but changes to dark purple while she is in her superhero suit.

Her secret identity: Adamaria, a famous fashion designer in New York City, lives in a mansion on a hill near the city. Accompanied by her assistant butler, Derek, a handsome, mid-age fellow, helps her with her training and follows her everywhere she goes as her bodyguard. Not only is he her assistant, but also is great friends with her. When it comes to action while she works at her studio, her butler covers for her and stays behind as she sneaks behind her bookcase where there is a hidden changing room and a slide to get where all the commotion is about. While on her way, a special button is on her boots and they become ice skates as she skies her way down to the city, creating an ice slide from her hands.

She has been told that her parents died when she was a baby. Wrong! Her mother died from an accident, but her father, who is her archnemesis Dr. Antimomentousness, is trying to crush her by using his power to levitate objects. Derek knew that her father was evil all along because he was her father's servant before and broke it to Aquanite after she fought so many battles with him. He also admitted that he looked after her all her life because she barely had anyone that would look after her. Luckily, Dr. Antimomentousness doesn't know who she really is or where she lives. He really doesn't know that he had a daughter from the beginning.

During her extra time, she goes to her secret lair that is actually a cave with a lake underneath her own mansion. There, she is trained, spends time with some of her marine friends, and has her own huge work desk where she does her research and other stuff. Squeezing into her busy schedule, she is dating her sweetheart, Severus Wilkinson, a producer for Broadway shows. Being a superwoman isn't easy for her, but she manages and moves on with her awesome life by looking on the bright side all the time.

Super-Powered Amazing Woman -- S.P.A.W.

By Taylor Barin, fifth-grader in Kaynella Wallace's class at Tarr Elementary School, Las Vegas

Super-Powered Amazing Woman is rich, and everybody knows her. She is rich because she is an inventor. She invents all kinds of things. She can invent anything she wants or whatever comes to her mind. Except, her inventions aren't like a doll or something. If she wants to invent something it will be the "best." Her name is Christina Cenningham.

Her superpowers are a lot of things. If she is really, really, really mad, she can be as big and as strong as The Hulk. If she needs to catch something falling from the sky, she can turn into something like Superwoman or Bat Woman. If she doesn't feel like flying, she can shoot webs like Spider Woman and attach to buildings. And if she needs to go really high or fast, she can have this iron suit that protects her when she flies and can shoot bombs and other stuff or she can be all at once.

Enemy: Super-Powered Amazing Woman's enemy is her "best friend." They've known each other since kindergarten. They went to the same school every year and now they work together. She became the enemy because she was jealous that Christina got to be so famous and rich and that only she got to be an assistant of some mean guy.

Christina's secret sweetheart is the one guy at work. He also invents things, and is rich too. He is really handsome. He has brown hair, handsome and nice too.

Super-Powered Amazing Woman's assistant is her friend from college. They had a lot of the same classes in college, so they got to be friends, and they both studied inventing. Also she is her sidekick. She helps S.P.A.W. fight. Her power is to fly and is strong. Her name is Christine.

S.P.A.W.'s secret lair is in her glamorous house. It is kind of like a huge basement, and she keeps her superhero creations there. Also S.P.A.W. keeps her latest inventions there.

Super-Powered Amazing Woman became her because one day she was working on an invention doing a really hard test. Something went wrong and she got all these powers. That's how S.P.A.W. became S.P.A.W., the superhero.

Earthquake

By Alison Mercado, fifth-grader in Kaynella Wallace's class at Tarr Elementary School, Las Vegas

My superhero shoots out rocks from her palms, flies on top on rocks, and uses a boulder bazooka. Her name is Elaine Jennar, but when trouble comes out, she's the Earthquake. Her butler hasn't revealed her name to anyone, yet he has always provided what Elaine needs. The only time she uses her secret weapon, the boulder breaker, is when her archnemesis comes out of hiding from the sea. Tsunami. Tsunami is the most dangerous villain in the city, but the only thing Earthquake likes about fighting her is that sometimes she sees her sweetheart, Earthland, when she fights Tsunami. On really good days, they fight side by side.