In 1984, Kenner Toys launched a new line of action figures based on the DC Comics super heroes. The figures were in a 5” scale and boasted features where an action like squeezing the legs together could make the toy move its arms to punch—or some other “super power.” There were also vehicles for the characters with cool features.

For the first two years of releases, each action figure came with their own mini-comic that spotlighted that character in the 13-page story, but also tried to cross-sell readers on other action figures and vehicles. There were also ads in the mini-comics for a “Super Powers Fan Club” and for subscriptions to DC Comics.

These mini-comics spawned my interest in collecting comics and reading more of the story. I was inspired to begin a subscription to Justice League of America thanks to this line. This prompted a long run of collecting comic books. So I have a special affinity for these mini-comics.

After the third wave (which did not contain mini-comics) the Super Powers line ended. And while the name and brand has been used on other merchandise in the 35 years since, it wasn’t until 2022 that McFarlane Toys brought back the line in a retro-style action figure line that the Super Powers brand really returned.

Gone are the action figure features, but also, these figures do not include the mini-comics either. With this omission, I saw an opportunity to fill a gap. So I contacted my artist friend, Bill Wiist, and we got to work on producing our own Super Powers mini-comic that we would release for free in honor of the line, but also as promotion for our own talents.

I wrote the story and delivered the script to Bill. Bill penciled and inked the cover and 13 story pages. I then took the finished line art, colored and lettered it and compiled it into a final form.

My process began by sitting down and re-reading the original mini-comics. I took note of the word count, writing style, number of panels, and simplicity of story. I decided to make the first one a story mostly about Superman but I also included the other two characters (Batman and Darkseid) and both vehicles (Supermobile and Batwing) from wave 1. With these elements in place, I started writing with a simple outline I sketched out in a spreadsheet.

With my story beats figured out, I transferred the outline to Final Draft and expanded the story to a full script.

I sent the final script to Bill who then did thumbnail sketches of all 13 story pages to help him visualize the task he had before him.

Once he had the sketches figured out, he did really loose pencils since he would be inking the final art.

Bill’s next process was to ink the pages.

Once he was finished with the inks, I could begin coloring.

With final inked and colored pages in place, I could finalize my lettering as well as the inside front cover "ad" for me and the back cover "ad" for Bill.

The idea for the release was a pdf that could be printed, folded, cut and stapled.

Upon doing that, the final would be a 16-page mini-comic that looks great with the originals.

To explain the process, I shot and produced this explainer video.

We released the free downloadable PDF through ActionFigureInsider.com.

The first one was quite successful enough that Bill and I decided to work on a second one. I followed the same process. This time, I focused on Green Lantern who was the next released figure, but gave cameos to Flash, Darkseid, The Batman Who Laughs, and Superman has a co-starring role. I started with a plot.

This got fleshed out into a script.

I sent that to Bill who penciled and inked the pages.

And I took the project back over with colors and letters.

The final PDF was once again available for free at ActionFigureInsider.com.

Bill and I have completed a third in our series of fan made mini-comics starring Flash Gordon and a fourth Super Powers mini-comic starring Nightwing.