After James Riverdale learns he has superpowers, he discovers there is more to his father’s disappearance than meets the eye. He sets out on a mission to find his father, making both friends and powerful enemies along the way. James has to learn that there’s more to being a superhero than having powers, and that the carefree life of a highschooler and the responsibilities a hero aren’t always a great match.
Back in 2016, I began working on a webcomic, titled ‘Swift Spark and the Defense Five’. The story surrounds James, an ADHD teen with superpowers, on a mission to find his missing father.
The story has grown from a passion project to something much bigger; the story I’d like to take into the professional entertainment world. The pilot released in 2023. Production is fully independent from any production companies or studios, providing exclusive Patreon content and merchandise in exchange for funds to continue the series. Click the logo up top to visit the website, or check out the socials down below!
Swift Spark and the Defense Five takes inspiration from action shows I loved as a kid – ‘big brothers’ that come to mind are Danny Phantom and Ultimate Spider-Man. The show has both extraordinary kids in ordinary situations – a superhero trying to get through something as mundane and boring as a math class and trying his best not to abuse his invisibility powers to mess with the teacher – and ordinary kids in extraordinary situations, like when a kid without superpowers has to jump into action to save the superpowered teens.
The show will have episodes that are silly, and episodes that are serious – a serious story for the older crowd, and silly moments for their younger siblings who insist on watching along (this was me with my brother, so I speak from experience). Even the most serious story can’t all be doom and gloom, after all.
James often ends up in peril of his own creation, which is a running theme with kids. He tries to fix these situations himself, but doesn’t always succeed, and has to turn to his friends for help. This shows kids that even heroes need to ask for help sometimes! And that even clumsy, helplessly stubborn teenagers can be superheroes. And of course the series features girls that can fight just as well as the boys can – if not better sometimes.
A little about me, the creator of the show – I’m a 23-year-old, neurodivergent transgender man. I was discouraged from being myself by adults all throughout my life, in all sorts of ways.
In my childhood, things were really different on the TV. LGBTQIA+ representation was hardly a thing – in adult shows, we’d usually be a punchline of sorts, and in kids’ shows, we were some kind of taboo. I am very happy to see a shift occur where gay marriage is legal in most western countries, and kids are learning that it’s okay to be the way they were born. But with this openness also comes much more vocal pushback. Kids need to know that these loud, scary anti-LGBT adults aren’t the only adults out there and that there are people – real and fictional – who have their back.
Kids need to see themselves represented in the media they consume. Whether they’re gay, straight, trans, nonbinary, have dark skin or light skin, have disabilities, or are otherwise perceived as ‘different’. Different is good! That’s also why I think it’s important that the show has a neurodivergent protagonist.
There is no right way to be ‘normal’, if that’s even a thing, and it’s okay to feel sad or angry at the world sometimes. That’s why Swift Spark and the Defense Five explores these topics – how to deal with bullying, how to properly stand up to adults for your rights (because kids deserve to be heard and taken seriously too!), and even depression and mental health are touched on. Hence why our target audience is preteens and older.