All Around the World

Most comic book stories usually take place in the United States, and even more of them take place in New York City or in a fictional New-York-Like place. When I was in my teens reading comics, I used to wonder about what was happening in other parts of the world. We got to see what was going on in the U.S., Japan, and England, but what about the rest of the world? Were there no superheroes in Latin America? Africa? The Middle East? Sure, there were some characters that came from some of these countries: Storm and Black Panther came from Africa, The New Mutants Rictor and Sunspot were from Mexico and Brazil respectively, and Sabra is from Israel. However, these characters’ adventures usually take place on American soil, not in their homelands.

I always liked to see diversity in comics, but we rarely got to see what was going on in the rest of the world, and when we did, it was usually grossly misrepresented. South America is an uncivilized, vast jungle with old, toothless people. The Middle East is an endless desert filled with archaic, bloodthirsty nomad tribes. Africa is nothing but a savage-infested, safari-looking place right out of a Robert Conrad tale. That has always bothered me even today, so one of the things I like to do as a writer is to explore the rest of the world in my stories. The U.S. and Japan are well represented as far as I know. My stories are about characters and places that we often don’t get to see.

You can say that England is not much of a stretch, and I agree. The reason I based Metasearch in London is because of the countries vast history with the paranormal and the country’s atmosphere. Also, it is a location I know, so I felt more comfortable depicting it rather than I place I don’t. I’ll see you in the page.

Oddman Out