Sense of Justice
On Sundays, my wife and I work in our church’s nursery with the babies up to a few 4-5 year olds. One of the boys that we almost always get, named Kevin, has been helping me, every Sunday morning, to create a special, crayon-colored edition of The Underfold called Bunny Foo Foo Adventures.
It’s about a superhero, ninja bunny (Bunny Foo Foo) and his sidekick Rocky the Rock Lobster as they battle the random crime that is committed in their undefined location. This was an idea that started long ago when I first realized my desire to draw comics. I based it on my toys, even my stuffed bunny, Bunny Foo Foo.
Our partnership is great. He’s the creative genius behind most of the storylines, and I draw it (and lately, he’s been doing the coloring for me too). The funny part is that, as a writer, sometimes it feels like I need to stretch a story across two comics instead of finishing it in just one. It builds suspense and draws people back.
Kevin wants the bad guy to get caught, beat up, and put in jail. Period.
Ever since we started doing this on Sundays, I’ve been struck by his 5 year old sense of justice. Everything’s black and white. There is no gray area. Stealing is bad, you go to jail.
This is why most of the comics end with the bad guy in handcuffs or in jail.
I keep telling him that we’re going to run out of bad guys this way, but I figure eventually, they’ll all break out and try to team up together. The idea of an archenemy that always eludes capture is a foreign idea for Kevin, and therefore, it has yet to happen.
It’s kind of refreshing because sometimes I get tired of writing from the bad guy’s perspective. Emoting his intentions and his feelings about why he’s doing something bad. Giving him excuses. Finding reasons for his evil. Trying to get the audience to feel even the slightest amount of pity for them.
To Kevin, they’re bad guys. They go to jail.
And that’s a sense of justice.
If you want to read his sense of justice, check out the Sunday Edition of The Underfold: Bunny Foo Foo Adventures!
