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What sets "Super Antics" apart is its clever blend of humor and superhero tropes. The series embraces a comedic and light-hearted tone, offering readers a fresh take on the genre.
"All through my life, I continued to enjoy comic books and humor strips as I occasionally dabbled in them," Callen shared with Bored Panda. "I created a fairly popular indie comic series years ago called 'Halo and Sprocket'. It was a humorous book about an angel and a robot who hang out together. It allowed me to present oddball thoughts. As far as 'Super Antics' go, I had a dream where I was invulnerable and got a bullet stuck in my ear while confronting a thug. I thought it was funny and wondered if Superman ever had that problem. As with 'Halo and Sprocket', it was very much in my nature to react to my thoughts with cartoons. So, I drew a strip and named it 'Super Antics'. I shared it on social media and people seemed to like it. I had a couple of other irreverent thoughts about superheroes and drew them too. It's always fun to get positive feedback from people who like your work. Suddenly, I was in the habit of drawing 'Super Antics' ever so often. Things kept occurring to me. It's no doubt a sad statement on what my brain is saturated with."
Callen told us that he's been lucky to work his entire career in the art field. "Like most artists, I've drawn ever since I could hold a pencil. I grew up in the hills of Arkansas and saw very little art aside from comic books, MAD magazine, and Sunday newspaper funnies. They were all a big influence on me. I had no available art classes until I went to college. That education led to me spending most of my career as a designer and art director at Hallmark Cards. While there, I worked on a large variety of licensed characters, ranging from Peanuts, Disney, and superheroes. I enjoyed it but was let go a few years ago as the industry itself greatly imploded."
With "Super Antics", Callen likes the idea of going back to the golden age of comic books "when they were still rather raw". "There's a certain charm to them when they were new and nothing was set in stone," the artist shared. "I purposely 'age' the look of my strips to make them feel more like a newly found, vintage oddity. As far as ideas go, things just naturally occur to me. I've done work for MAD magazine where I've been given a loose assignment. In those cases, I have to force an idea to occur to me. I've loved a lot of the results, but it's not as easy as doing Super Antics where I merely wait for an idea to appear on its own," Callen added.
"Super Antics" is Callen's way of showing love to the comics medium, with his own take on them. "I share them to hopefully brighten someone's day. A lot of folks create fan art of properties they like. It's one of the little joys of life."
