Jay Piscopo interviewed on WCSH6

PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Metropolis has Superman, Gotham City has Batman, and now Maine has its own superpowered protector.

Sea Ghost is the creation of Portland-based comic book artist Jay Piscopo. After years as a supporting player, the character is taking center stage as the star of his own title.

Piscopo recently shared his plans for Sea Ghost with NEWS CENTER's Lee Nelson.

Piscopo said Sea Ghost first appeared in "The Undersea Adventures of Cap'n Eli" series of graphic novels. The series began as a promotion for Cap'n Eli soft drinks, but took on a life of its own.

In his solo comic, Sea Ghost is transported to an alien world that is being ravaged by war between two races. One side is based underwater while the other lives in the jungle. Sea Ghost takes it upon himself to uncover the secret instigator behind all of the turmoil and bring peace to the planet.

Sea Ghost brings some formidable powers to his crusade. He is super strong, able to breathe underwater and shoots bolts of lightning like an electric eel.

Piscopo said he created Sea Ghost as an homage to the heroes of his youth. He said he was heavily influenced by the animation work of Alex Toth, who created such characters as Space Ghost for the Hanna-Barbera studio.

Piscopo named comic book artist Ramona Fradon as another major influence. She is best known for illustrating the adventures of Aquaman. Piscopo said he was honored to have her contribute a drawing of Sea Ghost for the inaugural issue.

Piscopo said he was pleased by the warm critical reception "Sea Ghost No. 1" was given by the comic book community. The popular industry website Comic Book Resources ranked the title character among its top six aquatic heroes of the year.

"Sea Ghost No. 1" is on sale at Casablanca Comics shops in Portland and Windham. You can also follow the character online by clicking here for a link to his website.

Seven by 6 | Seven Seas; Seven Superheroes

Seven by 6 | Seven Seas; Seven Superheroes
by Michael May
March 16, 2011

Read the full write up at this link.

MTV Geek recently ran a list of their 7 Best Superheroes of the Seven Seas and it got me thinking, as these things are designed to do. I love ocean-adventure comics and appreciate the topic, but on a list of superheroes, I think we can do better than One Piece and Last Airbender. Those are great characters; they’re just not superheroes. Superhero comics are full of fantastic, undersea heroes, so this is my list. To open up spots for some lesser-known (if not exactly obscure) characters, I decided to leave off the obvious Sub-Mariner and Aquaman. We can agree that they deserve to be here; I’m just not confident that I have anything new to say about them. I worried at first about picking seven characters for a Six by 6 column, but since the precedent has been set…here they are in reverse order:

7. Triton
6. Marine Man

5. Sea Ghost is probably the most obscure character on this list, but he’s also one of the coolest. Spinning out of Jay Piscopo’s The Undersea Adventures of Capt’n Eli, Sea Ghost is as an homage to Space Ghost and other classic Hanna-Barbera characters and concepts.

Piscopo’s put a lot of thought into Sea Ghost and Capt’n Eli’s world. Though it’s a relatively new series, the allies and villains all have back-stories that give everything a sense of grandness, like every story is a special event. Even if you don’t know who Commander X and Lord Hydro are, seeing them team up with or fight against Sea Ghost is almost as exciting as if you’ve grown up with these characters and been waiting for this battle your entire life.

4. Mera
3. Namora
2. Marrina
1. Abe Sapien

So that’s my list. What’s yours? Any great, sea-based superheroes that I didn’t mention?