I developed the concept of Iltopia in 2011 when I was a student-athlete at the University of Hawaii. I had recently had hip surgery for the second time and was told by my doctor that I would probably not be returning to the football field due to numerous injuries. From there I began exploring other things I can do to replace the time football took in my life. Looking back at what I enjoyed in High school and the early days, I was a big fan of cartoons and comics. I especially followed the ones that had Black characters in it because it was something I could identify with. Static shock, Huey freeman, Cyborg, Black Green Lantern to name a few. I also grew fond of Aaron McGruder for how he was able to create the Boondocks and mold it into something mainstream. After taking a class on the history of Comic books, I did my first comic strip for extra credit and I was hooked. To my surprise, it wasn’t as hard as I expected it would be. From there I began to make comics in hopes of getting it syndicated. Modeling what I did based off of Aaron McGruder and the Boondocks, I wanted to provide a voice for African Americans to identify with. From there, I began developing the characters off of personal experiences and people I knew. The comics I made were slowly getting featured in local newspapers until I decided to take a break to pursue football again. It was a decision I chose to do in fear of it getting too big. According to the NCAA rules, a student-athlete cannot profit off of their name and likeness. Since Iltopia is influenced by my life and experiences, I didn’t want to separate myself from the creation of the series, nor did I want to have to choose between the two if that situation were to ever arise.
Create and Conquer!
Stuck E.
