My name is Specks Thompson. I was born and raised in Augusta, Georgia. I went to Augusta State for marketing, but before doing that, I found a love for comics.
I was introduced to comics at a young age. The first things I can recall are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Batman: The Animated Series. I instantly became a fan of those properties. I remember playing the VHS tapes back-to-back until they broke. I also remember being obsessed with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game at Chuck E. Cheese.
I got my taste in comic books with the original Young Justice series, Marvel’s Gambit & Bishop, a team-up book that my sister’s friend would bring me from the shop she worked at. From there, I explored more and more comics, from the Justice League of America books to The Darkness from Dark Horse Comics.
With that early start in comics, I took the characters I fell in love with and began writing my own storylines with them and a few original characters. I kept writing those storylines until high school. I didn’t get back into comics until the Spider-Man: Brand New Day story arcs and DC’s New 52.
Years later, I would meet my fiancée, and I would have a conversation with her about the stories I used to write back in the day. During that conversation, she advised me to start writing those stories again. One of those storylines I chose to revisit is that of a character called The View.
The View originally started as an X-Men character who I placed in the third class of students at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Mutants, based around Gambit & Bishop. It called me back to the original books I had back in the day.
As I became an adult, I was able to research how to develop a comic book character and discovered I wouldn’t have the rights to these characters. If I felt the characters or storylines I created were good enough for Marvel or DC comics, I learned I should develop my own, original comic. I took that information and started writing my first official comic book, Legacy of the View.
That comic book featured the same comic book character I had made for the X-Men fan fiction I had written originally, but I revamped him as a 15-year-old kid from Augusta, Georgia. The View has become my flagship hero, showcasing Southern culture, which is missing in a lot of mainstream comics, as well as highlighting the music industry. Since the creation of Legacy of the View, I have written five issues for that series and two spin-off series based around The View’s world, which I have called the Jawagaverse. Jawaga is pronounced “Georgia” for anyone unfamiliar with the southern dialect.
Shop Legacy of the View here and check out Specks’ podcast, Chillin’ on Da Green Box!