TRIBAL FORCE in progress

As you may know, TRIBAL FORCE #1 (1999) was the first comic book created by Natives. The pair responsible for it were writer Jon Proudstar (Yaqui/Mayan)and artist Ryan Huna Smith (Chemihuevi/Navajo).

TRIBAL FORCE featured a team of four superheroes--Thunder Eagle and Little Big Horn (Lakota), Earth (Navajo), and Gan (Apache). In the first issue, set a decade in the future, they protected the Sioux Nation as it declared its independence from the US.

Apparently Proudstar and Smith had "creative differences" and went their separate ways. Since Smith had created the character Gan, he took Gan with him. That left Proudstar with the "Tribal Force" concept and three-fourths of the characters.

I don't know how much Proudstar has worked on TRIBAL FORCE since then, but he's working on it now. An artist as well as a writer, he's doing it all himself this time. He's keeping his Facebook friends posted on his progress.

Below you can see some of his character sketches:

Jon Santaanta Proudstar's Photos--TRIBAL FORCE

Replacing Gan is Wild Fire, a female Native hero. I don't know anything about her, but her design seems a little generic. With Earth and (Wild) Fire, all the team needs is Wind to go on an R&B tour.

Comics already have thousands of characters with fire- or fire-like powers. DC Comics alone has Wildfire, Fire, Starfire, Blackfire, Firestorm, Firehawk, Firebrand, Gunfire, Witchfire, Firebug, Firefly, and Fire Lad. Let's hope Tribal Force's fire character is the one that breaks the mold.

For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Comics.

Below:  Tribal Force's Wild Fire...



...and DC Comics' Fire.