Childhood Imagination
2010-2012

Creation and storytelling has always been in Peyton Drozd Williams' DNA. He has always been fascinated with superheroes, in particular those of DC, his favorite of which was the king that started it all, Superman. Growing up in Germany, where he was born, at the time, he was a prolific creator, writing short stories and drawing comic books that are barely better than stick figures. Because of his love of Superman, in 2010, he wrote The Tales of Superboy, which, yes, was a blatant rip-off of Superman (sorry, DC, please don't sue us!). Simply stapled a bunch of papers together and filled them in with chicken scratch handwriting and the most rudimentary drawings. While this standard could not possibly hold up today, for the young Peyton, this sparked the joy of his creative spirit.

The following year saw the birth of his first superhero team, even older than the Keepers, the earliest iteration of which dates back only to 2016. In 2011, he created the Supernova. It was the most basic of superhero universes (if you can even call it a universe) with a number of Superman ripoffs, Superboy notwithstanding. He was joined by Astroboy, the lone survivor of the planet Konospolis. As for the rest of them (Xboy, Captain Impossible, Powerboy, and Multiboy), they were empty vessels occupying space, hardly characters. 

Looking at the pictures above, it is clear that they were not in English but in German! German is his native language, and since he was living there at the time, it only made sense. Moreover, he was not alone; he had help from one of his closest childhood friends named Jan. Most of Jan's contributions are lost to the ash heap of history, but he did add two or three characters to the arsenal. 

Peyton did not stop there. He made Lego figures of his heroes and shot two seasons, ten episodes each, of a show he called Xtreme Supernova. And no, it was nothing spectacular or particularly good quality. It was not stop-motion or animated like those videos professional content creators release on YouTube. In all honesty, it was just slamming a bunch of these figures together, hands visible in the frame and all, no added special effects. He voiced all of the characters. 

In 2012, he and his family moved to the U.S., and the project essentially died. 

A Major Upgrade
2018

Fast forward to 2018. Peyton had just graduated high school and self-published his Keepers series (well, the first stint, that is, years before the proper relaunch and the founding of Ultra Light). He decided to revisit the project. He does not remember what sparked this idea, but as soon as he conceived it, it clicked. Five teenagers with various disabilities. He took some of the original names and revamped them. Astroboy turned to Astro (Elijah Wright), Xboy to Exegirl (Chau Nguyen), Captain Impossible to Captain Astounding (Michael Wilson) (he would use the former for a brand new hero in the Keepersverse), and he added Lantern (Brooke Knight) and Gold Star (Ana Jiminez). After drawing some basic concepts, he turned to HeroMachine, the same platform he used for the Keepers, and came up with these designs: 

The 2011 iteration of the Supernova had no real characterization. No interests, values, or personalities. They were mere plot devices and nothing more. When Peyton decided to relaunch, he essentially started completely from scratch with regard to the heroes. The new concept and the old prototypes could not have been farther apart. He did, however, keep all of his villains, although properly fleshed out for the first time. Dr. John, a bald billionaire who was a ripoff of Lex Luthor, became Congressman John Hidalgo; Dr. Gold, a mad scientist, became Dr. Genevieve Gold, a geneticist; Octopus became Jeremie Beauregard, a recent amputee who participated in Gold's experiment; and Cyborg became Terrence Jeffers, a Marine vet who was subject to a secret government program. 

The central theme of this new story centered around an imminent Holocaust, but it was lost in translation when Peyton added all sorts of unnecessary plot threads, such as an alien invasion, gems hidden in the center of the Earth, etc. He was also burned out from writing, as he had poured his heart and soul into a variety of other projects over the few years prior, so he lost touch and walked away, having drafted just the first chapter at that point.   

A Legacy Fulfilled 
2021-present

Fast forward to July 2021, and Peyton and his friend/co-worker Aidan Glover, an artist, built the steppingstones of the biggest step of their young careers: Volition Comics. It was born out of an effort to adapt the Keepers Universe into a comic series. Aidan's Kawaii Zombie was also added into the mix, becoming our first major release in April 2022. Seeing how the Keepersverse was progressing, Peyton knew he had to get back to work on The Supernova Five eventually, yet he put it off for as long as he could, juggling school, work, and life. However, a story with such a potent message, a theme more important than ever, he got back on his horse. One page at a time, he chipped away at it and moved towards the finish line. Certain elements were reshuffled or fine-tuned during this period to more closely marry the new with the old. Hidalgo was renamed to Maddox Johns, Howie Garnett's role was renamed from Fabulous Man to Astral, etc. Meanwhile, Aidan began work on some cover art variants, and a few years later, having gotten the hang of digital, we now have our final and definitive cover!