[BLOG] Wonder Island: Delinquents

Wonder Island: Delinquents is something that happened purely by accident. But how did we get here?

For me, I guess it started back with the earliest memories of my best friend or as he is known on the internet, Uncommon Sense. UC owned a Nintendo to an impressionable young Liam it was like nothing else I’d ever seen before. Before the Nintendo the only thing I’d seen in the way of home gaming was the Atari 2600 I remember thinking, “Wow, it’s like an Arcade for your home…”

On that Nintendo was a little gem called RIVER CITY RANSOM.

We were only allowed 30 minutes of video games each weekend but we sure as heck made the best out of it. I fell in love with River City Ransom. The RPG Elements mixed with the Fighting left me feeling like there was a purpose to the fun and some part of me really enjoyed that. It was like Double Dragon at the arcade, except your effort had tangible rewards in the form of new moves and unlike Double Dragon, I felt like there were secret shops to find and many more places to explore.

However, eventually Uncommon Sense would get a Super Nintendo, box away the old Nintendo and we’d end up spending most of our time riding bikes, chasing girls, dealing with real life fights or camping and learning survivalist skills under our old scout master, Lloyd See. The era of RCR was over… at least for the time being.

The love of Delinquent Culture stayed with me most of my life. It was very likely my affinity for youthful rebellion and resisting authority that drove me to the punk scene which would form most of my meaningful and formative relationships. My teens to early teens were bare knuckle fights, loud music, and lots of travel as I juggled homelessness with the life of a roadie. My old friends used to say, Liam was punk before it was cool. Then later, they’d joke was punk even though it wasn’t cool anymore.

This delinquent culture embodied rebellion against a corrupt system. It gave me an identity where I so sorely lacked one and the music made me feel like I had somewhere to belong when, at so many times, I didn’t. There was a nobility to being true to yourself, and, perhaps in some part because of a silly Nintendo game, I felt like there was a purpose to that fight. When things seemed bleak, small or I doubted my place in this world or my purpose I could hide behind my fists and give myself a cause to fight for.

So, when Anime OVAs of delinquent gangs started appearing in VHS tape trading circles, my mind was blown. Of course, the most famous of these is Akira but the nearest and dearest to my heart will always be… Great Teacher Onizuka.

Starting as a high school delinquent series, Great Teacher Onizuka follows the story of a young Japanese delinquent who sought to escape the delinquent lifestyle in pursuit of love… only to find himself longing for a return to his glory days in high school. The series is phenomenal, full of heart and one I can deeply relate to.

I often feel like my life peaked in high school. I was a larger-than-life character that spent most of his time solving other people’s problems. Back then it was a way of hiding from my own, but I helped a great many people overcome anxiety, depression or other issues in their lives that were holding them back. I had no fear and didn’t care about anything. I’d save girls from abusive boyfriends, fight grown men and then on the weekends the boys and I would take canoes and go explore remote islands and play war games. After high school I hid deeper in the punk scene, fighting, writing music reviews, and doing album cover while touring with aging punk bands. When people asked me where I was from, I’d tell them I was a student of the world. But the truth was, I didn’t really belong anywhere. I was always looking for my next home, the next person to save and then when that was done, I’d just move on like an imaginary friend. But that can only go on for so long.

When the scene basically died and work dried up, I found myself relying almost entirely on my review work and the opportunities presented to me in the form of comics and animation. I’d felt for a great many years that people didn’t understand me. My old high school friends had become rich, successful, started families, or moved on with their lives. No one needed me anymore and to most of them I was a reminder of a harder time in their life they they’d sooner bury in their past. So, I spent a lot of time reflecting on my glory days and wishing I could go back. Longing to return to a time where my idealistic vision of right and wrong was a point of admiration instead of resentment. Where I was sought after and heralded as a king for my defiance and never-say-die gusto. Nothing is lamer than an aging punk. So, like Onizuka, I wanted to use my experiences and hardships to help other troubled youths.

At first, I thought I could do it in my comic work but no opportunity for that ever really arose. But as years went on, I’d end up back in my hometown working with underprivileged youth and following a theft from my bag, I’d learn kids loved comics just like me. So, I could use them as reading aids and conversation starters with difficult children that other teachers had struggled with. I’d go on to become a Cub and Scout Leader and I felt like I was really giving back to the community.

But that longing to return to the roughneck indestructible teenager never went away. I still listen to punk music and scramble to watch delinquent anime or read delinquent manga whenever I can. There’s a sense of familiarity and home in those kinds of stories that no longer seems to exist in this world. In a way, its like visiting those old friends again.

GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) connected with his students and guided them in a silly way that I could really relate too. I tried showing the first episode of the series to Yuka, but she didn’t really connect with it. I won’t lie, it just made me feel like more of an old man and further remind me of how much my life has changed.

Now, I’m a homeowner, a father, a family man and an author (me, an old punk and a high school dropout!). I never thought I’d see the day, I never thought I’d be this person and I’m still trying to figure it out. I’ve never been normal or had to navigate through this world. I’d hoped that by sharing GTO and the other delinquent series I am a fan of Yuka would find something of value. That I could go back in time one last time and share some of my fondest memories with someone new. But it didn’t work out that way…

But life has a funny way of surprising you. As you guys may know, I’ve been mostly off the internet for the last week. I’ve been focused on getting some important personal matters in order and preparing for the indieGOGO update. It’s not much of a vacation but as the days go by, I can tell more and more, it was sorely needed.

My mind is feeling a lot clearer and I’m a lot more focused. I’ve been experiencing further cyber attack while offline, which was unexpected, but due to my minimal need for the internet over the last week the inconvenience of it has not really bothered me all that much. I suspect the attacks are prompted by the fact that I have not been online for a while, but we are having technicians from our service provider and law enforcement over tomorrow afternoon to help resolve the issues.

But then, last night, Yuka sends me the rough line art The Delinquents piece and I was shocked. She was excited. I was thrilled. It’s the sign of a successful character when you can reskin them to different settings and genres and it works so well. I’m not sure what prompted her to experiment in this direction, and neither is she really, being an artist works that way sometimes I suppose. But it just works so well that she wanted to color it. So, I slapped a background on it from RIVER CITY RANSOM: UNDERGROUND and thought I’d share it here.

Its unlikely this will ever be more than a faux cover but seeing my characters in this style just really moved me. I'll share more of the gang as delinquents in future posts, but do not worry, this won't get in the way of book production. We continue to move forward each new day.

Thanks for Reading!
L.