Last year, I was asked by the kind folks at 2D to do my show, “If You Can Read This, My Cape Fell Off” as part of their Comics Festival in Derry. However, a few days before the Festival, it became apparent that mainly children would be attending. While it wasn’t an offensive show, a lot of the material was aimed at adults, so I ended up gutting the show entirely; keeping a few bits and pieces I thought they might enjoy, and turning the rest of it into a workshop with the help of my friends, Ciaran Flanagan and Peter Davidson.

It was a brilliant success… Apart from when I performed “Bikeman”, having forgotten how it ends and received horrified gasps from a room full kids I’d scarred for life (except for the A.D.D. kid who yelled out “THAT’S AWESOME!!!”)

(Here’s a video where I perform Bikeman at 3:55.)

The best part of that workshop was a 10 year old boy called Jake. I had asked all the kids to think about what they can do better than anyone else they know, so we could figure out what superpowers they had. When I got to Jake, he shrugged.
“I don’t have any superpowers,” he said.
“Of course you do! Everyone has superpowers! I bet you can do something that none of your friends can do!” I enthused.
He paused for a bit and then said, meekly, “… I can play the guitar?”
“That’s great! You can be a rockstar superhero!”

And SuperJake was born.

As you can see here, his costume is a tank top and jeans. I like how he’s made himself totally ripped, but kept his glasses. Keeping it real. What a dude.

My favourite thing about SuperJake is the supervillain he fights…

The workshop got such great feedback, that 2D thankfully let me return this year (so Bikeman hadn’t affected them THAT badly). Unfortunately, I didn’t get many photos, but we still had some fantastic superheroes. One girl had the superpower to “analyse people”. I like to imagine a supervillain threatening to destroy a city and she shows up saying, “You know, I think you have abandonment issues stemming from when your father left you as a child and you’re taking your anger out on society…” And then the supervillain goes, “You’re right! Thank you Analysis Girl! Now I will only use my genius mind for good! Hooray!”

Two worksheets were left behind as well, so I thought I would share them:

I’m guessing the boy who did this was called Conor. I’m not sure why his super-vehicle is accompanied by happy and sad ghosts.

I like how this child has taken into account that time management may be difficult when it comes to juggling an alter-ego:

I love how sometimes comedy can lead you into some unexpected jobs. I would have never considered working with kids if it weren’t for a bunch of them deciding to see my show last year. I’m already looking forward to next year!

And in the meantime, what’s your superpower?