CRENSHAW : Comic-Book Hero Gets a Super Response

Like one of the characters who fills the pages of his new comic book series, artist Stephen Townsend finds his life taking unexpectedly dramatic turns.

Struggling last May to publish the first issue of his South Central Comics series, the 23-year-old Crenshaw native and UCLA graduate is now distributing a second issue illustrated by a new partner, has a literary agent, and is speaking with show business types about developing his comic book into a film or television production.

“I always figured I would keep pushing, no matter what,� said Townsend, who seems genuinely taken aback by the flurry of attention. “But I never expected this.�

The attention enabled Townsend to enlist the help of another artist, Otis Parsons School of Design student Rodney Clouden, while he concentrated on developing the story line.

“Steve had a good cause with this comic book, plus I thought it was a hot idea artistically,� said Clouden, an Inglewood resident. “It took a lot of time, but it’s been worth it.�

The series’ main character, 19-year-old Anton Peters, is something like Townsend: an ordinary man who is inspired to fight crime after his brother, an innocent bystander, is killed in gang cross-fire. After the deaths of two friends who died in similar situations, Townsend took up his pen and began shaping his hero, “The Hood.�

While the first issue recounts the story of how Anton decides to don a mask and battle crime by night, the second delves more deeply into Anton personally and shows another side of his life: hanging out with buddies, going to parties, living day to day.

“He starts to think about his goals, about exactly how he’s going to go about fighting crime and not killing people,� Townsend said. “I also take a closer look at gang members, drug dealers as real people, not as cardboard cutouts. It’s a lot to include in 24 pages, but I want to bring in as much realism as possible without making it too preachy.�

With 2,000 copies of his new issue in hand, Townsend is passing most of them on to three national comic book distributors--Diamond, Capitol City and Hero’s World--while he works to get them in local bookstores. The new issue is priced at $2, and Townsend expects to have a third issue out by June.

Johnny Levin, a William Morris agent representing Townsend, said “The Hood� is an idea whose time has come.

“It really resonates with a lot of people these days. This is only the beginning of what Steve can create. He’s one of the most talented and enterprising young people I’ve ever met.�

However successful the venture becomes, Townsend doesn’t want to continue “The Hood� indefinitely. “I don’t want to do 300 issues,� he said. “I want this to be sort of a historical document. People can look back on this one day and say: ‘Wow, this stuff happened in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but thank goodness it’s not happening anymore.� ’