Ultraman and Crusader were originally conceived to be fairly generic versions of Superman and Batman-type heroes for Megaton Comics in 1981 or so. I wasn’t interested in telling their stories at that point, only those of their successors, Ultragirl and, wait a minute. Sentinel died in his first appearance, murdered by the Headhunter who turned out to be his “brother” and predecessor as the Crusader’s sidekick Sparky. Maybe the idea was for Crusader to come out of retirement? I don’t recall what I was thinking 30 years ago.
Ultragirl was another story though. The plan was for her to be a major part of the new universe, even though she didn’t reappear until issue #’s 7 and 8 where she appeared in the main Megaton stories as well as the back-ups. 
Crusader existed before the concept of the Megaton universe did. I have a few drawings and covers featuring the character that were inked and colored with markers from sometime in the early to mid 1970’s. Ultraman, though, was created for Megaton. In fact, these early sketches I’m printing here today are not too different from the earliest Megaton sketches: the mohawk, the goofy cape, all were considered for both characters and used for neither.
Since the actual star was to be Ultragirl, I figured maybe it would be best to design her costume first and then backtrack to her dad’s uniform. I’m running a few of my original designs for her, and eventually (being a major Dave Cockrum fan) decided to go for a Phoenix-y look. A new generation of hero, remember?
Butch Guice, the artist on that first Ultragirl story refined my design and came up with a great look for Christie Kelly’s alter-ego. I merely requested that she be a little younger and lose the eye make-up. We backed up her dad’s look to more of a classic Superman style (which you can see in my previous blog) and that was pretty much it for the 1980’s.
I apologize for so many of my crummy sketches here today. Next time or two I promise much prettier art by Butch Guice, John Thompson and Rob Liefeld.
