The first superhero I ever encountered was Superman. I was probably five or six years old when my next-door neighbour Patrick Daly asked me if I'd seen the Superman cartoon on TV the previous day. I had no idea what he meant, but Patrick described the character and what he could do, and I was instantly hooked. Shortly after that, I disovered Batman (Patrick had a tiny Batman on a parachute that we spent ages dropping out of the bedroom window and running downstairs to retrieve). Many arguments were subsequently had over whether Batman could beat Superman in a fight, and whether Batman could actually fly...

Ah, who doesn't love Batman? There's something primal and dark about the character that appeals to everyone's inner vigilante...
For this one, I chose to give Bats a body-armour look injspired by the Christoper Nolan movies, rather than the standard blue 'n' grey tights generally seen in the comics. The main lesson I learned when creating this model is that capes are hard to get right.

My take on the classic Superman shield, all rendered in shiny metals, because I can.

I'm not mad about this one - her pose is too awkward and stiff-looking. This is one to come back to at some stage. The blue in Supergirl's costume here is taken from the comics, but it doesn't look quite right...

... which is why I went for a darker blue, with texture, for Superman's costume. This image is inspired by cover of Avengers/JLA #3 by the legendary George Perez.

And this one is inspired by cover of Batman / Judge Dredd: Vendetta in Gotham by Mike Mignola (I love crossovers!).

The Kree warrior Mar-Vell and Earth's Billy Batson... Two very different characters (from different publishers!) who - by a staggering coincidence - both transform into a superhero known as Captain Marvel.

I loved Captain Marvel (the Marvel Comics one) when I was a kid, but didn't know much about the DC / Fawcett version. In recent years I've read some of the earliest DC Captain Marvel comics, and, well, they're not great. They're profoundly silly and juvenile, bordering on downright stupid at times. That said, I've been blown away by some of his more recent tales, so there's a lot of life in that character yet, I think!

All DC characters and insignia are copyright © DC comics
Judge Dredd is copyright © Rebellion
One of the Captains Marvel is © Marvel Comics