Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 20, 1993 TAG: 9305200342
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WOODY BAIRD ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: MEMPHIS, TENN. LENGTH: Medium
The Scrap City Pack Rats don't make a big deal of their ailments. They just deal with them and move on to the next villain, riding to the rescue on a flying chair, armed with magnetic yo-yos and emboldened by pure hearts.
"They're not superheroes because they have disabilities," said co-creator Mark Medford. "They're superheroes who just happen to have a disability. That's just part of who they are."
Ben Lefler, a 12-year-old cancer patient, can sum up the Rats in one word - "cool."
"That one's blind and he had to jump from a burning building," he said through the green surgical mask he wears to ward off infection. "He could hear the heartbeat of a little girl without having to look."
Ben, of Sikeston, Mo., busied himself at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital last week drawing his own version of the Pack Rats.
Checking out his work were Medford and fellow Rats' creator Jay Piscopo, founders of a fledgling company, Out of the Blue Productions. They visit schools and hospitals to promote the comic book.
Medford works in Portland, Maine, for Goodwill Industries, the comic book's sponsor. He hopes the Rats can help educate youngsters to accept the disabled as just regular people with disabilities.
The Rats were injured in a medical lab where they once were research subjects.
"In other comics, you see all sorts of characters from little blue Smurfs to big green Hulks, but I didn't see any blind characters or deaf characters," Medford said. "I see this as kind of rapping on the door to cartoon town trying to open it to all kids."
The Rats, 3-feet-tall and super smart, live in a scrap yard called Buster's Lost Treasure Emporium. There, they turn other peoples' discards into superhero tools and await the call to action.
Huy Vi, a 10-year-old Vietnamese boy with a tumor in his right shoulder, said he especially likes the Rats' magnetic yo-yos and the chair flown by Doc, the Rats' technical wiz.
Doc has no hind legs, but he doesn't need a wheelchair because he made one that flies by overcoming gravity. He also made the yo-yos for disarming enemies.
Should one of the Prehistoric Sabre Tooth Karate Gerbils whip out a sword, it's "zip, zing, pop" and the gerbil is swordless.
The Rats are focused on defense and brains, not offense and brawn.
"A lot of [comic book] characters out there give the idea that big firepower is the answer to heroism, but the Rats, because of their background, are a little more sensitive," Medford said.
Out of the Blue Productions has come up with four issues of Pack Rats so far, and a fifth is planned this year. They can be found at selected comic book stores.
by CNB