I was, fortunately, able to skew folks away from a strictly Arayan male and got them to go for more of a silhouetted figure. He's still pretty decidedly male, but at least he's not race-specific. There was also a week-long, contracted debate with the legal department about how close all of my designs were to Superman. They argued that, and I'm not making this up, that anyone in tights with a cape regardless of coloring or the specifics of the design was too close to the man of steel and opened us up for a potential lawsuit from DC. We ultimately had to use several arguments combined together before they tentatively agreed that it was passable.
The scripts were largely written by the project manager, and obviously tout the benefits of contributing to the United Way. The newspaper and radio tower were my additions beyond the script. The first and penultimate strips she left more open-ended, and I had a little more freedom to play with the format. I actually quite like that penultimate strip, with the second figure breaking the confines of the panel and the third figure breaking the confines of the entire strip.
Another interesting creative note, in the first strip, I was deliberately trying to obscure the character to provide some sense of anticipation. Although with a figure that has no details or decipherable features, that's a bit difficult. Hence, that strip features the fast-moving, blurry version of the character as well as a close-up that centers on his chest.
On a final note, that last piece features a mirror in the hero's face, so the reader winds up staring at their own reflection.





