Street cred: Newsarama sits down with Street Angel creators Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca:

"I hated the superhero comics that I saw every week at the comics shop and decided to make a book that would depict how wretched superhero comics are. But after giving this some thought, we realized that if done right, it would be indistinguishable from any bad superhero comic. So instead, we started discussing what we liked -- and especially what we remembered liking but couldn’t find any more -- about superhero comics. The book developed out of that. It went from being a hate filled rant against the genre to being a bit of an over-the-top love letter. The stuff in the book is either there because I hate its opposite or because I like it a lot -- surprising how often these things coincide.

"Jesse is a 13 year-old, homeless, malnourished tomboy, because I hate every T & A book that is a T & A book for no reason relative to the story. Of course, without a story, it’s hard to create story-related artwork I suppose and certainly there’s a fair share of T & A books without a story or any developed characters.

"Another influence on the book is pop culture’s current obsession with reality -- reality tv shows, street authenticity of celebs like Justin Timberlake, and movies like The Matrix. We created a character and setting that is the absolute opposite of our experiences and who we are in life. Oddly enough, some early reviews and emails actually commend us on the authentic street feel of the book."