Enduring the emotional rollercoaster that is teenage life at school is hard enough for humans, but this crucial coming-of-age moment is even more complicated for Machine Boy, the eponymous protagonist of the new Image Comics original graphic novel Everyday Hero Machine Boy. Published through Image's Skybound Entertainment imprint, the family-friendly comic book story is created by Tri Vuong and Irma Kniivila. After arriving in a domed city and being taken in by an elderly martial artist, Machine Boy vows to become his adopted home's greatest hero while balancing his school studies and social life.

In an exclusive interview with CBR, Vuong and Kniivila shared the origins of Everyday Hero Machine Boy, revealed the classic influences behind this superhero coming-of-age tale, and explained the heartwarming themes behind their story.

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CBR: What are the origins of Everyday Hero Machine Boy?

Irma Kniivila: Everyday Hero Machine Boy started as a short story that we made as friends, which evolved into its present-day graphic novel form. Tri had a scene floating around in his mind of a Karate Grandpa punching a machine boy's heart to life, and from there, I wondered how he would navigate life as a boy, going to school for the first time, or learning to drive. What kind of life comes after a moment of violence?

Tri Vuong: I had a really clear picture in my mind about a robot boy's heart being awakened by an old man's karate punch at the cost of his own life, but beyond that, I was really quite stuck on what to do with that idea. At that time, Irma and I shared a studio and sat next to each other and talked comics and stories all the time. I really admired her storytelling instincts and asked if she'd be interested in trying to figure this idea out. She took that core idea and fleshed it out in really surprising and wonderful ways, particularly in introducing a gentle tone to the story to balance out the action.

What was it about mixing a Super Sentai story with coming-of-age stakes that appealed to you?

Kniivila: When you're growing up, it feels like everything is so important. It might as well be the end of the world if you embarrass yourself in front of the entire school or get in a fight with your friend. Heck, even as an adult sometimes it still feels this way. We ended up going back through our own lives and experiences and found that a lot of small-scale struggles mirror cartoonishly large-scale events. The task of responsibly raising a pet turns into a gigantic city-destroying problem somewhere in there.

Vuong: Since Irma spoke on the coming-of-age side of the story, I'll focus on the Super Sentai bit. My earliest memory of comics was when I was 4 years old and living in Hong Kong, where I was exposed to a lot of Japanese comics and animation. I wasn't able to read at that age, but the big bold colors and designs of stuff like Ultraman, Super Sentai, Kikaider, Kamen Rider, etc. were really seared into my brain. I wasn't exposed to that stuff for very long because our family left for Canada shortly after. I didn't actually know the names of these characters until much later on. They just existed as really iconic designs in my head for a really long time. I guess Machine Boy is, in some ways, an expression of those designs, but I've filled in the blanks because I didn't actually know much about the lore of those characters.

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Given the unique nature of the protagonist, how did you want to choreograph and illustrate the action sequences?

Kniivila: Most of this will be Tri's dominion, but I really enjoyed when the action had multiple layers -- like when two characters are beginning a friendship through cooperative combat, ha.

Vuong: I've always loved everything about martial arts. In pop culture, comics, film, and even just in the actual training of it. Machine Boy is kind of a love letter to martial arts for me, and I really wanted to portray it somewhat authentically in the context of this fantastical world. I felt like the action in our story should play out as a logical sequence of events in time and space rather than just an illustration of a fight that exists in a nebulous vacuum. The battles shouldn't be a break from the story but a continuation. I would have loved to have each fight be three times longer in terms of page count, but space is always an issue. [laughs]

What did you want to bring to this story with this particular art style?

Kniivila: I'm not sure we did it deliberately, but I like how things are very bright and cartoony but sometimes deal with pretty heavy issues. I cry a lot more easily at really upbeat and positive things, so maybe that had an unintentional influence. But also, it's just fun to run around in a world full of supernatural boy bands and animal people.

Vuong: We also had a lot of nostalgia for the pop culture we were exposed to while growing up, namely 16-bit video games, '80s and '90s anime, and random bits of music and movies that we loved. It was never a conscious decision to try to emulate anything in particular. We sort of organically arrived at a look that felt right for the story we were trying to tell.

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How is your creative shorthand together?

Kniivila: I don't think we have a reliable shorthand to speak of! We had to tweak the process quite a few times. For example, early in the process, we were writing fully in layouts, but later we switched to scripts because they're much faster and easier to edit if something isn't figured out.

Vuong: It was definitely a learning process. We did come up with one routine, which we called "blarfing" which we would use every time we got stuck on the story. It mostly involves going for long walks while a constant stream of words pours out of my mouth as I pontificate on every single avenue the story could take. Irma will listen to this word vomit in stony silence until she declares that she can't take anymore and goes home. Then several days later, she'll come back with a much more concise take on the story after having sorted through the pile of thoughts I subjected her to.

What else can you tease for readers about Everyday Hero Machine Boy?

Kniivila: There's more to his heart than meets the eye! We'd love to explore more about the world of Machine Boy -- the city he lives in, his origins, the people who surround him.

Vuong: There are a lot of stories living in our brains about not just Machine Boy but the entire cast (a lot of whom you haven't met yet). There's the mystery of the triangle on Machine Boy's chest, and his strange connection with Tony and Mega Boy. But equally important are the smaller questions like: Does Machine Boy learn to drive Grandpa's car? Where is Bea going to live? Will CJ and DJ ever stop being jerks? We'd love to answer these questions and more!

Written and drawn by Tri Vuong and Irma Kniivila, Everyday Hero Machine Boy is on sale now from Skybound Entertainment.