ABOUT ME

Hey! First off, thanks for showing interest in High Voltage! My name is Chris Carter, and I’m the creator of High Voltage. I’ll be honest, I am a modest man, I don’t really enjoy talking too much about myself, and I never know what to say. I’m the type that would rather let my work speak for me. But, in this case, for the sake of this section, let’s get into it!

As a kid, I loved anime and cartoons. I mean, what kid didn’t?! I was raised in the 90s, so I was big on the 90s Nickelodeon cartoons, Cartoon Network (and Toonami, by extension), Pokémon, Dragon Ball Z, superheroes, you name it! I was that kid who was trading Pokémon cards, playing Yu-Gi-Oh, and battling friends in Beyblade! Oh, and don’t even get me started on gaming. To put it mildly, I was what people would call a “nerd” back in the day. But, it is because of those interests, I had a big imagination.

When I was a junior in high school, I decided to take a creative writing course to earn credit towards graduation. In that class, we were asked to write a short story. For my story, I decided to write something about superheroes. I remember I kept writing, and writing, and writing… and that short story became 70 pages. Whoops! That’s how High Voltage got its start. All from a creative writing class I took at my high school in Vermont! I suppose this is also a good time to mention that I was born in New York City, but I was raised in Vermont up until age 18.

Shortly after graduating high school, my family moved to Dallas, Texas, and I decided to go with them to get a change of scenery. During my college years, I continued to write High Voltage. I started really expanding upon the characters, their backgrounds, their powers and the overall plot of the series. This is when I also started to work with artists to start putting faces to my characters from the series. I became so enthralled with the idea of turning High Voltage into an anime series, that my major in college was Radio, TV and Film. With that major, I hoped to work in the TV and film industry, eventually show off my ideas to TV executives and get the series picked up. Of course, life doesn’t always go the way you plan it in your head!

So, let’s fast forward a bit, as I don’t want this to get too long! Today, I am 33 years old. I went from earning a degree in RTVF to working in account management, content management and marketing. In addition to that, I also have a few small businesses that I run and, as you can see, I am still invested in High Voltage. Even though life has many doors and many different avenues, I never stray away from my dreams. My dream is still to make High Voltage an anime series. I don’t care if it takes a lifetime, but it will happen eventually.

ABOUT HIGH VOLTAGE

So, now, we are getting to the main event. This is what you really came here for, right?! Let’s talk about High Voltage! There’s so much I can say about this series, and I can literally go on for hours talking about it. For the sake of this section, I will answer commonly asked questions about the series and what I hope to achieve from High Voltage. This section will also somewhat tie into my bio above!

What exactly is High Voltage About?
That’s always the big question. Realistically, High Voltage is about a boy with the power of light, who must save the universe from an ancient alien force. Sounds a bit dramatic, right? That’s just a high level overview. Most importantly, High Voltage is about Clyde’s journey to becoming the person he needs to be in order to restore balance to the universe. That’s all I’m really going to say. Clyde has an interesting journey in High Voltage, one that many of us can relate to, and he meets a lot of great heroes that help him on his journey to becoming the best version of himself. While High Voltage is about Clyde’s journey, you will also get to explore the journey of the people around him as well.

What makes High Voltage unique?
The characters! No, I am not joking. If you read the bios of each of my High Voltage characters, you will find a character that you closely relate to on some level. All of my characters are basically people you can relate to in your every day life, and that is something that makes this series unique.

All of my characters in High Voltage deal with their own problems. For example, you will find characters that are homeless (Toy Maker). You will find characters that have insurmountable debt and their life is in shambles (Dark Eclipse). You will find characters that suffer from massive depression and anger (Mamba and Smog). You will even find characters that are nerdy, introverted or extremely extroverted (Clyde, Matt and Mike). Those were small examples, but there is a character for everyone to relate to. Each character in High Voltage is trying to find their way in this crazy world. That is what makes High Voltage unique!

Your cast of characters are very racially diverse… was that on purpose?
Good eye! Yes, that was intentional. Well, I am a black man, so seeing people who look like me in media is important to me. Media tends to portray black people in a negative light. Not all media, obliviously… but enough of it. I wanted to create a series that put black characters in a more positive light. I also wanted to add more realism to the series by creating characters of all different backgrounds working together. I mean… we live in a very racially diverse community, right? It’s actually funny, because I am starting to see many superhero series starting to become more racially inclusive. Just know that this was my mission when I started writing High Voltage in high school! Lol. When you see High Voltage, you will find characters from all different backgrounds. There will be a character that everyone can relate to on some level.

You have a graphic novel, game, and a few animations… what is your end goal with High Voltage?
For most of my time creating High Voltage, I wanted to create an anime series. I thought that would be cool. However, my goals have shifted. My new goal is to continue to create graphic novels for High Voltage. Let’s face it, the world of animation is getting crazy right now. Animation is a tough market to get in, it’s expensive, and TV studios can shutdown your show at any time. Graphic novels get a lot of appeal, a lot of readers, and it’s cheaper to create. I believe, especially in the world that we live in, it’s important for people to be reading. That is what I seek to accomplish.

How do you fund the series?
Believe it or not, when it comes to the series, I have no financial help. Every piece of artwork. whether it’s an animation, character drawings, scenic drawings, video games… I paid for all of this stuff out of my own pocket. Going into High Voltage, I already had a vision, I just had to find people to help me bring those visions to life from a visual standpoint. In the past, I have tried Kickstarter and Patreon, but I wasn’t really getting the financial backing that I needed, so I invested in the series myself. There are people who get funding for their series and have teams of people to work with; however, I do just as much them with my own willpower. If there is any question as to how dedicated I am to getting this series out there, allow this revelation to erase those doubts.