SO YOU’RE a fan of Spiderman and other comic book heroes. Well then get ready to add the first Soca Warriors comic book to your list.
Yesterday the Heroes Foundation of Trinidad and Tobago launched the latest commemorative product heralding the success of the national football team which will be playing in the upcoming World Cup Finals.
Former captain of the national team Anthony Rougier was present at the Gulf City Auditorium, La Romaine yesterday when the launch was held, as part of the three-day Heroes Convention titled “Free your Mind — Aim for your goals.”
The theme was chosen to encourage the young people of Trinidad and Tobago to expand their horizons as they set out to achieve their goals and the Soca Warriors were used as key elements in getting the objective across.
The story in the comic book highlights the major events which have impacted on the team’s progress to Germany. The story is seen through the eyes of a passionate and loyal fan who also experienced the World Cup qualification loss to the United States on November 19, 1989.
It illustrates the fan’s faith in his team mixed with emotions about the progress of the national team over the years which culminates with the historic qualification on November 12, 2005 with the 1-0 win over Bahrain in Manama.
“While watching the first five minutes of the last match against Bahrain it hit me that just to reach that point was an accomplishment and there’s no doubt that we were going to come through. This clearly would be a good way to project heroism and determination,” scriptwriter Terrence Ragoonanan said yesterday.
“We looked back at where we came from way before Jamaica made it up until now. We never gave up and this whole new generation came through until the end and we had to fight hard for it. We looked at all of this through the eyes of a character in the comic book called Marvin Mohammed who was born in 1974, witnessed 1989 and then saw us make it in 2005,” Ragoonanan said.
The team which worked on the first ever production of its kind were Ragoonanan (Scriptwriter); Shaun Mohammed and Marvin Leech (Illustrators); Rangie Persad (Colours and Lettering); Phillip Julien (Editor); and Candice Lalla (project coordinator).
The exhibition also had other comic book features on display as well as shirts for young fans to sign their best wishes for the team. A DVD is also being compiled with good luck messages to be presented to the team before it departs for Germany.
Attempts are still being made to attract sponsorship and part proceeds from sales of the books at RIK Bookstores and Hi Lo Food stores from next month will go towards the Soca Warriors.