Beetleborgs

When Art Fortunes of Urbana City got his first job in the comic world he had never dreamt of the success he would find. His comic book: Beetleborgs served to entertain for two decades. Sadly success was fleeting and after years of loyal service his series was cancelled and despite having finished the drawings, many of his books remained unprinted. Depressed, Art travelled the world and during one such trip, visited a deserted beach where he discovered a strange crystal. Although he did not know it at the time the crystal was of alien origin and somehow when placed in his cupboard along with his comic collection, interpreted the drawings in his comics as schematics for a new army of evil.

Elsewhere in the outlying town of Charterville, three teenage students were exploring a haunted mansion when they uncovered another crystal, releasing Flabber, a morphological being who served as a memory of a race long since departed. Flabber charged the teens with the task of undoing the damage caused by Art's foolishness, gifted them with super powers and named them Beetleborgs, using the heroes from Art's series as a template.