As a kid in the 90s, street sharks had everything I loved. The protagonist is an anthropomorphized animal. A combination of teenage anxiety and superpowers. A very catchy theme song. Currently, Street Sharks are back for a new series thanks to IDW Publishing and Mattel. Stephanie Williams (Nubia and Amazon) and Ariel Medel (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs Street Fighter) are at the helm.
I had the opportunity to read the first issue of Street Shark, and it suits the vibe of the show: The Shark is in the fight against the mad scientist Paradigm and his seas, and it is packed full of all the animation destruction you can imagine. In short, this is a story that you can only write if you were a street shark fan. And Williams revealed that she was one.
“I have Heather Antos to thank for it! We were both in the Fan Expo Denver, and she said, “Hey, this sounds like Stephanie Williams! I never thought you were a street shark fan,” and I said, “Heather, I’m not only a big shark fan, but I still have toys!” How often do you write what I saw on a Saturday morning? ” She also said that the first one she said was her brother and that she grew up watching street sharks.
This led to the question: Who is Williams’ favorite street shark? “Strex was my favorite when I was younger, because I can’t beat the rollerblades, right? But recently he’s been billed as a hot head, but now I’m old, so it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a big heart, but because most of the time hot heads have a big heart.
Also, by writing street sharks in cartoon form, Williams deals with the elements that the original series slipped: the fact that sharks are mutated by a paradigm, and everyone in the fission city thinks they are monsters. “What I’ve always loved about sharks is that after they transformed, they quickly embraced it. And that doesn’t happen immediately for a character who has experienced such a dramatic change. They are trying to do good. Unfortunately, the paradigm is blind because he doesn’t know that he is evil. Shines.”
Finally, I asked Williams how to get readers to pick up street sharks, even if they watch the original series or accidentally write it down as a teenage mutant ninja turtles Lipov. She had the perfect answer. “They are sharks with abs! They should be a selling point in their own right. They are brothers. If you’re a fan of family stories and family dynamics, I think street sharks are something you want to get into.
Street Sharks #1 will be on sale in September 2025.
