When considering any piece of art that has been created, it is important to remember what came before. After all, nothing is made within a vacuum. Any piece that exists, no matter how original it may seem, was inspired by something else. Old ideas, concepts, and sketches are mixed and remixed, with the hope that it feels like something worthwhile. Even if the end result is not life shattering, this new thing becomes something entertaining enough for people to give it the time of day.
Night Soldiers is certainly a project that was inspired by what came before. It is no secret that David Gonterman, during the 90’s, was a fan of the Sailor Moon animated series. So taken was he with the universe, he tried to write his own stories utilizing the Sailor Scouts. The original fancomic he made, Sailor Moon: USA, also had an author avatar within: David Kronos. A run of the mill college student living in St. Louis, he accidentally stumbled into the further adventures of Usagi Tsukino, catching her just as she was about to smash onto the pavement. During the course of the currently lost webcomic, David became more than just the man who saved Usagi - he became a superpowered hero himself.
Star Mech David Kronos became just as much a star in the stip as Sailor Moon herself. But just like David Kintobor, the character did not reach a satisfactory ending. After Gonterman’s works had become known to the Internet at large, and he embarked on the NiTRO multimedia project, he had David Kronos fight David Kintobor in a wrestling match, with Kronos seemingly having the upper hand. Whatever was meant to happen in the end is unknown, as Gonterman pulled the plug on nearly everything that defined that era of his career.
Two years later, Daveykins was trying to reinvent himself. Having wiped his original works from the Internet, he began work on a handful of new stories and comics. The first major one, Fauna Force, was still in essence a fancomic, as it played in the Rats of NIMH world. The mission statement for that short lived comic was simple - to make a Sonic the Hedgehog comic better than Archie, all the while not using Sonic and his gang. That same mentality shifted towards another project, one in which he would try to best Sailor Moon at her own game.
Resurrecting the Star Mech, he gave the powers to Richard Kronos, whom he tried to make less a self-insert Mary Sue character by giving him a life-altering injury. Instead of magical Japanese schoolgirls, Gonterman tapped into the concept of Wiccan magic, creating Lady Shazell. Declaring that “Hardcore Rules have been called,” Night Soldiers was finally unleashed unto the Internet.
Starting with the second, and ultimately final, issue of the series, Gonterman recruited someone to ink his lineart. That person was none other than JS Power, the creator of the original Gonterman Shrine. Impressed by JS inking a standalone piece that Davey had made, as well as the archivalist defending Gonterman’s work on the now-defunct Portal of Evil forums, he invited the self-proclaimed “Gontermaniac” to collaborate with him.
While Night Soldiers would end prematurely, the world Gonterman created would be revisited in 2005. Invited by the pagan e-zine “The Witch Within” to reassess his abandoned work, he restructured the story. Renaming it Lady Shazell, it was no longer meant to be in direct competition with Sailor Moon and other magical shows of the same format. Instead, it was a work of prose, a down to earth tale of two unlikely people falling in love, with a sprinkle of magic and adventure. Only four installments of this follow-up were released.
