This character began as an idea for a Children’s Book series that I planned to write. Admittedly, it owes some inspiration to the Harry Potter series, which was at the height of its popularity at the time (I think, at this point, it was on book #4). I wanted to write my own magic character, and came up with this. The twist would be that I would leave it ambiguous as to whether or not this character actually has real magic powers, of if he’s just a skilled illusionist. Thus, the stories would never be told be told from D.C.’s point of view, but rather from those of the other students at his school.

Set in a regular middle school, grades 7-9, 12 year old Dexter Charles (nicknamed “D.C.”) Washington arrives from out of town (unlike the majority of other students who went to the same Elementary school together before attending the same Middle School), and enrolls in the 7th grade. He performs his magic act during a school talent show, and wows the students and teachers alike. In each book, we’d see him helping other students with various problems, often utilizing his “magic” to do so, and teaching them a moral lesson in the end. Most of the other kids come to believe that his magic is real, although the teachers and parents remain skeptical. In this manner, I was also basing D.C. on the character of Mr. Roarke from the old TV series FANTASY ISLAND, whose true nature and abilities also remained ambiguous.

The image at the top of this page was drawn by KEITH HOWELL, while the bottom two were drawn by CELINA HERNANDEZ.

While I’ve never gotten around to complete the books, I have recently been thinking that this character could make a good lead for a comic-strip that I could write, similar to how I adapted DJINNX into a comic-strip.