SEMA 2024: Projekt Ripple — Where Comics, Cars, And Graphic Medicine Meet

Back in February 2024, I was forced to cancel a trip to cover a medium-sized Midwest convention over communication, travel, and lodging issues. Luckily, I was able to find Las Vegas ToyCon ‘24 to fill the slot. ToyCon was an amazing event, and I am incredibly grateful that I was able to attend. I met some people, made some connections, and here I am, eight months later, getting an absolutely bonkers overlanding upgrade to my truck.

One of the folks I met at ToyCon was Carlos Molina, Business Development Director for Projekt Cars of El Paso, Texas. Carlos drew me in with PC’s Spider-Mobile custom buggy build, based on Tyler Kirkham’s design on the covers of Amazing Spider-Man #25 and Symbiote Spiderman #1. Here was a custom vehicle, faithfully recreated to bring comics geeks and car geeks to the same table. 

Carlos also told me about a bunch of vehicles he worked on with Todd McFarlane, including a Spawn Mustang and a Violator Hunter JEEP Wrangler. Carlos and the gang at Projekt Cars are also building a Deadpool-themed Mustang for Vegas Toy Shack’s Johnny Jimenez, and have built a Ghostbusters-themed Ram 1500, a Batman-themed Hellcat (Hellbat), and a Spider-Gwen JEEP Gladiator, among many, many others. 

I love everything about this concept. I have always held that we are all geeks for something. The only differences between geeky fandoms are the specific niches that we fall into. If you think about it, there is way too much overlap in the Venn diagram of geeky fandom to ignore. If you ever see me at an event, I will go on for hours on this subject if you get me started.

At some point during that Vegas weekend, Carlos told me that if I ever needed parts for my own vehicle, I should give him a shout, because he would probably be able to get the parts for me at the best prices. (This will come up later.)

Over the last several months, I’ve been following Projekt Cars’ road to SEMA 2024, a massive aftermarket automobile expo that takes place in Las Vegas in November. I’ve been writing up all the geeky builds that Carlos has sent me. We’ve spoken, ad nauseam, about how much fun it is to transform a vehicle into a character or scene from comics, video games, manga, or film. 

At some point, my truck suffered minor damage in a grocery store parking lot. Someone rammed a shopping cart (I assume) into the front passenger fender, causing just enough damage to bug me every time I see it. I called Carlos and asked him if he could find me a good price on some fender flares to cover the damage. Flares would cover the ding, but would cost substantially less than body work, and that body work would really annoy me for such a tiny blemish. He said he’d look around for me. 

A couple weeks went by. No word. A month or so later, I reminded him. He told me to hang tight, that he was still working on it. A couple weeks after that, I got the call. Not only was I getting fender flares, Carlos had secured a lift kit, several body kits, a hood scoop, tires, rims… My 2020 Silverado was headed to SEMA as a display vehicle for AirDesign USA.  

Carlos wanted me to choose a comic book character or theme for the build, to do to my truck exactly what we had been talking about for months now. 

I immediately went to TMNT. I’ve always been a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan, since grade school. We would have to get permission from IDW or from one of the artists that had done a TMNT cover to get limited licensing to use their intellectual property. Around the time that we were sending out feelers for licensing, a few things happened. 

I was on vacation with my family when Carlos called to clarify a couple things about the build. I told him I only had a few minutes to talk, because we were about to make the three hour drive from Oakhurst, where we were staying, into Yosemite Valley. Carlos asked why we stay outside the valley to make that trip daily, and I let him know it was out of necessity. 

You see, my youngest son has a medical condition called cystic fibrosis. His daily treatments require refrigerated medication, a chest percussion vest, a nebulizer, and a pump for his g-tube. We have never been able to just go out ‘roughing it,’ because we can’t meet all these needs in a traditional camp setting. This information caught Carlos off guard, and he immediately set out to remedy the situation.

Carlos secured an overlanding refrigerator from IronMan 4×4 to keep Devland’s medication at the required temperature. IronMan 4×4 also sent out a tent that would sit on top of the truck, and a bunch of sun shades and other equipment.

Then Carlos started working on the power issue. The truck’s battery can’t support the amount of juice it takes to simultaneously run a percussion vest and a nebulizer compressor, so he set out to find us extra batteries and the wiring wizardry to make those batteries provide the correct amperage or wattage or magic or whatever. (An electrician, I am not. Can you tell?) 

Katzkin Leather jumped in with a complete custom leather interior. Raceline gave us wheels, and Xcellent Tire sent offroad tires. AirDesign USA pitched in with a multiple body kits. Vance & Hines, known primarily for their motorcycle exhaust systems, has gotten into truck exhaust recently and sent over the sexiest dual exhaust system I’ve ever seen.

BlackVue provided a security camera system. Black Horse Off Road came through with automatic side steps and a rear bumper. Schrader gave TPMS sensors. Fabtech donated a suspension system. Anzo illuminated the project with head and tail lights, while Hella provided off road lighting. R1 Concepts will be sending rotors. Pelican came through with vehicle cases. XK Glow sent entertainment lighting. Alloy Gator will be providing wheel protectors. Projekt Cars is soliciting all these amazing contributions, providing installation labor, and coordinating the build.

We had tentatively settled on a TMNT/Usagi Yojimbo theme based on a Raymond Gay cover, when I had an amazing interview with writer Jordan Hart and Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon about Jordan’s book Ripple Effects, which features a superhero with an invisible illness. This immediately struck a chord with me, since cystic fibrosis is an invisible illness. If you weren’t aware of my son’s condition, you would never be able to tell what he goes through daily.

Jordan shared his own lived experience with thrombosis, a rare blood clotting disorder. He and Barbra told me about an upcoming fundraiser to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. They were asking children with invisible illnesses to draw portraits of themselves as superheroes, then having professional comics artists draw their own interpretations of the children’s art. The kids’ pieces and corresponding professional artist pieces would then be auctioned together to raise funds for Make-A-Wish. After the interview ended, I asked if they already had all the kids chosen who would participate, which led to Devland’s self-portrait becoming part of the event. Dev is a Wish Kid himself, and he felt really good about helping to make Wishes happen for other kids. 

This was when I realized we needed to shift the theme from TMNT to Ripple Effects. Jordan was able to modify one of Justin C. Harder’s covers to fit the contours of my truck for a wrap. We shifted the color scheme for the artwork to complement the existing color scheme, and Projekt Ripple was born.

This build will change the way my family vacations. We have always been tethered to a fridge and a power outlet, but the overlanding gear that’s going into Projekt Ripple will mean that our only limitations will be our imagination. Fishing, beach trips, camping in the woods, even just a full day out and away from the house … All things that seem simple enough, but were just out of reach for us, until now. None of it would be possible without the generosity of Carlos and his team, the amazing sponsors, and every person who donated time, energy, and skills to make this build happen. 

I cannot wait to share progress photos from the build and stories from our adventures once we take this geeky beast out on the road. Stay tuned…