13 GOING ON 33

When I was 13, I lived my life feeling afraid, ashamed, and abandoned by the world. I was feeling afraid that no one would like my all around “other”-ness. I was feeling ashamed because I received a constant barrage of messages telling me that everything about me was wrong. I was feeling abandoned by the world because I couldn’t find any accessible or permanent safe spaces. The only thing that ever seemed to bring me joy were the creative and performing arts. But I was told that even they weren’t permanent or accessible to me. So I continued feeling afraid, ashamed, and abandoned by the world. Until I didn’t. 

One day I grew up and grew tired of trying to fit in and please everyone. I began embracing my ‘other’-ness. I began challenging ALL of those unnecessarily critical messages, and I began creating my own safe spaces. I found that joy can be accessible, and it can have a sense of permanence. Most of all, I found that I was ‘stronger than I (or ANYONE) believed, and that I had greater powers than I knew’! But it wasn’t until 2020 that I found the key to it all; True power. The power of healing. 

Like the saying goes, “With great power, comes great responsibility!”. So I felt an incumbency to bring the healing power I experienced to the world, through the eyes of Bobby Barnes. I am endeavoring to bring his Wonder Boy to life. His story is my story. His lessons are my lessons, and his healing is my healing.

What you will see in his origin will be largely autobiographical. But I think you will find him to be universal. We all have a sense of other-ness, have received messages that something about us is wrong, and have felt abandoned by our surroundings at one point or another. However, Bobby does something many of us do not. He uses his trauma to powerfully and magically transform himself, his life, and those around him into a world full of the miraculous. He constantly puts into motion Wonder Woman’s creator, Dr. William Moulton Marston’s words that “Every crisis offers extra desired power”. By using Wonder Woman’s main two messages of Love & Fair Play (, or wisdom as I like to call it), Bobby will exemplify for us what true Grace means via his mission. A mission of healing and transformation for the world.

I have written “The New Adventures of Wonder Boy” pilot episode to be a three parter. It will essentially be a film and/or ‘Made for TV Movie’. This project will set the tone for the healing mission that he IS, how he stands for it, and how he will deliver it to us. He will be tested at every turn. His adventures will take him to places he could have never imagined, and his challenges will be on all fronts; Physical, intellectual, spiritual, and even emotional. In order for him to succeed, his greatest weapon in these challenges must always remain uncorrupted; His authenticity and the beauty of his soul.

And therein lies the challenge for us all. Our world today keeps throwing down new gauntlets and keeps challenging us in ways that we never thought imaginable. As of recent, it’s been politically, socially, intellectually, physically, financially, emotionally, and even spiritually. All all at once. We are all in need of healing and transformation more now than ever before.

Each of us is different. We all have different things that could potentially call for or require healing. We all have different catalysts through which that healing can or should be delivered. For me, the arts was always my healing delivery. Which is why I have chosen to write, act, move, draw, and use any of the other creative arts at my disposal, to bring this joy to life. My intention is that Wonder Boy will assist people to find their own catalyst, and aid in bringing forth this new wave of healing.

This story is all based on Phil Jimenez’s Bobby Barnes. I place him around the age of 13 (12 and a half to be exact), because I saw a direct reflection (and multiple parallels) of Phil’s character in my own 12 to 13 year old self. And in the story I write, he finds his divine mission at the messianic age of 33. My hope is that this story inspires each and every one of you to find your own divine inner ‘Wonder’ hero. And that everyone who consumes this project is embraced, empowered, and ensconced by the power of unconditional love. That it pours over you, so that you can walk with true power, true wisdom and exude true grace. And that when your inner ‘Wonder hero’ emerges, they will be healing to you. Because healing belongs to all of us!

As Bobby says, “#LeadWithLove”,
Brian J. Patterson (aka your current live action Bobby Barnes)

FOLLOW The New Adventures of WONDER BOY’s Adventures ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Twitter @WonderBoyTV, Instagram @WonderBoyTVShow, Facebook @WonderBoyTV

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MY INNER CHILD WAS CONCEIVED IN LOCKDOWN, & HIS NAME IS BOBBY BARNES

During the 2020 lockdown, I was forced to really be with myself. After much introspection and reflection, I got in touch with my inner child again. The light, the joy, and ultimately the creativity. Much of which I lost somewhere around 2017.

I wrote a piece about the depression I was experiencing in 2017-2019 called, “What Would Wonder Woman Do about Depression? – Part Two”. It gives the details surrounding everything that happened in my life leading to such an emotionally fragile state. From which, I didn’t feel I had the chance to recuperate. Thankfully, the lockdown provided me that chance.

After couch surfing, coast surfing, and flailing my arms in general, I finally found a place of my own, & began truly getting settled in Los Angeles at the end of 2019. Then, just as I was experiencing some semblance of recovery from my depressive state, and getting a sense of comfortability with the Hollywood landscape, we went into lockdown. This gave me a feeling of being stopped dead in my tracks before even taking my first step. The initiation of lockdown triggered a flashback of the trauma from 2017-2019, and it gripped me in a horrible fear. So I turned to what was natural for me, and gave me clarity the last time. I turned to Wonder Woman.

I turned inward in many ways. Physically I began organizing my ‘Themysciran Embassy’ (home), in a way that made me feel safe and secure. Emotionally and intellectually, I dove deep into the mythology of the Amazing Amazon. Revisiting some of my favorite artists and storytellers. As per usual, one stood out among others: Phil Jimenez.

His run was one of my favorite collections of stories. Mostly because I felt as though he truly ‘got’ Diana, and represented her in one of the many ways that I believed she was truly supposed to be represented. I could go on and on about his fantastic choices for the character, and even talk about how or why many Wonder Woman fans have a powerful opinions about her, but I digress. Let’s stay on task here. It was while reading Wonder Woman Volume 2, #188 that the magic hit me, and everything was different.

As I read this issue, I came to so many realizations; About my past, my friends, my family, my work, my emotions, my health, and my own responsibilities. Why? Because when I looked at Bobby Barnes, something happened. I saw myself. Seeing myself in him caused me to take a really good look inside. My entire world came to a screeching halt and I was forced to exist somewhere that had always been difficult. The present.

I turned to my fellow Wonder Woman Afficionado Boston Blake for some really sage advice (as he always gives) about what I was feeling; Both about myself and the world around us. As per our usual “Amazon Bible Study” sessions, we simultaneously bounced some Wonder Woman mythology parallels off of each other. During said talk, I remember Boston saying, “Have you ever tried gestalt therapy?”, in mid-conversation. After some moments of discussion about gestalt therapy methodology, it all began fitting together. I looked at my imaginary inner child sitting in the chair across from me, and he looked exactly like Bobby Barnes. This was during the Trump administration, and I began thinking about all the people of the world fighting and taking temper tantrums on television and online. I began seeing myself in everyone else as well. It was clear that they were not in touch with their own inner children. They needed a hero. More importantly, they needed to become their own hero just like I needed my own inner Bobby to become Wonder Boy. That was the moment. That’s when I knew he needed to be made, and I was going to make him. The world needs Wonder Boy.

This blog is dedicated to telling the story of how my own Wonder Boy emerged and how “The New Adventures of Wonder Boy” came to be. I hope that in some small way, it helps the world tap into their inner super hero, and create a ‘Wonder Boy’ of their own.

As my Bobby says, #LeadWithLove

Brian J. Patterson

NEXT INSTALLMENT

This is the next installment of “Becoming Bobby”.