Airman boosts morale one comic strip at a time

Courtesy: Staff Sgt. Terrence Corcio U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Terrence Corcio illustrates the humor in everyday U.S. Air Force activities.

Most people send letters, emails, photographs and food to their deployed friends and family members, but Staff Sgt. Terrence Corcio, 27th Special Operations Logistics Readiness Squadron, Traffic Management Office, has gone above and beyond this norm with unique mail. Corcio creates comics and animated videos for his deployed buddies in which he sketches them as superheroes on comedic adventures.

“I mainly started doing the videos back in 2004 after my friend Havens was deployed,” said Corcio. “I was trying to help him out somehow and wasn’t sure what I could do. I sent him food and emails but it just didn’t feel like enough.”

When Corcio asked former Staff Sgt. John Havens, his deployed friend, what else he could do to help, Havens replied, “Make me a superhero.” Corcio started working on this request by sketching out a superhero on his personal computer’s paint program.

“I started drawing random cartoons with a stick figure hero that was supposed to be Havens in disguise,” said Corcio. “I just sent that off. It was a three minute goofy video, which I guess he liked. “

Havens said the comics were not only enjoyed by himself, but even the locals from his deployed location. Whenever a new comic video was received everyone wanted to see it.

Havens found he could identify with his superhero counterpart. “He, unlike me, has super hearing, laser vision, flight, super speed, blows stuff up and has a really cool motorcycle. Like me, however, he likes helping people. He also looks like me in a stick figure sort of way. We also have ‘non-copyright infringing claws’; oh wait, that’s just him.”

Corcio continued to make comics for several of his deployed friends, but he also started sketching more on the side. It became a hobby which he used to invite fun and good morale into the workplace, with going away videos and comics involving his co-workers.

With the recent arrival of his second son, Logan, and change in jobs to the cargo section of TMO, Corcio hasn’t been able to do comics like he used to. However, he already has ideas for his next comic and is excited to start putting them together again as soon as his life slows back down.