Taekwondo Grandmaster Creates Comic Book Series After a Promise to his Son

Straight Edge and the Black Belt Adventures, Scripted Micheal Yuhasz and Illustrated by Doug Hills

(Courtesy of Michael Yuhasz)

Greasy fingers flipping through unexplored glossy comic book pages. 

That was a typical Saturday morning in 2014 for Michael Yuhasz and his son.

They would scavenge for old comic books at Comic Depot before lunch at Hattie’s Chicken Shack.

One Saturday Yuhasz remembers his son picking out a particularly violent comic, prompting a paternal response. 

Sparked by rejection, Caleb said, “Dad, you should create your own comic book.”

The result?

“Straight Edge and the Black Belt Adventures,” a comic book series promoting a lifestyle without drugs or alcohol and warning about the perils of social media and adolescence. 

It seems that Yuhasz, who is a Taekwondo Grandmaster, a former elementary school teacher, and a father has synthesized his background into a timely message. 

“Kids are on their phones over 100 times a day. They’re on them all the time and it’s kind of how we live now,” said Yuhasz. “So, I tried to make the villain inside the comic book a mogul that built an app that was so addictive to the children.”

Sound familiar?

Just last month Meta, the company that controls Facebook and Instagram, reached a landmark settlement with 47 states agreeing to pay up to $17.1 billion in penalties over claims it endangered children with addictive social media platforms. 

This is the largest state consumer protection settlement in history outside of the Big Tobacco settlements of the 1990s. 

“I looked at it from the standpoint that I can bring awareness this way by having the kids say, ‘you know what? Maybe I do look at my phone a little bit too much,’” said Yuhasz. 

As governments and industry leaders litigate over free choice versus predatory business practices, Yuhasz hopes his comics will inspire healthier hobbies for the youth.

“By reading the comic book it might inspire them to find other genres, comics, or other type of trade paperbacks that they might be interested in that isn’t just a quick scroll,” Yuhasz hopes.  

“Straight Edge and the Black Belt Adventures” is available now at Adirondack Taekwondo in Clifton Park and online at straightedgecomic.com.