As a 90’s kid, Street Sharks had everything I loved. Protagonists who were anthropomorphic animals. A mix of teenage angst and superpowers. A very catchy theme song. Now, the Street Sharks are returning for a new series thanks to IDW Publishing and Mattel, with Stephanie Williams (Nubia and the Amazons) and Ariel Medel (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs. Street Fighter) at the helm.
I had the chance to read the first issue of Street Sharks, and it fit the vibes of the show: the Sharks are in a battle with mad scientist Dr. Paradigm and his Seaviates, and it’s chock-full of all the animated destruction you could imagine. In short, this is the kind of story that you could only write if you were a Street Sharks fan – and Williams revealed that she was one, when I sat down to interview her at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday.
“I have Heather Antos to thank for that! We were both at Fan Expo Denver, and she was like, “I just sent you an email that said ‘Hey, this sounds like a Stephanie Williams thing! I had no idea you were a Street Sharks fan,'” and I was like, “Heather, not only am I a huge Street Sharks fan, I still have the toys!’ How often do you get to write something that you’ve watched on Saturday mornings?” She also said that the first person she told was her brother, with whom she grew up watching Street Sharks.
This led to the question: who is Williams’ favorite Street Shark? “Streex was my favorite when I was younger, because you can’t beat rollerblades, right? But recently, it’s been Jab. He’s been billed as a hothead, but now that I’m older, I kind of get that just because he is that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a big heart, and most of the time hotheads do have big hearts because they don’t want to be vulnerable. Being vulnerable is scary.”
Writing Street Sharks in comic form also let Williams tackle an element that the original series sort of skated around – namely, that the Sharks are dealing with being mutated by Paradigm, and everyone in Fission City thinking they’re monsters. “What I always loved about the Sharks is that after they were transformed, they quickly accepted it. And that’s not something that happens right away for characters who went through such a dramatic change. They’re trying to do good and Paradigm unfortunately has everyone blindsided because they don’t know he’s evil. Being able to write the Sharks foiling his plans by saving people – even though they’re tearing up the streets – is really nice. Regardless of what your appearance is, if you’re a good person it’ll shine through.”
Finally, I asked Williams about how she would get readers to pick up Street Sharks even if they hadn’t watched the original series or incorrectly wrote it off as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ripoff. She had the perfect answer: “They are sharks with abs! That in and of itself should be a selling point. They’re brothers – if you’re a fan of family stories and the family dynamics, I think Street Sharks is something you want to get into. These are four brothers looking for their father and trying to keep it together while embracing who they are now. That’s a message that transcends them looking cool.”
Street Sharks #1 goes on sale in September 2025.
