Scrapyard Detectives facts for kids
The Scrapyard Detectives is a free comic book series made for young people. It was created by artist Bill Galvan and writer Chad Denton. The main idea behind the comics is to show how important it is for young people from different backgrounds to work together and be friends.
This educational comic series helps readers learn about multiculturalism, different ethnicities, and how great it is to have lots of different people around. The Diversity Foundation publishes The Scrapyard Detectives. They offer the comics to libraries, teachers, and community groups as a learning tool. These are full-color, professional comic books. Scrapyard Detectives is a bit like Three Investigators, another series about young detectives solving mysteries in a junkyard.
A famous children's book author, Jesse Leon McCann, who has written for New York Times bestsellers, helped with the story for the third book. He also talks at Comic-Con about the message of being kind and accepting in Scrapyard Detectives. Each issue of Scrapyard Detectives has also featured guest writers or artists. Because it's published by an independent group, Scrapyard Detectives is known as an independent comic.
Contents
Meet the Scrapyard Detectives
The series follows a group of friends who solve mysteries. Each character brings their own special skills to the team.
Robert Reilly: The Brains
Robert is the cleverest member of the group. His dad owns the scrapyard, which is full of old technical stuff. Robert uses these discarded parts to build amazing gadgets that help them solve their cases. Robert's dad travels a lot for his many businesses. Robert is also the top student at his school, with the highest grades.
Raymond Garcia: The Brave One
Raymond is quick to act and very brave, even when things get dangerous. He's usually the first one to try out Robert's new inventions, even if they're still being tested! Ray loves comic books, and his favorite superhero is Captain Patriot. He also enjoys making short films and dreams of studying filmmaking one day. His family owns a small market in the city.
Jinn Lee: The Intuitive Detective
Jinn has a special talent for putting clues together to solve mysteries. She has a younger brother named Kahl, who loves spending time with her. Jinn used to be a skateboarder who wanted to compete, but an accident put her in a wheelchair. She is now working hard in physical therapy to learn to walk again. Jinn also has a pet spider named Rex.
Katie: The Newest Detective
Katie is Raymond's younger cousin and visits him often. She loves reading junior mystery novels and looks up to the Scrapyard Detectives. After helping them with one of their cases, she officially became a Scrapyard Detective! Katie has a very active imagination and often sees "mysteries" everywhere she goes.
Lisan Khatib: The Research Expert
Lisan's family moved to the United States from India. Lisan helps the Scrapyard Detectives by doing research for their cases. He's a part-time member because he has other activities after school. Lisan is also on the school basketball team. He has the second-highest grades at his school, right after Robert.
Cool Inventions and Gadgets
Robert's inventions are a big part of how the Scrapyard Detectives solve their cases. He's always building something new from old parts!
The Detecto-Sled
The "Detecto-Sled" is a special hovercraft that only one person can ride. Robert designed and built it himself. He used many old parts from the scrapyard. The main pieces came from a vacuum cleaner, a small leaf blower motor, and a snowboard. Two old metal cylinders from a fire extinguisher help it move forward. The handlebars and brake system are from Robert's old bicycle. Robert only got to ride it for a short time before Raymond started using it almost all the time. Raymond often brings it back to Robert for repairs. The engine runs on regular gasoline.
REX 2.0 Robotic Spider
"REX 2.0" is a robot that looks like a spider. It's used for spying and gathering information. Robert named it after Jinn's pet spider, Rex. But Jinn quickly pointed out that real spiders have eight legs, not four, so it's not exactly a spider! Robert created REX 2.0 to collect clues when it's too risky for the detectives to go in person. It's controlled by a rewired video game controller. The person using it can see what REX 2.0 sees through special goggles, thanks to a small camera on the robot. In one case, "A Friend in Need," REX 2.0 was accidentally stepped on. It hasn't been used since and is still waiting for Robert to fix it.
Comic Book Issues
There are four main issues of Scrapyard Detectives.
- 1. "The Case of the Missing Roses"
- 2. "Patriot Dreams"
- 3. "A Friend in Need"
- 4. "...And Forget"
There is also a collected graphic novel called The Scrapyard Detectives: Collected Cases, Volume 1.
- 1. This book includes the first three issues.
- 2. It also has a new story called "The Case of the Missing Junk," which tells how the detectives first started.