Here you can see how my art and story were heavily influenced by random games and comics from the era, such as Ninja Gaiden NES games, the Sword of Vermillion Sega Genesis game, X-Men Comics, TMNT comics, Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee art. I was quite proud of the detail I put into this (I was only 16 at the time), but even some of my own friends said it looked too much like Shredder from TMNT, while I was more aiming for more of a nod to Ashtar (one of the big baddies from Ninja Gaiden II for NES), and X-Men type armor (that I've long since forgot). All had similarities, but Shredder was by far the most well-known then (and likely still now).
