By XAVIER SMERDON
A HOPPERS Crossing man with a love of creating super heroes is himself proving to be superhuman.
Mario Renada first fell in love with drawing comics when he was a child in the Philippines but he was unable to explore his natural talents.
“When I was younger my father didn’t want me to do any drawing because it is not the kind of thing that can make you very much money in the Philippines,” Mr Renada said.
“My uncle told me that if he caught me drawing he would cut off my fingers.
“In college I would practice it in secret and then when I got married I was free to do what I wanted.”
Mario and his wife Janet came to Australia four years ago after spending eight years in New Zealand.
His latest and most prized creation is the first Australian super hero, Rizz, the result of a DNA cloning project who creates his own time machine to discover his unusual and secretive past.
Mario said he chose to create an Australian hero because it represented his love for his new country.
“I always wanted to come to Australia and I thought, maybe if I create an Australian hero I can be Australian too,” he said.
“We deserve our own hero in this country.”
But as amazing as Rizz’s story is, it fails in comparison to its creator’s.
Mario suffered three strokes in recent years, but miraculously, he has fully recovered and today he lives with only a small amount of memory loss.
“To me it is a miracle,” he said.
“Nothing is impossible and there is always hope.”
Today Mario loves nothing more than drawing and dreaming up Rizz’s latest adventure.
