I had written a more generic gang for my entry to CCC #75, and I had them using slang that I knew was outdated (read: it was from when I was a teenager). I let a friend read the initial scene in the warehouse, and he had a problem with the slang as well. What he basically said was that my gang sounded corny. I was trying to figure out how to fix that problem when I remembered The Slang Gang. What if my gang had corny use of slang, because that was part of their thing? So my generic gang became the Slang Gang. But that name though... The Slang Gang has been on my list for a long time, and I've considered it more of a placeholder name, because what gang is going to call themselves that? It's been my placeholder name though, because my teams usually fit some kind of theme. The theme for this team was that their individual names all come from slang terms. So I've held them aside for years trying to come up with a better name. Wanting to use the Slang Gang for this entry, I wracked my brains while I was writing, trying to brainstorm anything that would sound better than The Slang Gang. I started thinking about different team names on my list of characters, and I thought of The Liberteens. I started to discard it, but thought about it a little more. The Liberteens have been on my list for a long time too. Taken from the word "libertine," I've always wanted the Liberteens to be something like Marvel's "Young Allies," or DC's "Young All-Stars;" all-American teen superheroes. My problem has always been that the definition of libertine suggests villains. But how do you make a name that sounds like "liberty" represent villains? I started trying to reason that out, and it clicked. Lots of gangs (at least ones in fiction) are named after the street they consider their turf- like "5th Street Dragons," or something like that. What if that was the case here? What if the Liberteens' turf was "Liberty Street?" I liked that a lot. One hold up- my story was set in Norfolk, Virginia- a real place. A quick check on Google, and I discovered that there was indeed a Liberty Street in Norfolk- broken into E Liberty St and W Liberty St. A check of Google Maps, and I found the picture of the underpass that you see in The War on Wishes #3, and I decided that this is where the gang operates from. And because I needed to explain their names and my use of dated slang, I kept The Slang Gang as a nickname that they're known by. It's a long and winding train of thought sometimes, but I'll be honest: I have a lot of fun getting there. (Source) | 
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