Farmingdale Man Helps Create Comic Strip for Terminally Ill Boy

Jordan Thomas is no ordinary 9-year-old.

The fourth grader from Ronkonkoma is a superhero.

Mr. Lightning to be exact.

Jordan, who is battling terminal cancer, came up with the idea of Mr. Lightning himself after his cycling coach told him to tap into his inner superhero whenever he got tired or wanted to quit.

Enter Michael Pagano. The Farmingdale resident owns a dry cleaners in Manhattan, but he’s also a so-called “wannabe comic book artist.” After he heard of Jordan’s alter ego, he got to work.

Pagano designed a Mr. Lightning costume for Jordan, a student at Sachem’s Gatelot Avenue Elementary School, and presented it to him a few days before Halloween.

“He shined with smiles,” Pagano said of Jordan’s reaction.

Pagano is now collaborating with New York City artist Steve Block to create an origin comic strip featuring Mr. Lightning. The first installment can be seen above.

Jordan is now under hospice care at his Ronkonkoma home. Mr. Lightning may be his alter ego, but read some of Jordan’s story on the “Jordan’s Journey” Facebook page and you quickly realize he’s a superhero in his own right.

Jordan’s mother shared this on the Facebook page on Oct. 20:

“I said, “Jordan I’m glad ur so strong but I wish so bad that I could switch places with you,” he replied, “no mommy, I’m glad it’s me and not you, I’m strong enough to beat cancer but I’m not strong enough to have something bad happen to you”.

Patch will publish future installments of the Mr. Lightning comic strip as we receive them.