Portico Reeves
Portico Reeves is the secret identity of the “greatest superhero you’ve never heard of.” And that superhero is, of course, Stuntboy. Portico is an unassuming young black kid calls Skylight Gardens home. It is a huge apartment building in reality featuring two elevators, a hundred windows, fifty tubs and toilets, and more than a million but certainly not less than a million steps. For Stuntboy, the building is nothing more nor less than a castle filled with opportunities for amazing adventure and populated by a seemingly bottomless supply of some of the most interesting eccentrics in the entire city.
Zola
Zola is Portico’s best friend, a girl who wickedly rocks the coolest glasses anyone their age has ever seen. She is more than just a best friend, she is a very special friend: the only other person who knows Portioco’s great secret: that he is Stuntboy.
Mr. and Mrs. Reeves
Portico’s mother and father area primarily characterized by the fact that they fight a lot. When a fight is on the verge of commencing, Portico is urged by his mother to go see what Zola is up to “in the meantime.” But what Portico hears is a slight but significant variation: “in the mean time.” The family is dysfunctional but surviving.
Herbert Singletary
Herbert is a bully at school who derives great satisfaction from cruel teasing. For this, Herbert has earned himself a nickname at the hands of Portico and Zola: Herbert Singletary the Worst. A great deal of Stuntboy’s efforts are aimed at protecting Zola from the worst that Herbert the Worst has to offer.
Gran Gran
One of the eccentrics is Portico’s own grandmother: Gran Gran. At one time Gran Gran had black hair. Then it turned gray. Then it turned white. At this point in time, it is a perfectly delightful shade of purple.
Mr. Mister
Mr. Mister is one of the lovably eccentric residents who call the castle their home. He has an obsessive-compulsive tendency to stand just outside apartment 1B and tie his shoes. And then retie them tighter. An then retie them a little bit tighter. And then do it again. He’s not crazy, however, because has a perfectly good reason for his behavior: as long as he is wearing shoes he knows he’ll never accidentally lose his feet by leaving them somewhere.
