Heroic #2 on Kickstarter seeks to put the hero back in superhero

Interview by Walt Robillard

Today we catch up to comic book creator, Andrew Collas, as he talks about the next issue of his comic, Zenith Comics Presents: Heroic #2. Andrew's work on Heroic has been well received and reviewed on sites like Drivethrucomic.com and he has the love of industry peers to help push him forward.

WALT: Welcome, Andrew. Thank you for taking the time to answer questions about Heroic. For people who are not familiar with your work, can you give us the elevator pitch?

ANDREW: Elevator pitch eh?  I left the film industry a few years ago, so I might be rusty.  Here goes.  What is the military industrial complex was in charge of American Super Heroes?  What if there were those with powers who weren’t going to take it anymore?  What if a young woman was caught in the middle of it all, just trying to figure out who she is?

WALT: What attracted you to kickstarter?

ANDREW: Kickstarter is a wonderful tool that allows for those with creative ideas to see if there is an actual audience willing to support the idea and bring it to life.  For a comic writer, film maker, novelist, etc… It allows us to bring ideas to market that the big publishers might pass on.  Never forget some of the biggest stories of the 20th century were passed on by many people “in the know” for being too different.  While I am not saying HEROIC is one of those ideas, you never know.

WALT: People have been impressed with you having very strong female leads in the book, so far. What made Lady America and Number 32 the clear choice to tell the story?

ANDREW: Originally when I set pen to paper the story was about Invictus (the blonde hero on the last page of issue #1).  As I wrote more and more, Lady A was calling to me.  The thing is, she was calling to me in a way I hadn’t considered and then when the concept of Number 32 (who will get a name, I promise) flowered, well the story took hold.  Add in Primus, who we meet in issue #2 and the circle is… complicated?

WALT: We had two very big cliffhangers in issue 1. Can we expect some of those lingering questions to be answered in issue 2?

ANDREW: I promise for every answer I provide a new question will fill the void.  This is a BIG story and has many facets.

WALT: Some of the promo art for issue #2 has been jaw dropping. What can you tell us about the Heroic team and what they bring to the table?

ANDREW: Well the art team is something special in my heart.  Originally, Oliver (Castaneda) was supposed to be the principle penciler for issue #2 and onwards.  We were so happy with the work he did on #1.  Sadly schedule conflicts and timetables got in the way and we were forced to find someone to replace him.  That led us to Jesus (Morales) who is a tremendous talent!  While his style is very different from Oliver’s, it is still dynamic and exciting!  For fans of Oliver’s work, he WILL be doing the cover for issue #2.

The rest of the team is Gary (Beatty) on colours, I think his work speaks for itself.  Gary’s colours are the glue that brings the art together and then we have HdE on letters, which makes the thread that stitches the whole package into one amazing visual!

To put it bluntly, I couldn’t be happier with the team we have assembled.

WALT: With so many creator owned comics using Kickstarter as a way to launch their dream projects, what have you found is the pros and cons of using this model?

ANDREW: Pros and cons eh?  Well the cons are the stress, the uncertainty, the long hours where you watch no pledges come in and as the days tick down you start to have doubts and make back-up plans and generally have a stress kitten.  The pros though are when you see the fan from #1 come back for #2 with a big smile on their faces!  That tells me I’ve done something right and if at least one person enjoyed the book, then I succeeded.

WALT: After #2 goes out the door, what can fans expect next? Will there be a continual push to see the first arc realized or will you start to dream up your next project?

ANDREW: I have SO many ideas, I swear if I could write full time (and pay the bills) I would never run out of concepts, stories, characters or what have you.  That said, from day 1 I have promised that this story will be completed, it needs to be.  It is a BIG story, as I have said before, and this BIG story is just the first step into the larger world.  In issues #2 and #3 we hint/show some of the past of the Zenith Universe, all of which ties into where the future is heading.  I have to tell this story, or it won’t let me sleep.

WALT: Thank you for taking the time to chat. For fans who want to follow or reach out, what are your favorite internet hangouts?

ANDREW: Thank you and thanks for the questions.  As for where I hang my hat on the internet, I am usually found on Facebook really, otherwise Youtube is another constant haunt of mine.  I have recently discovered Reddit and and slowly getting to know the place.  So yeah, that’s about the extent of my internet hanging.