It’s a nice coincidence that my Lantern-style character makes his debut this week, just after DC Comics’ “Blackest Night” kicked off (of course, not living in a town with a comic shop, I have to wait to get my copy) as well as the news of Ryan Reynolds being cast to play Hal Jordan in the “Green Lantern” movie! The last two bits of news are WAAAAAY more important than this semi-mysterious brown(?) Lantern, but I’m excited about all of them.

“Blackest Night,” if it’s even half as good as Geoff Johns’ “Sinestro Corps War” will dwarf any of the recent “summer events” that either DC or Marvel has manufactured over the last several years. And that’s because it’s a natural — and incredible — outgrowth of an ongoing storyline, not just a sales gimmick.

And I think Reynolds is a great choice for Green Lantern. He’s a guy who has name recognition, which, as a friend pointed out today, is more necessary with a character that most of the public is unfamiliar with, as opposed to Superman or Batman. He’s got the geek credential, having been in a Blade movie, as well as playing Deadpool in the unfathomably awful Wolverine movie (he’ll certainly have a better vehicle in his solo Deadpool movie — it’s impossible to get anything worse than Wolverine). He’s got the “leading man” qualities that you want in a superhero movie, the ability to be funny on his own and with script help, and has the physicality to make it work. Finally Warner Bros. does something right!

And as for the guy at the dirt-color end of the spectrum, above? Well, I’ll unwrap that in the strips to come. And, yes, the brown does have a meaning. …

This strip was an exercise in patience created during an exercise in futility. Drawing patches of farmland are frustrating enough: “Will it look like farmland when I’m done?” was one of two constant questions going through my mind. You see, I drew this poolside at a downtown Denver hotel on the evening of July 4 while my daughters swam and waited excitedly to be able to see fireworks shows from all over the city. All the while I was fatalistically wondering how I could have been so idiotic as to propose this idea for a micro-vacation.

My thought was that if we could get a hotel room high enough and facing the right direction, we could see the fireworks shows from Invesco Field at Mile High and Coors Field. Both stadiums were scheduled to have big blowout displays after it got dark, and, from the right vantage point, I thought we’d be able to see them both. The only problem was that the people who answer the phones for the Crowne Plaza in Denver don’t know jack about what’s visible and what’s not visible from their building (and probably don’t care). The outdoor pool on the sixth floor is too low to see over other buildings — especially the Hyatt, which mocked us all night from two blocks away with its taller structure that just happened to be in what should have been our line of sight toward Coors Field.

When I had this hare-brained idea, the first thing I asked when I called various hotels was “can you see Invesco and Coors Field from your building?” “I think so” was the best I could get. And “I think so” didn’t cut it. Maybe if they’d heeded our request a little better and put us on a higher floor, but I doubt it.

So, a word to the wise, if you want your kids to be able to see a cool fireworks show emanating from a sports venue, be smart enough to think about buying tickets before they’re sold out. And don’t try to make up for your lack of foresight by trying for a hotel with a view among a city’s skyscrapers. That’s just dumb; dumb as a lighthouse in a landlocked state.

This strip was partially inspired by a lighthouse at a small lake (scroll down when visiting the link) near where I grew up in Nebraska. Why it’s there, I’ve never cared to learn; I just always thought it was pretty stupid. But after this weekend, I am humbled by my own stupidity.

It is with great pride and honor that I present to the world the first comic strip written, drawn, colored and lettered by my older daughter. Because she’s a pre-teen, I’m not going to use her name on the mean ol’ Internet, but I can’t help but share her amazing work. She drew this on Bristol board, I scanned it and converted the pencil lines to nice black lines for her, then she colored it in Adobe Photoshop (her first-ever use of the program — taken to like a duck to water!) and then she added the text and word balloons in Adobe Illustrator (the first time she used that program, too).

I pride myself on being a pretty decent writer, but I am unable to fully, eloquently express just how proud I am of my little girl. She truly is gifted. Beyond that, though, the fact that she looks up to her old man, sees him wasting time working on his comic, thinks it’s cool enough to try for herself, and wants to use comic creation to connect with me is enough to bring a wistful tear to my eye. As I said, I am proud and honored — humbled, in fact, by my amazing, wonderful daughter.

And in fairness and equanimity, I must say I’m sure it won’t be long before I’m debuting her equally-yet-differently amazing sister’s work here, too. She is just as wonderful. Life may be hard in many ways, but a beautifully talented family makes every struggle worth it. I am blessed.

Not a lot to say this week. I have waaaaay too much reading to do for my class. I really shouldn’t have even taken the time to work on this … .

Happy Independence Day, everyone.

So now we know about Cap Zap and his down-home origin. There’s more where this came from, such as the mysterious simpleton standing behind Marv.

A quick update after I recently posted that I nabbed the Facebook URL, facebook.com/webcomic: Not long after that, I decided to close down my Facebook account as a manner of streamlining my life. Facebook is too often nothing more than a time-suck to me, with all of those idiotic quizzes and top 5 lists. I need to focus first on my family, then grad school, then this comic. Facebook contributes nothing to any of those, so it had to go. I haven’t totally abandoned social media, just the annoying aspects. All two or three of you fans can still follow me on Twitter there in the right sidebar. —>

Lastly, I’m trying to be a little smarter about when I post new comics. I often don’t have time to get these done until the weekend and post them ASAP. But few people go fishing for webcomics on the weekends, so I’m going to shoot for a Tuesday (or so) upload for now in hopes of adding a fourth and fifth fan!

As always, thanks for reading!

Having gotten ahead of the game with my grad-school work, my brain began notifying me early this morning that it was time to get back to creating. After scripting several strips in my head, I figured I’d better get up and put it all to paper before I lost it all: An excellent way to start  a Saturday — even if I would have preferred to sleep in.

We’re going to get to know the Just-Us League over the next several strips. One challenge to writing country-bumpkin types is how many articles and prepositions to shorten to “th’” and “an’” rather than “the” and “and.” All those apostrophes can start to make the text hard t’ read.

Oh, and another bonus this morning, after having forgotten to grab my own name on the Facebook ID free-for-all, I can now be found at facebook.com/webcomic. I sort of feel unworthy to have it while so many more talented, successful, funny, prolific and just-plain-deserving webcomickers are out there, but it’s a “name” I fully intend to grow into.

Anybody see that coming? Did you think it was going to be a traditional “bad guy?” They are in tornado alley, after all.

One thing I haven’t decided is where in the midwest these hicks are. Nebraska? Kansas? Oklahoma? Missouri? Should they be farther east, like Kentucky? Being from Nebraska, and glad to be in Colorado, I’m torn between using the strip to make fun of the Cornhusker state (I mean, really, Cornhuskers? What kind of name is that?), or to make fun of Nebraska’s arch-enemy, Oklahoma. But the Sooner state hasn’t really done anything bad to me, and they have no love for the Empire … er, Big Red Nation … . Any suggestions?

Thus I’ve restored the two most recent chapters in the novel, and you can listen to them below. What I’d like to ask you, dear reader/listener, is: Which one should I focus on for the next year or so, until I finish grad school?

Oh, and, those who vote for the comic strip, please know that my wife’s vote counts 5x. 

If you have an opinion, leave me a comment.

Thanks!

This strip features a couple of minor firsts for me: One is a first-person angle from Mindover Man’s point of view, the other is a break from three same-size panels. Not a big deal, but I want to stretch my ability to tell the story. It’s all about experimenting, right?

And to whom does this sinister, sneaky hand belong? And why and how can s/he affect The Interventionist? All will be revealed … .

If/when I get the time to get back to writing the book (maybe in 2010?), I think I’m going to re-title it and make it have no connection to the Hero Is…Um strip. I never said who Reilly is (even though his powers seem to mirror a certain Orange-and-white-clad goofball — even though Reilly’s not really a goofball in the book, alas …), so I think the book will be able to stand on its own. I really, reeeeeally wish I had time to finish writing it, but I barely have time to do one comic a week (which I know is pathetic).

So, for all two of you who may have gotten interested in the book only to be left hanging, I will finish it and I will let everyone know how to find it when I start podcasting it again. But in order to keep this site from getting “moldy” looking with that same “Chapter 15″ post sitting there on the front page for another year or so, it needed to be removed.

Of course, if you liked the book — especially if you liked it better than the strip — post a comment and let me know. Maybe I chose the wrong thing to focus on.

Thanks for reading/listening!

OK, so this particular mondegreen seems a little self-serving, what with my own name in it and all, but as I recall it, this Chicago song came out when I was a mopey teenager. At the time, I found it oh-so-ironic. In another era, the song and the pimply-faced kid both could have been very “emo.” But as history has shown, both are instead quite cheesy. Emo just another flavor, isn’t it?

For anyone interested in checking out the songs Mindover Man is messing  up, check out the Amazon music sidebar I’ve added. I list each of Mindover Man’s mondegreens and, if one of them turns into an earworm for you, you can use the sidebar to purchase the song and enjoy its oldies goodness over and over again.

You’re welcome, and please don’t curse me!

It’s been a loooong time since Mindover Man hit us with one of his ’80s mondegreens, why not another post-”Wedding Singer” revival? 

I’ve often wondered why it always falls to speedsters and/or flyers such as the Flash or Superman when it comes to stopping tornadoes in comics and cartoons. Why can’t somebody else try to handle it, like, oh, a telekinetic doofus? The real question is whether this will work.

With what The Interventionist was told to do by the insurance company while “fighting” a tornado, I thought about calling this strip “Extreme Cow Tipping,” but that seemed a bit much. …

I’ve been trying to update at least once a week, but after I sketched this week’s strip I watched Scott Kurtz digitally draw and color a “PVP” strip on Ustream and decided to try to do mine all digitally. While I think I came pretty close to replicating my paper-and-ink work, it took three times as long while using my Wacom tablet. It was difficult trying to get used to moving my hand on a flat surface and seeing the lines I produced on a vertical screen in front of me. I sort of got used to it but think I would need a LOT more time to become a fraction as good as Kurtz. Trying to do that and thinking of how effortlessly smooth his line work is gave me a whole new respect for the modern master of cartooning. 

And just when the tedium has me pretty well convinced that I shouldn’t color my strip (”after all, Kurtz, Straub, Eliopoulis, et al., don’t”), he starts coloring his strip after 10 years! Jerk!

So if an insurance company were to hire superpowered individuals, it makes sense that the hero would be sent to the midwest to chase tornadoes, right? Especially at this time of year, they could be quite helpful.

But what should a superhero do in the face of a tornado? The cliche tactic, used by Superman and the Flash through the years, is to circle around it at super-speed, going the opposite direction. Any bets on what these two will try?

I was going to do a different strip tied to the story, but listening to CNN this morning gave me an idea I had to do today, while news of North Korea’s Taepo-dong II satellite missile launch over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean. 

It seemed like the perfect current-events story for The Interventionist to jump into action.

Now he’s going to have to get extensions for his dreadlocks!

My own girls have always been good about saying something sweetly — sometimes painfully — hilarious. Any readers out there have some equally ill-timed quotes from kids?

I wonder how common this is beyond conversations I’ve had. Anyone out there willing to admit web surfing while, uh, seated for a while?

Come ooooon, you know you’ve done it. …

The Interventionist needs to re-assess his position way up there on his high horse. Is he now a hypocrite?

All those high-minded ideals conflict with his simple need for a job. Hey! What are real-world issues doing crowding their way back into this comic?!? Don’t worry, though, I’m not going all “Watchmen” … yet!

How many of us have had this kind of job interview, dealing with a pencil pusher who is completely incapable of thinking creatively? Then again, it IS an insurance guy. By definition, they can’t comprehend goodness and altruism, right? But they’re still saints compared to politicians.

I couldn’t help myself on this pun — er, one. Certainly it’s not nearly as good as what the master, Brad Guigar, is able to write on a regular basis, but it was something I couldn’t get out of my head. Ever since the Madoff scandal, every time I hear or read “Ponzi scheme” this joke pops into my consciousness. I grew up watching The Fonz and probably have seen every episode of “Happy Days” over the course of my life, so this was a bit of a tribute, too. Now, hopefully, I can move on!

You may be beginning to notice a pattern here: What do superheroes do when they don’t have a secret identity? What kinds of jobs do they go for, and can they keep them? 

Of course not.

Hopefully that’s where the fun begins.

My vote is still for Tom Welling to play Supes … .

Because it’s impossible to keep up the comic-book style, I’m shifting gears to a humor strip. While I’m taking classes, it won’t be updated regularly, but this gives me the flexibility to try some new things.

OK, dear reader, this is obviously not Hero Is … Um. It’s something new I’m working on and posting it here until I have time to build a separate site. That may take some time, as I’ve just started my first class to work toward a Master’s degree.

As for Hero Is … Um, it’s not dead, just slowed to a snail’s crawl. I still want to write and draw a comic-book style adventure, but doing that on a webcomic schedule just isn’t sustainable for someone with a job and a family. It was a nice experiment, but I want this comic book to be good, not rushed.

I thank everyone for reading the comic as well as listening to the podcast of my novel, which I do want find a way to continue; I just have to figure out when and how much time I can invest.

Get ready to follow David through the video game simulation requiring him to run and shoot his way out of a hostile Middle Eastern city.

Mindover Man and The Interventionist return in a full page of action.

I’ll probably be updating less frequently, but I intend to tell more story per update. I’m also working on learning a faster way of coloring … well, faster when I don’t have all these rock spikes and water sprays, that is.

Thanks for your patience. And hopefully while you’ve been waiting for this update, you’ve been keeping up with the podcast novel, which I’ve continued to update every week. You can listen here on the site or download it through iTunes. The story, for those who haven’t been listening, is related to the comic but the storyline is completely independent (i.e. it happens at a totally different time in a totally different place).

Feedback is ALWAYS a good thing: Check out the forum — we’ve actually had some conversation going on in there!

This one took a while to finish, for obvious reasons. It’s also the end of what’s intended to be the first issue of a comic-book series.

And it represents what could be a stopping point. Looking at my traffic numbers vs. my podcast’s download numbers, I think I need to focus more on the podcast novel and can let the comic go on hiatus — and maybe not come back to it.

If you’re a fan of the comic, please give me a reason you think I should keep it going. Honestly, I want a reason to keep it alive: It’s some of the most rewarding, exciting work I’ve ever done in my life. You can comment below, put something in the forum or send an e-mail to me at jason@heroisum.com.

I’ll keep everyone posted on my plans. For everyone who sees this, thanks for reading!

You can probably guess, so this isn’t really a spoiler: Fight’s over. But who won? Did Mindover Man prove the scope of his power enough to say that eventually he’d have found some way to put The Interventionist down for the count? Or did Inty win by proving that not even a tsunami could stop him? He did get his hand around Mindover Man’s throat again … and what’s with him going for the throat all the time, anyway?

Art-wise, I tried a couple of different things this time. I learned from way back when I had it raining on Graeyven that I needed to make the rain be white or just off-white. So this time, with the water cascading off the boys, I made sure to get it the right color. I’m pretty pleased with that. I’m not so sure about my attempt at more “traditional” inking on this page. I tried to use more line work to define some shading. The problem with that is that it takes a lot longer to color in Photoshop. Let me know if you have a preference.

They’re the newest Olympic sports: The Tidal-Wave Throw and the Swimming in Mid-air.

This one was a weird piece to draw, because I really didn’t draw much at all. It was more about Photoshop and the big wave. I didn’t know if I could pull off the continuous panel that also serves as three individual panels idea, but I think it worked as well as I could have hoped.

So who’s going to prove to be the hero out of this? Mindover Man? The Interventionist? Both? Neither? Let me know what you think by heading over to the forum.

I’m doing a lot more work to get the word out about the comic, so if you’re a new reader, thanks for stopping by! You can hit the “first” link to start at the beginning of this story to get caught up.

Hopefully, you’ll enjoy it.

I need that western gunslinger showdown music for this panel.

With today’s and the last one, I’ve just made it that much more difficult to put these into a comic book-sized page whenever I get around to trying to print this. Oops. But I’d rather go with what I think helps tell the story rather than always have the same (rather arbitrary) size.

On another note, a show of hands, please: How many are sick of the Brett Favre saga? Everyone? I thought so.

Who knew “Come On, Eileen” was such a powerful song? Who knew Mindover Man was so powerful?

Hopefully this big panel makes up for the not-so-good previous one.

On a totally different subject, I just saw another one of those “spoof” movies that supposedly makes fun of a bunch of recent films. I’m not going to mention the title because I don’t want its name showing up in ads, but I am going to ask “who goes to these cinematic equivalents of dog vomit?” Lame. Lame. Lame.

Oh yes, the media begin shaping public perception of The Interventionist and Mindover Man. From here forward, they’re at the mercy of the fickle image makers. Great news for them, huh?

I actually had the panel series scripted a little different originally, but decided the next one needed to be on its own, thus this huge panel.

Check out the new box on the right, it’s an affiliate box from Amazon where I’ve listed all the songs that Mindover Man has messed up and included the page numbers where it happened. Isn’t technology cool?

Ah, yes, like a Green Lantern reciting his oath to charge his power ring; like Billy Batson yelling “Shazam”; like Apache Chief saying “Enukchuk,” all that Mindover Man needs to unlock his power and provide his mind the focus it needs is an ’80s song he doesn’t know that well.

This song is one of the first I thought to use when I came up with Mindover Man’s crazy “power enhancing mnemonic.” I still don’t know the real lyrics to that song.

This page was a tough one to draw because I simply had two shots of Mindover Man. I completely redrew the second panel because originally it looked too much like the angle of the first one. Going with a different angle and a tighter zoom made a ton of difference.

Check this out: The podcast has been downloaded 550 times as of this post! That is just crazy! Thanks for the attention, and please tell others about the comic and ‘cast.

Check this out II: I can’t believe it but www.superherowebcomic.com was available. So I snapped it up and it now forwards to this site. Don’t know if it’ll be helpful, but it can’t hurt.

Maybe The Interventionist is beginning to realize something about himself, huh?

And the worst part of all this for Mindover Man? Getting sand stuck in that costume. That can’t be fun; he’s going to have to put up with it being stuck inside his suit until he gets home. Poor guy.

This was my very first attempt at drawing/coloring/digitally painting ocean water washing in on the beach. I have to say it doesn’t look too bad. Maybe I’ll switch to a “Lost” comic … .

Maybe a future subject for Hero is … um: Origins can be The Interventionist’s days as a baseball player … . Naw.

Oh, and on a note of historical significance: What The Interventionist says in that last panel is NOT a paraphrase of Spider-Man. It’s actually from the Bible! Luke 12:48, to be exact. Was Stan Lee influenced by the Bible? Hmmmm.

Maybe I have an over-active imagination or just a cruel streak, but I’ve always thought if I ever ended up in a fight, it would be cool to be telekinetic and just throw the other guy around without laying a hand on him. Just throwing him around like a rag doll. This is where I wish I were an animator.

I watched all three hours of G4’s San Diego Comic-Con coverage tonight. I can’t imagine how cool it would be to go there. I have to go someday.

And maaaaan, I can’t wait to see “Watchmen.” The G4 coverage had lots more information than what we saw in the trailer before “The Dark Knight.” Looks more than promising.

Ahhh, the return of the background images. I figured the boys have been high in the air for a while now, and it was time to start putting them back near the ground.

And …

Ahhh, the return of the normal-sized panel. Sorry if the scrolling on page 50 was a little annoying. But I figured it was worth blowing out the “anniversary” page. Plus, when I collect this in a book, I’m gonna need a splash page here and there.

Wow, fifty pages of this comic. Hard to believe I’ve gotten here.

Hard to look at some of the early posts. Hopefully these are getting better as I go.

Thanks to everyone who’s reading and listening!! Now, if only you’d let me know what you think!! Comment or hit the all-too-silent forum, if you’d like to voice your opinion.

Those may not have been the most well-chosen words from Mindover Man.  … I’m just sayin’.

It’s hard to believe the next page will be my fiftieth! Holy cow! I’m one of those people who doesn’t understand why so many others get crazy about milestones or holidays — what makes certain days any more special than others just because of the calendar or numbers? That’s not enough of a reason for me … — but for the sake of those who do get all milestone happy, maybe I’ll do something a little unique.

As I type this, I’m less than three hours from going to see “The Dark Knight” at a 12:01 a.m. showing. CANNOT WAIT! I need some Mountain Dew to make sure I’m awake.

Hey, everyone, I’m back after a long weekend break. Hopefully missing Monday’s update wasn’t too much of an irritation. Thanks for hanging with me.

As I type this, I’m watching a great little standoff of a Major League Baseball All-Star Game, currently in the 14th inning. However it turns out, at least the two representatives of my Colorado Rockies acquitted themselves well: Matt Holliday hit a solo homer for the first run of the game, and Aaron Cook pitched three scoreless innings and out of several jams in extras. Nicely done, boys.

I got my 12:01 a.m. Friday ticket for “The Dark Knight” today. The countdown is on, and I can’t wait.

All right, enough babbling, time to get this thing posted.

Lesson No. 1 for Mindover Man: Think before you use your mind.

I’m technically on vacation from my day job right now and learned my lesson about a month ago, when I took another week of vacation but kept grinding on the comic: It’s not really a vacation if I keep working. And I owe my family some attention. So no new comic on Monday. But come back on Wednesday as the standoff continues!

I also need time to watch “Batman: Gotham Knight” the new animated DVD that’s tied to next week’s big movie release. I’ll post a review at some point.

Thanks for reading!

It looks as if Mindover Man has messed up one too many times for The Interventionist’s tastes.

I had a lot of fun drawing and coloring the bigger-than-usual panel; maybe I should do those more. …

Today I got the chance to walk through the comic with one of my wife’s students (Hi, John!). He’s augmenting his reading homework with David Petersen’s Mouse Guard, which I can’t recommend highly enough. Comics are how I developed my expansive vocabulary — and appreciation of art.

It’s hard to believe some people still look down on the medium as lacking in value. Please. This is such a rich genre that can go so many different directions. And because it’s so visual, it’s especially good for teaching boys how to read because that’s how our brains are wired.

I hope the use of messed-up lyrics is obvious enough (The Police several weeks ago, and Metallica with this and the last strip). I hear them with the music clearly enough in my head, but wonder if that translates, sans music. If anyone has an opinion on that, let me know.

On a drawing note, I have to say I’m so happy I won’t have to draw that building again! Woo hoo!

Get ready, the smackdown is coming!

I love the sky backgrounds. They came on the supplemental disc in Brian Miller’s book “Hi-Fi Color For Comics: Digital Techniques for Professional Results” which I should find the time to finish reading in 2012. From what I’ve read, this book does a great job of explaining how to color properly (which I do not yet, so don’t judge the book by me).

Can’t wait for this weekend’s trip to a nearby airport to see vintage WWII bombers. I love seeing those old birds. It’s amazing how simple, small and fragile they were. And I love taking my girls, too, so they can see some living history. Maybe the visit will spur another tale from Reilly’s grandpa, as featured in this week’s podcast. Take a listen if you haven’t!

Finally, and most importantly, Happy Independence Day. Let’s all remember to thank God for all the truly heroic people who have served our country to give us our freedom and opportunities. And if you meet a veteran while out and about, make sure you thank him or her.

For all its faults, there’s no better place to live than here in the good ol’ US of A.

And be safe with all the fireworks!

Yep. She’s crazier than he is.

I hope you liked the pause, the lull over the last three days, because things are about to get a little wild.

This strip was a bit frustrating because I had to totally re-letter it because I’d forgotten to change the size of the artwork. I draw it at 14 inches wide by 5 1/2 tall. Usually I shrink it to 10 inches wide before taking it into Illustrator to letter it. Why? I’m not sure, other than that’s the way it was when I was drawing it on smaller Bristol board and I didn’t want to have to try to figure out what font size would be comparable. So rather than doing some math once, I force myself to remember to make the switch every time — and occasionally forget and have to redo everything.

Anyway, I really liked how much room I had in the panels when the image was so much larger. Oops.

Can’t wait to start drawing the new several days’ action!

Don’t forget to check out my podcast audiobook!

We’ve seen how messed up Graeyven is, and now we’re seeing that his sister, as vulnerable and seemingly weak as she is, also is a psychopath: Just a very weepy one.

I thought about leaving out the TV chatter, but thought maybe this was a good spot to help get new readers caught up a bit without having to reader through the archive. Then again, maybe it just makes the panels too crowded with text. If you have an opinion, let me know.

This last couple of days have been a pain to draw, because I’ve really started to like drawing both Mindover Man and the Interventionist. The mask and cape for the former and the dreads on the latter. The more I draw these two, the less I like them. To me they’re villainous just by being there and making me draw them!

If you’re a reader of the webcomic but not a listener to the podcast, check it out. This week’s installment is my favorite thus far. Just scroll down a bit to Chapter 4 of Heroisum: Origins.

This page was a lot better before I put the long-winded TV report balloons on it.

I have to say … now that I’m inking again and reasonably pleased with how that’s working, I’m tempted to stop coloring the strip. I just takes way too much time.

Thoughts from anyone on what’s a better choice?

It makes me laugh to think about how much time I put into the building (again!), only to blur it into the background and throw word balloons over it. Yeesh.

Finding the right song with the right lyrics for The Interventionist’s reaction to what he’s seen was a tough one. At first, I thought about Metallica’s “One,” but that didn’t fit well. I thought about a mopey Morrissey song or another one by the Smiths. But I finally settled on Depeche Mode because there’s a slight change someone will know it.

Ooh. Two panels of “decompressed” storytelling. I used to think artists had it easy when they got a long scene in which they could duplicate panels. I no longer think that: Whatever time is saved on one panel ends up used on other panels. At least that’s what happened with me on this one. If you want to read about “Decompression,” look for the forthcoming Issue 3 of Comics Now magazine. I designed the article about Decompression in that one. It’s a well-written look at the style of comic storytelling. The mag should be out within a month.

Special thanks to the welcoming and helpful webcomickers at Halfpixel for the tips that are helping me round out my inking. This may be some of the best inking and cleanest lines I’ve had yet, and it’s because of the tips got there.

Finally, I’m done with this strip. It’s necessary to the story, but the heaviness of it and the work it has taken to make it LOOK heavy and horrible has put me in a really bad mood. Don’t be surprised if the next strip is all sunshine, flowers and rainbows just to counteract this one.

Or not.

After seeking help from other webcomic creators at the Halfpixel forum, I bit the bullet and forced myself to actually ink this piece and color it a bit differently. It’s great to have a way of asking better, more experienced cartoonists how to do things.

I also decided to draw on a bigger Bristol board than I had been using. I thought that might be a big help, and it was. I just had to force myself to finish using the first, smallish pad because I can’t allow myself to waste too much. Cheapskate.

And I gotta say, it’s really tough forcing myself to stay on task with this (even after taking Father’s Day off) when the weather is so nice. I’d much rather have been outside. Hopefully this, too, will be a sacrifice that will prove to have been worth making.

I couldn’t resist. In a couple of my earliest panels featuring The Interventionist, I put him is poses inspired by some of the earliest Superman action drawn by Joe Schuster — lifting a vehicle over his head and rushing in a blur toward a bad guy. This time, I couldn’t resist giving him a line of dialog from the Superman radio show of the 1940s.

A little background: Two years ago, my family and I took our first major driving vacation and headed from Colorado to California. Before we left, I loaded up my iPod with dozens of podcasts of the old Supes radio show. We listened to episode after episode as we crossed the barrenness of Utah and kept ourselves amused listening for the line “Never mind that” or “Never mind that now.” It was in literally every episode. Our assumption was that was a common turn of phrase in the ’40s.

The line in this strip originally was “That doesn’t matter.” But when I realized I could easily trade it for the Superman line, I couldn’t not change it. It’s probably funny only to my wife and me, but I’m exceedingly pleased with it. … I’m a cheeseball, what can I say?

And on a much more serious note, given the name of this comic, I have to salute the Boy Scouts in Little Sioux, Iowa, who sprang to action to help each other after a tornado struck their remote camp on Thursday. Tragically, four teens died in the carnage. My prayers go out for their families. The survivors are a great testament to why every boy should be a Scout at some point.

Forget levitating groceries (see Page 10), Mindover Man can do some seriously heavy lifting when he throws his medulla oblongata into it (wow, I checked and I spelled that right on the first try!).

I’m still experimenting with a variety of ideas for drawing. After the last several pages being penciled only, then converted to an inked look in Adobe Illustrator, this time I sketched the drawing with a non-photo blue pencil, then inked with a super-fine Micron pen. I’ll mull it over and see which way works better.

Any of you who are iPhone users and readers of Hero is … um can access my strip with several others via the web app somewhat unfortunately named Stripr (comic strips, get it? Boy I hope that doesn’t bring in the wrong kinds of Google Ads). I added my feed to their list yesterday. If you add it to your phone and use it access this comic (and blog!), please bump me up with the arrows that accompany the listing. As for iPhone news, I’m drooling and likely to keep doing that until mine dies. No upgrade for me, what with the extra $10 a month for service with AT&T. I’m surprised no one in the media has put two and two together and noted that that extra fee technically makes the $199 3G iPhone more expensive over the full two years than my contract price for my first-gen 8GB version. Duh.

Now, I need to go back and re-read DC Comics’ Final Crisis number 1. I listened to the Comic Geek Speak review of that issue and heard about several things I apparently missed. Gotta love Grant Morrison’s non-linear, multi-layered script-writing.

Yes, that’s our Mindover Man, messing up song lyrics to use his powers effectively. He’s a prize, folks.

On a different superhero note, everyone needs to go see “The Incredible Hulk” next weekend — not so much for the Hulk’s sake, but for Superman’s sake. Hang on, it’ll make sense in a minute. Reports out there say the moronic execs at Warner Bros. are looking at how this Hulk does, especially in comparison to the Ang Lee “art film” from five years ago. That movie, just like the atrocity that was “Superman Returns” failed to meet the high expectations of the studio. That’s because in both cases, the directors had to indulge in their own “creative vision” and warp the characters and stories from what made them beloved by fans for decades. Marvel’s film studio went out on a limb and rebooted the Hulk franchise, and Warners is reportedly looking at Hulk’s results to see if that’s what should be done with Superman.

Thus, for the sake of a GOOD Superman movie, we need a big box-office run for the big green guy.

Mindover Man, the Interventionist. Interventionist, Mindover Man.

Not exactly cordial, huh? These are the kinds of times I wish I had the time, not just in real life but in the pacing of the comic, to put a lengthy scene together with these two sniping at each other. Ah, well, I have plenty of time to have them not get along in the future.

The podcast is now available on iTunes! Download and share it with everyone you know!

Not exactly inspiring entrance, eh? No “Mighty Mouse” music comes to mind … . But we have to give Mindover Man the benefit of the doubt, right?

Here we go. Now things are going to get really fun, with the Interventionist springing into action along with a certain someone else soon.

I finally got the podcast posted and the website looking a little more the way I want it, including having the blog posts actually show up. I’m waiting to hear back from iTunes, hoping to get the podcast listed there. And I’ve got Feedburner serving up the RSS feeds, with a ton of options in the right sidebar now to help everyone add the feed to their favorite reader. Hopefully this site is getting to the point that it’s super easy to navigate and use. It’s all about serving up the content.

Call it a breakthrough! I’ve figured out a way to sidestep my total inability to ink my art! As long as I tighten up my pencils a little more than normal, I avoid having to ink them at all. After scanning the pencils, I take the art into Adobe Illustrator and use the “Live Trace” function, set for “Comic Art,” and it converts the pencil art to black line art. It’s making a HUGE difference.

And it’s a timesaver, too, which opens up some time to color.

Now it’s time to get back to working on the Heroisum podcast. …

It’s weird, but every time I think of stopping the coloring of this thing — because that takes longer than all the other steps combined — I end up with a shot of The Interventionist and his leather jacket. Coloring and smudging it to get that leather look is too much of a fun challenge to want to stop. But eventually, I may have to.

So, if you’re one of the two people who reads this strip (Hi, family member!) please take note of the “Share” button I added. With it, you can notify all the big social bookmarking sites and let other people know what you think of the strip. Hopefully you like it and let others know and we can start building an audience for this bad boy.

And if you do hit del.icio.us, digg, reddit or the others, I say in advance “thank you!”

This one took FOREVER to color and letter — mostly because while I was doing that, I was watching the Science Channel and the NASA Channel as the Mars polar lander was hitting the Red Planet’s surface and then waiting for images to come through.

On one hand this is always cool because of the science, but the nerd in me always thinks of the multiple movies I’ve seen of Mars probes transmitting images of something knocking out the camera. I’m drawing a blank on the most recent one as I type this, but there have been plenty. I’m especially fond of the stories both in print and on the “Justice League” cartoon, featuring Martian Manhunter.

Even though I know it’s guaranteed not to happen, I like imagining the anticipatory feeling and the sense of fear and dread that would arise if something like that would ever happen. It’s weird , nerdy fun, but  what can one expect from somebody doing a superhero webcomic?

Kind of a depressing night of creating this piece. While I was coloring all the damage to Groanco Studios’ headquarters, I was watching the news from a town near where I live, where an F4 tornado blew through today. Much of the town was badly damaged. So damage and destruction was all around me. Almost surreal … .

I did manage to put everything out of my mind for a couple hours and saw the new Indiana Jones movie on its debut day. It’s a really fun ride from start to finish, is beautiful to look at and gets carried away with plausibility, but that’s part of the attraction for me. I really liked this one.

And now Graeyven makes it hard on all of us, including me as I try to make mud on his face look right.

This one took a while to put together, thus I’m too sleepy to write a post that makes much sense. Guess I’ll let the comic speak for itself, which is probably for the best anyway.

Enjoy!

Graeyven’s a man on a mission now. What’s he gonna do? Ya gotta keep reading, and I gotta keep not sleeping.

I now need to get back to working on the magazine design for Comics Now! — a great, new magazine, I must say.

Sorry for no post on Monday. Mother’s Day trumped my comic for the weekend.

Cross your fingers that I’ll be able to get the Friday update done. I’ve got a big project and a short deadline that may get in my way. We’ll see!

Graeyven’s outburst probably would have more impact if he didn’t work for a home demolition reality show. I toyed with the idea of a long shot visually explaining that he’s on location at a home demolition site, maybe with half the house already torn up and a bunch of backhoes and dump trucks around it. But because I’m only doing two or three panels a day, I need to keep the story moving. And since I didn’t draw that part, you have to infer that we’re looking at a demolition site from the fact that there’s a wheelbarrow on the last page and a bit of a backhoe on this one. I guess I’ll save that for the print edition or director’s cut someday.

Yes, I’m aiming high. A little too high? That’s not for me to decide. It’ll happen if this comic takes off and develops an audience, and that’s only going to happen if readers like you tell your friends and you all visit the site regularly.

At my non-dream job today (this, full time, being my dream job, of course) I got to hear children’s author/illustrator Mark Ludy give an inspiring talk to elementary school students and fired me up. Here’s a guy who has had great success as an artist — and whose talent makes me feel like an ant looking up at an elephant — who has honed his craft to the point that he’s been able to publish six amazing books, give talks to kids all over the nation, open a coffee shop/studio and plow ahead on five new books, including a novel. He’s a brand unto himself. And he told the kids in a hilarious, engaging, eloquent way to chase their dreams no matter how hard it gets; to give their best; that everyone has a story to tell; and that each of us is FULL of potential.

Well, here’s my dream. Is it perfect? No. But I’m working to hone my craft, doing my best and putting my heart into it.

I looked back at the last couple of days’ comics and noticed I needed to back way off on the thick lines for foreground characters. Honestly, I wish I could make my thinnest lines thinner, but the size I’m drawing isn’t a lot different from what’s posted. Something to play with, I guess.

I have no idea how I was able to get this one done. This was a HUGELY busy weekend for us.

A quick follow-up from my last post: I did hit Free Comic Book Day at Mile High Comics in Thornton, Colo., and found myself underwhelmed. I saw greater variety (i.e. more independent one-shot books) at smaller shops in northern Colorado last year than I saw this year at the great and mighty Mile High.  But the service by the staff was excellent, I must say. I need to do some research, because I kept hearing artist Michael Turner’s name get mentioned over and over. I don’t know if he was making a personal appearance, but my family and I had to get to a big birthday party, so we didn’t have time to find out what was up. My daughters each got a giant stack of kid-friendly comics, and I talked my wife into getting multiple copies of “DC Universe 0″ for her students, only to read the issue later and find a couple things that likely preclude her from using them.

Stupid DC. Can’t you use a little better judgment than that? If this is supposed to be the big “everybody can jump on” book, then edit it accordingly. I did it for today’s strip, using the word “stinks” instead of something else. If a start-up clown like me can do this, then why can’t they?

Let’s see, what else? Oh yeah, I saw “Iron Man” this weekend, contributing to a HUGE open-weekend box office for the movie that’s making me rethink my top three list of best superhero movies. It has to be in there. I just need to see it again to make sure of where to place it. Everything was just about perfect. I do have a problem with the telegraphing of the climactic action sequence, but that’s not a huge problem.

And we got to see the Rockies FINALLY beat the Dodgers this year. We have upper-deck tickets in the shade. I really liked the view of the field, even though we were up high — that didn’t really bother me.

Good, fun, BUSY weekend. And still I kept this comic on schedule. I hope I’m not setting my sights and expectations too high. Oh well.

Next time, the you-know-what-starts to hit the fan.

Whoa. Somebody tell my characters to shut up!

This page took FOREVER to letter. And it pained me because I ended up covering a lot of the work that I had spent time trying to make look good. Oh well.

Nonetheless, if you have to have people standing around and talking, I guess it’s best to get as much as you can into those panels so you don’t need a dozen of them, huh?

Enjoy Free Comic Book Day on Saturday, May 3, everybody. If you don’t know what that is, check out www.freecomicbookday.com to see all the many, many comic books you can pick up for free — yes, really, no strings attached — at your local comic book store. And if you don’t know where one is near you, there’s a shop locator on that site, too.

I think I’m heading to Mile High Comics to see what a big store does on FCBD. And I’m hoping we’re able to pick up the “Maximum Ride” free book (I gotta find out if that’s an ongoing series!) because my daughter has started reading the books and really likes the first one.

One tip: If you do go, try to go ahead an buy some comics, too. It’s the right thing to do for the shop owners, because even though the FCBD comics are free to us, they’re not free for the shop owners — they’re paying to give them away to us in hopes that we’ll spend a little money there, too.

OK, one more tip: Get “DC Universe Number Zero.” It’s a special issue priced at only fifty cents, and it’s been advertised as a great jumping-on point for people who aren’t familiar with the wider cast of characters that inhabit the universe that Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman live in. It also kicks off a huge event that supposedly will change the DC Universe forever.

All right, one more: Pick up the Free Comic Book Day edition of “All-Star Superman” number one. It’s the first of a 12-issue series that’s going to go down as one of the greatest Superman stories ever told.

Please note that while I’m focusing a lot on superheroes, Free Comic Book Day is great for readers of every genre, which are all well-represented on the above-mentioned list. But kids need to make sure some of those titles are OK with their parents — there’s a lot of comics out there that are written for anyone but children.

Anyway, enjoy!!

What color are tears? It’s a tiny and yet a big part of this page. I wrestled with making it translucent or doing a bit of cartoon cheating by making it blue, settling on the latter.

I’m not sold on it and might still change it later … .

It’s rather surprising that this panel doesn’t have a football helmet in it, considering it’s been done while I’ve been watching the NFL Draft. The funny thing is that this has been a pretty boring, lame draft. Good thing I had something else to do. …

I have to say, I have a huge problem with the way ESPN has covered my team, the Denver Broncos. I swear I’ve heard over and over all about the Cowboys, Chiefs, Jaguars, Jets, Giants, etc., etc., but almost nothing on the Broncos. And I’ve had the TV on ESPN for more hours than I care to reveal here. Stupid ESPN. … But still, it’s been more watchable than the NFL Network’s coverage, which just isn’t interesting at all, sorry.

So what does this have to do with this comic? Nothing really. But if I were doing this during a holiday, I’d write about that. And as an insane football fan, I consider this a holiday weekend.

I was worried I wouldn’t be able to make the rock spikes look good, but I’m pretty happy with how these turned out. They’re not quite what I had imagined, but they work.

Not a lot to say tonight. It’s super late after my wife and I went to a concert by the Grammy-winning a cappella group, Take 6. They were absolutely amazing. Not my usual style of music, but if I had the money, there’d be no hesitation to buying each of their CDs. They have crazy talent.

Now it’s off to a short night’s sleep.

OK, who’s this guy, you may be wondering? And why does he have such a cool name?

And isn’t it too bad you have to wait to find out? Hee-hee. What am I, twelve?

No, just tired.

Anyway, I can’t wait to begin rolling out Graeyven and his sister, Sienna. I have to say I’m pretty proud of the name, first of all. If my wife and I were to ever have a boy, that’s a name I’d push for. Well, would have before I started writing this, anyway.

Oop. Is that a bit of a hint. Oh my goodness me. … Why yes, yes it is a hint. I say … .
Anyway, I think it’s safe, if early, to say that while Mindover Man and the Interventionist are the characters who embody the theme of this story, Graeyven moves the plot.

And that’s all I’m going to allow myself to say this early in his story. I’m mean, he’s said, what? Seven words?

Today I added Heroisum.com to www.thebigwordproject.com (welcome to anyone who has come from there!), which is a genius idea I read about in the new Wired magazine. A couple of grad students in Europe are putting together a social-networking experiment that allows anyone buy any word in the dictionary, for $1 per letter, and turn that word into a link to whatever website they want. I bought “heroism” and linked to this site. I almost didn’t do it when I saw that someone else had bought “hero” and linked to a site that benefits military personnel: It seemed a little silly to put this next to them, like a shack next to a skyscraper. But then I saw that someone else had purchased “heroes” and linked to a fan site for the “Heroes” TV show. As long as I’m not the first to put the trivial next to something significant, then I’m OK with linking “heroism” to the little story I’m telling. Unfortunately, that Heroes site has all the online graphic-novel stories promoted front and center. My stuff pales in comparison to that work done by comics industry pros, but hopefully I’ll keep building this into something people find interesting, nonetheless.

I just wish I’d been smart enough to come up with the idea those two gentlemen did.

The Interventionist may be a bit of a grump, but there’s a definite reason for it.

I’ve always wondered why comic book writers shy away from having their superheroes also be parents. Surely somebody in DC or Marvel’s offices is a writer AND a parent. There’s plenty of drama and motivation available from being a parent. Who knows if I’ll be able to execute it well, but I think it’s a topic worth exploring.

It’s a little tough trying to get characterization into only a couple of panels, but hopefully this one, with much more text than those previous, helps get some points across. I’m learning that I have to leave lots of empty space when drawing so I have enough room for text when I’m lettering. But even with some extra room, I still had trouble squeezing it all in.

It’s all a learning process. I did correct something I’d done poorly on the previous page: All the ink strokes on that one looked like they were the same. With this one I consciously made more variation. Along with the Brian Miller’s book “Hi-Fi Color for Comics,” which I just got yesterday from Amazon (who knows when I’ll have time to read and practice what it says?),  I really need to pick up something on inking, which I know “diddley poo” about, to invoke the great quotemeister, Jim Mora. Usually I just ink over the pencil art, then rely on the coloring to give me the depth and shading I need. Again, it’s all a learning process.

And now you have a name to put with our dreadlock-wearing hero … .

Originally, I had a lot more dialog to put into these panels, but didn’t leave myself enough room without covering up too much. But the editing I did, I think, made things better anyway.

Amazon notified me yesterday that my copy of the “Webcomics Weekly” guys’ new book is on its way to me. I had another book (in order to get free shipping) that was delayed for some reason. Hopefully the book will give me tons of tips to make this comic better. I’m definitely looking forward to it. When I’ll have time to read it, however, may be a challenge.

So there you are. Both of our two main characters have been introduced, one who takes himself too seriously and one who doesn’t at all. One understands Uncle Ben’s mantra: “With great power comes great responsibility.” In fact, he embraces it so much he practically squeezes the life out of it. Meanwhile, Mindover Man needs “Power and Responsibility for Dummies.”

And now you know the theme of this comic as well as the ground we’re going to cover. Hope you like the ride.

After trying to draw, color and shade boxes and cans on these shelves and not make them look too generic, I think this is the last time I’ll put my characters in the grocery story. Just try to think of what Campbell’s Soup labels, Froot Loops boxes, Bush’s Baked Beans cans and Minute Rice look like without running to your kitchen to check — it’s tough, isn’t it? In the interest of cranking these out regularly, I didn’t bother looking for reference material, just colored. I’m not terribly happy with the lack of detail, but it’s not the focal point of these panels anyway, and I’m not George Perez, so it’s OK.

Wow, it’s only been two days since the last update. Well, since it’s after midnight, technically three, but still.

I’m only doing half the size of page as before, so hopefully that will allow faster updating.

Now that I’ve posted eight pages in about three months and started to wonder how this inconsistency can possibly attract an audience, I’m rethinking things.

And after finding the Webcomics Weekly podcast last weekend and listening to one or two archived shows each day this week, I’m more convinced I need to think about a different format, style and everything. The podcast features four of the most successful webcomic publishers on the Net. These are guys that either did or could see their webcomics become big enough that they’re making a living off their ad sales. Just as important to me, they write and draw three- or four-panel black-and-white joke strips and post them three times a week or more often. For them it’s all about humor, simplicity of design, and frequency.

The funny thing is that Mindover Man, one half of my main-character duo who debuts in the latest post, was originally conceived as a gag-strip character. In fact the next page I’m drawing is right from the first gag I thought up. It’s just that the more I thought of this character and the others you’ll be seeing in, oh, another six months at this rate, evolved much differently in my head. Maybe it’s that I’m much more attuned to the traditional comic book superhero, and think I have more to say in that genre than I do in the telling of jokes. But listening to the Webcomics Weekly guys, I think that I think a lot like they do; it’s just a matter of applying myself to a much different way of writing. Could I do it? I don’t know. It’s my opinion that every writer has a bit of ego in his or her head — why else would they think they have something so important to say that they have to put it out there for everyone, thinking other people will spend all-too-precious time to read what they have to say. And my writer’s ego thinks it can switch gears completely. Maybe, maybe not.

But one other thing they said was you have to have the burning drive in you to create your comic, so much so that you’d work on it regardless of whether anyone would read it, much less have it turn into a money maker. And that’s where I am right now. I’ve been killing hours upon hours with the script I wrote last summer, the pages I draw based on the thumbnails I drew last fall, and — here’s where the vast majority of time is spent — all the coloring that has to be done. I think if I’m ever going to be able to hit a schedule, the color’s got to go. And that’s too bad, because I really like doing that, too.

It’s far too early to quit on this endeavor; I just have to do something to justify efforts to build an audience. If I do any kind of marketing at all, it’s going to be pointless if people see that I update once every three weeks or a month. Not only does that not build traffic, it provides no reason for there to be any traffic. In no way does this work make sense other than to prove to myself that I can do this — which is not to be discounted either, as I’ve wanted to do this since I was 10 years old. But still. Time is valuable — to my family and me. In that order.

So for all four or so of you who stumble upon my silly comic, which doesn’t make a lot of sense at this point, I’ll admit, if you see the color go away or more changes, don’t be surprised. This whole thing is a work in progress. But it’s still a work worth doing. I believe in that.

For now . …