Don’t Laze Me, Bro!

December 9, 2008 on 10:29 pm | In Uncategorized | No Comments

Oh wait–do! Yes, pour on the Lazerman!

If you recall from a couple of entries back when I shared my experience at WW Texas, I mentioned the fabulous, delightful Hebert brothers. They’re a couple of regular schmoes like you and me that are striking back all Empire nerd badass style and putting out their own jaunty indie comic, Lazerman. These fellas are an excellent reminder that all the Jim Lees and Todd McFarlanes of the world started somewhere–and that daring to start is never easy and takes massive time and guts.

I am fascinated by folks who are out there trying to live their dream, so I could not resist sitting down with Chris and Alan Hebert to get to know their (and Lazerman’s!) story.

So, boys-what’s your origin story? How did you boys each first fall in love with comics and superheroes?

Alan: I was always into superheroes as a little kid. Somewhere around the house, I still have a picture of me and Chris dressed as Superman being held by our father. I used to watch Wonder Woman and the Incredible Hulk on TV all the time. As I got older, A friend of mine suggested that I check out Marvel’s Secret Wars. I bought them all, and I was hooked.

Chris: Well, being the little brother, I was always kind of following Alan’s interests. With comics, it was when Alan brought home SECRET WARS. I thought it was SO cool that all the heroes were together. It was even cooler that Spider-Man was there, because I always wondered why he didn’t show up on the “Superfriends”. Hey what do you want, I was really young!

Tell us a little about Lazerman. How did you come up with the character?

Chris: The series is about a comic book geek, who in a bizarre twist of fate, actually ends up getting superpowers himself. Naturally he does what ANY comic geek would do…he decides to become a superhero just like in his comics. Unfortunately for him, in real world things don’t quite work like they do in the comics.

Alan: I came up with him 15 years ago. One day, while going through a stack of Incredible Hulk comics, I decided that I wanted to write a comic myself. I eventually developed the idea for Lazerman then.

The cover to Lazerman #2

I love that, not only is your comic hilarious, but you have so much fun with classic film and comic stereotypes-was Lazerman always going to be a comedy?

Alan: From the beginning, I wanted to do something that was a comedy. I also wanted to do something that screamed “classic” superhero, something that would very much be an homage. I also wanted to explore the theme “What is a hero?”. Lazerman was designed with all of these in mind. To do that, I needed to hit every stereotype on the head. His origin needed to sound like every superhero’s origin, but none of them. Even his name, Lazerman, sounds like a superhero that’s been around forever.

Chris: I think the premise lends itself to comedy so readily, it was hard not to let it go that way. Of course with a character who is himself a huge geek, we get to work in the more “classic” elements of four color comics, and it still feels somewhat believable. All the corny stuff in comics that people say no one would EVER do in the real life? Well, he actually WOULD.

From a gender perspective, I notice that most of the characters in Lazerman, at least in the first two issues, are male…is there any particular reason for that? Commenting on another comic/superhero stereotype, perhaps?

Chris: You see, it’s kind of hard to answer this question without showing our hand for what is coming in future stories…I’ll put it this way. We’ve been developing Lazerman for almost 15 years. So when we sat down to actually craft the first part of this intricate series we’ve created..we kind of had to pick and choose which elements to introduce this early. We have so many stories, characters, arcs, situations planned out…many of which we can’t really introduce without some sort of build-up. Particularly there are some GREAT female characters that will play a huge part in Lazerman’s life. Unfortunately with so much ground to cover establishing the main character, we had to wait for some things and just focus on the characters who are most important to his origin.

Alan: He is very much the typical geek…and by that I mean scared of girls. Constantly thinking about the girl of his dreams, but too scared to actually speak to her. It’s something you see more in Anime, but it’s also in American media as well.

I do think it’s clear, even if there aren’t many women in the story yet, that you two definitely love women and enjoy painting them positively. Who are some of the women in your own lives that have inspired you?

Alan: We have a very close family, and I’m very close to the all the women in it. Our mother, our older sister, we even have cousins we were pretty close to.

Chris: For me, it’s my wife, Tracy. The fun thing about being the artist is I got to work in cameos for her. My lovely wife appears in issue 2. It’s great because she gets to scream at Lazerman when he messes up. If you knew my wife, you’d understand why I think that’s so funny.
As for other important female cameos…everyone’s favorite Toyfare editor has herself a cameo in issue 4! [Editor's note: Weeeeee! ::blushes::]

Ahem. So, How much work went into the design of Lazerman?
Chris: Unfortunately for me, Lazerman, and most of his supporting cast are the only characters in our whole universe I did NOT design entirely myself…Al actually had a strong handle on what he wanted them to look like.

Alan: Despite not being an artist, I actually designed Lazerman and most of the people around him. I sat down with Chris and drew out what I wanted (and I use the term “drew” very loosely [laughs]) and Chris drew them out. He had on paper what I wanted from the first drawings. Over time, the designs improved and streamlined, but all the basic points are still right there.

And now, the inevitable question: if you each could have superpowers, what would they be, and how would you get them?

Alan: I suppose I’d want to fly, and have super strength, and, um…shoot energy blasts, and….yeah, just read Lazerman.

Chris: Yeah I’m guilty of this too. I just heaped all the powers I would want into a character named SURGE who is in our second title. We like to live vicariously through fictional characters.

How can folks get their very own copies of Lazerman #1 & #2?

Well we are currently listed in the enemi entertainment catalog, which lists new books for HAVEN Distributors. The catalog lists both new and established indie publishers like Zenoscope, Ultimate Comics Group, and of course HBComics. So just bug your local comic shop to call 1-877-HAVEN-50 (1-877-428-3650), or have them order through Haven’s website at www.havendistro.com . Just make sure you act quickly, the deadline for January orders is December 10th.

**
And that’s about it, folks! I encourage you to order your copies of Lazerman right away–not only to enjoy the fun story, but also get a li’l inspired–heck, I might even try my own hand at an original comic thanks to them. See y’all Friday!

Keys to the Kingdom

December 5, 2008 on 9:18 pm | In Uncategorized | No Comments

Hey all!

So, I didn’t forget to post the last two weeks–I just totally forgot to mention I’d be on vacation, and then we had Thanksgiving. Weeeeee–organization!

Anyway, I do hope y’all had fabulous turkey-fests (at least for all the Americans out there…for any of our international friends reading…I hope you had a nice… Thursday, lol). But now–back to work!

That was definitely the story when I got back: I found out I was one of the select few here at Wizard who will be working double-duty through the Holidays. While I’ll be editing my good old magazine, I’ll also be helping our Wizard Universe store fulfill all our holiday orders. So if ya order something, I may have touched it! Hey–do I hear applause??…Oh, just the germaphobes fainting…thanks, guys…Honestly, I won’t lie that I was kind of upset about this news–I gotta break down boxes and lift and pack and sweat and–oy–!??

My reason for telling you this is to share a funny little story. Those of you who’ve been reading my blog know that I grew up a giant fan of Wizard–not even comic books as much as the fun, stylized journalism with which Wizard covers them. And although I’m definitely a WordGirl, I was a big fan of ArtMan Steve Blackwell.

Steve was, until he became “no longer with the company” a few weeks ago, the Art Director here at Wizard. What does that mean? Any time you’ve ever wigged out about a cool Wizard/ToyFare/Anime cover, or Postermania book, Steve’s been the one to bring it to you. He’s the guy who makes you judge any book by its cover, even though you’re not supposed to.

I won’t comment on why Steve’s ties were severed here, only to say that it had nothing to do with his professional performance. Getting the chance to actually work with him…the first time he told me I did a good job with something…I am a total nerd and will admit there were goosebumps and some witless stuttering.

I’m lame…anyway…

Fast forward to my new warehouse duties (about which I am inner-wincing), and a Steve-less Wizard. I’m in a leadership capacity in the warehouse, and as such, upper management wants me to get a key to the Wizard offices.

“How will we you that key?”

Suddenly, in the doorway appears Dan Reilly, Research Editor and other hero of mine, and he says, “I’ll give her Steve’s key.”

STEVE’S KEY???

Huzzah for happenstance of Kaiser Zose proportions!

When Dan put it in my hand…I won’t risk sounding cheesy trying to describe it. Just picture someone who either made or is in a poster on your wall, and imagine them handing you a key to something…anything…

So, I guess the moral here, kids, is this: I know there’s a whole gamut of opinions out there about Wizard right now…but whatever yours is, I can tell you that, to me, it feels like Wizard’s going through a phase…the second generation of writers and editors are officially arriving, and like me, we all love the history and shenanigans that came before…the magazines you love may be changing here and there, but I promise we’re trying to be the Captain Picard kind of second generation, not the New Monkees. I’ve been given a key, and I’m gonna try to hold it sacred (though by now I’m sure Steve is having his restraining order signed, lol). I promise to edit hardcore, and to pack all your holiday shopping orders with the same zeal I try to give editing, as I get over my silly, feverish bout of blue collar blues. A hard day’s work is all that matters.

::Sigh:: Steve’s Key…::stares at it in her hand:: Oh, and the gender part of today? Steve’s a boy and I’m a girl. Done.

The End.