Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, f1st heroes, kickstarter

F1rst Among Heroes

Published Sun, 08 Sep 2013 10:10:57 -0500

Anthony Ruttgaizer writes;

What if everyone who ever had superpowers had gone insane and become a threat to society? What if one man gained abilities "far beyond those of mortal men" but kept his sanity? Faced with a society that fears and hates superhumans, a government that hunts them down and growing numbers of crazed supervillains all around him, would that man put himself at risk by using his powers to help people or would he allow innocent people to be hurt so that he could keep his secret and save himself.

This is the premise of "The F1rst Hero", a new comic book series that will be coming out next March from Action Lab Entertainment. I am the creator and writer of that series, Anthony Ruttgaizer and I am currently running an IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign to help cover the coloring, lettering, production, promotion and legal costs associated with this first four-issue series. The F1rst Hero will be my first published work as a comic book writer and, frankly, it's the best thing I've ever done/has ever happened to me.

I'm going to be a little self-indulgent here and talk a bit about myself and how I got to this point. (Rich said write something personal so I'm writing something personal.)

I'm a 42 year old guy who's been dreaming about making comics since I was probably 12 or 13 years old. I tried to break in as a writer back in the mid-90's. I went to San Diego for Comic-Con four years in a row, meeting people and trying to peddle scripts. I was an island at that point. I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I didn't even know enough to know that I knew nothing. I made a few friends and had some great times out there but nothing came of those trips.

The dream of becoming a writer didn't die but it was packed neatly away in a shoebox and tucked away in the back of a closet marked "eventually".

In the meantime, I pursued other creative endeavors like working in radio as a DJ and talk show host and doing stand up comedy and being a professional wrestler. But a few years ago, I went to Fan Expo Canada for the first time to see some friends I had seen in years and walking around the convention floor and artists alley made me really want to give breaking into comics another try. I made me want to write again.

And then I had an idea. An idea about a new world full of crazy villains. Just every whacked out idea for a villain I could come up with. A street pimp with a spider mutation called "Mack Daddy Long Legs". A gang leader who hangs out in a junkyard with his henchman named Fat Alvin. A giant muscular dude with oversized fists named The Basher. And so on and so on…

And then the world that they lived in started to form in my mind. A world where if everyone who got powers went crazy, then there would be no superheroes. Just military units sent up to fight them. And I salvaged the first character I had ever created as a kid and made him leader of the American anti-superhuman unit with ideas for eventually seeing the similar teams from other countries.

And as I continued this world-building, I introduced the idea of one man who would get super-powers but not go insane. And how being that one unique person in the entire world would be his gift and his curse and his burden.

And when it all started coming together and I had a good story outline and had a decent first draft of a script, I sought out the advice of others, not just to make the story better but also to make any attempt to sell that story better. Friends in the industry, artists and writers and journalist and retailers. And then professionals who I politely approached for advice and was lucky enough to have them share their wisdom with me.

And I wrote and re-wrote and re-wrote again. I found an artist. Found a publisher. Found a NEW artist. And a colorist. And a letterer. Hell, I even went back to school improve my writing technique and find new ways to hone my scripts and storylines. And I did it all for a couple of simple reasons…

I want to be a comic book writer. Not just for four issues but for the rest of my life. I want to create and to keep creating. I want all the other ideas I have been working to make it to print too. I want people to tell me why they liked something I wrote. Or, for that matter, why they didn't. Just so long as they've read it!

I want something I create to connect with someone the way that stuff my Dad introduced me to as a kid connected with me. Star Wars and Star Trek and jazz music and comedy albums that he put in front of eyes and into my ears that sparked my own desire to create.

And I want to be good. I want to be the kind of writer that artists and editors want to work with. The kind of writer that fans develop a loyalty to, that retailers recommend to readers and that promoters invite to conventions with all expenses paid. (Sorry… couldn't resist that last bit.)

And making that career happen starts here… with this book… with The F1rst Hero. This is the first brick, the foundation being laid for all that I do after.

So yeah, making the IndieGoGo campaign for this book a success is sort of important to me. For as little as $5, you can get the full four-issue series as a digital download. Print copies start at $25 and include shipping and we have some higher tier perk packages that include:

t-shirts
original pages of art from the comic
brand new convention sketchbooks with first page art by talents such as Francis Manapul, Marcus To and Lee Moder
chances to appear in the series in a speaking or non-speaking role
the chance to become a major recurring character in this and future storylines.

You're going to love this book. I know I love the damn thing. The creative team I've assembled is a large part of why I'm so happy. My artist's name is Phillip Sevy and he's new to this too but you'd never know it. His pages for this book are AMAZING. He's started work on issue 4 as this is being written and as much as for myself, I want this book to succeed and launch Phil's career too. Keiren Smith is my colorist/letterer and she's been my wise guru through all this. And my cover artist is the aforementioned Lee Moder. Lee has been amongst my best of friends for 20 years now and I couldn't be prouder than I am having his always-incredible art cover my first ever published work.

So please, check out the IndieGoGo page, pick a perk package, make a pledge and help make both the crowdfunding campaign and the book itself a success.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!