Posted in: Comics | Tagged: earthruler, kickstarter, mark waid

Putting The "Super" In Super Hero

Published Sun, 02 Jun 2013 09:00:41 -0500

Darrin O'Toole writes;

Anyone browsing Kickstarter this week may have come across a project that on first look seems a little familiar.

"Earthruler" came about due to a gap in the comics market. Was the gap a need for a caped all powerful flying man? No. The gap was for someone to take one of these characters and go all out, full throttle and embrace what makes these characters so appealing, and take the heroism trope to its absolute limit.

Too often it becomes apparent that these characters are written by excellent writers who a)would rather work on something without spandex or b) are trying to keep the character on course without actually changing anything over the course of the story arc.

Big questions that were asked when the book was being written. "What if one alien with superpowers came to earth?","what if he killed hundreds upon thousands due to his very arrival?","how would mankind react?", "what does mankind have to make us become this aliens reason to live?"….these are the questions that lead to a need for the story Earthruler to be told.

So, the mythos has been stripped bare. There is no alter ego. There is no family to endear him. There is an alien in a world of human nature, and we will come to call him hero, the man whose arrival on this planet wiped out a city and its population.

A 6 issue standalone story was written, fully intended to tell a story with a resolute ending. A massive hunt for the right artist took over a year, and then one evening Mark Waid retweeted samples from a young up and comer from Ohio, Shawn Langley, and a mail was swiftly sent.

Shawn was looking was a story to showcase his undoubted skills, and when told the story of Earthruler, jumped right in with both feet.

A black and white edition of issue one was launched at London Super Comic Con, and promptly sold out. Last month it launched via comixology and has been a great success…but it was missing a vital ingredient, colour.

The decision was made that to do Earthruler justice, the whole story needed to be told. So Phillipino Lance Catan was drafted in and got colouring the first 60 pages….so Rykaal's violent arrival could be felt in all its colourful glory.

This past Sunday saw a kickstarter launched, but not just any kickstarter in our opinion. This is a kickstarter for the fans. The people who dearly love their Superheroes, who want to see them without restraint, and who want to see their actions have meaning, their stories have a beginning, middle and most importantly an end.

The book is up for sale. Literally. The pledges are simple, with $20 getting pledgers a 64 page full colour book, and from the $50 mark every single page from the book is up for grabs for those who back the book and help make it reality.

The book has already raised $1500 of its $3500 goal, and is progressing well. The aim is to launch the book at D.I.C.E. in Dublin in September and push it worldwide via Previews. Neither Darrin or Shawn have budgeted a cent for themselves, this really is a labour of love for both.

If you love your superheroes, but often feel there is a boundary that needs pushing, we sincerely think this book is for you, so get pledging and get a part of what we hope is a benchmark for the cape.

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