Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Alan Herbert, billy tucci, Chris Herbert, ethan van sciver, Lazerman

What's So Silly About "Lazerman?"

Published Sat, 21 Sep 2013 15:00:36 -0500

Chris Hebert writes for Bleeding Cool:

Back in 1992, when I was sprawled out on the floor of our family home, working frantically on another super-hero drawing to add to the messy pile of completed "characters" next to me, I wasn't expecting my older brother to come over to me and start a conversation that would affect the next 20 years of my life.

He told me my drawings were looking great. I thanked him. He then told me he had this great idea. My attention was now riveted as he began:

"well you are an artist…"

"Yea…" I replied

"….and you know I'm a writer…"

Mind you, never before had I any idea whatsoever that Alan had ever written anything. However, being the younger brother, I assumed he had no reason to lie to me.

"…OK" I unassumingly answered.

"We should team up, and make comics together. I will write them, and you can draw them out."

While I'm sure this seems like a simple enough plan, at the time it was sheer brilliance. Something about having an actual writer (as I had only just learned my brother was) handing me a script to work from added a legitimacy to the crazy dream of being a comic creator that it never had before. I jumped up and immediately said "yeah!"

"And I have my own character I've already created…he's called "Lazerman." He finished.

I'm pretty sure I did a passable job of pretending not to have suddenly wondered if I had made a huge mistake. Lazerman? It sounded like the most Un-original, uninspired, corny name I had ever heard. Of course, I would find out soon enough Alan knew exactly what he was doing.

"Lazerman" does sound a little silly. And it is more than a little corny. It's totally supposed to…what would you expect a comic book geek who accidently gets real super powers of his own to call himself? Of course he'd call himself Lazerman!

The concept of a geek turned superhero allowed us to play up both a "classic" superhero motif without coming off too campy, as well as work in a lot of satire of the genre itself. Not the mean-spirited kind of satire, that relentlessly points out how stupid all of the conventions and tropes of the mask-and-cape books are, but more of an homage, poking fun at the sillier aspects, but with respect and reverence. Lazerman was to be the a loving satire of the stuff we grew up on.

But then something interesting happened. In the 20+ years while we worked, re-worked, re-wrote, re-drew, and taught ourselves how to actually make comics, the "classic" lighthearted stuff we were going to parody started to disappear. Classic titles were re-booted, Crisis'ed, Reborn, Ultimate'ed, and New 52'ed. "Light hearted and fun" was completely replaced with "gritty, cynical and deconstructionist."

Not that there isn't a place for all that, but suddenly, Lazerman was no longer a parody of the lighthearted, classic superhero…he was in fact, the only one left.

So it was we decided Lazerman had to be the torchbearer for the kind of books that they simply don't try to make anymore. Fun, light, and shamelessly embracing all the things that made us love comics in the first place. And after publishing the first book in 2008, we found more than a few people who agreed.

Billy Tucci, creator of "Shi" offered to do a variant cover for our first Lazerman kickstarter last year, calling Lazerman "the most refreshing title to come out in the last couple of decades." Mini-Marvels artist Chris Giarrusso also jumped in with a variant cover, noting how, like his character G-Man, Lazerman was a superhero "That isn't ashamed to be a superhero." Our backers agreed too, as the Kickstarter campaign for "Lazerman: This Man, This Lazer!" raised $6827 dollars last year.

Now, carrying on our mission to keep classic superhero books alive through Lazerman, we are running another kickstarter. This one is for the zombie themed "Lazerman Volume 2: Night of the Necrolord." (Because how can you call yourself a classic-style superhero and NOT fight zombies at some point?) Again, Billy Tucci has offered a hand, with a Shi /Lazerman crossover print for our backers. And to top it off, this volume will also feature a variant cover by Ethan Van Sciver.

So we humbly invite everyone to help us keep the torch going. To cast a vote for a lighthearted, fun, and even kid-friendly comic, that is meant to remind us what made us fall in love with comics in the first place. You can support the kickstarter here.

Just for readers of Bleeding Cool News: Anyone who pledges for a shippable reward, and identifies themselves as coming from Bleeding Cool will get a free 8.5×11 print of Billy Tucci's Lazerman pinup!

Because what's the point in reading comics if they can't be fun every once in a while?

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