About 
Hello BC readers, it’s been a while. I’ve been off working on comics (The Freeze Vol 1 trade from Image Comics/Top Cow is in stores now…) but after
Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Apama, Benito Gallego, Comics, entertainment, kickstarter, Milo Miller, Ted Sikora
Why Should New York Get All The Superhero Action?
Ted Sikora writes for Bleeding Cool:
Apama – The Undiscovered Animal. An offbeat superhero saga unlike anything you've ever seen. Written by Ted Sikora and Milo Miller with art by Benito Gallego. The already successful Kickstarter campaign, which is a 160+ page collection of the first five issues, ends on Halloween. The books will be published in February of 2015.
We started by asking ourselves why should cities like New York or a mythical one like Metropolis get all the superhero action? I teamed up with a lifelong friend Milo Miller, and we decided to drop an offbeat new comic book series titled Apama: The Undiscovered Animal right into an authentic depiction of our own hometown, Cleveland.
So what is an Apama? With so many great superheroes based on creatures like spiders, bats, and wolverines, we thought what if there was another animal so powerful and stealth that it remained undiscovered by modern man? In the comic, Hungarian ice cream truck driver, Ilyia Zjarsky, takes a mid-day hike and stumbles into the powerful force of the Apama spirit.
Ilyia is loosely based on the guys I used to change tires with at my father's service garage. He's not wealthy or gifted, and he's especially not brilliant. He's a bowling-on-the-weekends guy whose decisions make you scratch your head.
Cleveland's landmarks and neighborhoods show up extensively. Recognizable buildings and bridges get damaged by villains, and when Ilyia rips his costume, it's actual Cleveland resident Valerie Mayen of Project Runway who repairs it in her boutique. Cleveland is a great blank canvas for this kind of story. Our city's residents haven't been exposed to anything supernatural. It's all being experienced for the first time.
When we put a call out for artists to illustrate the book we came across Benito Gallego of Valenciana, Spain. His art reminded us of the classic '70s comic book style we all grew up loving. He draws beautiful women, rugged heroic men, and he pays a lot of attention to cityscapes and architecture. His track record drawing creature-themed comic art made him the perfect fit. To make sure Benito's portrayal of Cleveland is authentic I go around and take photos of the city as if we were scouting for a movie.
The Hardcover Volume 1 Collection contains issues 1 through 5 of the ongoing series. It features four complete stories—The Origin of Apama; his inaugural donnybrook with the landscaper-gone-to-seed known as Lawnmower Man; the two-part tale of terror which brings our hero face-to-face with The Million Year Hunger; and it wraps up with the first appearance of a character who will become the brown and tan avenger's most notorious nemesis.
The volume also includes exciting bonus pinups from some of the industry's best illustrators: Ron Frenz, Sal Buscema, Mark Wheatley and Eddy Newell.
I believe Milo and I have created a very different kind of superhero in a very different kind of place, and I'm of course mindful that back in 1938 two Clevelanders named Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster created the world's first super powered crime fighter, Superman. That was one of the inspirations for our 'homage' to Action Comics pinup. That will be included in the book as a stretch reward if we can hit $11,500. As of this writing we're $500 away, and it we can hit it by Tuesday we'll thank Bleeding Cool in the sponsorship page.
Thanks so much for checking it out.
Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!
Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!
