FAQs

While at conventions, stores, etc., I tend to get some of the same questions. I also tend to get a lot of the same comments, but let’s leave my appearance and maternal relatives out of this for now. This section will be dedicated to answering some of the questions which are asked of me with a good deal of frequency.

1) What is Hero Universe Comics?

At this point, it’s basically one writer/artist, though we do employ freelance colorists, cover artists, and this web-guy who’s hopefully posting this online so people besides me can read it.

2) What is Bliss?

The comic, or the character? The comic is a B&W one shot from Hero Universe, published back in spring of 2006. It tells most of the story of Hank Thurgood, aka Bliss, a superhero who can do anything because he doesn’t realize he shouldn’t be able to. The concept may be a little out there for some people, but it can easily be enjoyed as just a fun superhero story.
Some people also ask, what is the character exactly? Well, he’s human, for starters, albeit an especially optimistic one. No one knows where his powers come from or how they work. This annoys some readers, as they need an explanation for everything. However, from a story/characters perspective, it just makes sense. Even Bliss’s friends are a bit uncomfortable not knowing how his powers operate. Not even Bliss knows where his abilities come from, and he doesn’t bother questioning why/how he can do what he can do. He’s more likely to wonder why you can’t.

3) Who is Hero Universe Comics?

This isn’t necessarily the same thing as “what is Hero Universe,” but it’s similar. This isn’t a case of one guy calling himself a band or something (yes, I had friends who listened to Nine Inch Nails in middle school). Hero Universe is actually a company name, not just one guy making comics giving and himself a moniker that sounds pluralized (I’m looking at you The Streets). It’s just that right now, the company has only one full time employee, James Lynch, who also happens to be the founder, as well as the writer and artist on all of our books (except for the upcoming Saints, which is written by Reggie Hansome but still illustrated by James Lynch).

4) How’d you get Greg Horn to do a cover for you?

I asked him.

5) No, seriously, how’d you get Greg Horn to do a cover for you?

I seriously asked him.

6) But he’s Greg Horn! You can’t look at a piece of Emma Frost, Elektra, or She-Hulk merchandise without seeing his work! He does art for Marvel and Wizard and Hollywood movies and the Olympics and stuff, and big companies that would probably sue you out of the space/time continuum if they knew you were using their logo on one of your characters!

That’s not technically a question. Your sentence didn’t end in one of those “mighty squiggly line pouncing on a tiny defenseless dot” symbols. And if it had, it would have been grammatically incorrect, because the rest of the sentence is phrased as a statement.
But yes, I’m well aware of all that, and all those things went through my mind at one point or another. But what I have found in my brief time in this industry is that most comic professionals are very approachable (there are a few that I’ve met who seem to lack some social graces, and I’ve heard stories about some that are downright unfriendly). Seriously, comic industry professionals are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. They’re just people, remember, and people who often share a passion for the same things us fans do.
And remember, the worst thing they can say is no. And often times, they say no only because of other commitments. And unfortunately, these days, the whole concept of exclusivity rears its ugly head, and some times that favorite comic and/or cover artist of yours simply can’t do any work for you simply because he’s contractually obligated to only to do work for Marvel/DC/Top Cow/Archie (okay, I’ve never been shot down by an Archie artist, but it’s conceivable). Sadly, a favorite, your all-time favorite guy who got you into wanting to do comics in the first place, artist of yours might not be able to do a cover for you simply for those reasons (a couple of guys I’d like to have had work on subsequent covers fall into this category).
Luckily for me, Greg is not in that category, and is someone whose covers I’ve always admired (and never thought I had a snowball’s chance in hell of working with, but, see, I summoned up the courage and asked). If there was ever a moment when I didn’t think I’d want a Greg Horn cover on my book, it was only because I thought it was so far outside the realm of possibility that it might as well be impossible (sort of like the notion of having Jerry Orbach and the ODB make a duets album. Yeah, it’d be the most awesome thing ever, but I don’t waste time fantasizing about what could be. Anymore). I’ve been a longtime fan of the She-Hulk book, and with the frequently rotating and varied art on that book, a fantastic Greg Horn cover was the only consistent visual that you could count on from issue to issue (the only other thing you could count on was Dan Slott’s hilarious writing and inhuman depth of knowledge of the Marvel Universe). Seriously, that book went through more interior artists than I can count. Or at least, am willing/non-lazy enough to count at the moment. Typing while trying to count is especially hard, as the numbers keep moving.
As a final note to this question (and question and non-question), Greg’s official website can be found at GregHornJudge.com . Give it a looksie, and try to find Greg at the next con you’re at. I’m sure he’d love to sign your copy of Victors #1. Shame? What’s that?

7) What does Hero Universe mean?

I hope this is about the company name, and not someone just having no clue what one of our books was about.
The name Hero Universe is not just a thrown together pair of words that I thought sounded cool. Rather, it’s a tribute to the first truly original superhero concept I ever had, a team called Hero Force (who can still be seen from time to time in HU books). Many of my subsequent books, including Bliss and Victors, take place in the fictional “shared universe” that Hero Force took place in (I’m incredibly frugal in that way. I never waste anything, especially a fictional universe I spent years developing, and which offers a rich history to draw from). I like companies with shared universes and the feeling of interconnectivity that they can offer when done well (we will not be speaking of what can happen when they are not. Dark times, my friends). Since all these stories take place in the universe that Hero Force began, it seemed only fitting to call the line Hero Universe.

8) Why wait for the trades?

I don’t know, why? Okay, I may have thrown this one in here myself to make a point. Trades should be a nice way to collect an entire story all in one volume and give people who missed out on a story the first time around a chance to get caught up without having to hunt down back issues. Trades shouldn’t make you sorry you supported the book in the first place by giving all sorts of cool extra crap to people who took a pass on the book the first time around. That’s why, excepting issues with extra pages of story (you gonna argue with getting more story?), all Hero Universe comics will feature the “Why Wait for the Trade?” section, where you’ll find all the neat concept art and behind the scenes stuff that other companies only feature in collected editions. Who knows, this stuff might not even make it into the trade? Or it may be in there, but presented differently. But you’re guaranteed to find it stapled into the back of (almost) every issue of Hero Universe Comics.

9) Why are your books so expensive? Marvel/DC books cost the same, but are a lot fatter.

Yeah, because of the ads. They give you 40 pages, 18 of which are ads (which, I don’t know about you, but I find can get really annoying when they appear every other page, or for multiple sequential pages, breaking up a story). So you get the same amount of story with us, just without all the commercial interruptions. Seriously, $3 (or $4 shipped) for 24 color pages (at least 22 of which are story) is a hell of a bargain, especially in the indie game, where we’re not subsidized by Playstation and Honda money.

10) Who are the Victors?

Collectively, they are the premiere superhero team superhero team of the Hero universe. Their (fictional) history dates back to WWII.
The modern incarnation is composed of a diverse range of superheroes from around the Hero universe. The current roster was founded by:
Sarah, the Armored Victor, the apprentice of the original WWII-era Armored Victor.
Peter O’Donnell, aka Pyre, a pyrokinetic and Sarah’s husband.
Nichael Strander, the Swoosh, a corporately sponsored superhero with above-peak physical abilities (strength, speed, agility, etc.).
Rodney Morris, aka Preserver, a technologically and mystically empowered hero.
They were soon joined by:
Cary Huggens, aka Eclipse, a telekinetic with a tragic past.
And
Dark Effector, the most powerful supernatural being on the planet, older than time itself.
And finally, last, but certainly never least,
Henry “Hank” Thurgood III, aka Bliss, the World’s Greatest Superhero.
As is evidenced by the first issue of Victors, the ranks of the team have swelled, with a varied assortment of powers, personalities, and experience levels present. If this series is able to continue, many of these members will get their stories told, which should be a hell of a lot of fun.

11) Is Bliss really the world’s greatest superhero?

Yes, he is. No, that’s not hubris, it’s simply how it is. In the world in which he exists, Bliss is the greatest superhero on the planet. So, no, I’m not trying to say I’ve created the greatest fictional character ever (though if you say it, I’ll be your best friend), just the best there is in the Hero universe.

12) What kind of art supplies do you use?

This is a question that probably every artist on the planet has had to answer at one time or another. It can change from time to time, but here’s what I’ve got going on right now:
Paper:
I typically use BlueLine Pro Premiere art boards for penciled/inked stuff. I usually go with the 400 series, as I think it has a better “feel” to it. The 2-ply stuff is nice, but due to a mistake I once ended up with a quantity of the 3-ply, which is amazing, but expensive. I also prefer to pencil on the SMOOTH paper. I know a lot of pencillers prefer the regular, but as weird as this sounds, I can feel the regular stuff actually affecting the direction of my pencil with its texture sometimes, which is not a cool feeling. The Blue Line stuff is also awesome because it provides not only the gutter lines, so you know you’re setting up your page properly, but measuring increments around it, which is extremely helpful for the incredibly lazy.
However, when I’m doing watercolor enhanced art, I generally use just a plain Bristol board (at least 2 ply, and, again, smooth). The blue lines tend to garble with the gray shades and can be difficult to separate out digitally. Though sometimes, If I’m doing a book with mainly pages that have solid boarders around them, and all art takes place within the innermost gutter lines, then I’ll paint on BlueLine paper, too.
Pencils:
Honestly, I use some of the cheapest pencils around. I just use a very basic Pentel brand .5 mm Sharp mechanical pencil (usually available in packs of two for $4-5). I’m betraying my roots as an office supply store employee here, but it’s also pretty easy to find refills for Pentel products (erasers especially, since lead is pretty universally sized, though much of what you’ll find is Pentel brand), whereas it can be a pain to try and get refills for other brands. I use run of the mill, comes in 99% of all pencils HB lead. To be honest, as long as it makes a line on paper, I can work with it.
Some comic artists swear by lead holders these days, and I have one that I use for certain effects (especially finer details, as many lead pointers can sharpen to a needle point). It’s a common Staedtler brand one, again with HB lead. Anything softer just seems to crumble, and anything harder doesn’t make a dark enough line.
For erasers, I use the end of the pencil a lot (hence why I find it important that my pencil be easy to get supplies for), but I also use one of those Clik Stik eraser pens (which is a Pentel product, again), and those big block Staedtler Mars plastic erasers. Those things erase cleaner than anything I’ve worked with, and are great for larger areas, or removing the lead from under an inked piece. I know some people swear by those art gum erasers, but I’ve always found those to be, to put it politely, complete and utter crap.
Inks/Tones
For inking, I use Faber-Castle art pens, for the most part. They’re pretty easy to find and fairly inexpensive. The brush pen is especially versatile. They’re loaded with India ink, which is what you want, but I simply don’t have the discipline for brushes or nibs or any of that.
However, for really fine detail, I find that the Super Fine pen is still too wide, so I went out and got a Staedtler brand sketch pen with a .05 mm tip (yes, there’s a “0” before the 5). It’s got the same kind of permanent, acid-free ink you want, but with an insanely tiny point for fantastic levels of detail. Staedtler makes a number of different sized pens like this that are well below what most would consider a Fine or Super Fine tip.
For tones, I like working with watercolors (or watercolor, really, as I only use black. I got a tube of jet black watercolor paint from a craft store and just add water to dilute it to whatever shade of gray I need). Watercolors blend well with pencil, but can also be used over inked line work to give great rendering effects. This is especially helpful for me, as I can then just scan in the fully rendered art, add a Multiply layer over it in Photoshop, color in the overlay, add maybe a couple effects and/or highlights, and I’m done. I feel it gives me a lot more control over the look of the final product, and gives it a much more organic feel overall, than me trying to do a traditional coloring job over black and white line art (notice I say “me,” because there are certainly colorists out there who can do amazing things in Photoshop and really put my watercolors to shame).
Scanner:
This is a big deal to some people, as some people are lost on how to deal with the fact that comic art boards are 11x17” and most commonly available scanners are 9x12,” going so far as to figure out how to scan in one half at a time and then reconnect the two halves in Photoshop. Messy stuff, and too time consuming for me. For my early stuff, I took my art to a copy place, where they have commercial copiers (which have 11x17 scanning beds) that are hooked into their computers and can function as scanners. If you look into it, the average 11x17 scanner starts at around $800 and up, which is a lot to drop on something like that if you’re just getting started. However, after a little research, I found that Mustek makes a scanner called the ScanExpress A3, which is 11x17 and costs under $200. Common complaints of the scanner are that it doesn’t reproduce color well, but if you’re scanning black and white line art, that’s not really an issue, is it? I’ve had mine for about two years and it’s still working great.
Coloring:
I’m not the greatest colorist in the world, however, I have done some of my own coloring and have worked out some techniques that make it a little easier to color my own work and make it look decent. I do all my coloring in Photoshop. Whereas most colorists color within the lines using “cut and grad” and such things, I’ve found that for me, it’s a bit easier if I do the line work in tones (either black watercolors or, occasionally, grey-toned art markers) and then blend a color layer over that. I then add in some highlights, effects, and/or textures and things are ready to go.
Lettering:
I do all my lettering in Photoshop, using free fonts available from Blam Bot (blambot.com). Very frugal am I, yes.
Lamp:
I feel this is important to mention. I have a pair of Ott-Lite brand clip-on lamps on my table (I used to have just one, directly in the middle of my table, but it kept brushing my forehead, and from certain angles would cast unwanted shadows). Please keep in mind that I’m not getting any kind of kickbacks from any of these mentions (though if Ott, Pentel, or Staedtler reads this and wants to send a few dollars my way, I wouldn’t object). Honestly, Ott-Lites kick ass. They’re full spectrum lights, so you get a very bright, very, very clear, white light (not tinted yellowy, pinkish, or green like halogen, incandescent or fluorescent lights). They also reduce eye strain, which can be very helpful when you spend hours (or days) staring at your table. They also use a lot less energy than traditional lamps (a 13 watt Ott lamp is brighter than a 60 watt incandescent bulb). Their bulbs also last a long time. They guarantee them for 10,000, and while I haven’t been keeping count, I’ve had my first Ott lamp for two years and never replaced the bulb.
Now, keep in mind, you don’t need a fancy set up and supplies to make comics. I drew Bliss on plain bristol paper I trimmed with an X-acto knife (since 11x17 is not a standard size at art stores), on a portable art board I got for Christmas when I was 10, using a pencil I found on the stairs in high school and a Clik eraser I found on the floor in middle school (man, I hang on to crap, don’t I?). Most of my stuff is still fairly inexpensive. While some of the more expensive stuff (like the BlueLine boards) is nice to work with, it’s what you do with what you have that’s most important.

13) Who are your influences?

Another question I’m sure every artist has to answer repeatedly. I’ll try to do the best I can, though I’m sure I’m bound to forget something.
For artists, damn near everything I looked at growing up influenced me in one way or another, so I have to credit a lot more people than I know who they are. However, specific influences would include:
Andy Kubert. He was the regular artist on X-Men when I started reading it, and I thought his stuff was fantastic. He was the first comic artist I ever declared to be my “favorite,” and attaching him to a project can still get me to buy it no matter how dreadful the book is (like the recent arc of Batman he did with Grant Morrison. Terrible, terrible story, but it looked nice).
Michael Turner. If you look at my sketch books from when I was in high school, you’ll find a ton of Turner rip-off styled artwork. Though my stuff probably doesn’t look a lot like his nowadays, you can still find traces of his influence in my work, and even more so in my roughs and layouts. The guy is just master of the pencil line, hands down, and the way it seems to happen so effortlessly for him is just infuriatingly awe-inspiring.
70s-80s John Byrne. Let us not dwell on the sad, anti-social, ranting bigot he has become, and instead focus on his creative peak. There’s a reason damn near every artist at Marvel was biting his style by the close of the 70s.
Jack Kirby. He is, and will forever more be, the King. How he managed to draw as many books a month as he did and still put the insane amount of detail and energy into each one will forever remain a mystery. This guy created comic art as we know it, plain and simple. The industry will never be able to repay the debt it owes Jack Kirby.
John Cassaday/Steve Epting/Mike Perkins. I include these three at once because they’ve all had very similar influences on my art. Not only do they all have a very realistic style of penciling that gives their books a grounded weight, but they all have brilliant uses of shadow and shading. They trust in their black spaces, which is something I’m still working on doing.
There are plenty of people I respect or whose art I enjoy, though, who I just don’t consider to be real influences on my style (Alex Ross, Jim Lee, David Finch, J. Scott Campbell, Mike Choi, Tyler Kirkman, and Ed Benes all come to mind).
On the writing side of things:
Joss Whedon. I got into Buffy back in season one and was just amazed that it was the most realistic teen drama I’d ever seen, and it had vampires in it. Joss is a master of dialogue and character development. He has made the story form his bitch, spinning countless yarns that never fail to make you laugh, cry, or think, and often all three at once. I will be forever convinced that his run on Astonishing X-Men is what single-handedly saved the X-Men franchise after the dark years of the late-90s, early 2000s, and Grant Morrison. If I could go through my career being called the poor-man’s Joss Whedon, I’d take it as the ultimate compliment.
Brian Michael Bendis. What can I say? He’s one of the top writers in the game right now, and the man who really put the Avengers on top of the Marvel universe for the first time in decades. How can a team that has Captain America, Iron Man, and a Who’s Who of Marvel heroes in its ranks not be the number one book on the racks? I don’t know, and apparently neither does Bendis. Reading a Brian Bendis story arc is like opening up an endless series of presents and finding that each one actually compliments the previous one in ways that you didn’t even realize it needed complimenting, and makes you appreciate the previous gifts that much more.
Ed Brubaker. Bru would get on this list if the only book he’d ever written was Captain America. The fact that he’s had great runs on tons of other books is just icing on the cake, but the recent run of Cap is one of the best books ever. He’s actually managed to make the death of a comic character have an impact! And he’s kept the book going without its main star for almost a year now. His grounded, realistic approach to a larger than life figure like Cap, without losing that “screen presence” that has always made Cap seem larger than life, is a lesson in how superhero comics should be done.
70s-80s Chris Claremont. He wrote The Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past. ‘Nuff said.
Stan Lee. Come on. Even if you’re not influenced by Stan the Man directly, everyone who you are influenced by was influenced by him. His realistic approach to superhero stories set the model that ever superhero book since has striven to fit.

14) Are you a Marvel guy or a DC guy?

I’m actually a Hero Universe guy, thanks. In terms of what I read, however, my pull list includes both of the Big Two (and occasionally Dark Horse, Image, and IDW books), though it tends to favor the Marvel side of things. In my opinion, Marvel has the best characters, while DC has the best icons. DC’s stable includes most of the “logo on a t-shirt” heroes, the ones everyone and their grandma can identify, those larger-than-life characters. While Marvel has a few of those everyone-and-their-grandma types of characters (Spidey, Hulk, Cap), they don’t really have too big a share of the “logo on a t-shirt” thing (maybe black Spidey and Punisher). What they do have, however, are relatable characters, and to me, that’s more important. DC’s characters are like mythological figures; their adventures can be fun to read, but you just don’t care about them the same way you do Marvel’s down to Earth heroes. And whenever DC makes an attempt to bring their heroes down to a relatable level, the guys at the Local Comic Shop and I say that DC’s attempting to “Marvelize” their books.

15) Why are your inked and pencil commission pieces the same price? Don’t most people charge more for inking their stuff too?

Some people do, but I suspect those people ink over finished pencils. When I ink my stuff, I just do very rough pencils and work all the details out at the inking stage, the same as I would when doing finished pencils, so it doesn’t really take me much (if any) more time or effort.

16) When is (insert book title here) coming out?

As soon as is humanly possible. I wish our books could come out faster, but we do what we do as fast as we can (while still maintaining the level of quality we demand). Comics take time to produce, especially indy comics in color.

17) What’s with that chick’s scar?

I assume you’re referring to Cary, aka Eclipse of the Victors. While I’m glad this has piqued peoples’ interest (it was kind of meant to), that part of her doesn’t factor heavily into the first arc (“No Good Deed,” running issues 1-6 of Victors). God willing, that story will be told. I tend to work pretty far in advance on the writing side of things, and the story that deals with Cary’s past has been written, but not within the first dozen issues. Sorry.