Some readers might feel that I was being a little hard on comics fans in the few scenes where they show up in costume. I hope not, because I really respect their love of the material and the effort they put into creating costumes. As a writer and a fan, I’ve seen this behavior from all sides. Because of my involvement with Star Wars I’ve gotten to know actors and have been around them to see how fans react. I suspect I’ll get another dose of that with the new Conan movie coming out, too.
Back in 2001 Timothy Zahn and I were the models for Talon Kaarde and Corran Horn in the Decipher Star Wars card game. That summer, at a number of conventions, Decipher hired us to sign autographs along with Shannon Baksa-McRandle as Mara Jade. During those signings we got two reactions. The folks who realized who Tim and I were and had read our books, loved the fact that we were cast as our characters. They loved us signing the cards because, to them, we weren’t just models. They knew, if you will, that being a model was just a front—they knew our secret identities.
For the folks who just wanted to collect the cards and collect signatures so they could resell things on Ebay, we were just pieces of meat. No chatting, no interaction, just dead eyes and a card shoved at us to be signed. We were just machines who, through some scribbling, added value to a piece of cardboard.
Through my association with actors like Jeremy Bulloch and Claudia Christian, I’ve gotten to see things pushed even further. Everyone has heard stories about fans confusing actors with the characters they play. It can even go beyond that. Because fans feel they know the actors so well, they feel free to pass judgment on career choices, clothing, souvenir prices and a host of other things. Granted, it’s only a small portion of fans who act gracelessly, and I’m willing to bet those fans are not terribly well socialized in other aspects of their lives either. Still it is a true phenomenon, which is why I touched upon it.
Similarly, some folks may feel I’m being overly harsh when poking fun at some comic book tropes. When I was working on the Rogue Squadron comic for Dark Horse, one of the decisions we made was to avoid comic-book-solutions to problems. The reason such solutions even exist is because of the way graphic novels and graphic storytelling has grown up. In the early days, comics were always for kids, so simple, fairy-tale solutions would work for problems. As comics grew up, many of the stories would become more realistic, but not all storytellers progressed at the same rate. Depending upon who scripted a book, realism might flag for an issue or two. Some writers don’t seem to mind inserting logical nonsense as long as the emotional storyline remains true. That opens comics to ambiguity, and it’s this ambiguity which I skewer at certain points.
I definitely feel that graphic novels are a valid storytelling medium, and I love them. I’m very proud of the work I did for Dark Horse and would love to script more comics. The accepted elements of that milieu means I can play with things in a serious way. Doing just that was my goal here—I just didn’t have pretty pictures go to along with it.
Once the novel was completed, I did a second pass. I ironed out problems and made sure all the dots connected. In March of 2008 I sent it off to my agent. He called in April, said he’d read it and that he didn’t have a clue as to what to do with it. There just isn’t a superhero fiction sub-genre. Around that time a couple of publishers had printed superhero novels, but they died pretty quickly.
That left me one option: Vertically Integrated Publishing, or VIPub, as Robert Vardeman coined the term. That means the author puts the whole project together and acts as his own publisher. Because I’d been active in podcasting and digital publishing, I knew what I’d have to do. A good cover, professional editing and a paper deal to go along with electronic publishing, and I’d be set.
For the cover illustration I turned to my friend Aaron Williams. He writes the PS 238 comic, which chronicles the lives of children of metahumans at a grade school. Aaron started the strip as a backup feature in his Nodwick comic. At a convention he asked me what I thought of it, and I told him I liked it. I also mentioned that I’d created a Batmanesque character called Revenant and if he ever had a need for such a character, I’d be happy to lend him out. Six weeks later I gave Aaron a copy of the story Peer Review and about six months later, the Revenant made his appearance in PS 238. (Later, when The Revenant had cause to run around without a mask, Aaron made him look suspiciously like Decipher’s model for Corran Horn.)
At my request, Aaron turned out the cover graphic which Kat Klaybourne turned into the cover.
Kat was also the person I turned to for editing help. She, in turn, enlisted others and then compiled all the changes and corrections that needed to be made. She bundled everything up and shot it off to me.
It never arrived.
For the next year and a half neither that manuscript or another one successfully made it from the New Jersey post office to my home in Phoenix. These delivery failures prompted an investigation which uncovered a postal employee who for reasons unknown to me, had a grudge against writers. Manuscript boxes that passed by his desk disappeared. Once he was fired, however, the manuscript arrived safe and sound, and the changes were incorporated into the manuscript.
Also in 2008 I talked with Loren Coleman of Catalyst Game Labs. At that time they were preparing their book publishing operation so they could bring BattleTech and Mechwarrior novels back into print. Loren mentioned that they were also interested in doing some original books. I mentioned In Hero Years… and thus began Loren’s patient but insistent calls for the manuscript. He even offered to send a minion to New Jersey to get the book, but it arrived before things had to get that drastic. (We’re still working out the details on printing a physical book. I’ll have details at Stormwolf.com when they’re available.)
The last point to be mentioned would be the matter of sequels or prequels or other stories set in this universe. I don’t know if there will be any. The novel ends one era and opens up another. It might be fun to go way back into the past and write some Puma stories. Sinisterion is someone I’d love to use again, but it might be in a parallel universe iteration. As for Coyote or Revenant stories, maybe. I’d love doing some graphic novel work in this setting. That would be a blast. And if Hollywood ever came calling, I guess that would be okay, too.
In Hero Years...I’m Dead was one of the most intriguing and challenging books I’ve written. I really got the play with a lot of elements that had been percolating in the background for a long time. Even now, as I read over some passages, and think about the story and characters, I find myself smiling happily.
Table of Contents
Cover
Other Kindle Books By Michael A. Stackpole
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Ch
apter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
About the Author
Behind The Scenes
Table of Contents
Cover
Other Kindle Books By Michael A. Stackpole
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
About the Author
Behind The Scenes
Michael A. Stackpole, In Hero Years... I'm Dead Delux Edition
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