The Collective Of Heroes: Scott Story Speaks

Web Comic author and enthusiast Scott Story took the time to speak with us about his new website:  The Collective of Heroes ( http://www.collectiveofheroes.net ) and his superhero web-comic Johnny Saturn ( http://www.johnnysaturn.com )

What exactly is the Collective of Heroes?

The Collective of Heroes is built around the idea of high-quality, indie superhero webcomics. That seems limited in scope, but that’s OK because I think of us specialists, not generalists.  In other words, for every one really good superhero webcomic out there, there are ten more that are not so good.  We want to represent the good ones.

How did it come about?

Arne Schulenberg, Scott Austin, and I were all in a now defunct collective together, Webcomic Planet.  I was never comfortable there, because it was a take-all-comers type of group, and thus the good comics were held down by the not-so-good to awful comics.  Even before Webcomic Planet went away, the three of us were already talking about some sort of future alliance, maybe a group podcast, maybe a small collective.  I don’t think the group podcast would have worked out well, because Arne lives in Germany, Scott lives in Finland, and I live in the United States, so matching up time zones would have been a real hassle.  Based on all this, the three of us decided a limited collective would be the way to go. Since our beginning in January, we have added Stephen Crowley of “Magellan,” Carey Kelley of “Dynagirl,” and Benny Powell of “Wayward Sons: Legends.” We may add up to two more members, but we are in no hurry to do so.

What does the Collective do for the average comic reader?
A couple of things.  First, if the reader enjoys superhero comics, then he can come to the Collective and find high quality superhero comics.  If that same reader had typed “superhero webcomic” into a search engine, he would have had to wade through a lot junk to find something good. Second, if the reader doesn’t care for superhero comics, this site might change their minds.  These comics are all top quality, long-form fiction, with realistic characterization and nuanced writing.
What are your goals for the project in the future?

We’ve got a lot of ideas for the future, but above all else we plan to present the collective as the face of high-quality superhero webcomics. Superhero comics on the web have been much maligned, and we intend to change that attitude.

Are you actively advertising the collective?  What can the members expect?

So far advertising has been limited to our individual sites, and advertisements on Project Wonderful.  Eventually, there should be a Facebook fan page, a Deviant Art outpost, etc. The real benefit, as I see it, is sharing fan basis.  If you like Wayward Sons, then you will probably like Heroes Inc.  If you like Johnny Saturn, then Union of Heroes has a lot to offer you.  Really, anybody who enjoys one of these comics will probably enjoy them all.

You have your own superhero comic, Johnny Saturn.  Since TBR’s readers are primarily print-comic oriented, do you think it’d be fair to compare Johnny Saturn to Batman?

Well, that depends which Johnny Saturn you are talking about.  The first Saturn, to me, more closely resembled a cross between DC’s Wildcat and Sin City’s Marv.  This was one tough customer, but he’s retired from vigilante work.  The second Johnny Saturn, Greg Buchanan, is a bit more Batman-like, because Greg wears powered armor and relies on a lot of gadgets.  The similarity ends there, though, because Greg Buchanan has mental health issues: in the beginning, he clearly suffered from clinical depression.  Over time, his mental health has deteriorated, and he now suffers from manic-depression.  There are other differences.  John Underhall was about justice, and Greg Buchanan is about vengeance.
The comic has been going since 2006, one of the few stable superhero comics on the web.  What got you started making a web comic?

“Johnny Saturn” began as a black-and-white indie comic, sold primarily at conventions, on the web, local comic shops, etc.  We then went color, and for the next nine issues we published the individual issues, while at the same time publishing a trade-paperback that was made up of the first five issues.  By then, the web had become indispensable for comic promotion, so we began running a single page a week in 2006 on Graphic Smash.  We’ve had a lot of luck with the web, and by issue five “Johnny Saturn” was primarily a webcomic.  We still publish trade paperbacks, but to me “Johnny Saturn” is truly at home on johnnysaturn.com.

What are the challenges of keeping a comic going twice a week for 4+ years?

In the beginning we published once a week.  Then, we moved to two episodes a week, and for about a year there we published three episodes a week.  These days, it’s Mondays and Thursdays. Sticking to our schedule over the years has been a real challenge, but we have rarely ever missed and update, and we’ve never gone on hiatus, not even when I had surgery on my drawing hand.  Benita and I have the story written well into the future, but the individual episodes are drawn and colored the week before they appear on the web.