Let me backtrack.

Today, I learned that Al Rio had taken his life. I discovered Al when he was working on Gen13, and he came to have a profound effect on my own art, especially in the early days of Johnny Saturn. I could describe how I feel about his loss, yet I won’t: every man’s pain is ultimately his own. You have yours, I have mine, and telling you about my feelings of loss is little more than half-baked drama.

I thought about the other art heroes I’d lost, such as John Buscema, Gil Kane, Gene Colan, Johnny Cash, Frank Frazetta, and so on. All my artistic heroes are at least my age or older than me, so I may well live long enough to see them all pass, and why would I wish that pain on myself? So, I decided I would sever emotional attachments to the people whose work I admired.

It’s not that simple. The arts speak directly to one’s emotions, or at least they should if fully appreciated. Add to this the fact that you can’t really separate the art from the artist. Every line they draw, word they write, note they sing is direct representation of themselves. Ultimately, you cannot love an artist’s work without feeling strong emotions for the artist themselves.

So, I will continue to care, and I will keep admiring the artists for producing the work I love. The person who you thought so highly was, no matter how much you might have exalted him, human. They are irreplaceable, yet fragile. So are we all.

We’ve moved much farther into a paperless world. Cursive is no longer taught, letters and post cards have gotten more and more rare, and e-ink readers or tablet computers make for a comfortable reading experience. This is great, and I’m all for it, except for one thing—digital media is fragile.

Digital media breaks down over time, becomes corrupted, and becomes obsolete by changing technology and platforms. It is truly ephemera, easily obtained, and easily lost. And, it can’t last. It is unlikely you can put a CD in a safety deposit box, open it in a hundred years, and read it.

Paper books, on the other hand, have often lasted hundreds, even thousands of years. The same problem exists for digital movies, because the only way to really preserve them is by printing them to film which usually has a 100 year life when stored properly.

So, be happy we live in the digital age with all the benefits (and dangers) that implies. But, if you are creator of media, make sure to save a paper copy. In the best of all worlds you would use acid free paper and archival inks in a humidity controlled environment that is void of direct sunlight. Well, not everyone can achieve that level of preservation, but do what you can. Paper lasts a long time.

SUPER HERO WORKSHOP

Aspiring comic book artists get a lesson in fantasy world reality.

By William Fouts, Staff Writer

Creating a comic book is a lot like directing a movie. Every scene, every word, every image has to keep the reader engrossed in the story.

While the pictures do not move, comic book artists have one advantage any Hollywood director would love to have. “You have an unlimited special effects budget,” said Scott Story, a local comic book artist and author.

Story and his wife, Benita, presented a workshop for a small but enthusiastic group of comic book artists at the Noblesville Public Library Monday.

By day, Scott Story, 41, is a mild-mannered illustrator, designing ads, logos, Web graphics and greeting cards. Benita Story, 41, is a bookkeeper. By night, they do battle in the world of superheroes, arch villains and comic book publishers.

Entirely self-taught, Scott Story began drawing professionally 11 years ago. He was inspired to go into comics after encountering “The Dark Knight Returns,” a novel-length Batman comic. “Which is this really grim and gritty comic, and that’s when I realized comics would be cool for adults too,” Scott Story said.

The Storys shared their experience in developing comic book characters and getting their work published. They have created Johnny Saturn, a superhero whose best days are behind him.

“Johnny Saturn is an over-the-hill superhero. He’s all beat up like a professional athlete at the end of his career when their knees are shot, but he still has a job to do, a terrorist to catch,” Scott Story said.

The pair works together on their creation, with Scott doing the art and developing the ideas and Benita fine-tuning and humanizing the dialog. They have self-published the first issue, paying for the printing costs themselves. They also publish their work on several Web sites like komikwerks.com and moderntales.com.

Regulars on the comic book convention circuit, the Storys are now starting to gain readers and interest from publishers. They said one publisher has expressed an interest in releasing Johnny Saturn to a national audience. It is an intriguing offer, given Johnny Saturn’s fate in issue one.

He dies at the end of issue one,” Scott Story said.

The workshop is part of a series of activities organized by the library’s Teen Zone. Molly Mrozowski, Teen Zone program coordinator, said programs like the comic book workshop are suggested by the teen themselves.

“We have a teen board, a group of seniors actually at the high school that advise us on program,” Mrozowski said.

“One of the members knows Scott and Benita so she suggested it, and I contacted them and we went from there. It really was a teen-developed program.”

Terry Newberry, 15, of Decatur, Ill., who will soon move to Noblesville, attended the workshop to learn how he could bring his own comic book hero, Needor Dacson, to life.

“He is a sword-fighting evil-pursuer, also a ladies man,” Newberry said.

As for Johnny Saturn, the Storys will begin publishing episodes on komikwerks.com while they continue to work with their print publisher to put their comic book on store shelves.

But how do the Storys plan to keep Johnny Saturn going after killing him in the first issue.

“Read the second issue,” Benita Story said.

PUBLISHING

Internet Comic

Johnny Saturn fights crime in fictional Spire City

BY KYLE MEEHAN

Scott Story, BA’92, and his comic-book creation, Johnny Saturn, are a study in contrast.Saturn is a veteran of the special-operations forces, a former detective, and independent crime fighter based in Spire City.Story is an IUPUI alumnus, a former abstractor, and independent publisher of Johnny Saturn comics.He lives in Pendleton, Ind.Despite the differences, Story, who also works as a freelance graphic designer, drew on his own experiences when creating the character.

“Saturn is kind of self-biographic,” says Story, who wrote, drew, colored, and self-published the first issue of Johnny Saturn with his wife, Benita, in 2004.“Johnny is a throwback, and getting into the business a bit older than most guys, I felt like a throwback.”

Johnny Saturn is a normal person who does heroic deeds in Spire City, a fictional cross between Indianapolis and Chicago, familiar cities for Story, a lifelong Indianapolis area resident.Saturn has no innate superpowers; armed with a sense of justice and his special-operations combat training, Saturn takes on gangs, intergalactic adversaries, and demons in the first five issues of the comic.

Story began his career as a typical nine-to-five employee; After graduation, he worked as an abstractor, searching for real-estate titles for companies.At age 30, he picked up a Dark Knight graphic novel at a garage sale and was inspired to start drawing comics for the first time since he was a kid.The concept of Saturn blossomed out of “a lot of little things,” especially Daredevil comics, which depict the hero taking pain killers to combat the wear and tear of his trade.

“I thought of athletes who have so many physical problems late in their careers,” says Story.“Batman would be lucky to walk with a cane after 10 years of that lifestyle.That kind of led into the whole concept”

Story, despite placing second in a 2001 contest at Marvel Comics, was unable to find success soliciting publishers.He decided to publish the comic himself on the Internet.

“Self-publishing is much more affordable nowadays,” says Story.“I ran it as a Web comic just to promote it originally, but now the Web version is the main comic and the print copies are more of an advertisement.”

The comic has been well received on the Internet, where most comics outside of juggernauts Marvel and DC are published, attracting 21,000 readers every week.Story as sold about 1,000 print copies, which are more expensive and time-consuming to publish.

“I get five to six comments a day on DrunkDuck.com, mostly by college students and young professionals,” says Story, who updates the comics every Tuesday and Thursday on five Web sites, including Drunkduck.com.

Story has a degree in medieval history and a minor in creative writing.He noted Kenneth cutler, MA’61, PhD’65, a history professor and his academic adviser, and Elizabeth Arthur, and English professor, as two teachers who had a particularly strong impact on him.

“My time at IUPUI was fantastic.It’s where I developed discipline and learned a great deal about writing stories,” says Story.

Story has Saturn’s adventures planned for the next three or four years.

Saturn is also slated to appear in collaborations with other independent comic heroes in 2008 and 2009.Story says he would love to see Saturn in bookstores or a movie or video game, but don’t expect success to go to Saturn’s head.

“Many superheroes are like rock stars—full of hot air,” says Story.“Johnny Saturn represents something that has come and gone, but the battles he fights are the important ones.”

The best part of my job here at Comic Related (and there are lots of good parts) is getting to meet and talk to really cool interesting people. Two of the best people I have had the pleasure of meeting are the creators behind Johnny Saturn: Scott and Benita Story. Let me step aside and let the Storys tell their…story

1. Tell us about yourselves.

Benita: Well we live in central Indiana, have been married 23 and a half years, still act like newlyweds, don’t watch TV, and have a house that’s basically a HUGE studio with living quarters (Seriously, the living room is Studio B where my looms and fiber arts stuff reside (except for those items that live elsewhere in the house), the master bedroom is the Media room with the TV, movies, Scott’s music recording equipment and his 1023 musical instruments (only a slight exaggeration), and the largest bedroom upstairs is Studio A where Scott hangs out all day). I still have a day job as the Accounting Manager of a small commercial real estate management firm, but dream of the day when I can make a living in my studio instead.

Scott: Contrary to popular reports, I do not have 1023 music instruments. More like 30. I like music! What else is there about me? I don’t play video games, and pretty much never have. I’m a cat person, but I’m an animal lover in general. I have lots of eclectic interests.

2. You are a married couple who create and self publish comics together…something of a rarity. Who does what? Is there a specific chain of activity or is it whoever is free, does what needs to be done?

Scott: I can’t think of too many married couples who do this… Wendy and Richard Pini? Phil and Kaja Foglio? That’s all I can think of. As far as our division of labor goes, I draw, ink, and color the comic, and Benita letters and edits the comic. As for writing, that’s a totally mixed bag. We split up scenes between us to write, but were still both really involved in each others’ writing.

Benita: Our way of writing together is pretty unusual, but fun. We’ll start throwing out ideas for a scene or a new character, then play “what if” until something strikes our fancy, and go back and forth with more ideas until someone says, “Okay, I’ll write that scene.” Also, one of us might come up with the character, but the other person ends up being the “voice” for that character. For instance, Scott came up with the original Johnny Saturn, but after the first couple of issues, I ended up doing his dialogue rather than Scott. Greg Buchanan, too. Whereas, I created Dr. Synn, but Scott has really become the dialogue writer for this character. We tend to go with our strengths. Luckily, one person’s weakness tends to be the other’s strengths, so we are very well matched when it comes to team-writing.

3. Who is Johnny Saturn and what is he up to now?

Scott: Johnny Saturn is a non-powered mystery man in a world of high-flying superheroes that live like celebrities. He’s the underdog that bites back!

Benita: The original Johnny Saturn now lives in semi-retirement with his wife, Persephone, in Monaco. But that retirement is only from “Active” crime fighting. He is using his wealth, knowledge and time by creating an underground crime fighting world using the homeless people living in Elysium City, creating his own intra-net, and using abandoned subway tunnels to create his own subway line for those who work for him. And, while Greg Buchanan (the new Johnny Saturn) still officially works for the police department as a detective, he is also on John’s payroll. You’ll get to see more and more evidence of this as the current story-line unfolds.

4. You produce Johnny as a webcomic and a standard floppy comic…what led you to this approach?

Scott: “Johnny Saturn” began as print comic, but we quickly seized on the idea of also presenting it on the web. That way, the same art could do triple duty, appearing on the internet, printed as single comics, and be collected as graphic novels.

Benita: As much as we enjoy selling the graphic novel and the floppies, we are story-tellers first and foremost. This means we want people to be able to read the story. Of course, we are striving to create a story so interesting and intriguing that people will want to buy the books after having read it online.

Scott: Exactly. That’s been a pretty good business model for us.

5. Where do you see webcomics as a part of the comics industry?

Scott: Webcomics, and the indy small press scene, have collided and intermixed at this point. It wasn’t always that way, of course. Used to be, we couldn’t tell people at conventions that Johnny Saturn was also a webcomic or we’d lose the sale. For the small press scene, I imagine that webcomics will come to replace individual print comics and go straight to graphic novel collections.

Benita: I agree. I foresee a day, in the near future, when all comics will be on the web, then as graphic novels. I see a day when the floppies will be rare rather than the rule.

6. Where do you see the industry heading in the next 10 years?

Scott: That’s a tough question, really. In the webcomic world, I believe a lot more people will make their comics their full-time jobs and make reasonable livings off their labor. On the other side, I don’t expect the heyday of indy print comics will come back, not like it was in the 1980′s and early 1990′s.

Benita: I guess I see webcomics becoming the normal, first-line distribution avenue for comics in general. Also, I see webcomics becoming more and more divergent in story-telling styles, genres, intended audience and talent. Which is great! The more different styles out there, the more popular the medium will become because wide diversity in genres means a wide diversity in readers – and more of them!

7. Who are your influences in the industry?

Benita: I read lots of different webcomics (in fact, it is rare that I read a print comic, and then it’s usually to review it for an article), and I find myself being influenced by the types of stories that are different than the typical stuff you see in print today. Yes, Johnny Saturn may have superhero elements to it, but I don’t read superhero books, really. My main influences in the webcomic industry today are the Foglios with Girl Genius, Dave Kellett with Sheldon, and Sarah Ellerton with The Phoenix Requiem.

Scott: My original influences were mostly Silver and Bronze Age comics and their creators, such as John Buscema, Neal Adams, Gil Kane, etc.

8. What is on your pull list right now?

Scott: I don’t have a pull list anymore. I still miss collecting comics, but once we began self-publishing we had to put all our money back into our own comic. I’ll still buy graphic novels on occasion, usually things written by Grant Morrison or Mike Mignola.

Benita: If I buy any comics, it is a graphic novel. When Strangers in Paradise was still being published, I snapped the new GNs up nearly as soon as they hit the shelves. I’ve also been collecting the Girl Genius graphic novels and Scott and I both read Fables in graphic novel format. Other than that, I’m a webcomic reader.

9. What is your opinion of the “Big 3″ (DC, Marvel & Image)? Are they still the places to aspire to or are they hurting the industry?

Scott: Great question. I would not say they are hurting the comic industry, because Marvel and DC pretty much ARE the comic industry. The rest of us live in their margins. I love a lot of the characters that are published at Marvel, DC, Image, and Dark Horse-Those are the characters that inspired us as kids and made us want to become cartoonists! As far as I’m concerned, doing work for Marvel or DC would be a wonderful opportunity for me as an artist, but it’s not my end goal.

Benita: I guess I see things a bit different from Scott in this matter since I was never a huge fan of what the Big 3 have produced. Are they hurting the industry? No, they have their own nitch in it, but I do see the huge commercialism from them as being a bit fake. They tell the same stories over and over again, they make movies on the same characters over and over again, and I see them as having no originality. Why people still put up with this crap, I have no idea. I guess people just get caught up in the hype of it. I’m one of those who distrusts “hype” though, and have always gone in a different direction than the mainstream. I like originality and look for it in my entertainment. As for aspiring to be them? Well, I’d like to pull their popularity over toward what independent presses are producing, but that is because I believe the independent presses are where the true talent lies. Go into any Artist Alley at any comic book convention and you’ll see that.

10. What advice do you have for someone starting out in comics?

Benita: Be original! Do not tell a story that has already been told a thousand times already. I like Terry Moore’s advice. Take a story element then turn it one turn to the left. Make people fit unstereotypical roles and see how they react. Tell a story that you want to read more rather than trying to tell a story that you think others want to read. In that direction lies madness and frustration. Most of all, do what you enjoy. If creating something is like going to the dentist, then try a different direction or tactic.

11. Without naming names, what are the biggest mistakes you’ve seen in others webcomics?

Scott: My biggest complaint with some webcomics is not keeping their update schedules! Or, making me click through a bunch of pages to get to the comic is a pain in the butt, and hiding the comic down below the fold irritates me too. I also won’t read a webcomic when the words are too small to read easily.

Benita: I have to agree on the updating part. If you say you are updating Monday and Wednesday but new ones come up on Tuesday and Thursday, then say Tuesday and Thursday. Also, those that go for weeks in between updates without letting us know they are taking some time off irk me. Consistency is crucial in this industry.

12. What is the one secret that everyone should know to make a successful webcomic?

Scott: Update regularly. When you announce your update schedule, you are making an agreement of sorts with the readers that you will have new episodes there when you say they will be there. Plus, if you are going to miss some updates, announce it in advance and let readers know how long you’ll be gone and when you’ll be back.

Benita: I’m going to add “And tell a story worth telling.” The art gets the people to look at it, but it’s the story that keeps them coming back.

13. Scott, in addition to your other talents, you are a gifted graphic designer…how has the use of applications like Photoshop affected your creative process?

Scott: I call Adobe Photoshop the hammer of the gods. It’s my favorite program of all time. I still draw and ink on paper, but all the colors and letters and special effects happen in Photoshop. Shortcuts and automation has allowed me to format and color strips faster than ever, making our Monday, Wednesday, Friday update schedule possible.

14. What are the most common Photoshop mistakes made by novice creators?

Scott: Most novices believe that comic coloring is a function of the paint bucket tool, pouring the color into the actual line art. This gives me shivers! Stop it! There are lots of other Photoshop misdemeanors, of course, but I’ll spare you the list.

15. What is your guiltiest (but greatest) comics purchase?

Scott: Undoubtedly, the Ten Year Slipcover, hardback edition of the “Dark Knight Returns.”

Benita: Yeah, that…

16. What is your favorite convention moment?

Benita: I love it when people come up to us and say, “I read Johnny Saturn online and I came here today just to meet and talk with you guys!” That and the people who just bought issue one coming back and saying, “Okay, I want the graphic novel. I have to know how this story ends!” That just makes my ol’ heart sing! We are entertaining the fans!!!

17. Speaking of conventions…what is up with that wacky spinning wheel, Benita?

Benita: Ha! Back when Scott had a table to promote himself as an artist, I would bring something to do to keep me entertained – like my inkle loom or a sewing project or something. We noticed these “extra-curricular” activities would draw people to the table and a lot of people would buy something whereas, normally, they would have just walked on by. When we started Johnny Saturn, I still needed something to do because most people want to talk to the artist rather than the writer (and most people don’t understand what letterers do), so I brought my spinning wheel. It kept me busy, drew peoples’ eyes to our table, and it let me be productive at something more in my line. Now, the spinning wheel is as important at our table as we are! I’m known as the Spinning Lady and I get recognized because of it when I roam around. At Mid-Ohio Con, I even got griped at because I had NOT brought my wheel. It’s a funny old world…

18. If not comics, what would you be doing?

Scott: I would be a painter and a full-time fantasy artist.

Benita: Well, life would sure be a lot simpler…

19. Final thoughts?

Benita: Yes! Come and visit us at http://www.johnnysaturn.com and bring all your friends!

Indeed! Thanks guys, you are the best!

John Wilson – John Wilson is a life long comic book fan and recent comics professional. In addition to his Graphic Content column of Comic and How-to book reviews on Comic Related, he writes content for Sketch Magazine.net, is a digital colorist for Unleashed Press, a moderator on the Art Unleashed forum for Blue Line Pro and Sketch Magazine and writes his own comic stories. John is also an Art educator, Multi-media artist and graphic designer. In the other five minutes of his day, he spends time with his wife, Kim and their two dogs and reads more magazines than should be humanly possible.

Posted by otomo on Mar 4, 2011 at 9:34 AM in Comics, Interviews, Other Comic Info

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.

Scott and Benita Story’s JOHNN SATURN is a terrific grim and gritty superhero tale in the tradition of WATCHMEN and DARK KNIGHT RETURNS.

Johnny Saturn is an aged, burned-out street level crimefighter. He’s scarred up and constantly on painkillers. But he never says die – even when he does die. That’s the premise of Scott and Benita Story’s hard-hitting daily superhero series, JOHNNY SATURN. There are many superheroes in Spire City, the world Johnny lives in, and he doesn’t get along with many of them, especially the ones that get in his way. The Squadrom Premiere is the large superhero group that polices Spire City, but Johnny has never felt like he belonged with them. Opposing Johnny for most of his life is Dr. Horatio Synn, a sadistic doctor with interest in the occult. Johnny is ably drawn by Scott Story, who is equally good at the quiet, street-level scenes and high-flying, sometimes very bloody action. The series is co-written and lettered by Scott’s wife, Benita Story. The lettering is a perfect fit for the no-holds-barred scripting. Check out Johnny Saturn if you want a darker, fascinating take on superheroes. I recommend it highly. … read it now!

Steve Horton is the writer/creator of Strongarm, published by Image Comics

In webcomics, Johnny Saturn is the largest example of this problem that I’ve seen. I’ve been thinking about the comic a lot, lately, because it has recently pushed a little too far for my tastes.

See, I’ve enjoyed the comic for some time now. It was a true, old-school action comic, and really seemed to represent what Graphic Smash was all about. But… well, Johnny Saturn himself was so very 90′s – a grim and gritty hero who was supposed to be more heroic than all the brightly-colored capes flying around overhead.

I like many of the secondary characters in the comic, I like the setting and the background storyarcs – and let’s be fair, in the beginning, the entire comic starts off well. The opening scene is of the Utopian (who appears an equivalent of Superman) giving a speech at Johnny’s grave, talking about how easy it is for the cosmic heroes to forget what the street heroes accomplish.

It is a very good speech.

I regret that, unfortunately, we’ll continue to have its message drilled home with every panel of every page of the comic. The comic goes on to show how Johnny, despite an ordinary man with no superpowers, was able to beat the crap out of the Utopian in a one-on-one fight. Later, he was able to do the same to the Squadron Premiere, the Utopian’s superpowered allies, before going on to handle the problems they couldn’t solve.

When he then heroically gives his own life to stop a villain (as one knows will occur from the opening scene), we got a step further – he rises from the grave through sheer force of will alone! A fortunate thing, as his archenemy has done the same, returning from Hell with a demon’s power, and is singlehandedly killing dozens of superheroes at a time. A good thing Johnny, an ordinary fellow, is around to step in and imprison him in a magic circle!

This, really, is where the strip lost me. The strip goes on to show how, despite the demon being imprisoned, one of the superheroes is still dumb enough to get himself killed by it. Fortunately, Johnny demonstrates he alone has the tactical knowledge to show how the demon can be killed – by having the supers focus their energy attacks on his head and chest.

And, with that sage advice, the evil is vanquished, thanks to Johnny Saturn.

Now, this is a comic about the guy - it is allowed to portray him as a hero. He is allowed to be the focus. But there really needs to be a limit, or it stops being about a competent hero, and more about the writer specifically setting things up to cast the character in the best possible light.

There needs to be a sense of balance. I’m not simply talking power-level – but when a character is stronger, smarter and tougher than everyone else, when there is no action they can take that will not result in triumph over their enemies… well, what’s the point?

Without even the possibility of a challenge, without the outcome ever being in doubt… why am I even reading?