SUM QUOD SUM part 1 page 1

Well this is my favourite graphic novel that I've done to date. You can find the free download on the NBC Heroes site HERE.

Two reasons allow this to stand out above the rest.

1. I had heaps of time to do it.

2. It features cast members.

What made it the most fun to draw was that I had been requesting an Elle story for ages. When I met Ollie Grigsby on set ages ago he told me that there was an Elle story in the works and that he would make sure I got it. While I never doubted that Ollie would do everything in his power to make that happen, sometimes life gets in the way. So, while I appreciated him saying that, I had no expectations. When I got the email from Frank saying that they had requested me for the Elle story I was happier than Claire at a pep rally. When I got the script itself with Ollie's name on it I was so excited I had to be careful I wouldn't blow up Costa Verde. It is a great script. Claude's dialogue is just perfect isn't it? And the whole thing ties in so nicely to the big picture. I really felt this was one of the best complimentary graphic novels they'd done.

This came in way ahead of schedule so I was really able to indulge in the backgrounds. A friend sent me a great essay once. It compared backgrounds in comics to a musical score in movies. Rushed and hurried backgrounds are akin to the wah wah pedal and tinny track that accompanies a porno. Lavish backgrounds are like an orchestral score from John Williams. I'm no John Williams, but I metaphorically single handedly attempted to haul in my own Philharmonic Orchestra.

I was living in London for the first 5 months of this year, so everything was very distinct in my mind's eye. When I was looking for research I knew exactly what to look for. What helped is that this was so well researched by Ollie. He even plotted out their CHASE. How cool is that? Given I had walked that very route I knew what you would see as you approached each area.

As you can see from above, I drew ALL of Tower Bridge. I was a little dismayed that it got covered up by the word balloon. But you can see it in all its glory above. Research-wise I couldn't find out what gun the guards use so I just threw in M-16s. A friend later told me they're SA-80s - and they don't hold them like that. Ahhh well.

I also love drawing likenesses. Annette commented how much Claude it looks like Claude. I joked that I can literally scribble lines and it looks like Claude. With reference he's quite easy to draw. Beard. Messy hair. Wild eyes. Easy.

I couldn't say the same about Kristin Bell. She is one tough lady to draw. There were countless times I had to redraw her face. She has such delicate features and the balance between them is so exact. I also found it much easier to draw her from Veronica Mars as they have a very powerful lighting design that lends itself to my style much more.

And yes, on one episode of Heroes she actually wears that lightning pendant. I thought it would be cool to chuck it in also.

Speaking of Annette, I think this is the best work she's ever done. It is indeed a beautiful sunny day in London, and the subtlety of the electrical effect in the last panel is beautiful. You can see I didn't draw any of that. It's all her. We're playing with this technique where i draw backgrounds on another layer and Annette is able to push them back to allow the

Having been watching Heroes, I was buzzed to finally see the scenes that I had watched filmed. The first one was Meredith telling Sandra she's going after Claire to rescue her from the Vacuum Man. The scene I saw blocked out was Sylar, Claire and HRG after recovering from the worm hole. I couldn't figure out why she started out every time flat on her face. Now I know. It was great seeing the finished scene.

But last night there was this scene where a distraught Peter is trying to push his way past Sylar. Sylar tries to stop him and says, "I can help you Peter." And it just got me thinking of this:


Don't forget the COMPETITION I'm running to win a copy of the BOOK OF LIES by Brad Meltzer courtesy of Grand Central Publishing. You have til next Monday!

20 Questions - the first half

So these are my initial designs (which I've ditched) for the SARMY peeps. Upon reviewing them weeks later, I just didn't like them. I thought they were weak pictures. So I did some new ones. I sent them to keke182, so if any of you haven't seen them yet (and I haven't heard anything either) you can hassle her/him.

As I said, when I went back to these, I just didn't like any of them. They just didn't scream, "Sylar" to me.

***

Anyway, what follows is the original English transcript of my interview for 9thWonders.net:

1. What made you begin to work with comics, acquire a taste for it?

I have always loved comics. I had a pile of comics since before I can even remember. What got me really seriously into comics as a profession is that, I guess at heart, I'm a control freak. I love the idea that I can control every part of the story that I'm telling. I can show you what the characters look like (unlike an author). I can voice their thoughts and I can voice their dialogue. At the end of the day, it's just me and the page telling the story. I find it very primal and very immediate. Especially with the Heroes comics! Working on them is very inspiring. We draw it one week and it appears online the next! It's so gratifying to get that immediate fan feedback.

2. Which comic books most influenced you, in your career and personal life?

I guess comic books have always been known for their superhero characters. It's what I grew up reading anyway. So I guess the greatest influence on me was that moral structure. I like to think that if there was any influence, it's that I still have my integrity. For example, at the last Armageddon Expo I was approached by a great number of fans wanting to buy my prints of the characters. Unfortunately, I don't own the rights to these characters. NBC does. In fact, NBC has paid a lot of money for those rights. While they would never find out about me selling these prints. I would never do it. And so while the fans are asking me to quote a price for the prints, really they are asking me to quote a price for my integrity.

3. Which artists have inspired you on that job?

I am a big fan of Frank Quitely and John Cassaday. Colouring wise, I guess I have adapted techniques from Adi Granov. My goal is to make the comic book look exactly like the show. Similar angles, similar lighting. I tend to go for a more dramatic colour palette, but that's just my own personal preference.


4. How's the feeling to work to one of the most famous TV show?

When I got offered the job I was pretty excited. When the script actually came through I almost shot through the ceiling. I ran around like Hiro, screaming at the top of my lungs. One of the biggest buzzes was again at the Armageddon Expo. I had a queue of people two and a half hours long waiting for a five-minute sketch from me. That was the most disarming amazing incredible experience. I expected to be listening to crickets and watching tumbleweeds go by. To have this many people know of my work and be big enough fans to wait that long absolutely blew me away.


5. Recently we've been seeing some new versions on Comic books for the big screen (classic ones such as "V for Vendetta", "X-men", and recently announced "Watchmen") and TV (like the newest "Wonderwoman"). What do you think about this interaction between comics and other Medias?

To me it's all about bringing in new readers. If each one of these movies can bring in 1% of their audience to pick up the comic book associated with that movie then I'm happy. New readers mean more people for me to tell my stories to. And that's what I love about HEROES. It's brought so many new readers to comic books. I have received so many personal messages from people saying that they never looked at comic books or took them seriously until they read my HEROES stuff. And that's my goal: to bring more readers into comic books. There's some great stuff on the shelves. We just have to point people in the right direction.


6. And what do you think of this twist, because now you have a TV show (Heroes) becoming a comic book, opposite to what has normally been seen.

Again, it serves the purpose of my goal. Even more so, actually. I think it's great that one established media helps out another established media. Especially as comics aren't taken as seriously as they should be. It's great to have a TV show, that is taken seriously give comics a huge nod. And let's face it, look through season one, the number of comic book references are huge. From direct reference, to homaging stories, it's all from comic books. And yet the way they've written it, you take it all in your stride, and you take it seriously.


7. Heroes' comic books are going to be printed out on real paper, what do you think about this idea?

I am so excited to see the HEROES graphic novel, it's not funny. When I heard about it at San Diego I ran around hassling all the DC comics post-production guys. They all guaranteed me this book would be of the highest quality. Mainly I finally get to point at something and show people what I've done, rather than sending them to a URL.


8. Comic books have been losing their power and space lately. How strong do you think they still are today? Do you think Heroes and other works we've seen on TV have helped revitalizing the genre as whole somehow?

I think it's always been an underdog media. Its main problem is it's too closely tied to one genre: superheroes. While I love superheroes, we need other stories and thats why I really like HEROES. It's walking the line between the genre dominating comics and good drama that dominates audiences.


9. Heroes did a real good job, and we think it's one of its greatest merits, gathering Comics Universe big names, such as Jeph Loeb, Tom Grummet, Alex Ross, Jim Lee, and, of course, yourself. What had effectively attracted you into it?

I think I already answered my own question as to why I'm into HEROES, and quality is a huge factor of that. It is really well-written, really well shot, and really well directed and acted. What more do you ask for in a show? I think they've been really smart to work with the people who are driving the comic industry at the moment. It's tough to walk the fence without a hand from either side.

10. And how did all started for you with the show? Was there really any kind of selection process, or was it more like an invitation?

I knew the producer Aron Eli Coleite beforehand. In fact, I had art directed one of his comics. When I was between jobs I was watching an episode of HEROES and I saw his name on it. I was shocked! I sent him an e-mail congratulating him on the show. He asked me what I been doing. I showed him. He asked if I wanted to draw one of the HEROES comics. Of course I said, "Yes!"

The script came within two hours and I couldn't believe it. Apparently the last artist had pulled out at the last minute, and they were struggling to find a replacement. It just so happened that I waved my arm in the air at just the right time. That was episode 19: Roadkill. I threw my hat into the ring with the editor Frank, and said if there's any more of these I'm up for it.

and in case you missed it:

JASON BADOWER SIGNING AT COMICS R' US

With the new HEROES graphic novel out, and as the major contributing artist, I will be signing at:

COMICS R'US CITY: 9th November 12pm-2pm
COMICS R'US CHAPEL ST: 10th November 12pm-2pm

I will have a new print run of sketchbooks ($15) and I will be doing sketches ($10) and autographing the graphic novel (free of course!). I hope to see you all there!

UPDATE: There *might* be a delay on the graphic novels til later Friday afternoon. I will keep you updated. But right now, these times and dates still stand.

LAS VEGAS

I believe this is Acidburn's selection for her second place prize. It's not brilliant, but it's not bad either. My favourite purchase was made in LA - which is a Sylar-like jacket. I love it!

The other half of Pngaou's piece: Mr Bennet is coming, but I'm unhappy with his likeness. I think his head's too fat. So when I get a second I will redo it.

I'm totally nose to the grindstone drawing a Mohinder Heroes story. After that, straight onto Zero G.

But more about the trip:

Las Vegas was the most regimented and planned part of the trip. It was the shortest visit: 3 days. It was a military strike planned by Mitch involving a helicopter lunch in the Grand Canyon, a visit to the Hoover Dam ("Where's Megatron kept?"), and copious amounts of shopping.

At the last minute in San Diego, JAn joined us. He was going to spend the time in LA with Lauren Perry (our uber editor) and her boyfriend, (and my art director), Chris Moreno. Then JAn decided that he probably won't get another opportunity anytime soon to see the great wonders made by man and nature.

Ironically, it was his presence that ruined any plans to see any of these things.

JAn motivated us to so much drinking, I pretty much didn't see sunlight for three days.

The first night we got into Vegas late. 11pm I think. We decided that we needed to do as much drinking on the strip as possible. We started our voyage at the MGM Grand ($35 per round) and made our way up to the Wynn (the casinos preceding the Wynn managed to get the rounds down to about $13 each). Our defeat came at the hands of an ambush of alcoholic slurpees. It was only the next day that we found out that there's 5 shots in a regular sized cup. That accounted for the Good Ship Team Clusterfrak's running aground at the Wynn.
Here's Simbo (ass-wards) and JAn after a 5 shot slurpee having run heedless across 8 lanes of traffic to pose with Sigfreid and Roy. I'm amazed my hand was steady enough to take this shot.

When we returned to the MGM, Simbo brought documents from his room. He looked around the sorry crew. His barely focusing eyes fixed on me, as I was the least drunk as I had passed on the first few rounds of Jaegers. He ran up to me and shook me violently, "Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!"

He produced the car rental documents. We had to get the car back before 11am the next day. I looked at the clock. 6am. I knew that I had to be out the door by 10am if I wanted to have a fighting chance of getting the car back.

What should have taken 1 hour, took 3. The GPS didn't work, so I spent a great deal of time circumnavigating ever-expanding rings around the MGM Grand - following suspect directions from a valet. A gas station attendant and some blind luck later found me at the airport. Another hour and I had extricated myself from the tedious incompetence of the rental place. A further hour and I was seated at the buffet at the MGM Grand.

JAn came down first. I was surprised. He had easily drunk the hardest. A bright smile and he started the day with a champagne and orange juice. Simbo came down next, looking a little pale, but had definitely survived the first night. Mitch came down. He was grey. He shuffled his immense frame into the chair next to JAn's. He turned to JAn and looked him dead in the bloodshot eyes, "I respect you. But you have a problem."

Apparently Mitch had thrown up in the bathtub as he didn't trust his aim with the toilet.

Highlights of Vegas included:

1. Ka: The epic martial arts inspired Cirque De Soleil show was the best $100 I have and probabl ever will spend. It was mind blowing. It was so beautiful and incredible what these performers were doing, and how it was conceived, that I almost teared up as my mind exploded.

2. Drinking: We drank everywhere. The Strip. Fremonte st. Circus Circus. New York New York. Luxor and some places I really can't remember.

3. The Star Trek Experience: I'm not a huge Trek fan, but you HAVE to go. Simbo and JAn, even less a Star Trek fan than I, ran straight back around the queue to do it again. It is so well written and well done, we were quite taken aback. The Star Trek themed restaurant (Quark's) had some fantastic food and thematically belligerent Klingons.

4. Shopping: I didn't want to see the Hoover Dam or the Grand Canyon. A big wall and a big hole in the ground as far as I was concerned. I had recently discovered my sense of fashion and wanted to exercise my metrosexual muscles. The hour and a half I had to shop was a definite highlight. God... I'm sounding less and less hetero by the day...

5. Shooting: I'm kinda terrified how three guys (JAn, Simbo and I - Mitch had left) who had never held a gun in our lives were kitted out with an M-16, a H&K MP 5, and three pistols: a glock, a .45 and a beretta within 2minutes of my credit card clearing. It was a lot of fun. I've decided I like pistols best.
Here are the boys doing their little bit for the war on terror.

6. Drinking: It's on the list twice cos we did so much of it.

NEXT: LA - the conclusion of our trip. Clubbing. Drinking. Nocturnal encounters.

SYLAR page 6

Here's our final page. Easily the page I'm most happy with. I think I nailed the Sylar likeness here. I'm really happy with Zane too. I definitely feel I captured him too.

If you check the watch that Annette put it, it's off the HEROES: Wikipedia site. So there's a nice little circle there as we now have our own links there courtesy of the kind, talented and dedicated Ryan Gibson Stewart:

http://heroeswiki.com/Jason_Badower

What I'm unhappy about is that on the actual episode Zane's line is delivered from behind a security door. I know it's such a tiny thing, but that really bothers me. The problem is that I know the fans are real sticklers for this sort of detail too. That's part and parcel about being a fan. You come to the party on this alternate universe, and the better it is, the more you come to the party on it. But when someone isn't true to that universe, it feels like blasphemy- like someone has soiled your world - your vision. The bubble of disbelief is so fragile, that even something as small as a security door can pop it.

I think the comics are an excellent initiative by the producers to create bonus material to entertain the fans. But as I mentioned, if you're going to do this, you really have to commit to it. If the fans feel that it's a fifth wheel it's going to get ignored by all but the most hardcore fans. If NBC could crank up their attentiveness to the material half a notch I think they'd get an even wider and better response to the comics. I feel that the comics are being considered "just comics", and that's a huge shame. They can be so much more than that. While I consider these comics great bonus material, it would only take the slightest crank up to make them essential reading in the HEROES mythos.

Sneak peek news: I've just received word that the next four comics are by the same artist and feature one character.

In the meantime, I finished drawing this page really late at night (4am? 5am?) and jumped into the shower. It was only there that I realised in the screen caps that NBC sent me that Sylar doesn't have his cap. Here's the original panel. I climbed out of the shower and erased the cap (trying not to think about the fact I had to be awake in 4 hours). I include it cos it's easily my favourite Sylar picture.

Thanks to everyone who has been following this little journey. I just got word that after the next four issues Frank will get in touch with me and we will see if we can work out another issue for me.

SYLAR page 5

Here's page 5. There was a huge debate here that Sylar has some sort of Super-Jump after reading this. I'm just glad that it didn't read that he can fly. The script actually says:

"The driver's door is open and Sylar is Telekinetically moving himself to a safe place against the mountain."

So he can't fly. NBC were very specific in my notes that Sylar cannot fly. I believe because it's one power per person. Nathan can fly, therefore Telekinesis means you can't (in the HEROES universe anyway). I drew him hanging onto the branch to further illustrate that the jump he made was impossible, but he certainly didn't fly. I also wanted the branch to be kinda thin to give you the idea that he's holding his own weight with his Telekinesis.

Again, check the coloured version for what Annette did. She basically blew life into the piece. The blurs, smearing headlights, helicopter, police lights... It all brings it to life.

SYLAR page 4

I have a REALLY good excuse for not posting last night. You see, in Australia they just aired the 3rd episode, so I have to download my episodes (naughty me!). I couldn't jump on to post because I was waiting with bated breath for RUN! to come down. I enjoyed the heck out of it but kicked myself when Zane asks Sylar if he's Dr Suresh behind the security door. There wasn't any security door in my photo reference! I like everything to be perfect so the experience of the comics feels true to the show. I don't want my comic to feel like the poor, invalid cousin of a television program. I'd rather it be like nuts on ice-cream... you don't need it, but it sure enriches the experience (and you can always eat the nuts by themselves).

Anyway, onto page 4. This page is totally all Annette. If you hold them up side by side you can really see the amount of work that Annette put in. It's quite funny, Annette may not yet be the best colourist in the business, (this is not a slight, we're both at the start of our careers - and we both want to be the best - but we're not there yet) but she is one of the best storytellers in the business. Her commitment to the story is always paramount. I don't just mean things like motion blurs, and the incredible ice effect that she did on panel 3 (look at my black and white! I just wrote her some notes as to what I wanted and the rest of the magic is hers) . What I'm talking about is that after panel 2 I totally forget to draw the helicopter again. But Annette places its flood lights in almost every panel adding a foreboding sense of drama that I dropped the ball on. That's what good colouring is people.

But let's not dwell on that alone. The movement of the road on panel 2. The ice effect and the movement shine on the wheels in panel 3. The reflection of the siren lights on the ice (oh my god!). Again the helicopter light on panel 5. Wow!

The other thing that drove me nuts was the number of cop cars I had to draw! I think there's about a dozen or so. I was gonna headbutt my monitor by the end of it.

On the upside the script brought a revelation to the HEROES universe here. We'd never seen Sylar us his ice powers like this before. I wrote Annette some notes mentioning that I really didn't want it to look like Iceman from the X-men. A beam of ice never made any sense to me and wouldn't look right in the HEROES world. I figured that the air around his hands would simply just get really, really cold rather than a beam of ice shoot out of his hands. I figured he could then extend and direct the coldness around his hands towards the road (I couldn't get him leaning out and touching the road - how would he steer the semi?!). But where does the water come from that forms the ice? Is it the oxygen in the air slowing down? Should I have drawn the ground wet from rain? Given that there was no direction for the latter in the script, I opted for the former.

So my comic implies that he could freeze someone from a short distance (3 feet?). I wonder if they will use that or if he needs to actually make contact with someone? I wonder if he can do it from further away?

Questions, questions...

SYLAR page 3

This was probably one of my favourite pages. Getting to draw Hiro, Ando and Charlie was a huge buzz. Boy I'd love to draw more Hiro. He's just so expressive.

Soon as I got the script I knew the scene I wanted to draw. It was right there in my mind's eye.

I went back to episode 9 and began to trawl it for the scene. To my schock, I realised that the scene didn't exist. So what I did was I composited about 4 different scenes/images together to get panel 3. I grabbed Charlie from where she is chatting to the sheriff and the deputy and flipped her. I grabbed a zoom in shot of Hiro and Ando. I stole a Hiro from somewhere else and the Sylar is from his own shot. It's all meticulously drawn to make sure that you know that's the Burnt Toast Diner... right down to the photos in the background.

Because I was so happy with the likenesses here's a closeup of my favourite panel; panel 3:



Of note, I screwed up and no one caught me. In panel 2, Charlie's menu should read the BURNT TOAST DINER not the Burnt ToastER Diner. Ooops!

Also, I redrew Sylar's head in panel 6. It was good, but it wasn't good enough. Annette had already coloured it and was kind enough to afford me my eccentricities and coloured it again. Here it is again. It's more menacing, but I just didn't like it:

It's a huge page as it confirms Sylar has Charlie's memory. It's unsure in the show as Sylar just disappears. But you heard it here first hand. It also explains how he was immune to the Haitian's "Jedi Mind Tricks" as he remembers Claire after being captured.

SYLAR page 2

Sorry about the tardiness. I've had some tech issues (which have now been overcome) over the last few days. But here I am, back on track.

Page 2 is pretty straight forward. One of the toughest things was trying to maintain continuity. I'm a real stickler for continuity. As a fan I read through the previous HEROES comics and was disapointed by small continuity errors like characters not wearing the right clothing, not being in the scene and sometimes characters not looking like the characters at all etc. It wasn't until I worked under the time crunch that I understood why.

So I got the job saturday afternoon (my time) and it's set after the episode that airs Tuesday (my time). While they sent me some screen caps of that episode ahead of time, none of them had the Haitian in it. When I finally watched the episode I was shocked to see the Haitian following HRG into the room. I could have easily let it slip, but things like that bug me. He should be there! So back to page 1...


It's actually not too bad a likeness of the two characters. I wanted to try and make all the characters really look like the characters. A decent resemblance was my lowest level of acceptance. To do this under the timeframe, I had to cheat. I went through and screen capped all the shots of the characters and traced over them in Photoshop, adjusting linework as I needed to (feel free to try and play spot the photo reference). If you think this is easy, then grab a photo, trace it yourself and tell me how well you did. What doing that saved me was just being able to get the proportions on people's faces right the first time. Readjusting the lighting is a really tough thing to do, as even if you have the proportions, the structure of everyone's face is totally different. The slightest change in lighting can totally transform a likeness.

The only extra thing I wanted to do was to have blood spurting out of the trucker's mouth. But Sylar (cool as a cucumber) simply tilts his hat down to catch the blood on the brim of his hat, and discards it after. That's why he wouldn't have the hat later on. But... too little too late.


As you can see, the artwork pretty much follows the layouts. I tried to use more space here as I wanted to feel I was addressing NBC's feedback (use more space!).

SYLAR page 1

So here's what Annette gets before she starts colouring. You can start to see the sort of choices she makes when you see the black and white artwork. While I send her some notes, the buck stops with her.

I've already spoken about how I got the gig, so I thought I'd talk about the process. I got the job and the script about 11am on saturday morning. I didn't finish work until midday. Frank was at work late on a friday night (big time difference as I'm in Australia), and needed to approve layouts before I could get started. He had about 3.5 hours to approve these layouts. If I missed the boat then I'd have to wait til his monday (my tuesday) to get started, and that would make the friday deadline impossible.

So I ran home (not literally) and began work on the layouts. Layouts are small sketches of the page. Little more than stick figures to show the editor (Frank) and the network (NBC) how the pages are going to look. They basically looked like this:

It's important to stick to them, because when they've been approved any changes you make might have to be redone.

While it seems simple, doing layouts burns my brain out. Trying to conceive things from all possible angles is a real nightmare. I realised I wouldn't get through more than three pages over the weekend, so I just layed (laid?) out the first three pages. Frank approved them immediately and I got to work.

NBC's main concern with my layouts was that there was too much unused space (also called negative space). My theory was two-fold:

1. I wanted to keep panels wider than they were taller to maintain a "widescreen" feel to the comic. The closer visually it could look to the show, the more accepting readers would be.

2. When I read the online comics, I downloaded them as a PDF and zoomed in so the pages were as wide as my monitor and then scrolled down. The problem was that long thin panels forced me to zoom out, and thus disrupted my reading. Wide panels mean that the reveals are all vertical. This means that as you scroll down, you see what happens next. The layout is conducive to the PDF reading format.


EASTER EGGS:

1. Check out the newspaper article up close (you will need to download the colour one on the site - we were specifically asked to place those newspaper headlines.

2. The name of the beer is Northeast Brewing Company, as a smart poster on the 9th Wonder Message boards noted, the acronym is NBC.

3. The script didn't call for Sylar to go rummaging through a charity clothes bin. That was my decision. I just felt that if you're covered in blood from two gunshot wounds, then it's unlikely that someone's going to give you a ride. If I'd received the screen caps for episode 15 earlier, I would have given Sylar the green wide neck top.

HEROES!!!

Here's that big news I was talking about!

I got a gig doing an official HEROES webisode!!!

I'm a huge fan of the show and had just finished the first book of ZERO G (my new comic). I decided to wander by NBC's website for the show and see what they had going on there. I noticed the comic webisodes and really enjoyed them. I then remembered that I knew Aron Coleite (one of the producers, and writer of my favourite episode, "Six Months Ago") as I had art directed a comic of his. I thought I'd shoot Aron an email, congratulate him on the show and send him some art from Zero G. I also asked how one gets a gig doing the webisode comics.

Aron emailed me back and said he'd forwarded the email onto the editor at Aspen Entertainment who contract the artists for the webisodes. Frank from Aspen emailed me immediately and said he liked my stuff. He asked me if I'd be interested in doing a six page story. The only catch was the TIGHT deadline - I got the gig saturday afternoon and the story was due (fully coloured) the following friday.

I contacted Annette (my uber-colourist) and it was GAME ON!

I take about 10 hours to draw a page, I managed to get it down to 6 hours per page for this. That made 36 hours on top of my normal 50 hours a week... it was a BIG week. I basically got to work at 930am, left at 8pm and then had dinner and drew from 9pm til 3am every night. Annette and I managed to get it done, and there were high fives all round.

I'm incredibly happy with it. I would have liked tighter likenesses, but what can you do when the clock ticks that quickly? It was such a huge buzz drawing the likenesses - especially Hiro. Sylar is such a tough one. He's a real chameleon. Zachary Quinto has an incredible range of expression, and it's so hard to capture. The image I posted above is my favourite (and also shows you the black and white artwork that Annette coloured).

You can go here for the comic, it's EPISODE 20 and called ROAD RAGE:

http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/novels/