BY JENNIFER M. CONTINO Trying to keep your identity secret from loved ones is tough, that's why Mark told his girlfriend Abby about his dual life as The Crusader in the pages of the romantic comedy, Love and Capes. Creator Thom Zahler said the series "follows that sitcom style of a real world where funny stuff happens." Love and Capes has garnered praise from notables in and around the comics industry. On Free Comic Book Day, Zahler will have an issue available for those interested in trying the series. Also, IDW Publishing will be releasing a trade collecting the first arc as well. For those who have heard a lot about the romantic comedy, but haven't checked it out yet, Zahler gives us some details on what makes Love and Capes soar above the crowd.
THE PULSE: With a comic like Love and Capes, one might guess that it is a superhero romance story. For our readers who know nothing about the series, but would like to check out the Free Comic Book Day issue; catch them up to speed, please!
THOM ZAHLER:Love and Capes is a superhero sitcom comic about The Crusader and his girlfriend Abby. Unlike most superheroes, Mark’s decided to tell Abby about his dual identity. The book is all about the relationship and the humor and perils that go along with it: Is there ever a good time to tell your girlfriend that you have X-Ray Vision. How does she react when she finds out you used to date Wonder Woman. Stuff like that.
And while the book’s a comedy, it’s not a parody. It follows that sitcom style of a real world where funny stuff happens. The superhero stuff is mostly straight, just off-camera.
The previous issue, #6, was the end of the first arc (or season).
I should probably hit you with a SPOILER WARNING if you haven’t read it. The issue ended just before Christmas with Mark (The Crusader) deciding to propose to Abby. Issue #7 picks up right from that.
THE PULSE: You’ve worked on a variety of projects in your day, but what is it about Love and Capes that really got in your blood, and was a series you wanted to explore and do more with? Are you one of those hopeless romantics?
ZAHLER: I’m hopeless, that’s for sure.
I really like humor and romance and banter. I’d done some other projects that toughed on that, and when I did, I found that I really liked those aspects and tried to figure out a project that worked with all of those. And I love dialogue. I like finding just the right word to convey the right feeling. I’m a big fan of Aaron Sorkin and Joss Whedon, both of whom write some sparkling dialogue.
THE PULSE: Typically the romance genre isn’t one that does very well in the comic book stands. What appeals to you about telling this kind of story? I mean, I know it’s not a straight out full blown romance one, but with “love” in the title, that’s what people are going to think.
ZAHLER: I like the blend of romance and superheroes. I think that’s one of the reasons the book has done fine in the current market. It’s a love story, but it’s got superheroes and powers and satellites and all the trappings of more popular genres. Plus, I love superhero books myself. If you read Love and Capes, you can tell how much I love the superheroes I grew up on. There are a lot of homages to classic 70’s-80’s books.
I think there’s some level of “a spoonful of sugar” by mixing the genres. I think a romance book definitely has an uphill climb but putting it in the superhero world makes it a little more appealing.
THE PULSE: When you were designing your leads, as a fan of the classics, who or what influenced you the most when you were coming up with your hero and leading lady?
ZAHLER: The Crusader’s obviously a Superman-type. He’s very influenced by George Reeves’ and Christopher Reeve’s Superman. He’s a very friendly, charming superhero. Where I deviated from the mold is that in his secret identity, he’s just an accountant. He doesn’t have a job that plays into his other identity. In fact, I made him self-employed and working out of his house just to explain why he doesn’t need to explain his sudden absences. That part of the tradition I wasn’t interested in.
As Mark, I have to say he’s probably a mix of me... or at least an idealized me… and Chandler from Friends. He can definitely be funny. Since he doesn’t have to prove he’s not the Crusader, he doesn’t have to act wimpy or clumsy or anything, He can just be himself, which is nice.
Now, Abby was the hardest character to create when I was starting out. She’s not the superhero’s girlfriend archetype: she’s not a reporter or photographer or even someone that ignored the hero in his secret identity. I didn’t want to do those stories, and, honestly, my heroes are smart enough not to say they’re their secret identity’s best friend and then have people wonder why they’re never seen together.
I wanted to make sure that she was interesting in and of herself without having Mark around. Abby can support the strip when she’s by herself and there are no superhero jokes. That was very important to me.
As opposed to comics, she takes a lot of her inspiration from sitcoms. Helen Hunt’s Jamie on Mad About You was a definite influence, as was the whole series. And Patricia Richardson’s Jill on Home Improvement I think is one of the greatest wives on television. Most TV wives look at their husband with a “Boy, you’re a dope. Why are you doing that? Oh, but I love you anyway.” Jill would go along with Tim in his wackiness, and that was inmportant.
And, bizarrely enough, Abigail Adams, specifically from the musical 1776 was an inspiration, and where she gets her name. In the musical, Mrs. Adams is a phenomenally strong character, and she’d give as good as she got. I wanted a lot of that in Abby.
THE PULSE: You’ve been working on this for a long time, right? If someone just goes to your website and checks it out, it might be reminiscent of The Incredibles. Were you at all influenced by that production or was Love and Capes already on the radar before that story became the smash sensation?
ZAHLER: I see the connection to The Incredibles, and I’m sure it was an influence, but it was deep under the surface. I wasn’t thinking about that when I created it. It started in it’s early stages spinning of a sitcom script I’d tried to write, so I wasn’t thinking in art terms at that point.
The style and design of the film definitely filtered through. When I did my initial sketches for The Crusader someone said he looked like Mr. Incredible, and I got worried about that. The one place it was a definite influence was in the negative: I like capes, and my characters well them... very safely, too.
My bigger influences on the style were Dawryn Cooke and Bruce Timm. I wanted cartoony but not silly or over the top. Hopefully that fun and punch comes through.
THE PULSE: This kind of also seems like what if the Golden Age Superman got married to Lois Lane and they still lived in that bygone era. Which great comic book romances -- not of your own creation -- are some of your favorites? Why?
ZAHLER: Obviously Clark and Lois are influences. Tony Isabella’s Hawkman and Hawkwoman were a great couple back in the Shadow War of the Hawkman days. They were married, but they weren’t in any way old and stale as such things seem to be all too frequently portrayed. Mark Waid did a great job with Linda and Wally. There’s probably a little Jean and Scott from X-Men in there, too.
My absolute favorite comic book romance is one I just found, and wish I had before: Tom Beland’s True Story Swear To God. It is absolutely amazing what he does in that book. I just got the first trade, and every issue in there impressed the heck out of me. From his amazing honesty to his humor to the way he ties everything together... man, I just don’t have enough good words to describe it. I know it’s a true story, so it’s in it’s own category separate from the ones above. Then again, I think it’s in a category all by itself, period.
THE PULSE: Love and Capes seems like a story that readers of all ages can enjoy for different reasons. How important was it for you to have this project be accessible to anyone interested in checking out the series?
ZAHLER: It was very important. I’ve been taught that every issue is someone’s first, and I actually like the challenge of recapping things without doing so overtly with any “As you know, Abby...” dialogue. I didn’t realize how much I was doing it until I read a review that mentioned that I make sure to use everyone’s name in the first couple pages and help the new readers out.
For the Free Comic Book Day issues, and this is the second, I actually do a recap page to make it even easier. I think if a potential reader picks it up on his normal trip, there’s an implicit compact that I’ll try to make it accessible and they’ll be willing to work a little to figure everything out. On FCBD I go overt and say “This is who everyone is and what’s happening.” Why make it hard for anyone?
Plus, with #7 being the first part of the second arc, there was more back story to cover. I needed to bring people up to speed on the proposal aspect and the first six issues so they could really appreciate the story.
THE PULSE: What are the challenges of finding the time to create your own series when you have so many other jobs to pay the bills -- how do you find enough hours in the day?
ZAHLER: Coffee, lots of coffee.
I get jittery if I’m not working on something, and for the most part I can have the TV on while I’m working so I don’t have to stop everything to draw. It makes drawing at night a little easier.
And you’re right that I do a lot of illustration and cartooning jobs to pay the bills, but there’s a whole different muscle thing. As long as I haven’t had to draw a comic page during the day, I can do Love and Capes at night. But I’ve really only got one page in me per day. So, if I have a client that needs a comic, like when I used to work for the Cleveland Indians, I usually can’t draw that day.
The biggest thing is that I *want* to do it. I have more late nights when I’m working on a new issue of Love and Capes than any other time. The story is almost bursting to get out and I have a problem stopping working on it. When you have a project that grabs you like that, you just grab it and hold on for the ride.
THE PULSE: There’s a lot of dark, disturbing content in comics now-a-days; do you think things might be going too far in one extreme direction now? I mean, we had a lot of entertaining comics before 2001 that weren’t this graphic and extreme ….
ZAHLER: I didn’t notice any difference specifically around 2001, but I’m sure because of 9/11 there may have been a spike. I think it’s been a trend for a while.
The place it starts running cold for me is the “copy of a copy” thing. There obvious trend starters, Dark Knight, Watchmen and others had some bleakness to them, but there was also a lot of heart. Dark Knight in particular is actually a very optimistic book. It ends with the line “This will be a good life” which is in sharp contrast to “This would be a good death” that started things out.
The thing that happens is that people copy what’s popular, either because they like it or because they want to make something similarly popular, and they only notice the big strokes and miss the structure. It happens in everything. The Image guys had a similar style and were very popular, and then you got people copying the linework and detail without seeing the anatomy and layout. People see gradients and airbrush in comics and then everyone’s doing it on everything.
But that’s the peril of popularity, and it’s a natural cycle. How many shows about a 20-something group of friends followed Friends? How many comedians got their own show after Seinfeld?
To answer the other part of your question, I’ve very much got an all-ages appropriate vibe to my book. Even when I was doing an action-adventure book I was staying PG-13. Here, my guideline is what you can get away with on television. There’s a double entendre or two in the dialogue to be sure, but it’s nothing I can’t show my Goddaughter.
That’s a personal choice, too. There are lots of mature readers books that I enjoy and there’s nothing wrong with that. I just don’t want that for Love and Capes.
THE PULSE: What are the challenges of being competitive with your creations in today’s market?
ZAHLER: Getting people to notice you is the biggest thing. When I started out, I gave out a ton of issues. I sold advertising in the first issue and part of the deal was that I’d give away 100 or so per show. I’d find a long line and start handing them out.
It’s amazing how well that worked, too. I just did MegaCon in Orlando, and I hadn’t done that show in two years when I debuted LnC. Still, a bunch of people came up and said “I got this when you were here in 2006 and loved it. Do you have more?”
So it’s all marketing, marketing, marketing. I try to maintain a large enough convention presence so that people are aware of me. I have the first three available for free on Wowio.com. And I’ve sectioned the books up and post them as strips on the Love and Capes website. The more places I can get someone to see the book, the better a chance I have of selling it.
THE PULSE: Why did you want to be a part of Free Comic Book Day? It is a great way to get your book out there to a potential new audience, but isn’t it also costly for you to do something like this?
ZAHLER: Well, I’m a big fan of the concept of Free Comic Book Day, first and foremost. I think it’s important to do everything we can to get the medium to new readers. FCBD is a nice part of that.
For Love and Capes specifically, exposure was the big reason. I wanted something to jump start the book, especially in the middle of the planned first arc. And I talked with John Gallagher who does Buzzboy and he told me how well it worked for him. He was an amazing resource and I couldn’t, and probably wouldn’t, have done it without him.
As far as cost, it’s easier to sell ads for the FCBD issue than for the regular issue since the circulation is so much greater, plus I have eight more pages to work with. Everyone knows what a great promotion it is, so I was able to sell some ad space. Add to that my contacts from doing the program book at Mid-Ohio-Con and I was able to line up some nice sponsors to defray the cost and get it to an acceptable financial risk level.
Also, and this was John’s idea that I stole, I print an alternate cover that I sell as the retail version. So that gives me a version that I can sell after the fact. It’s the opposite of the other trend of releasing reprints of material. You have to do what works for you, of course. But that helps me defray the costs, too.
THE PULSE: It seems a lot of the smaller comic book stores only get the FCBD issues from the “Big Three” publishers, how tough is it to get them to take notice of your small press creation?
ZAHLER: I honestly haven’t had too much of a problem, but I’ve got some factors in my favor. First was John letting me know what he’d found the appropriate price was. The retailers still have to pay for the books, but you try to keep them as close to cost as possible. I priced the book below a safe break-even point hoping that it would spur orders, and it did.
Also, I think that retailers realize that they’re going to get a bigger breadth of customers that day. There are more females and kids than you have on any other day. So Richie Rich or Uncle Scrooge or Archie do a little better with that crowd. So Love and Capes’s romance and kid-friendly aspects actually help it do better on FCBD, since there’s less product for that audience.
That’s my theory at least.
THE PULSE: Where can PULSE readers get copies of the FCBD issue if their store isn’t carrying it?
ZAHLER: I mentioned above that I do a retail version. It’s identical to the FCBD version, but there’s a different cover. So, if they miss it in May, they can get it in July from their local comics shop or online at http://www.loveandcapes.com .
I’ve always got copies with me at conventions, too. I’ll be at San Diego, Baltimore, Mid-Ohio, and Dallas this year still, and I’ve always got books with me.
Also, if you’re in Northeast Ohio, the Lake County Captains will be giving away copies of issue #7 as part of their Free Comic Book Day giveaway.
THE PULSE: What other projects are you working on?
ZAHLER: FIrst, and most importantly, I’m putting together the Love and Capes trade that IDW will be publishing. It’ll collect issues 1-6, and it’ll have a new sketchbook section at the back. I’ve already designed the cover, but I’ll be doing the rest of the trade dress for the book, too.
I’m lettering SideChicks for Lone Star Press and Deadbeats for Claypool, both online comics. I color Buzzboy for Sky-Dog, and just recently started doing some work for NASCAR Comics. And I’m getting ready to start Love and Capes #8. I think maybe I’ll make Mark a Skrull...
Meanwhile I’m doing a ton of stuff for individual clients, magazines and ad agencies and the like. I design all the pieces for the Baltimore Spelling Bee and have designed some bobbleheads for the Lake County Captains Single-A baseball team. And I recently co-wrote a Star Trek story with Bob Ingersoll for their recent TNG collection, Sky’s the Limit. We’ve got a couple of other pitches that we’re working on for future projects.
Come to think of it, our story was a Riker/Troi story. I guess there’s something about writing romances that’s coming naturally.
Posts: 20812 | From: PA | Registered: Aug 2002
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I picked up #6 at the New York con and just read it the other day. Pitch-perfect as usual, with the same top-notch production values I've come to expect from this series. "Love and Capes" is the standard to which all comics should aspire.
Posts: 120 | Registered: Dec 2001
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