Geek Syndicate Issue 5 | Page 21
Geek Syndicate
derful black, white, and blue artwork. The simplicity of the colours add a great depth to the pages and Daniel uses it to full advantage. Jonah and Alphius have one of the best bromances on the internet and make for great and often hilarious heroes in this comic. I blew through the story in one night and I think anyone who’s a fan of science fiction comics or even of comics in general will love this one. man named Sebastian decides to take the “short cut” through Hero City. He is stopped by the city’s top superhero, Captain Righteous, for going five miles over the speed limit and subsequently sentenced to five years of community service, one for each mile he was going over the limit. What ensues is a series of high jinks when reality attempts to collide with the surreal and overly zealous world of law abiding superheroes. Damn Heroes is a parody of not just our favorite comics, but also pop culture, seen through the eyes of one poor, hapless schlub. GS: Where did the original idea for the comic come from? MF: Damn Heroes was born out of many conversations about comics, pop culture and the other media that we both consume. Our twisted minds had been throwing funny ideas back and forth until I finally sat down and started to write them (and the other sick thoughts that are in my head) down in a form that Alex could bring to life. Most of the time I write on my commute into New York City on the train, so I’m is already in a grumpy mood from waking up and sprinting to work. After that, torturing a character like Sebastian is just a bonus. GS: Damn Heroes is fairly new. What can we expect to see from the strip in the future? MF: Muh hah hah hah *rubs hands together in delight with evil grin* Ahem, sorry, you weren’t supposed to see that. With all the world of comics and pop culture at our dispense, the question might be what can’t we expect to see. We have another twenty or thirty strips written at this point, but so many more ideas that will be made into strips as we go along. We have several new characters that we will be debuting in the coming months, especially one of my favorites, a villian named Dr. Entropy. Ideas seem to come to both of us easily at this point, the trick is really refining them. I’m sure we may run out at some point, but I’d bet that won’t happen for many years. GS: What would you say is the best reason for someone to start reading Damn Heroes? MF: I can only pick one? Geez, there are so many reasons. Like a giant green chicken named Cluck. Or all the community service assignments that Sebastian will (quite
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Strips
Another recent find of mine is the webcomic Damn Heroes, created by Mark Frankel (@PantherPitt) and Alex Sapountzis (@asapuntzis).
Image © Alex Sapountzis
Damn Heroes by Mark Frenkel & Alex Sapountzis
Mark does the primary writing of each strip and Alex does the art. Mark answered some questions for me to give a little bit of background on the strip: GS: Pretend we’ve never heard of Damn Heroes. What’s your elevator pitch? MF: In a spur of the moment decision, a young