More Than Comics Read Free Page A

Christie said. “Where did you get the idea for Misfit Squad ?”
    Tara gave me a wide-eyed look, but leaned into the mic and started speaking. “I always loved comics, but had a hard time relating to them because the heroes in them were so much cooler than me.” That got a little laugh from the audience. “One day I joked to a friend that if I was a superhero my power would be something no one would want, like breaking things. Then I started thinking about how that could actually be a pretty cool power, if you could learn to control it…and began coming up with other powers that at first seemed stupid or useless, but weren’t. I pitched it to the guys at Black Hat and they loved the idea, and that’s how Misfit Squad all began.”
    “Very cool,” Christie said. “I think one reason Misfit Squad has such a huge following already is because it’s a true underdog story. So many people relate to your characters and how they’re outcasts, both among normal people and other superheroes, until they find each other and start their own group and become almost a family. Was that something you wanted to write about specifically?”
    Tara relaxed a little, smiling at Christie. “That’s definitely one thing I wanted to emphasize because I think if you’re a little weird growing up, or something of an outcast, like I imagine all of us here are.…” That got another chuckle from the audience. “Then you never really feel comfortable around most people. Especially your family, who probably never seemed to understand you. But as you grow up you find others like yourself, people who support you, embrace your weirdness, and love you for who you are—and they become your new family.” She looked at me with this last line, and my heart constricted in my chest. She was killing me here.
    “Comic-Con is definitely one big, crazy family,” Christie said, with a laugh. “Hector, how did you become involved in the project?”
    Shit, that question was for me. I focused on my band’s faces in the audience—my own second family—and tried to relax. “After Tara wrote the script for the first book she put out feelers all over the Internet, in artist forums and places like that, looking for someone who might be interested in working on it. She had a random page’s script…I think it was page 33 or something?”
    I looked at her to confirm, and she laughed. “I don’t think that page even exists in the final version. It got cut.”
    “Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Anyway, it was a good way in, with some fun action and dialogue. I loved the premise and the characters immediately from that short bit of script and knew I had to draw it. I put together a full page panel and submitted it.” I shrugged. “I guess she liked it, because she chose me.”
    “There were a lot of good entries, but I knew Hector was the one the moment I saw his art. It was just so perfect for what I had in mind.”
    “The artwork is truly remarkable,” Christie said. “It really brings the story to life. But tell me about your working relationship. I heard the two of you had never met in person until now. Is that true?”
    “That’s true,” Tara said. “I live in Boston and Hector lives in Los Angeles, so we did all our work together online, through video chats and email, stuff like that. But we talk just about every day, so I feel like we’ve been friends forever.”
    “What was it like working with each other?”
    “Tara’s great to work with,” I said. “She has a strong vision for her series but is also open to any suggestions I have.”
    “And Hector has some brilliant ideas, too. The books all changed a lot—for the better—thanks to his input. They became a true collaboration between the two of us. They’re not just my books, but our books.”
    Tara gave me that brilliant smile again and I wanted to kiss her so bad. It meant a lot to me that she thought that about Misfit Squad ’cause I loved those books almost as much as I