It takes me a while to catch up with what’s on my TiVo, but I finally sat down to watch the premiere of NBC’s Heroes last night and was interested enough to add a season pass for future episodes (even if the basic premise of “ordinary people discovering extraordinary abilities” is semi-familiar to old-school “New Universe” fans who can’t wait for its return this winter). And then, as soon as the show was over, I went over to the computer and checked out the official “graphic novels” on NBC’s web site. Now, “graphic novels” is a serious misnomer since these are, strictly speaking, mini-comics. This week’s installment, for example, is a 5-pager providing some background on Suresh, the Indian geneticist trying to track down his father’s research. The most important aspect of this, from our publishing-centric perspective, is that these comics are being produced by some of the hottest names in the industry, from Jeph Loeb (who’s a staff writer for the series) and his frequent comics collaborator Tim Sale (who’s doing the actual paintings for the character with visions of the future). Other major artists attached to the project include Michael Turner, who’s doing the first four installments (including the artwork below), and Jim Lee…although his involvement has a few comics fans snickering, given that his most high-profile projects such as All-Star Batman and Robin have been chronically plagued by delays.
