Can anything stop...the Animale?

So reviews of Hero House are slowly starting to come in (look for a round up of the recent ones soon), but I have not yet even begun to plug. I definitely want to get the word out about the book coming out at San Diego, and I need YOUR help. But that's a topic for another day.


At this point probably less than 20 people have read the book, but a lot of people who do respond to two characters, and for (ironically) totally opposite reasons. People seem to like Poltergeist because he's a complicated character with a lot of layers to him. And people seem to like Animale because he's an uncomplicated character: he is a party animal. Literally.


Hero House is, despite its title and concept, in no way "Animal House" with super powers. In my mind, these people are training to be superheroes, and I certainly love Animal House, but the characters in that aren't exactly heroic...futures as senators or not. So I modeled Epsilon Epsilon Psi more on a "service fraternity" that a traditional frat, only the service they do is super-heroics. But I digress.

But Animale is perhaps my one nod towards people's expectations for that. Animale probably would fit right in at Animal House. Here, this basically tells you all you need to know about Animale:

Animale's certainly got a little bit of Bluto in him, but he's got a practical reason for being, in the words of Homer Simpson, a "big, fat party animal." You see, Animale can change his shape, but not his size. Size-changing, I figure, is a totally different power, and it doesn't seem fair that most shape-shifters are also size-shifters. Right? Anyway, Animale always retains the same mass, so he keeps his mass up so that he can shift into more substantial shapes. It also means that if he turns into a kitten (and he does), he turns into a giant kitten (and he does).

And as you can see, Mike just nailed his design on the first pass.


Speaking of Mike and the creative team, come back in a few days when I'll start posting mini-interviews with Mike, Frank, Brian and Shawn. I'll also post links to some of the new reviews. Oh, and check out the print debut of Hero House in any form: there's a half-page ad in the new Wizard that's on shelves today (#214) for Hero House!

Racing to the Finish

It's done.

Five-and-a-half years after I started writing it originally, Hero House was totally finalized today. The designer uploaded the final high-res files and they'll be on their way to the plant soon, if they aren't already. I almost don't know what to do with myself.

No wait, I do! I'm going to be hard(er) at work on this blog and my brand-new Twitter account, getting the word out about the comic and giving you more behind-the-scenes looks at what went into the making of it. Between now and Hero House's debut at San Diego, look for more posts on Mike's character designs, plus interviews with the entire creative team.

Thanks for everyone's support so far, but stick around - the best is yet to come. And the best is the book. And it's yet to come. But it is. Coming. What was I saying?

Here, in the meantime, check out artist Michael Bencic's take on Hero House's fatale-iest femme fatale, the deadly and sexy Voyd!

Mike's issue of Hack/Slash hits today!

Quick note: Make sure you pick up Mike's issue of Hack/Slash, issue #23, from Devil's Due when you pick up your books today!

State of the Comic: 6/3

(Above: The official Hero House ad, courtesy of Arcana Comics! We're mass-communicatin'!)


There's been some changes 'round here. First of all you'll notice the snazzy new AclinCorp banner up top, courtesy of my Photoshop hookup, Wizard Universe Message Board user krypkrwly (aka Larry Joe). Then you'll notice that you're currently viewing aclincorp.com - no blogspot in the URL! Yes, I sprang the $10 for the domain. I feel like a genuine businessman.

Finally, and most disarmingly, you'll find all references to the book coming out in September wiped clean, replaced with November. There's a good reason for this: that's when the book's coming out now. My publisher at Arcana Comics assures me that this will help the book make a bigger splash, and I've never put out a comic book before so I tend to bow to experience.

The plan, however, is still for Hero House to make its debut at next month's San Diego Comic-Con (which plans also currently call for me to attend. Stay tuned!). I'll be back soon with more behind-the-scenes kind of stuff, but watch this space - posting will reach a fever pitch leading up to Hero House's debut. That's the plan, at any rate.

And finally, a question. My buddy Ryan Penagos is the prom queen of Twitter (over 500,000 followers) and he's been pressuring me to join up. Do you folks think Twitter's the logical next step for AclinCorp and its relentless Hero House promotion? Would you follow me? Input is appreciated!