'War Rocket' Explodes!

Hero House Month continues with a new appearance on a comic book podcast! This time it's me, Rob Bricken, TJ Dietsch and Jon Gutierrez on War Rocket Ajax, the awesome new-ish podcast from The ISB's Chris Sims and People You Don't Know's Eugene Ahn. We discuss Twisted ToyFare Theatre, toy movies, balloons full of feces and, of course, I take the opportunity to plug Hero House (out in comic shops on November 25th, motherlovers!). Click the awesome Rusty Shackles art above to check it out, or click here. (If you're the impatient type, the Twisted ToyFare segment starts around the 17-minute mark, and continues for well over an hour after that).

If you've clicked over here from WRA, welcome. Start here to find out more about Hero House. If you enjoyed listening to Rob and I get interviewed by Eugene, check out my appearance on The People You Don't Know and Rob's appearance, which also happens to contain the first meeting between WRA co-hosts Eugene and Chris! Oh, and definitely check out the "Is He-Man really a magician?" letter at ToyFare's blog!

November is Hero House month!

On November 25th, my first graphic novel hits comic shops. As such, I am officially declaring November Hero House month, by the power vested in me by ownership of this domain name. November's such a big month, in fact, that I went ahead and took the entire month of October off from blogging. You know, just to save up energy.

In all seriousness, though, on behalf of myself, Mike, Frank, Brian and Shawn, we couldn't be more excited that our nearly six-year journey is finally nearing an end. I'm going to try to post as much as possible this month leading up to the book's release, both to tell you when we've got promotional stuff going on (check back Monday for a link to a new podcast interview!), and to try to finish up the behind the scenes stuff.

Which brings us to today's post! See that sketch at the top of the page? That was Mike's ninth and final take on the team jacket (you can see the final colored take on Ed's cover, as well as in various places throughout the book). My original direction to Mike was that I wanted the jackets to make the Eps look like superheroes when they needed to, but to look casual enough that they could leave them unzipped and wear them day to day. Plus, I wanted a team insignia that was based on the Greek letter Epsilon and Psi. Not too tall an order, right?

Mike's first take (above) used E and P instead of the Greek letters Epsilon and Psi.

Version 2 used the Greek letters, but it was a little too bulky, a little too ski jacket and not enough motorcycle jacket, in retrospect.

This is a rough design for a more form-fitting shirt that Nate was going to wear, the thought being that the speedster wouldn't wear a bulky jacket. You can see the final design we settled on in the cover, but Nate never actually ended up using it in the book.

Now we're getting closer to the final design. I think it was probably this point where I looked at the shapes of the Epsilon and the Psi and said, "what if we turned it on its side and kind of stuck the Psi in the middle of the Epsilon...?"

...Which is exactly what he did here, the final version before the final version. You can see that between this one and the final jacket we kind of merged the top and bottom layers of the shape, but it's all basically here. It was a tall order, but when you see the guys in the book wearing it over regular clothes with it unzipped, it totally passes for a regular jacket. And when it's zipped up, they look like badass superheroes ready for business.

So check back Monday for the latest interview link, and I'll have at least one more concept art round-up before the book launches. See you then!

New interview (with me!)

Hey, folks. Sorry it's been a while since I've posted. I could say that I wanted to leave the ordering instructions up for a long time to make sure everyone knew how to order, and that's at least part of the story, but I've also been unspeakably busy lately.

One of the things I've been busy doing is giving interviews! Here's an interview with my patrons at Arcana Comics that just went out in their latest email newsletter (hopefully they don't mind me reprinting it). Give them a click and check out all the great books they've got coming out in addition to Hero House.

Now, onto the interview:

This month, Arcana's Vice President of Operations, Mark Poulton interviews Justin Aclin, writer of the upcoming superhero frat graphic novel, Hero House, which is currently in this month's Previews (SEP09 0592).

MP: For those unfamiliar with Hero House, how would you pitch it to them and where did you come up with the idea for such a fun book?

JA: The central concept of Hero House is really easy to explain: it's about a college fraternity for super-powered students, working together to be the heroes of tomorrow. Once you get past the high concept, though, it's really all about the characters. So our entry point into Epsilon Epsilon Psi - the titular frat - is a freshman named Nate Hedges, who was a big-time small-town teen superhero who just feels completely lost and directionless at college. He gets tapped by the university president to pledge the Eps and make sure they're not getting up to super-powered shenanigans, and a lot of the story is about how he interacts with these characters he'd never normally be interacting with. We also learn early on that there's a black sheep ex-member of the frat, Poltergeist, who had some sort of falling out with his fellow founders early on, and that's a bit of a mystery that gets explored. If I've done my job correctly, when someone's done with the book they'll have read a fun, funny superhero action story, but they'll also have met some characters that are either familiar to them or that they've felt like at some point in their lives. I think, even if you've never been in a frat or been a superhero, the feeling of starting out in college or someplace new and not knowing exactly who you're supposed to be in relation to who you used to be is extremely universal.

How I came up with the idea is almost stupid. I remember I was just in my living room one day, probably looking at my DVD collection, when it occurred to me that both super-teams and fraternities, at least as seen in Animal House, are groups of people who band together for a common goal and give each other code names. And that was it. From there I knew I'd write about a frat that was also a super-team, and all I had to do was figure out who they were and what the whole thing would be about. You can read a lot more about the development of Hero House and see pre-production art and that kind of thing at my blog, www.aclincorp.com.

MP: Did you attend college? If so, did you pledge a fraternity? Any wild stories you can share?

JA: I did attend college at Boston University, home of the Terriers, but I did not pledge a frat. Shocking, I know. But even though I don't have that specific experience, almost all the frat stuff in Hero House - what it feels like to pledge a group, coming in as a freshman when there are already established group dynamics - all that stuff was based on real experiences. My freshman year I tried out for a sketch comedy group and performed with them for all four years of college. And just like a frat or a super-team, each member got their own codename. I was Hemlock. So even though I was never in a frat, all of that stuff was drawn from my real life.

I don't think we got to any Animal House-level wildness, though. Most of our parties were right after performances, and consisted of getting drunk and telling each other how awesome we did.

MP: Longtime Arcana fans may remember Hero House from the company's early days. It was one of the earliest titles signed by the company. After years of work, what was it like to finally see the comic in printed form?

JA: Yeah, this book's been cooking for a long, long time. At this point, it's been five years since Arcana even announced they'd be publishing it. I've had my fantastic penciler, Mike Dimayuga, from almost the very beginning, but it's taken us a very long time to get the rest of the art team put together and get the art completed. But it was definitely worth it - Frank E. Stone on inks and Brian Gabrillo on colors are a fantastic addition to the team, and the final product really pops. To finally see it printed and hold in my hands was amazing. It's the culmination of a life-long dream for me.

MP: Your'e also the head writer on Wizard's Twisted Toyfare Theatre, which is hilarious by the way. Who would you say is your favorite Mego figure to write for?

JA: Thanks! Yeah, I've been writing Twisted Toyfare for about seven years and I've been the head writer for the past several, since the Robot Chicken guys left to go work on that show. I was a fan before I started working on it, so I love writing for the classic characters like Doom, Hulk, Thing and especially Spidey. Mego Spidey is the everyman as exasperated jerk and he's very fun to write for. As far as less established characters, I've got a soft spot in my heart for Electro and Mysterio, for some reason. I established this kind of adversarial friendship for them and I love when they appear together. I really need to make that happen more often.

MP: The creative team attended SDCC. How was the fans' reaction to the book?

JA: We did really well at SDCC. Arcana brought a small early print run, but we were completely sold out by the end of the con. Hero House was actually making its debut at the show, so the fans I got to speak to were picking it up for the first time and hadn't actually gotten to read the book yet. A lot of them were Twisted Toyfare fans who were willing to take a chance on the book because I'd written it, and I really appreciate that, or else they were drawn in by the amazing Ed McGuinness cover or Mike's awesome art in the interior. The early reviews we've gotten have been very positive, though.

MP: Before we go, do you have any last words for fans?

JA: If you buy Hero House, first and foremost you're getting a solid, well-crafted superhero story with great characters. It's got a concept that's potentially and I'm certainly known for a more gag-based comic strip, but it was important to me to let either of those overwhelm the story. You'll read it and laugh, but this isn't a collection of jokes. It's a story that, hopefully when you finish it, you'll be eager to read the next chapter. And hopefully the next chapter doesn't take another five years.

The Time is Now! Ask your comic retailer to order Hero House

See those Diamond Previews covers? Well within that issue is your opportunity to order Hero House! Here's what you do.

1) Find a comics retailer near you. You can use Diamond's Comic Shop Locator to find one.

2) Go there and tell them you'd like to order a copy of Hero House. It appears on page 192 in the catalogue and its order number (this is the important part) is SEP09 0592. You might also want to mention how you hear it's going to be really good and the writer writes the very popular Twisted ToyFare Theatre and etc etc etc. You don't have to feel bad about saying these things, because they're all true.

3) Head back to the shop in November and pick up your copy!

It's that simple! If you know any comic fans in your life, definitely let them know about it as well. And if you're a retailer or a reviewer and you'd like a PDF copy of the book, just contact me at herohousecomic[at]gmail[dot]com and it's all yours!

San Diego memories (or...Hero House is actually out!)

(Above: Your humble creators: Mike Dimayuga (left) and Justin Aclin)

Okay, I think I might finally be recovered enough from San Diego Comic-Con to write about it.


I certainly did a lot of interesting stuff at the show to end all shows (you can read about some of it in this interview with me at CBR's Robot 6 blog), but the most exciting thing was seeing the very first physical copies of Hero House, and getting to sell them and sign them for fans! (Or soon-to-be fans, since they hadn't actually read the book yet...)

Here's a pic of me signing:


And here's the sign we had hanging to help bring in ToyFare fans (it worked, too!):

Arcana only brought 40-50 special first-off-the-presses books to the show, but by early afternoon on Sunday they were totally sold out. That means I get to call the book "SMASH HIT SELL-OUT GRAPHIC NOVEL HERO HOUSE!!!!" With four exclamation points like that.


Anyway, here's the latest stuff you need to know about the comic:

ITEM! We've finally got an official Hero House page on the Arcana Comics site!

ITEM! Apparently the book will be available in September on Amazon, but if you REALLY love me you'll wait to buy it in November at your local comic shop, to better help spread the word about it. Either way, I'll have all the details on how to get it here at AclinCorp.

ITEM! Speaking of spreading the word, I'm a guest this week on the exemplary interview podcast The People You Don't Know. The interview touches on my life and career, Dino Riders and, of course, Hero House. Please check it out, and special thanks to Robert Bricken for tagging me to get interviewed!

ITEM! Even though the book has been released (albeit in a very limited manner), the behind-the-scenes antics will not be stopping here at this blog. Keep checking back for more stuff, like a look at the evolution of the Eps team jacket. It's more exiting than it sounds. Thanks for reading!

AclinCorp Interview: Shawn DePasquale

(Above: It's complete! Shawn's letters are the final step to completing the page.)

Hey there! I'm ALMOST recovered from San Diego, so expect a full account of our sell-out debut soon. In the meantime, welcome to the fourth and final installment of our "Better Know a Hero House Creative Team Member" series, featuring letterer Shawn DePasquale

1) How did you first become a fan of comics?

The old SuperFriends show got me into super heroes which got me into comics. I had all the first line of the Super Friends toys as well.

2) How did you start getting into writing? How did you start getting into lettering?

Writing started in my Junior year of High School with a focus on movies. A few years after High School a close friend (who was an artist) pitched an idea that i wanted to write for him to draw. When that comic was ready to be published we needed a letterer and I taught myself how to do it. That was almost 10 years ago!

3) What made you decide to take the Hero House assignment?

I'm a whore for money! Just kidding. I really have always loved Twisted Toyfare Theater so I read the script when I found out you were a writer for Toyfare (specifically TTT) and loved what I read.

4) What was your favorite part of working on Hero House?

The last issue was a ton of fun to letter because it had a lot of different font and balloon styles throughout it.

5) Were there any special challenges of working on it?

All of Geist's balloons were a pain in the ass and even though I think they look good I'm sorry I made them so hard to edit (which I found myself doing a lot of). I hope to have them redesigned before we do any more HH books. :)

6) What's next for you?

I have an original graphic novel that is being drawn as we speak and will be available early next 2010 called DETECTIVES IN SPACE. I'm also always lettering books for Arcana.

7) Anything else you'd like to add?

This was a very fun experience and it culminated with me getting a tour of the TTT toy cabinet and getting to hold the Electro doll! There is really no cool job in the world than making comics! I can't wait to work on the next installment of HERO HOUSE or whatever else Justin and Mike work on next. Also special thanks to my family, computer and dual monitors - without those things none of this would be possible for me.

'Twas the night before San Diego...

Holy crap, people. You can buy Hero House STARTING TOMORROW (if you're in San Diego).

Before this momentous occassion, a few housekeeping notes...

First of all, as you can tell from the image above, I finally was able to do some shirts (and onesies!) in our Zazzle store, thanks to some image help from Brian Gabrillo. Check out zazzle.com/aclincorp to buy the long-awaited Hero House Epsilon Epsilon Psi logo shirt for yourself!

Next, don't forget to come to the Arcana booth, 2415 on Sunday from 12-2 pm for the Hero House signing with me and Mike Dimayuga. Mike will also be sketching for graphic novel purchasers, so you won't want to miss that.

I was going to link to some of our most recent reviews and plugs, but I'm going to be flying across the country soon and I want to spend some time with my wife now. Be back soon!