Free Heroes
05.23.07By Collin DavidSo, Monday night was the season finale of Heroes on NBC. Allow me to say here, in case I slip up and some crystalline gem of plot passes through my keyboard, SPOILER ALERT. There. Now no one can do nothin’.
I’ve been a loyal viewer of Heroes since the premiere back in September of last year, reserving every Monday night for huddlings in front of the TV with cocoa and rapt attention, suspending disbelief longer than any sensible human ever should be asked to, and I loved every moment of it. Sometimes, it’s just nice to have something to look forward to or come home to… but the Heroes finale raised a good handful of questions. Not of the ‘man, I wonder what’s going to happen next!’ variety - more of the ‘wait, there’s no reason that should have ever happened’ variety. My disbelief was shattered for the first time, and I went looking for answers. You don’t invest that much time and interest into something without wanting to see it through to its completion. Seriously, Jim and Pam? I had intensely emotional dreams about their affection for each other while The Office was on a break. Because I’m a 45-year old spinstress in the body of a 25-year old nerd.
In my search for Heroes answers, I began to unwind the complex network of Heroes-related multimedia that NBC has been weaving around the show. TV shows aren’t just TV shows anymore - they’re interactive, they’re evolving, and growing increasingly complex. It’s TV 2.0, and we’re all invited. Just take your shoes off at the door and stay far, far away from The View. Those ladies seem innocent enough when they’re on the other side of the screen, but I swear that they’ll eat your legs. And then complain about them for 35 minutes. That’s how they keep their studio audience - no one can walk out under their own power anymore.
In addition to inviting Heroes viewers to submit their own YouTube-style webcam confessions with their theories about the show, and chat on their message boards, NBC has been releasing a Heroes webcomic weekly for 34 mini-issues. These issues provide small anecdotes about existing characters, revealing actions or decisions that they’ve made in their pasts, or even off-screen during the course of the episodes. In one instance, the comics served as the introduction of a character who had not yet even appeared on the show, only to appear a few episodes later (to the slight bewilderment of those viewers who had not read the comics yet, such as myself). While these comics enrich the characters and the experience of the show, the best part is that they’re completely free to download and collect, all in convenient PDF format.
While the notable comics team of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale were involved in the production of the show (Sale providing the prophetic artwork ‘created’ by character Isaac Mendez), show creator Tim Kring approached the show with almost no knowledge or experience in comic storytelling at all. This kind of ‘outsider’ approach provided the fresh voice that was presented in Heroes, but the free Heroes webcomics invite in some more traditional comic artists and writers, including Michael Turner, to present the stories in a more familiar format to comic readers. Did I mention that these were all free?
Next season promises a time-travelling storyline, as well as a spin-off show called Origins, which will feature non-episodic, one-hour explorations into new characters. Viewers will then get to vote on which characters get included in the main show. Surely, more free comics are in the cards.
But seriously, who would have thought that the creative team behind Teen Wolf Too would come so far? Or anywhere at all? Or be allowed to live?
