A new superhero ... from right here in Somerset

By CHRIS HARRIS, Staff Writer

Somerset — Behind every great superhero, there’s a creator. Spiderman had Stan Lee. Batman had Bob Kane. Superman had Siegel and Shuster.

Perhaps the next big thing in the world of comic book heroism — a white-clad do-gooder named the Sovereign — will have his origin story set right here in Somerset, thanks to two enterprising young men by the names of Jason Stephens and Eric Boswell.

“Disconnected: Tales of the Sovereign” is a new comic book being published by Boswell and Stephens and is viewable world-wide, thanks to the Internet. It tells the story of a newcomer to the superhero biz who quickly finds that he’s bitten off more than he can chew.

“(The book) stars a character that, well, he’s not really had a good time being a superhero,” as Stephens casually describes the set-up. “He put on the costume, got the powers. He wanted the publicity. Then he ends up in a battle with a villain who’s above his level and he gets beaten, and has to relocate to a rural area that’s a lot like Somerset.”

To Stephens, the story works on more levels than a simple tale of battling super-humans — “It kind of mirrors what happened in comic book industry in the early ‘90s,” said Stephens. That’s when a simple product like a comic book became a sideshow industry, flooding the market with multiple special editions and shiny foil covers, and financial disaster hit when publishers realized they’d made more books than customers were buying.

“Disconnected: Tales of the Sovereign” is set in that same 1990s milieu, and follows the adventures of the fallen hero as he licks his wounds and gets back into shape. Stephens said the storyline is planned out for the next 20 issues or so.

“The first couple of issues deal with him having to put the suit back on,” said Stephens of the Sovereign, whose powers include super-strength and flight. “Through flashbacks, we see the things that happened in his past that caused him to quit in the first place.”

Setting the character in a location that’s closer to the country than the usual city landscapes like Metropolis and New York interested the book’s creators as well. “Not a lot of superhero comics take place in an area like this,” said Stephens. “There aren’t many dark alleys to run through or buildings to jump off of, which makes (being a superhero) all that much harder.”

Stephens and Boswell, both Southwestern High School alums, created the comic book last summer and released the first issue last month, with more planned on a bi-monthly basis. The next issue is due out in March.

“It turned out to be a lot more work that we originally planned,” said Stephens with a laugh. Stephens is the artist who brings the panels to life and is a co-writer along with Boswell.

They’re independents, like many aspiring legends in the comic book field who don’t work for the industry giants like Marvel or DC. Of course, in days gone by, it was quite difficult for such talents to get their names and products out there on the market.

But like a new superhero swooping in to save the day, the rise of the Internet’s role in the comic book business has made it possible for small-town individuals like Stephens and Boswell — and their brand name Octane Comics — to have their creations seen all over the world.

The two are using a digital printing service called www.ka-blam.com to churn out their comics, and then deliver the hard copies to area stores, such as Collector’s Comics here in Somerset and Collectibles Etc. in Lexington. The comics are also available on indyplanet.com and comicsmonkey.com, two Web sites making lesser-known titles available to the masses. Additionally, the creators’ own site, www.octanecomics.com, is now up and running to showcase all things Sovereign — and more.

Likewise, Twitter, a social messaging technology that is the hottest trend in communicating with tech-savvy consumers, is an ideal way to keep in touch with fans and other comic book creators, according to Stephens.

“It used to be that the only way to get anything out was to go to conventions and hope you get noticed,” said Stephens. “Now we can be here in Somerset, and people can order our comics on-line in California. We had a guy from the Netherlands who (let us know) he was into it. It’s a lot easier to connect with readers today.”

About 150 copies of “Disconnected: Tales of the Sovereign” have sold so far, counting sales both on-line and in the stores. For a comic book springing from such humble beginnings, the attention from actual fans is still rather amazing for Stephens and Boswell.

“It’s exciting,” said Stephens. “It’s weird when you meet fans in a store who are talking to you about your comic, and they don’t know you — they genuinely do like (your work). It’s something you have to get used to.”

Best-case scenario, Stephens and Boswell get a bigger distribution, attach their character to a bigger, more well-known comic book publisher, and the Sovereign goes the way of Wolverine or the Watchmen. That’s still a ways off, however.

“I’d like to see us get a few more issues in the can before we shop (the book) around too much,” said Stephens. “I’d like to really find our style, but yeah, I’d like to see it get picked up by a larger company.

“And,” he added with a chuckle, “it wouldn’t hurt to be financially rewarded for it as well.”

For the two friends who have been comic book fans for their whole lives, it’s only right that their material is now within the reach of readers from Kentucky to Europe — and possibly as far away as Krypton — because Stephens says it’s the “accessibility” of the comic book’s unique brand of storytelling that makes the medium’s magic.

“Anyone can create a comic book,” said Stephens. “It’s a lot cheaper way for people to see your stuff than to make a movie or something like that.”

The everyman being able to transform into something different, something awesome — what’s more superhero-like than that?

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