By: Nicole D’Andria
“For
every young girl who never had a super hero of their own to look up to, this is
TEAM SYNERGY!” This is the description emblazoned on the first Kickstarter
being showcased this year on Kickstart the Week(end). Enjoy a
title filled with super heroines and a conversation with the entire creative
team.
Launched
by HBComics, Team Synergy is about
five teenage girls, all cousins, who have superpowers. They are being trained
by their grandmother, the original super heroine, to become the best team they
can be.
Team Synergy is written by Alan Hebert (Lazerman) with art by Scott Shriver (Fem Force) and colors by Chris Hebert (Lazerman).
They need to raise $3,500 in order to successfully fund the project before February
24, 2017 at 8:00 PM EST. Some rewards include a digital ($5) and/or physical
($20) copy of the trade paperback, a T-shirt ($45), a custom piece of art
($50), an AWESOME GIRL action figure ($60), every issue from HBComics lineup of comics (also $60) and more. Want to pledge money to
the project or learn more about it? View the official Kickstarter here.
For even
more information about the project, I interviewed Alan, Scott and Chris.
 |
| Alan Hebert |
Me: What inspired you to make a comic book series
specifically targeted at girls?
Alan Herbert: Several things, actually Nicole.
First
there is my family. My brother has two girls. My sister has one. Two different
cousins have two girls each. My brother’s in-laws have all girls. Family
birthday parties boil down to about 15 girls and only two boys. We have a very
close family. While watching two of my nieces, I tried to find something to put
on TV for them. I ended up putting an old VHS of Sailor Moon on for them. As I was watching it, it occurred to me
that Sailor Moon was, essentially, a
Japanese Superhero show. I then started questioning why I had to go all the way
to Japan for female super heroes. The girls were eight years old at the time,
and I couldn’t think of a comic book appropriate for them either. This all
started the wheels turning.
The
second thing was from doing conventions. When we started publishing Lazerman years ago, we began to realize
that there wasn’t a lot of comics that parents felt comfortable giving to their
children. Lazerman always caught the
parents’ eye as something they could buy, and it’s one of the biggest reasons
for the success we have on that book. As we sold the book at conventions, I noticed
more and more young girls. Fathers who have gone to conventions for years are
now bringing their daughters, and sometimes full families are going together to
the cons. While Lazerman actually
sold really well to the girls as well as the boys, it did start to occur to me
that there was nothing designed specifically at them. I began to realize that
there was this massive hole in the industry, and I had family members directly
affected by it.
Me: How would you describe the current state of
female characters in comics? Who would you say are some of the most empowering
and the least empowering examples of women in comics right now?
Alan Herbert: There aren’t any super hero comics
aimed at young girls. Walk into a comic book store, you either find stuff that
is too “kiddie” or stuff that is aimed at late-teenagers or adults. Many of the
female characters are dealing with adult situations, scantily clad with
gigantic boobs. None of that I want to buy for my 10 year old nieces. I don’t
trust the “Big Two” anymore, I wouldn’t buy a comic from one of them for anyone
under 14. To find a regular, good old-fashioned super hero comic book that you
can give a kid but isn’t dumbed-down is rare, and nonexistent for girls.
Me: Can you describe each of the five girls on Team
Synergy, including their personalities and powers?
Alan Herbert: I went for what I call the “Breakfast
Club” dynamic. All the girls are from different high school social groups. They
are all distant cousins, and inherited their powers from their great-grandmother,
who we find out was one of the original superheroes in our universe. “Granny”
is their trainer and mentor.
Awesome
Girl is a jock-type. She is team leader and has super strength. She is fairly
overconfident and a bit of a show-off.
Hot Pink
is in the cheerleading squad in High School. She flies and has fire-based
powers. She is also very confident, and smart. She often buts heads with
Awesome Girl.
Scatter
Brain is a punk-rocker type, she’s ¾ Japanese and probably the smartest member
of the team. On skin-to skin-touch she can send an electrical shock to your
brain that will knock you out instantly.
Glitterbug
is the geek of the group. She’s into anime. She shrinks and throws a stinging
“sparkle dust”. She is also overweight and has confidence problems.
Pinball
was raised in the South, she belongs to that social group that is somewhere in
the middle and tends to get forgotten about. She can roll herself into a ball
and knock over several opponents, bouncing off them, well, like a pinball. She
is the most vocal.
Me: What is the number one reason you think people
should pledge money to Team Synergy?
Alan Herbert: There is really no comic out there like
this. There needs to be more female super heroes out there. There needs to be
more books parents can buy for their girls. We have a proven track record of not
just getting a book produced, but coming out with continual issues of a series.
Me: This Kickstarter is for the first volume of Team Synergy. Can you tell us anything
possible future volumes for the series?
Alan Herbert: The first volume is basically
their first public superhero appearance. The second volume will go back and
tell their backstory of how they were all introduced to each other (they are
all distant cousins and have never met). Further issues will set up their rogue’s
gallery, and maybe even a crossover or two with our other books.
Me: What inspirational words do you have for
aspiring comic book writers?
Alan Herbert: Just do it. Seriously. If you want to
be a writer, sit down and write. The difference between me and you is that I
sat down and wrote, and completed it, and got it down. That script you are
talking about writing? Get on the computer and write it now.
 |
| Scott Shriver |
Me: How did you get involved with the Team Synergy project?
Scott Shriver: I was already working with HBComics as
an inker when needed. I had expressed an interest to do some solo work and the
boys gave me a try-out for Team Synergy.
Me: If you had to pick, which character is your
favorite to draw on Team Synergy and
why are they your favorite?
Scott Shriver: Picking a favorite character to draw is
tough as I like them all. Scatterbrain is a fun character to draw with her
spiky hair and punk get-up. Probably her and Awesome Girl are my favorites to
draw. Each character has a pretty distinct attitude and has to be drawn to fit
that.
Me: How would you describe the current state of
female characters in comics? Who would you say are some of the most empowering
and the least empowering examples of women in comics right now?
Shriver: I'm going to be biased and say some of the
most empowering female characters are right in AC Comics Femforce comic, which is not only one of the longest running indy
comics still being sold through Diamond, but also the longest running female
group book ever (and I just happen to do inks for them). I would say one of the
worst role models for girls is the new Harley Quin with maybe Wonder Women
being one of the better examples.
Me: What is the number one reason you think people
should pledge money to Team Synergy?
Shriver: I think people should back Team Synergy if they have any younger
girls in the family that might be into comics or might be ready to get into
comics if the right title came along. The book is very girl-centric and I've
seen how excited some of these kids look in the convention photos when they
discover Team Synergy. In a lot of
ways, this Kickstarter is tough. We are asking people (for the most part) to
give financially to someone else instead of themselves. Team Synergy is clearly not your usual fan-boy comic. Most kids
don't have credit cards, so I'm hoping some thoughtful adults will come on
board to help them get this comic!
Me: What inspirational words do you have for people
aspiring to get into comics?
Shriver: For anyone in general who wants to get
into comics I would say realize it's a long road and it takes a lot of work and
study. Do your own mini-comics and develop a style. Do that for a few years if
you need to. Connect with people online who are in a similar circumstance and
work together to hone your skills. And if you are really serious about what you
are doing, just never give up. Just keep improving.
 |
| Chris Hebert |
Me: You are an artist as well as a colorist. Why
did you decide to just be a colorist on this issue and not do the artwork
yourself?
Chris Hebert: A few reasons, actually.
First of all, we publish six titles at HBComics. Since the beginning, I've been
the artist for our premier title, Lazerman.
Between my duties on that title, and my duties overseeing the art for the other
five titles as well, there simply aren't enough hours in a day. The more
important reason, however, is style. I believe that you match an artist to a
book the same way you cast an actor in a movie. In this case, Scott's style is
exactly the tone and feel we were looking for. I simply think he's better for
the part.
Me: How would you describe the current state of
female characters in comics? Who would you say are some of the most empowering
and the least empowering examples of women in comics right now?
Chris Hebert: I
think we are in a strange transitional state at the moment. Publishers are
clearly making an effort to focus more on female heroes, but I think ultimately
many of the efforts feel like placating half measures. Taking an established
character like Wolverine, Iron Man, or Thor, and replacing them with new female
versions of them, feels like a stopgap solution to the issue at best. Comics
are cyclical. They constantly challenge the status quo to shake up sales, then
return to the status quo in dramatic fashion. It's happened over and over
again. Does anyone really think that at some point Marvel is not going to have
a dramatic “return of Wolverine” storyline? Or restore Thor Odinson as the
official Thor? A lot of people forget Thor was already female 10 years ago
(Odin punished Thor for his misogyny and transformed him). How long did THAT
last? This is what comics have been doing for decades. As a result, this
current drive to bring more female characters to the mainstream feels
incredibly temporary. What could be less empowering than being handed a female
hero that you know will be replaced as soon as people start to miss the old
version?
Me: You founded HBComics with your brother, Alan.
Why did you decide to go into the comic book business together and create your
own publishing company?
Chris Hebert: A: I consider us a
“self-publishing studio.” By that I mean, we create our own material in house,
then publish it through our own resources as a means to get it out into the
world. We grew up with a love of comic books, and very creatively driven minds.
As the industry changed and morphed through the 90s into the 2000s, we noticed
many of the elements that attracted us to the genre in the first place sort of
fell out of favor. Comics became darker, and infinitely more cynical. In the
end, they were simply less fun. We create comics that try to recapture that
lighter, more optimistic feel that the industry is lacking. We publish them
ourselves simply as a means to make sure they get out there.
Me: What is the number one reason you think people
should pledge money to Team Synergy?
Chris Hebert: This is a scenario
we've seen played out at many conventions we've done: A family approaches our
table, made up of, say, a mother, father, a son and a daughter. Usually the
son, with his father, approach our table eagerly looking over our books. The
daughter stands three feet away, with the mother waiting patiently for them to
be done so they can move on to another table. She literally doesn't expect that
anything at the table will be for her. Since we released the first single issue
of Team Synergy, now we address that
young lady, with the book outstretched in our hands, and invite her to look
though it as well. At that moment, they LIGHT UP with excitement. They realize
there IS something at our table just for them. I think that's reason enough that
this title NEEDS to happen.
Me: What inspirational words do you have for
aspiring comic book artists and colorists?
Chris Hebert:
I don't
know if it's inspirational, but I'd say “Love what you do. If you see it as a
labor or simply as a means to an end, you'll get frustrated and jaded. If you
truly enjoy doing it, eventually you'll find your audience, and you'll have fun
doing so.” To quote Marc Anthony: “If you do what you love, you'll never work a
day in your life.”
Me: A big thanks to the entire creative team for
taking the time to answer my question! If you’re interested in checking out Team Synergy, see their official
Kickstarter here.
Do you
have a Kickstarter? Want to be interviewed about it and have the project
featured on "Kickstart the Week?" Let me know in the comments below
or message me on my website.
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