MattBrady
03-22-2008, 08:46 AM
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/12Gauge/MSSG.teaser.FINAL.v3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/12Gauge/t_MSSG.teaser.FINAL.v3.jpg" border="0" align="right"></a><i>by Chris Arrant</i>
Who are the heroes of the modern world? They may not wear capes, but they save our proverbial asses time and time again. In a new daily webcomic called <B>Heroes Happen Here</B>, comics pay tribute to the saviors of this digital age: the tech workers, the ‘gurus’ ….the IT people. Computers run the world, and there are 39 million people who world in the area of technology. What they do might seem superhuman to some, and in this webcomic it shows a side of them that are almost superhuman… and super-heroic.
Sponsored by Microsoft and Seagate, the name is synonymous with their recent launch of the 2008 versions of their server software: SQL Server, Windows Server and Visual Studio. “The <B>Heroes Happen Here</B> launch is really historic, because it’s aimed at saying thank you to the everyday people doing their jobs in technology that make the world go around,” said Jordan Gorfinkel, President of Avalanche Comics Entertainment..
The comics are spearheaded by Gorfinkel, who earned his comics pedigree as an editor for DC in their Batman family of titles. Now President of Avalanche Comics Entertainment, Gorfinkel heads up the editorial side while the comics themselves are written primarily by Chuck Dixon, with illustrators signed on including well-known American comic professionals as well as new comers as they try to work with artists in different countries.
And the webcomic won’t just be based on the American experiences; stories cover Canada, Latin America, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Spain, France, India, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Middle East, Africa and the Asian Pacific. Keeping with their plant o focus on stories from across the globe, they are also accepting submissions from artists to draw future episodes. “Potential artists can go to www.itdevcomics.com and we will have a place to get in touch with us directly. Even if they may onto be right for this project, Avalanche has other projects going on all the time and we’re always seeking new talent.”
Launched earlier this year, the webcomic runs through July everyday with new comics at <a href=http://www.itdevcomics.com target="_blank">www.itdevcomics.com</A>. Another interesting facet is that they're taking story ideas from reader contributions, and actively looking for story ideas and illustrators from around the world. We talked with Gorfinkel as well as ACE personnel Keri Roberts to find out more.
<B>Newsarama:</B> For the man on the street, what is ITdevcomics.com about?
<B>Jordan Gorfinkel:</B> The "Heroes Happen Here" launch, which is the launch of Microsoft 2008 calendar year, is a very different kind of launch. It's really historic, in that it's the first aimed at saying thank you to the company of celebrating the heroes are everyday people doing their jobs in technology that make the world go around. The first question we asked naturally was "is this going to be a project where we're going to do great stories that people are going to want to read", or is it going to run into the danger zone when with a giant corporation where it turns into advertising
Thankfully, Microsoft and Seagate said "we really want great stories". The 39 million people who work in the area of technology, and these are the people we want to tell stories about. We're soliciting stories from these people and adapting in comics. The idea of them reading comics about themselves, or people like them that make the world of computers go around, it very striking.
Think of it like <B>The DaVinci Code</B> propped up on IT. What's our Mona Lisa, and where is our Mona Lisa. Who is our Dr. Langston. How are we going to do this in such a way that we have week-to-week continuity while revealing, more importantly, fun aspects of what our lives are like in this technology-based world. As my old sensei Danny O'Neill said during my time at DC, we're looking for things people can relate to.
<B>NRAMA:</B> So what kind of stories are you telling here?
<B>JG:</B> We're looking for parts of their lives. Everybody works 24/7, especially the great people we've had the fortune to work with. These are the brightest, most fun people you've ever met. One of the things that's interesting to me is that they sit at a desk and work all day, but they often times have very interesting and eye-opening hobbies on the side.
One guy jumps out of airplanes. Another guy, who seems like the most corporate straight-laced guy ever, straps on snowshoes and walks on snow-covered mountains in the Pacific Northwest. That's the kind of people we're celebrating. That adventuresome spirit and how it relates to their work-life is what we're celebrating.
We've already gotten some great story suggestions. One fascinating one is how someone used IT technology to save their Christmas parade. They're giving us details of things we don't usually see, and how things are really running in the world. These guys make sure malaria meds make it to Africa through all the right channels.
<B>NRAMA:</B> So what kind of stories are you looking for?
<B>JG:</B> Ideas can be big or small. A 3 page thing with hurricane and how they saved their entire server department, or just a witty verbal exchange. All of those and more. You may be in your workspace and a co-worker says something to which you give a great response. Let us know about that – it could turn into a great comic.
<B>KR:</B> Gorf mentions the hurricane idea because we did get a story about an IT crowd roughing it during a hurricane. They were on the roof and had the servers wrapped in plastic bags. Real story – no joke.
<B>NRAMA:</B> Some might point at some oblique resemblance to the popular comic strip <B>Dilbert</B>. What do you say about that?
<B>JG:</B> <B>Dilbert</B> is an incredible cartoon and one of our inspiration. Ours, however, is a story about the people who are heroes – the people who are doing their job and doing it well. Solving problems. There's a place for ours and for <B>Dilbert</B>, but they are different.
We even contacted Scott Adams to see if he'd be interested in taking part, and we've invited others as well. If there are any web-cartoonists out there, they can submit their work as well. We'd love to have them.
<B>NRAMA:</B> Avalanche Comic Entertainment is a new name on the horizon – can you tell us about the company?
<B>JG:</B> ACE is using comics to create original content and to brand messages. I wouldn't say necessarily say that this is the most original use of comics, but we have an incredible arena of talent and expertise that we bring to bear and we've found great success flying under the radar. This is the first time we've come out to the public, but we've been doing things for some time. We've developed stories in the comics form, television shows, spot illustrations, and I recently completed a museum project that used comics to tell the story of the holocaust and 20th century Germany. So there are a variety of ways we've been doing things already.
The way I would describe the company is that we have the most amazing experiences – a global bent, and a lot of wonderful comics people and illustrators from around the world. The best of all is that we're a small company, giving the attention and time to projects that big companies may not be able to.
I worked as an editor on <B>Batman</B> in the 1990s, and helped conceive <B>No Man's Land</B> and the <B>Birds of Prey</B> title along with a group of wonderful editorial people and creative teams. It's exciting to take that experience there, and bringing that knowledge base to turn it into a company here at Avalanche that can deliver it all.
<B>Keri Roberts:</B> A lot of the big companies we're dealing with have never thought of using comics to reach out. We're using it as a bit more robust than a 4-panel strip. Microsoft and Seagate were over the moon with the product we delivered – it's been a huge hit with them. The one thing that companies are appreciating is that comics are so mainstream overseas. It's more of an everyday love than a niche or genre focused medium.
And comics are so beloved by technology people. And it's interesting how they can call each other "geeks" and not in a pejorative manner, but as a compliment. We spent a week and a half on-site at Microsoft interviewing members of their staff… and they knew so much about the comics world. When they found out Gorf's background with Batman, they exploded.
<B>JG:</B> I ended up autographing someone's Batman mouse pad. It's really been amazing about how well-received it's been with comics.
Most people in IT love comics, love fantasy… It's about technology, adventure and about them.
Who are the heroes of the modern world? They may not wear capes, but they save our proverbial asses time and time again. In a new daily webcomic called <B>Heroes Happen Here</B>, comics pay tribute to the saviors of this digital age: the tech workers, the ‘gurus’ ….the IT people. Computers run the world, and there are 39 million people who world in the area of technology. What they do might seem superhuman to some, and in this webcomic it shows a side of them that are almost superhuman… and super-heroic.
Sponsored by Microsoft and Seagate, the name is synonymous with their recent launch of the 2008 versions of their server software: SQL Server, Windows Server and Visual Studio. “The <B>Heroes Happen Here</B> launch is really historic, because it’s aimed at saying thank you to the everyday people doing their jobs in technology that make the world go around,” said Jordan Gorfinkel, President of Avalanche Comics Entertainment..
The comics are spearheaded by Gorfinkel, who earned his comics pedigree as an editor for DC in their Batman family of titles. Now President of Avalanche Comics Entertainment, Gorfinkel heads up the editorial side while the comics themselves are written primarily by Chuck Dixon, with illustrators signed on including well-known American comic professionals as well as new comers as they try to work with artists in different countries.
And the webcomic won’t just be based on the American experiences; stories cover Canada, Latin America, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Spain, France, India, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Middle East, Africa and the Asian Pacific. Keeping with their plant o focus on stories from across the globe, they are also accepting submissions from artists to draw future episodes. “Potential artists can go to www.itdevcomics.com and we will have a place to get in touch with us directly. Even if they may onto be right for this project, Avalanche has other projects going on all the time and we’re always seeking new talent.”
Launched earlier this year, the webcomic runs through July everyday with new comics at <a href=http://www.itdevcomics.com target="_blank">www.itdevcomics.com</A>. Another interesting facet is that they're taking story ideas from reader contributions, and actively looking for story ideas and illustrators from around the world. We talked with Gorfinkel as well as ACE personnel Keri Roberts to find out more.
<B>Newsarama:</B> For the man on the street, what is ITdevcomics.com about?
<B>Jordan Gorfinkel:</B> The "Heroes Happen Here" launch, which is the launch of Microsoft 2008 calendar year, is a very different kind of launch. It's really historic, in that it's the first aimed at saying thank you to the company of celebrating the heroes are everyday people doing their jobs in technology that make the world go around. The first question we asked naturally was "is this going to be a project where we're going to do great stories that people are going to want to read", or is it going to run into the danger zone when with a giant corporation where it turns into advertising
Thankfully, Microsoft and Seagate said "we really want great stories". The 39 million people who work in the area of technology, and these are the people we want to tell stories about. We're soliciting stories from these people and adapting in comics. The idea of them reading comics about themselves, or people like them that make the world of computers go around, it very striking.
Think of it like <B>The DaVinci Code</B> propped up on IT. What's our Mona Lisa, and where is our Mona Lisa. Who is our Dr. Langston. How are we going to do this in such a way that we have week-to-week continuity while revealing, more importantly, fun aspects of what our lives are like in this technology-based world. As my old sensei Danny O'Neill said during my time at DC, we're looking for things people can relate to.
<B>NRAMA:</B> So what kind of stories are you telling here?
<B>JG:</B> We're looking for parts of their lives. Everybody works 24/7, especially the great people we've had the fortune to work with. These are the brightest, most fun people you've ever met. One of the things that's interesting to me is that they sit at a desk and work all day, but they often times have very interesting and eye-opening hobbies on the side.
One guy jumps out of airplanes. Another guy, who seems like the most corporate straight-laced guy ever, straps on snowshoes and walks on snow-covered mountains in the Pacific Northwest. That's the kind of people we're celebrating. That adventuresome spirit and how it relates to their work-life is what we're celebrating.
We've already gotten some great story suggestions. One fascinating one is how someone used IT technology to save their Christmas parade. They're giving us details of things we don't usually see, and how things are really running in the world. These guys make sure malaria meds make it to Africa through all the right channels.
<B>NRAMA:</B> So what kind of stories are you looking for?
<B>JG:</B> Ideas can be big or small. A 3 page thing with hurricane and how they saved their entire server department, or just a witty verbal exchange. All of those and more. You may be in your workspace and a co-worker says something to which you give a great response. Let us know about that – it could turn into a great comic.
<B>KR:</B> Gorf mentions the hurricane idea because we did get a story about an IT crowd roughing it during a hurricane. They were on the roof and had the servers wrapped in plastic bags. Real story – no joke.
<B>NRAMA:</B> Some might point at some oblique resemblance to the popular comic strip <B>Dilbert</B>. What do you say about that?
<B>JG:</B> <B>Dilbert</B> is an incredible cartoon and one of our inspiration. Ours, however, is a story about the people who are heroes – the people who are doing their job and doing it well. Solving problems. There's a place for ours and for <B>Dilbert</B>, but they are different.
We even contacted Scott Adams to see if he'd be interested in taking part, and we've invited others as well. If there are any web-cartoonists out there, they can submit their work as well. We'd love to have them.
<B>NRAMA:</B> Avalanche Comic Entertainment is a new name on the horizon – can you tell us about the company?
<B>JG:</B> ACE is using comics to create original content and to brand messages. I wouldn't say necessarily say that this is the most original use of comics, but we have an incredible arena of talent and expertise that we bring to bear and we've found great success flying under the radar. This is the first time we've come out to the public, but we've been doing things for some time. We've developed stories in the comics form, television shows, spot illustrations, and I recently completed a museum project that used comics to tell the story of the holocaust and 20th century Germany. So there are a variety of ways we've been doing things already.
The way I would describe the company is that we have the most amazing experiences – a global bent, and a lot of wonderful comics people and illustrators from around the world. The best of all is that we're a small company, giving the attention and time to projects that big companies may not be able to.
I worked as an editor on <B>Batman</B> in the 1990s, and helped conceive <B>No Man's Land</B> and the <B>Birds of Prey</B> title along with a group of wonderful editorial people and creative teams. It's exciting to take that experience there, and bringing that knowledge base to turn it into a company here at Avalanche that can deliver it all.
<B>Keri Roberts:</B> A lot of the big companies we're dealing with have never thought of using comics to reach out. We're using it as a bit more robust than a 4-panel strip. Microsoft and Seagate were over the moon with the product we delivered – it's been a huge hit with them. The one thing that companies are appreciating is that comics are so mainstream overseas. It's more of an everyday love than a niche or genre focused medium.
And comics are so beloved by technology people. And it's interesting how they can call each other "geeks" and not in a pejorative manner, but as a compliment. We spent a week and a half on-site at Microsoft interviewing members of their staff… and they knew so much about the comics world. When they found out Gorf's background with Batman, they exploded.
<B>JG:</B> I ended up autographing someone's Batman mouse pad. It's really been amazing about how well-received it's been with comics.
Most people in IT love comics, love fantasy… It's about technology, adventure and about them.