My longtime friend and fellow indie comic creator Dan Sehn is back with a new issue of Nature Man.
First Comics News: For anyone new to the comic, who is Nature Man?
Dan Sehn: Nature Man is inspired by the public domain Silver Age character Nature Boy. The character was a short-lived adventure comic that continued the numbering sequence from Danny Blaze beginning with issue #3. Following issue #5, the series changed its title again to Li’l Rascal Twins. Our story takes place with the assumption that Nature Boy has been presumed dead after an unpublished final adventure in 1957.
1st: What are the advantages of using public domain heroes in your stories?
Dan: With issue 46 of my Argo 5 series recently released, I have done my fair share of original characters, but the public domain offered a different challenge as I’m making the past adventures canon rather than creating a reboot. That allowed me to draw on their rich history as I tracked down and researched all past appearances of any character appearing. In that respect, creating the backstory of how Nature Man and his co-stars got to this point in the present was a rewarding creative exercise.
1st: Do you need to have read issues 1-3 to follow the story?
Dan: Page 2 is a bit of a recap for people who missed out, but all the back issues are available in the campaign in print or digitally.
1st: Can you pledge to all 4 issues if you are new to the ThunderZone Universe?
Dan: Yes, the prior 3 issues are available as add ons but we also have a money saving catch up tier for all 23 current releases in digital or print formats.
1st: Historically, who is Stardust The Super Wizard?
Dan: Stardust the Super Wizard is a Golden Age superhero, written, penciled, and inked by Fletcher Hanks for the Eisner & Iger comic book “packager”. He was known for his vaguely defined, god-like superpowers and his creatively bizarre version of “justice”. Stardust uses the power of science to save New York City from various nazis, gangsters and aliens bent on destroying it. He had his debut in “Fantastic Comics” #1 (December 1939) and remained a staple of the magazine up until his last story, which was instead printed in “Big Three Comics” #2 (Winter 1941).
1st: How does Stardust go from being a golden age hero to the villain in Nature Man #4?
Dan: Well, in reading the original stories, he is a hero but comes close to the line of anti-hero. Time has passed, the world has changed and a look behind the curtain to those old adventures makes this a natural progression if he is indeed a villain. We do know that heroes battle all the time due to misunderstandings.
1st: How does Stardust know David is Nature Man?
Dan: Stardust knows a lot as he constantly monitors space from his private star. This equipment he used ranged from monitors to thought-reading devices. Beyond that, all the heroes in the series have had unpublished adventures where they might have met, so some are strangers, but others are old friends.
1st: So This story is the conclusion to the first arc, is there going to be a Nature Man #5?
Dan: We are certainly up for it if the demand is there. Also, with Thunderzone being a connected universe, you can’t rule out him popping up in another book.
1st: What’s it like working with Zilson Costa?
Dan: Zilson is a real pleasure to work with. His storytelling is second to none. Having worked with him previously on a couple of issues of Argo 5, he was my first choice for this series, and I couldn’t be happier with how his art turned out.
1st: Who do you have lined up as cover artists on Nature Man #4?
Dan: Zilson does have a cover as well as JW Erwin, who has a Marshal Strong cover in the campaign, as well as the recent variant cover for Argo 5 #45. I am such a fan of his work that I kept wanting more. Our main cover is by current X-Men artist Netho Diaz, who completed that before his new assignment. It’s a doozy!
1st: But what is the URL for the campaign?
Dan: kickstarter.com…thunderzone-comics-strikes-back
1st: What is the minimum price for a digital copy?
Dan: $6
1st: What is the minimum price for a print copy?
Dan: $12, but on both occasions, you can save money in the reward tier with all 5 new releases.
1st: What makes Nature Man so cool that no true fan should miss it?
Dan: Jerry Seigel is the co-creator of Nature Boy, and I think another creation of his is somewhat popular (I heard about an upcoming movie or something). I think building upon that greatness and bringing back some other awesome but less utilized public domain heroes makes this a book that no one should miss.
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