Superhero stories are often at their best when they reflect the struggles people go through, but in a situation writ large with pathos and drama that we will never see in our day-to-day life. And since so much of our day-to-day life is surrounded by social media, why wouldn’t a superhero have problems that involve that?
Super Best Friend, the new Kickstarter from writer and podcaster Jason Inman (Geek History Lesson, Jupiter Jet) deals with a superhero, his friend and what happens when secret identity and social media cross paths. I sat down with Inman to chat about the book, his history with social media and the appropriate length for Superman’s cape.
Matt Lazorwitz: So, let’s start where I always do with one of these: Give us the elevator pitch for Super Best Friend, if you please.
Jason Inman: What if the world’s greatest superhero had a best friend who livestreamed his every fight and deed? Meet Mattie Moore, the best friend and videographer for Captain Terrific, the world’s greatest superhero. The villains hate Mattie, and the fans love him. However, Mattie himself will have to deal with his love of superheroes when he accidentally reveals hidden secrets in one of his online videos. This comic is a dive deep into the mythos of heroes and their connection to their biggest fans.
ML: How did you get artist George Kamabadais and the rest of your creative team involved?
JI: George is an artist I’ve been a fan of for years. His work on The Secret Life of Miranda Taylor is a hidden gem. Luckily, he became available in 2018 and I scooped him up. His designs and his art have really pushed the story forward. For lettering, Taylor Esposito has lettered every book I’ve written, so there was no way in hell that I was going to do this book without Taylor!
ML: You were a co-host of DC All Access, the DC Comics web show, for some time. How did that affect your relationship with social media, and how has it influenced this book?
JI: It’s one of the major influences of the book. Hosting DC All Access was an amazing job, but it was also tweeting and talking about superheroes 24/7. No matter how much we all love these fictional characters, everyone needs a palate cleanser now and again. That job made me look at how obsessed we all are with the magical squares in our hands and how they relate to our perception of the world. If superheroes existed, we’d be obsessed with recording them. They’d have huge fan bases and Twitch channels devoted to them. Super Best Friend has been the perfect medium for me to process everything I learned and observed for DC All Access and actually grow my love for superheroes.
ML: This book features Captain Terrific, a character you conceived in 2006. How has the character evolved from inception to appearance here?
JI: Terrific was the secondary character in a comedic one-act play I wrote in college. Back then, he was purely a Superman archetype. Now, Captain Terrific is a calm and centered character. He cares so much for other people that he tends to do everything himself because he’s so worried about innocents being hurt. He’s the ultimate protector and a superb friend. It’s not until Mattie’s actions in the first issue of Super Best Friend that Terrific gets knocked off his “A” game, becoming more human and varied like the rest of us.
ML: Who is your favorite sidekick in comics?
JI: Skeets! He’s the straight man to Booster Gold’s antics. If Booster didn’t have Skeets around, that hero wouldn’t accomplish anything! Plus, he’s a robot, which makes him pretty cool.
ML: OK, so you mentioned something in the initial email you sent to us at ComicsXF, and inquiring minds DO need to know: How long should Superman’s cape be?
JI: No longer than knee-length. Superman doesn’t need the cape to hide, attack or frighten like Batman does. It’s an inspirational tool of his homeworld. Anything longer than knee-level capes for Superman is lunacy.
ML: One thing I want to bring up, even though we’re at the beginning of the year and this won’t become as timely until the holidays: You run the Jawiin Comic Drive for Service Members every year, which provides comics for service members overseas. Can you tell our readers a little bit about that?
JI: The Jawiin Charity Drive for Service Members is an annual charity drive that I run to support Operation Gratitude, which is an amazing organization that sends care packages overseas to soldiers and their families. It started five years ago purely as a comic drive, but in a post-COVID world it makes more sense to make it a monetary charity drive so Operation Gratitude can use the funds to their best use. This year was a massive success as we raised over $6,000 in five hours and hosted a livestream with amazing guests like Tom King, Susan Eisenberg and Kevin Smith. Once the world opens up, we’d love to make it a live-venue event. Stay tuned for November 2021 to see this year’s charity drive details.
ML: This is your fourth Kickstarter, and you’ve had success with books like Jupiter Jet and Science! What tips would you give to people looking to create their first campaign?
JI: Your first day is going to be more work than you think it is. So prepare and probably take the day off of work.
You can back Super Best Friend on Kickstarter. The project has already met its initial goal, but there are stretch goals for you to check out.
Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of five. It was Who's Who in the DC Universe #2, featuring characters whose names begin with B, which explains so much about his Batman obsession. He writes about comics he loves, and co-hosts the creator interview podcast WMQ&A with Dan Grote.
