Rounding out Les Supérieurs!

Always stoked to see some new Supérieurs material made available, but the Facebook post that came with Mase below was a fist-pumper.

NEW! From the GWN of the WGU comes Mase! Field commander, and leader of Les Supérieurs!

This is the last of the [current] lineup for the LS project -- up next: the LS history, and a collection of all of the digital releases to date, featuring new cover art, and possibly some pinup work!

This was almost like reaching a finish line of sorts. The plans to collect the member profiles and release a sourcebook specific to this team are not new. I was aware of them when I first posted about Les Supérieurs almost three years ago now (April 12th, 2012, to be specific). It had been a while since the project had been mentioned though so it's good to see it's still in the works and creeping ever closer to completion.

If you haven't been paying attention to this team over the years, well...We can't be friends. But if you seek redemption I can help guide you by reiterating that while the characters are designed for a role-playing game system, the goal is to eventually publish them in comic books. In fact, while Les Superieurs do not appear in the book (sadly), a zero issue of WatchGuard was added to Comixology this past January.

Here's the character that was released prior to Mase. Get a load of this bruiser:

Another great design. There are enough similarities between them (comparing past releases for Roudabout, Badger, etc) that it's clear the characters are wearing "official" uniforms, but each outfit is tailored to emphasize what makes the character stand out. I can't wait to see how the sourcebook turns out.

Tags: Red Leaf Comics, Heroes of the North, are "it".

As I write this, the most "tagged" publisher in the past year and change of posting about Canadian heroic character types is Marvel Comics with a healthy 26.  That's hardly surprising; Marvel has an all-Canadian superhero team.  They often treat them like moose shit, mind you, but they still have them, as well as several other Canadian characters that aren't necessarily connected.

Next up is DC Comics with 17 tags.  A significant portion of those were the result of trying to change the "DC has no Canadian characters" perception.  They actually have several, though they have little connection to one another and are seldom used.

Next up?  Red Leaf Comics with 12.  Heroes of the North have the same number under the characters/titles category.

For a company based out of Arizona, I sure do talk about Red Leaf a lot, eh?  The reason why is actually quite simple: They make it easy to.  And it's something a lot of small publishers could learn.

The most frustrating thing about trying to be supportive of smaller publishers is when they won't "let" you.  For example, I recently wrote to two Canadians to ask if the publisher they were presently working for/with had other Canadian talent on board.  One didn't respond, the other confirmed there are others but didn't elaborate (the response was about five words long).

Also fairly recently, I offered to buy one publisher's entire line of books if they could give me a grand total price which includes shipping.  I never received a final answer, so that money remains unspent.

What does Red Leaf do differently?  A few days ago, publisher John Michael Helmer provided a digital copy of The Leaf #4 for me before it becomes available for purchase.  John has nothing to lose; I'll buy the print version regardless.  I've also received preview art from Red Leaf in the past.

Now I may not be able to provide John with a huge amount of exposure in return, but there's also no sense (from his perspective) in leaving stones unturned.  Some publishers get this, others don't.  Heroes of the North are friggin' unbelievable at it.  They manage social media as well as anyone I've seen.  Nearly 5000 Facebook fans and almost 30,000 Twitter followers speaks for itself.  They engage their fan base by making them feel appreciated and involved.  A few months ago they asked their fans to come up with names for characters based out of specific provinces, and to vote on uniform designs.  That's fun for fans.

Another example?  Andrew Lorenz over at September 17th Productions has sent me preview art for his Legacy book.  I haven't bought a single thing from this guy, he just appreciates that I'm interested and wants to keep that interest up.  Imagine that concept.

A few months ago I joked with Charlie McElvie, father of the Watchguard Universe, that if he made a Les Superieurs t-shirt available, I'd buy it.  So what did he do?  The obvious.  He called me on it.  Charlie made the shirt available, I bought it. What did this cost Charlie?  Judging from how fast he had the Supérieurs logo up on RedBubble, a few minutes tops.

I'm not sitting here begging for people to kiss up to me.  I know full well that being talked about on this blog is the furthest thing from instant fame and success.

But when you are in a position of selling a product, take any and every opportunity to be seen and talked about, no matter how small.  You never know what it could turn into.  Ignoring or overlooking interest is no way to sell your product.

Skyfire of Les Supérieurs

Charlie McElvy continues to release pieces of his Supérieurs team as part of his greater Watchguard universe.  See the tag at right for past examples.

Skyfire below is the most recent reveal, although he's been simmering for some time. A work-in-progress image of the character appeared on the Watchguard Facebook page in February 2012.

There is still more to come.  Villains are now being made available, starting with Kodiak, and judging from other past Facebook posting, there is at least one more Supérieur on the way.

Being that these pdfs are detailed bios of characters, including place of birth and/or base of operation, I've taken the time to add the various team members to the map.

Watching this universe grow piece by piece is a lot of fun.  I love how the character designs have similarities, but avoid being near-identical.  Can't wait until the next piece!

Les Supérieurs t-shirt

I've been following the Watchguard Universe since stumbling across Runabout a few months ago during a Google image search.  In the weeks since, a few more members of the Watchguard U's Canadian team, Les Supérieurs, have been revealed and Charlie McElvy, the man behind the Watchguard Universe, has run a successful Kickstarter campaign geared towards funding the first comic book based on his characters.  To this point, they had been created specifically for a supplement to a role-playing game.

Back when I first posted about Runabout, I commented that he'd look great on a t-shirt.  Several of the Watchguard Universe characters had already found their likeness copied onto cotton, but no member of Les Supérieurs (Runabout's team) received that treatment. Earlier in the week, I joked with Charlie (on Twitter) about now demanding a Supérieurs shirt.  To my surprise, Charlie called my bluff and prepared one.

Click on the image above to open the page on which these are being sold in a separate tab.

Man of my word, I ordered it that evening and was notified by Redbubble the following morning that it had shipped, so I'm quite grateful for their speedy service.

As to the Supérieurs team itself, the following was posted by Charlie on the Watchguard Facebook page in September:

I'll be bundling all of the Supérieurs together, adding in some villains & standees, and an adventure or two to give them a full sourcebook of their own (not as large as the WG one, though). If you own the individuals, you'll be getting a massive-discount code.

The standees (pdf's which detail an individual character's background, powers, etc) were released as samplers.  You could purchase them for $1 each (still can) to get a feel for the content of the Watchguard soucebook.  I already have those, including WW2-era heroine Lynx, so I'm pleased to hear that there are still plans to expand that corner of the Watchguard Universe.

Funding Superiority

As much as I would love to support oodles of Kickstarter and Indiegogo project to help independent comic publishers, I am not made of loonies. Upon starting this blog, I decided to focus primarily on Canadian projects but am making an exception for Watchguard / Teen Force 5.

Well...only technically.  I was first drawn to this universe by stumbling into Runabout (see tag at right) while doing a Google search on Canadian superheroes.  At the time, there was no specific comic book project planned around the Watchguard characters (publicly at least, that I knew of).  The product being promoted was a sourcebook for a role-playing game.

Writer Charlie McElvy now intends to begin publishing comics about his creations and while it will not be specific to Les Supérieurs (Runabout's team), early success may very well open the door to that very thing.

With that hope in mind, I committed a few bucks to the cause, and would encourage any comic fan to do the same.  Your money is only transferred if the project is fully funded, so you are under no risk of getting nothing for your pledge.

Here's a look at a couple of other Supérieurs team members.

To this point, I'd been buying the Supérieurs character sheets from RPGNow.com (in pdf file format) as a show of support even though I don't actually play the game for which the sheets are made.  Still, I love the uniform designs and the detailed back story that comes with each.

There are only two days left in Charlie's campaign but he has seen a flurry of activity around it of late and his goal is within reach.  Who knows, if he gets the funding he needs, maybe we can get a Supérieurs cameo or pin-up while we wait for a team-specific book (yes, that's a shameless hint).  Best of luck either way, Charlie, if you happen to read this.

Sept 1st edit: Charlie didn't need luck.  He reached his goal early this morning. :-)

Runabout of the WatchGuard universe

Diggin' the character design below.  It was (still is, I guess...) located in a message board post related to a role-playing game called Mutants and Masterminds.

Sneak peek at new art for an upcoming WG supplement!!
Sponsored by the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command's metahuman task force (Designate: M) in Quebec, and HQ'd in Manitoba, this is an elite, military-based & led, metahuman special missions force operating within the WatchGuard Universe. More to come on these guys soon!!

"Runabout", art & design by Kevin Sharpe, inks by Troy Zurel, Colors by Eddy Swan.

Glad Charlie McElvy didn't call him Runaboot. :-/

It is still a little unclear to me whether Watchguard is "only" a supplement to a role-playing game or that and also an actual comic book yet to be produced.  A website called watchguardcomic.com would seem to indicate that the latter is part of the overall plan but for the moment at least there is no such material available.

Runabout isn't included on the sourcebook cover, and the description above makes him/them sound like his/their appearances will be occasional, so we'll keep him/them in the "prospect(s)" category for now.

If you want to have a look at some of the other characters in the WatchGuard universe, these t-shirt designs make for a good sampler.  Runabout would look good on a red background, eh?