Hi, all. This is my first post (but I've been watching Heroes from the beginning).

This audio interview has a nice half hour about Heroes.

"We discuss Joss Whedon's Buffy Season 8 comic book from Dark Horse and Loeb's upcoming involvement with that series. We also get into a detailed debate about the recent pace of the line-wide publishing events DC and Marvel are serving to their readers. Finally we wrap thing up with Loeb's insider view of the breakout hit TV series of this season, Heroes."

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=105843

Direct link to podcast
(this is Part 2 of the interview, Heroes is the second half of Part 2):

http://cache.libsyn.com/wordballoon/WBloeb0307pt2.mp3

If you download the audio file (16.3 MB), you can see the time. The Heroes part starts at 34:08. It's about 35 minutes long.


Loeb talks about:
- the looming writers' strike (so they'll finish making season 1 in April and start making season 2 this May)
- the genesis of the show and his involvement
- the nearly all-star staff
- the writing process (characters/scenes vs. episodes)
- Greg Grunberg/Zach Quinto/Hayden Panettiere's talent
- Jack Coleman on Dynasty
- Tim Kring's leadership style:
- - lack of standard mass-firings of writers at end of season 1
- - let people do what they're good at
- - sharing credit
- crew members' love of the stories
- pacing of secrets
- Heroes' message/appeal

For those who don't know, the part about Loeb's life being a mess these days (and Heroes being a nice "home") refers to the loss of his 17-year-old son to cancer two years ago.

thank you very much! and welcome!

I'll definitely hear it after I come back from school; love it when they appreciate Zach =).

And Loeb lost his son? oh man- that's sad... But I'm glad his work is giving him some sort of comfort.

from the interview:

"Is that a person or a power"

I love Tim Kring but you can really tell he has no idea how much the comic book industry has matured over the years. I think he believes we're still in the silver age.


Kring: I got this idea! All of the super powered individuals are going to have to register with the government and..

Loeb: It's already been done.

Kring: Alright then, we're going to take a realistic point of view comics wouldn't dare go to and create a shadowy governmentish organization that keeps tabs on the Heroes and..

Loeb: Its uhh...its been done.

Kring: We're going to do the unthinkable and have one of our good heroes kill somebody creating a moral dilemma.

Loeb: *sigh* Wonder Woman...

Kring: Oh, then we're going to kill off one of our most beloved characters. You'll never see Marvel or DC do that.

Loeb: Death of Superman and Captain America.

Kring: But wait! they're actually going to stay dead.

Loeb: Okay...I'll give you that one.

Thanks for the welcome.

Sam Loeb started doing comic-book writing, too. Twenty-six comics writers and artists got together and brought Sam's Superboy/Robin story to final draft last year and donated their fees and residuals (plus there was an auction of the original artwork) to a Sam Loeb college scholarship fund for the brilliant and funny (like Sam).

Jeph Loeb on "Sam's Story"
Superman/Batman #26 Creators Tell Their "Sam Story"
Update: Sam Loeb Scholarship Fund Hits $72,000

So, it will always be sad, but Sam lives on in a concrete way.




That about sums it up. Jeph Loeb said in a print interview that TV was catching up with where comics were 15 years ago. It would be interesting if Heroes brought some more readers into the fold.

I totally forgot to welcome you to 9th Wonders! I hope you have fun here and thanks for the great links.