Publication history
The three issues of Section Zero that were published were dated June 2000, July 2000 and September 2000. A fourth issue was solicited, but was never published. [1] Gorilla Comics was intended to be a creator-owned company financed by a comics related website, eHero.com. [2] The website proved to be a financial failure, leaving the creators to personally finance their own books. Along with the other Gorilla Comics creators, Kesel and Grummett attempted to continue the series they started, but these efforts proved to be unsuccessful. [3] In January 2012, Kesel announced that he and Grummett would be relaunching Section Zero as a webcomic on the Mad Genius Comics website. [4] [5] The previously published stories are being posted on the site and new material will be added as it is completed. [6]
Kesel and Grummett launched a Kickstarter project in May 2017 to collect all Section Zero work and complete the storyline. [7] The Kickstarter was successfully funded, and the book premiered at the Baltimore Comic Con 2018 (September 28–30). [8] The book and related items began shipping out shortly afterwards.
Kesel and Grummett launched a new website as part of the Kickstarter project, which replaced the older Mad Genius Comics site. The new Panic Button Press site includes information for Section Zero material, and an online store for people to purchase the Kickstarter book, mini-prints, and a full-color print from Adam Hughes. [9]
In December 2018, Kesel teased a new project, which would be officially announced as Section Zero 1959 to the original Kickstarter backers in January 2019. [10] The Kickstarter for this project is expected to launch in Q1 2019.
Plot synopsis
In the first issue, after rescuing Thom Talesi from a murderous mob in the Southeast Asian country Siatok, Sam Wildman, Titania Challenger, and Tesla recruit him into Section Zero. Shortly after returning to the abandoned Air Force base that serves as Section Zero's HQ, the team is sent to investigate a series of livestock killings in Australia. After they leave, A.J. Keeler contacts the Ghost Soldiers and orders them to follow.
Issue #2 finds the team discovering and rescuing Sargasso from a cave inside Ayers Rock. Not long after this, they find themselves in a fight with a saber-toothed tiger that ends when it drags Titania Challenger though a portal shaped like a ring of fire.
In the third issue, after attempting to seek the Ring of Fire, the team journeys to its last known stable location, the abandoned subway tunnels beneath New York City. There they face the forces of the Rat King. After defeating their foes, the team is confronted by the Ghost Soldiers.
Although it was never released, issue #4 had a brief plot teaser at the bottom of issue #3's letters page:
Doc Challenger fights alone in a forgotten land of monsters, myths and legend—uncovering an important clue to the unexplained phenomena that haunts our world. But will she live to use it? Also: is she friend or foe? Introducing the fiery femme fatale known as—Lava!
Girl Genius is an ongoing comic book series turned webcomic, written and drawn by Phil and Kaja Foglio and published by their company Studio Foglio LLC under the imprint Airship Entertainment. The comic won the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story three times, has been nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist and twice for Eisner Awards, and won multiple WCCA awards.
Shaenon K. Garrity is a webcomic creator and science-fiction author best known for her webcomics Narbonic and Skin Horse. She collaborated with various artists to write webcomics for the Modern Tales-family of webcomic subscription services in the early 2000s, and write columns for various comics journals. Since 2003, Garrity has done freelance editing for Viz Media on various manga translations.
Superman: The Wedding Album is an American comic book published in 1996 by DC Comics. It is notable for featuring the wedding of Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane in DC Comics continuity, an event that was nearly 60 years in the making.
Karl Kesel is an American comics writer and inker whose works have primarily been under contract for DC Comics. He is a member of Periscope Studio and is best known for his collaborations with fellow artist Tom Grummett on The Adventures of Superman, Superboy, and Section Zero, as well as the first Harley Quinn comic title.
Louise Simonson is an American comic book writer and editor. She is best known for her work on comic book titles such as Conan the Barbarian, Power Pack, X-Factor, New Mutants, Superman: The Man of Steel, and Steel. She is often referred to by the nickname "Weezie". Among the comic characters she co-created are Cable, Steel, Power Pack, Rictor, Doomsday and the X-Men villain Apocalypse.
Jon Bogdanove is an American comics artist and writer. He is best known for his work on Power Pack and Superman: The Man of Steel, as well as for creating the character Steel with writer Louise Simonson in 1993.
Thomas Grummett is a Canadian comic book artist and penciller. He is best known for his work as penciller on titles such as The New Titans, The Adventures of Superman, Superboy, Power Company, Robin, New Thunderbolts and Heroes.
Ryan North is a Canadian writer and computer programmer.
Stuart Immonen is a Canadian comics artist. He is best known for his work on Nextwave, Ultimate X-Men, The New Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Ultimate Spider-Man. His pencils are usually inked by Wade Von Grawbadger.
Kieron Dwyer is an American comics artist. He is best known for his work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics as well as for his creator-owned projects.
Superboy is the name of several American comic book series published by DC Comics, featuring characters of the same name. The first three Superboy titles feature the original Superboy, the underaged version of the legendary hero Superman. Later series feature the second Superboy, who is a partial clone of Superman.
Superman was an ongoing comic book series featuring the DC Comics superhero of the same name. The second volume of the previous ongoing Superman title, the series was published from cover dates January 1987 to April 2006, and ran for 228 issues. This series was launched after John Byrne revamped the Superman character in 1986 in The Man of Steel limited series, introducing the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths version of the Superman character.
Erfworld was a story-driven fantasy/comedy webcomic and independently published graphic novel about a master strategy gamer summoned into and stuck inside a wargame running from December 2006 to its abrupt cancellation in October 2019. It featured contemporary memes and pop culture references.
Gorilla Comics was a short-lived American comic book imprint launched in 2000 by creators Kurt Busiek, Tom Grummett, Stuart Immonen, Karl Kesel, Barry Kitson, George Pérez, Mark Waid, and Mike Wieringo. Characters were creator-owned, and books were published through Image Comics.
Pictures for Sad Children is a 2007 webcomic, created by Simone Veil. The webcomic, about a ghost named Paul, featured a spare and minimalist black-and-white artstyle and depressive, nihilistic themes. In 2012, Veil launched a highly successful Kickstarter campaign to publish a print collection of the webcomic. However, Veil was not able to ship all of the copies to backers, and emails from fans asking when their book would arrive eventually led Veil to burn a portion of the remaining books. After Pictures for Sad Children was taken offline in 2014, a fan community rose up to share pages and other content from the webcomic.
Christopher Hastings is an American comic writer and artist. He is known for his webcomic The Adventures of Dr. McNinja as well as writing for Unbelievable Gwenpool and the Adventure Time comics.
Brawl in the Family was a gag-a-day webcomic written and drawn by Matthew Taranto. The webcomic was inspired by the Super Smash Bros. series and features characters from various video game franchises, predominantly Nintendo series such as Kirby, Super Mario, Pokémon, F-Zero, and Metroid. The webcomic concluded on October 3, 2014, having produced a total of 600 comics.
The history of webcomics follows the advances of technology, art, and business of comics on the Internet. The first comics were shared through the Internet in the mid-1980s. Some early webcomics were derivatives from print comics, but when the World Wide Web became widely popular in the mid-1990s, more people started creating comics exclusively for this medium. By the year 2000, various webcomic creators were financially successful and webcomics became more artistically recognized.
Ava's Demon is a science fantasy webcomic written and drawn by Michelle Czajkowski Fus and colored by a number of colorists. The comic, which has been ongoing since 2012, is known for its painted art style and animations. The first physical publication of Ava's Demon was released in 2013 after a successful Kickstarter project, and another Kickstarter in 2020 became the most-backed webcomic Kickstarter at the time.
The business of webcomics involves creators earning a living through their webcomic, often using a variety of revenue channels. Those channels may include selling merchandise such as t-shirts, jackets, sweatpants, hats, pins, stickers, and toys, based on their work. Some also choose to sell print versions or compilations of their webcomics. Many webcomic creators make use of online advertisements on their websites, and possibly even product placement deals with larger companies. Crowdfunding through websites such as Kickstarter and Patreon are also popular choices for sources of potential income.
