A Hero’s Death by TEX
A Hero’s Death is an original 48 page graphic novel, hand painted by legendary artist Mark Texeira (Ghost Rider, Wolverine, Punisher) and written by Ricardo Sanchez (Resident Evil, Legends of the Dark Knight, RIFT.) on Kickstarter right now.
The Story
The Hero died twenty years ago trying to save a family in a building collapse, but the implications of her death still linger, especially for Laura, a young reporter who’s doing a story on the anniversary of the Hero’s death,
Laura has managed to track down an old woman named Doris Weller, an eye witness to what happened. But Doris has no interest in remembering that day, let alone talking about it. As Laura coaxes the story out of her, we get to see what actually happened to the Hero, and the devastating effect her death had on Doris and the city.
A Hero’s Death is a superhero tale that will feel immediately familiar to anyone who’s read Superman, Wonder Woman or Spider-Man comics, but plumbs a little deeper into what it means to be a hero.
The Origin of the Story
“I can still remember as a kid reading Superman and just feeling good when the hero won the day,” Ricardo said of the story. “Too many superhero comics now are jaded or dark. I wanted to evoke the feeling I had reading those classic stories, but I wanted to do it in a way that also showed the costs to the heroes for being there for us.”
Mark and Ricardo talked at New York Comic-Con 2012 about collaborating on a project, and Ricardo brought him the comic book adaptation of the story. “I’ve been looking at Mark’s work since his days on Jonah Hex, and his Ghost Rider helped bring me back to comics after a brief absence. He’s a really remarkable artist. Although he’s best known for his action books, I thought the quality of his paintings would be a great way to bring to the page the empathy and emotion that makes the story work,” Ricardo said.
“I read the story and I thought, WOW! This is something I could really show my stuff on. I’ve been doing a lot more painted work lately, and with this script I have a lot of freedom to create new characters and a new hero,” Mark said.
In fact, the protagonist in the original short story is a man, but Mark wanted to tell the story with the Hero as a woman. “So many heroes are guys! I read the script and just kept thinking that changing the character to a female would add a new layer to the story. It would also make the story fresh for people who’ve read the short.”
“I was skeptical,” Ricardo said. “But I did a re-write and Mark was right. Changing the Hero to a woman brought deeper poignancy to the character and the story.”
What Others Have Said About The Original Story
A Hero’s Death is based on Ricardo Sanchez’s critically acclaimed short story, The Death and Life of a Hero, from the super hero anthology Gods of Justice by Cliffhanger Books. The story won rave reviews for portraying a human side to men and women in capes.
Ricardo Sanchez contributes my favorite tale in the book, The Death and Life of a Hero. I’m a sucker for such an uplifting story in which the hero receives his due from the people he has saved. I loved that same theme in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer as well as in Early Edition, and I love it here, too.
– Ray Tate from ComicsBulletin
The final story in this collection, written by DC’s Ricardo Sanchez (famous for his Resident Evil comics) is hands down the most rewarding and thought-provoking. Really more of a social introspection piece, Ricardo tells us of a deceased hero known as The Hero and the reporter that is trying to retell the story twenty years later. I really don’t want to ruin too much for you so all I’ll say is this story needs to be published elsewhere and consumed en mass as it is a powerful look into and reminder of who we all are and who we all can be.
– Jared Walter of ComicBooked
About the Author
Richard Boom Richard is the driving force behind Comics for Sinners. His love and admiration for female comic book characters is virtually unparalleled, which immediately explains his biggest 'sin': his Hot Mummy fetish. This sketchbook theme is philogynistic in nature and even the source of his WIP comic book series "The Sisterhood".
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