Alt-Hero: Global Justice Initiative

Just a little taste of what we’re working on for the Alt-Hero project. This is going to be a graphic novel project of bigger scope than most people are probably anticipating; the story infrastructure has to be large enough to support a wide range and variety of storylines and I have no interest in simply retelling lame versions of Marvel and DC stories. Alt-Hero is going to be as influenced by The Incredibles and, to a lesser extent, Sandman, as it is by Batman and the Justice League of America.

The most important mainstream superhero organization is the Global Justice Initiative, which is divided into EU and US divisions. Capitán Europa is the leader of the Initiative, which reports directly to the European Commission, while the US division is led by Dr. Ladarius Nano, PhD, a brilliant African-American scientist. Dynamique is a French member of the Initiative, who is a Parisian fashion model by day, and who is frequently getting in trouble for being caught smoking cigarettes by the paparazzi.

Besides fighting crime, racism, smoking, and nationalism, the main job of the Global Justice Initiative is to hunt down rogue superheroes who refuse to use their powers for the common good, at least as it is defined by the European Commission and the United Nations. One of the Initiative’s ongoing concerns is to put an end to the Vigilant Front, a ragtag collection of politically problematic vigilantes linked to the suspiciously long-lived Prophet.