By Vaneta Rogers
SuperFogeys, one of the leading webcomics over at Th3rd World Studios, just made a few heads explode.
For loyal followers of the SuperFogeys story, today’s comic was a doozy. The ongoing series, which is a humorous yet dramatic look at a retirement home for superheroes and villains, just took a twist that few, if any, readers saw coming.
“Right now is when all the pieces of the story I’ve been building for four years finally come together,” said Brock Heasley, who creates the webcomic. “So far the reaction to the reveal has exceeded my wildest expectations — and they were pretty wild to begin with. I’ve been sitting on this idea of what my story is really all about for nearly four years and anticipating this moment.”
According to Heasley, this big reveal is actually a great time to jump on board with the comic, because the curtain of mystery has been pulled back, and now the real fun begins.
“This revelation both casts new light on everything that’s come before and points the way toward where the story of the SuperFogeys is headed next. One of the things the story has been marked by so far is a great deal of mystery and even, at some times, confusion. Now, I’m taking away the mystery and replacing it with something else — tension,” Heasley said.
“If you’re brand new to the SuperFogeys, then you can read the reveal and head immediately into the archives and find that things click into place in a very satisfying way,” he said. “I’ve been predicting a big run on the archives once this hit — even for longtime readers. But, hey, if archive reading’s not your bag, no worries. The big reveal tells you all you really need to know to enjoy what comes next.”
(For more on SuperFogeys, check out a story we did about the series over on the main site last year.)
So what’s the big reveal? It concerns the secret identity of Dr. Klein, who has been controlling the retirement home where the SuperFogeys live. What the characters in the story don’t know is that Dr. Klein is also the villain known only as The Third Man. But who is The Third Man?
“Dr. Klein has been sitting down with each of the Fogeys in turn, conducting short interviews and, well, generally messing with their heads,” Heasley said. “With [today's] final strip of Chapter 9, ‘All is Revealed,’ I’m pulling the veil back and showing just exactly what Dr. Klein/The Third Man is all about.”
And for those who have read the reveal, one post on the site by Chris Blanchard pretty much sums it up: “I’m stunned… speechless… wow!”
August 19th, 2010 at 11:44 am
I was pretty stunned too.
I’ve been what I’d call a “reluctant fan” of the strip for a while, because it always felt like Heasley was pulling his punches, being a little too “goody goody”.
But this, yea, he really pulled game changer.
Hope it pays off as much as the reveal did.