David Kronke was appointed Mayor of Television after a bloodless coup in 2000. Since then, he has improved infrastructure, championed greater educational opportunities and fought for reforms that have utterly erased corruption and incompetence from the television industry. Since Mr. Kronke has ascended to power, Television is a far better place. "Heroes" graphic novel: Striking while the iron is cold
“Heroes: Volume One” (DC Comics, $29.99) was released yesterday (and, barring the strike and other logistical impediments, would’ve been discussed yesterday, as well, but better late than never). The book is a compendium of the online graphic novels found at nbc.com during the 2006-07 season, as the show was reaching its zenith in terms of fan acceptance.
So: The stories here were intentionally tucked around the edges of the show’s actual storylines – they focus on peripheral characters, or, even, those who never actually appeared on the series. You’ll have to have been an assiduous fan of the show to know, exactly, where these stories fit in the program’s mythology. But of course you are; otherwise, why would you pony up 30 bucks for the book?
The artwork is terrific (though, boyoboy, do comix artists like their cheesecake – no one apparently informed them that Hayden Panettiere’s Claire, the cheerleader, was a teenager, because they kind of tend to mistakenly depict her much as they do Ali Larter’s stripper-character Niki), and the packaging is agreeably fun, emulating old comic books of the past. The stories themselves, rating only a handful of pages, aren’t actually terribly revealing, since they couldn't muck with the show's storylines. And the famous Tim Sale’s paintings used in the show are offered here only sparingly.
Naturally, this is aimed (inevitably) at hardcore fanboys of the series. As such, it would’ve benefited from a far earlier release: “Heroes” has hemorrhaged viewers from the outset this season (it has gone from 16 million fans at its peak to 10 million viewers waiting for some kind of narration resolution/explanation today; this week, in fact, MediaWeek’s ratings columnist for the first time declined to rank it amongst Monday’s winners).
So, many of you: Wondering why you didn’t download this material way back when. And, the rest of you: Not caring as much these days.