There's two sides to the "what if" coin of superpowers--if you had them, you'd like to believe you'd spend your time rescuing kitties trapped in trees and punching out the bad guys. But there's part of you that wonders if it might not be easier just to make as much money as possible, then sit back in comfort and enjoy being rich.

Hero By Night attempts to explore both sides of that story, giving us a slacker protagonist, Jack King, who discovers a superhero's abandoned lair beneath an old apartment building. His first reaciton is to sell the costumes, journals, and power ring he finds on eBay--until an old supervillain with a grudge appears and kidnaps his best friend. Creator DJ Coffman stopped by to tell us more about his superhero coming-of-age story.--Matt Springer

HeavyInk: Give us the "secret origin" behind Hero By Night--it started as a webcomic, and then won the Comic Book Challenge from Platinum Studios, right?

DJ Coffman: I originally created it for my kids in 2003, after the experience of randomly buying some mainstream hero comics from the shelves to get my kids into comics. They were bored and it didn't keep their attention.

I interviewed them and asked them why, and the consensus was that "nothing happens!" I guess the comics I gave them had a a lot of talking heads and dialogue and not enough Spider-Man kicking butt and swinging through the city, or not enough Batman action for them. This made me sad, so I sat down with them and we sort of did a jam session, creating characters and their origins. I remember coming up with the roleplaying scenario to ask my kids--what if you found the secret lair of an old hero, and you found his stuff, his power ring, journals, etc? One of the boys immediately said, "I'd sell it and be rich!" But then I asked them, what if the ring gave you awesome powers? One of the other boys said they'd keep the cool powers but sell the other stuff too, a win-win situation. Pretty smart for 7 and 8 year olds back then, huh? But then I said--well, what if some old bad guy came and kidnapped your Mom or someone you loved? Then they all agreed they'd do the right thing and go use the ring to kick the bad guy's butt. Now we were onto something!

HI: There's a sense in which this is a real "coming of age" story for Jack King--he finds the Hero By Night's lair, and at first he reacts selfishly, but he slowly takes up the mantle. Were there any other comics that helped inspire your take on this type of story?

DJ: I don't know if it was any specific comic, but just that AGE of comics, the greatest generation guys. Wally Wood, Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, CC Beck. Those were the days where comics had an underlying message, whether it was "let's go punch Hitler in the face!" or "with great power comes great responsibility." Nowadays it's all sex and violence and cheap gimmicks that have taken over comics. Not that I judge that stuff, but yeah, it's a bummer as a lifelong comic book lover to see it go into the toilet, along with overall comics sales. We at least need some FUN titles that aren't just kid stuff, and not mature adult only stuff...a true all-ages book with underlying tones and messages that speak to people.

HI: Tell me about Jack Kirby's influence on you as a creator--I noticed several homages to the King sprinkled into the story.

DJ: Jack Kirby to me is like the cool grandfather I never had. I admire him most for his work ethic and those old-school ideals that I wish were still around today. I relate to him, I think, because he had those ideas flowing from his head all the time, so much so that he would be scatter-brained, or have a hard time driving or doing other things. He once commented that you should imagine what it's like to have one thousand universes in your head playing out, and I've had that feeling all the time. For better or worse, I think that's an awesome thing. Also, Jack King's story of rediscovery sort of mirrors my own history in comics, where I was so much into the modern stuff, but uncovered the TRUE magic in the comics from the 40s and 50s. Some people only see those as dollar signs or would sell if they found a case of books in an attic. I'd see that case of books as a treasure trove of reading material. But yes, Jack Kirby is who I'd most like to emulate in the way I get things done and interact with fans. That man was amazing.

HI: How has this particular release model--a webcomic supported by published collections--been working out? Do you have a significant base of online readers who will then purchase the printed books?

DJ: Well, that would be the ideal thing to have happen! Unfortunately it's a hard thing to do. Webcomic readers want to click a button to get a book, and have it delivered that week. Trying to explain the preorder process and all the hoops they have to jump through to pick up our books, it turns some of them off. That said, we currently have more READERS than the Batman monthly comic, and many other mainstream titles. I wish that equaled sales! But it feels like a pretty remarkable thing we're building here.

Another key I've found is adding some sort of personalization to an order for the fans. If I could draw in every book, I sure would! But only because I wish that existed for comic fans like myself-- I wish I could have ordered a Frank Miller Batman with a head sketch, or a Bone TPB with a doodle in it from Jeff Smith.

HI: Platinum Studios is a publisher that seems to have strong ties to the film industry. Has Hero By Night been optioned yet? Any news to report on that front?

DJ: Yup, Platinum is a pretty big deal out in Hollywood, and I couldn't be happier to be working with them. We always have a bunch of things going on, but nothing I can remark on. My go-to answer on that usually is that movies, tv and the like are their specialty and I let them handle all of that end of things, and in the meantime I want to just keep making FUN comics and building this army of Hero By Night readers.

HI: Where is Hero By Night going from here? Will Jack embrace his superhero potential? What about Jack and Roz--is that a love connection or what?

DJ: I encourage people to pick up the ongoing series on Heavy Ink, or read the issues at HeroByNight.com (they're delayed online though!). The relationships these days are even MORE complicated, and we've received a lot of feedback about even just a "look" Roz gives to Jack at the end of issue 2 of the ongoing. I think every guy and gal has been at that moment and can relate. That's also getting back to comics that speak to our real experiences and choices in life. And let's not forget about the original Hero...he's still alive. But where has he been all these years? Will he want his ring back, or will he want to destroy it, and why? I could go on and on--there's so many layers of potential with this little universe we're weaving with Hero By Night.