Adding a foreword

I RE-EDITED The Subterranean #1 (I had several typos) and am hoping Graphicaly will re-upload the corrected version (update: They were very happy to re-upload with no charge). Because making your project personal is a way to connect with readers I also took the liberty of adding a two page explanatory foreword, which you can read here:

The Subterranean first appeared in the pages of my graphic novel Cypher in 1997.

Cypher was an exploration of all things subconscious and The Subterranean was a metaphor for unexpressed anger. As a scientist The Subterranean had been in a terrible explosion at his laboratory and was now overly sensitive to light and had to remain in darkness. This ticked him off as did the fact that he never got what he really wanted. Somehow this rage propelled him into becoming a superhero against his will.

All of this was communicated in the graphic novel as a comic within a comic. A friend suggested that such a superhero would make an interesting comic book. I agreed with him but I was doing a more cartoon-like technique and found it difficult to imagine a credible superhero being rendered in such a style. I hadn't yet evolved the more realistic style I developed specifically for this project.

But when I finally embraced the idea and began writing the story I discovered the character wrote itself and sprang nearly fully developed from my subconscious. As The Subterranean evolved he split into two parts, Ferryl Maughn, super scientist, and Max Jeffries, ex-special operative. Cypher fans will note that the name Ferryl Maughn is symbolic of feral man. Apparently The Subterranean still has problems with anger management issues.

There are other influences, most of them passions I embraced when I was in fifth grade; Batman, of course, Sherlock Holmes, Supercar (the Sandhog is a low-tech version of that Swiss-Army-knife of vehicles), The Phantom (The Subterranean originally carried a pistol), and of course, Tom Swift (with his secret lab and weird science). And those are only the influences I know about! Much like Cypher, there are undoubtedly a freight load of subconscious influences about which I am completely unaware.

Enjoy the adventure!


Brad Teare May 2012