Boy Meets Hero: An Interview with the Creators of the Comic Book

A Superhero Love Story You Should Read

Move over, Spiderman and Mary Jane Watson, because Chayne Avery and Russell Garcia have created the new hottest couple in comics! Boy Meets Hero is the story of Blue Comet, a hero who struggles with not one, but two secret identities. Not only does he have to conceal his identity as Derek Maxwell, but he also pretends publicly to be dating his female partner Sunstar. In reality though, Blue Comet's true love is her brother, Justin.

Boy Meets Hero is somewhat unique in the world of comics because it takes the classic superhero love story and adds a saucy gay twist. Blue Comet and Sunstar work for the World Hero Organization; a company that takes super heroics - and public opinion - very seriously. Blue Comet struggles to reconcile his love for Justin with being a very public figure employed by a conservative company. But, he has a lot of help along the way and the biggest theme of the series - self discovery - is handled both touchingly and hilariously.

I recently got the opportunity to talk to Chayne and Russell about their comic, and I was pleased to find that the creators are as interesting as the characters they so deftly bring to life.

You mention on your web site that your inspiration came from ".. all the super hero comic book characters who have a separate and secret romance in their normal lives." The obvious twist with Boy Meets Hero is that it's a same-sex romance and Blue Comet is still very closeted, yet his boyfriend accepts all of this with remarkable ease. Was it a conscious decision to make Justin the nicest guy in the universe?

Chayne: Yes it was. I know how difficult and scary coming out of the closet can be. I wanted our story to illustrate some of the issues that gay people go through during the coming out process. I wanted Derek to have a healthy relationship with Justin to demonstrate that many supportive gay couplings do in fact exist. As a character, Derek needed to have a supportive boyfriend to help him overcome his fears and thus, Justin was created.