THE PULSE: FEELING A NEW SHADES OF BLUE BY JENNIFER "Another Cool Heidi" CONTINO ------------------------------------------------------------------------ When I went to my first comic convention out of state, I met the Jim Harris from Shades of Blue. We hung out a little that weekend and he introduced me to his eclectic cast of characters and told me a little about the series. The story features Heidi Paige a typical teenager until she woke up one morning with blue hair and electric powers. Now, other superpowered people are popping up all over town and most are just as confused to the origins of their "skills" as Heidi. And, before you ask, this series was around long before Smallville and its kryptonite power of the week feature. Needless to say, after hearing about the premise and reading the first few issues, I was definitely interested and curious to see where the series would go. Recently it was announced that Shades of Blue joined the Digital Webbing family. The first issue of their Digital Webbing run comes out this week. Harris is hoping that Digital Webbing will open up the Shades world to a whole new audience. "Ed Duekshire and Digital Webbing have shown that they can put out professional quality indy comics on a tight schedule, which is something we've always prided ourselves on, so the fit seemed perfect," said scribe Harris. "And with Digital Webbing behind us, I'm sure we can use the exposure they bring to let more and more people know about Shades of Blue. People who buy the other Digital Webbing books will be exposed to Shades, and vice versa. The only worry I had was that regular readers of the Amp Comics series wouldn't be able to find us in the Previews catalog, but I think it's going okay so far. The orders for the trade were spectacular!" If you're unfamiliar with the series, artist Cal Slayton can give you a quick 4 - 1 - 1. "Shades of Blue is about a regular teenage girl named Heidi Paige, who wakes up one day to discover that her hair has turned blue and she has the power to control electricity," explained Slayton. "When other people in her town turn up with powers, her two friends K.T. and Marcus talk her into becoming a superhero to take on these new threats." "The new series will reveal the origin behind Heidi's powers," continued Harris. "Something really bad is building up in the sleepy little town of Harrington, and Heidi and her friends and enemies were given these powers to combat this great evil. We'll also discover what all this has to do with Heidi's friend Marcus, who's having a bit of a family crisis." Harris continued, "Shades of Blue itself was inspired by a desire to see more positive female characters in the superhero genre. The story line we're now telling was inspired by what I went through in high school dealing with my own family crisis that mirrors Marcus' own, and is at the center of what Shades of Blue is really all about." "I really love watching the characters develop and getting to see what they’re going to do next," commented Slayton. "I love when I get a new script from Jim, it really pumps me up to start translating his written word into sequential storytelling. And then when a new issue hits the stands, it’s such a great feeling. After all that work and time you put into it, it pays off in a book that you’re proud of." The comic is one that should appeal to the fan of Smallville or any of the new teen WB series'. It's got a compelling plot, sympathetic characters, and themes and situations that almost anyone can relate to. Shades of Blue might just be one of the best series people aren't reading. But that's just because the word hasn't spread yet - which is one of the biggest challenges that the creators face each issue. "Getting the word out about the series is tough," said Harris. "It's hard to get people to try out a new indy comic, and it seems to be even harder to get stores to give us a shot and order us in advance. But I understand; it's a business, and they don't want to stock something they feel they might have a hard time selling. But whenever our book has been on the shelves it's sold, so I'm confident we can overcome this problem." "Shades is an indy book for people who don't like indys," continued the writer. "It's a superhero book for people who don't like superhero books. It's a black and white book for people who don't usually read black and whites. And it's a teen book for people who usually don't like those. So it's got something for everyone. But most importantly, we really care about our work. We're not phoning anything in. We promise to lay it all on the table and give you our artistic heart and souls, so you know at the very least you're getting the best of us." "On my end, the biggest challenge would be the fact that Jim and I live about five states apart," commented Slayton. "I’m in Dallas and he’s in Chicago. But we manage to do most of the work via email. As a matter of fact, I had never even spoken to him on the phone until after my second issue came out and we got to meet at Wizard World 2001."