At WizardWorld Chicago last weekend, I spent 3 days talking about The Overman. In doing so, I discovered that after all this time, there are still new things about this story that I hadn't noticed before, or chose to set aside in favor of getting across a central theme. That theme once resonated with quotes from Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, a book I carried around with me everywhere, years ago when I lived in Pittsburgh as an art student. Nietzsche promised Man is something that must be overcome, 'God is Dead' and that humanity was merely an intermediary between animal and the Overman.Nietzsche's Overman has had various interpretations. It is commonly recognized as the German translation of a superhuman. I usually equated this to the concept of some new chapter in human evolution, an indefinable zone where Mankind discards human weakness in exchange for something new and better. My use of The Overman in this story is conceptual and not really connected to Nietzsche in the truest sense, or to an individual character. I didn't bother trying to explain any of this over the weekend, and for good reason. I realized then, perhaps for the first time, that The Overman is a story about endings and beginnings, and the symbol embedded within the title summarizes the story without any need for deeper explanation.
The concept continues to resonate for me. I still get that foreboding sense of impending, yet indefinable metamorphosis, as I'm writing the sequel. I'm still reaching out to capture The Overman, in it's truest form.
Shane and I have been connected through this project for nearly 20 years. Yesterday evening we were on the phone for a few minutes, still weary from the rigors of WWC, but discussing a few business matters related to the book. My wife Melissa later joked that he and I are like an old married couple, forced to get along for the sake of the kid. Together, Shane and I have watched our 'kid' grow past it's precocious stages and into the fully matured comic previewed at the convention. To sum up our relationship, Shane turned to me at one point during the show, and said as though a stunning revelation, "I absolutely hate you" in reference to some creative hurtle I'd thrown down for him in the script. We have somehow mastered the art of abusive, deadpan humor whenever we are in the same room together. It takes years of practice. Reactions to The Overman at Chicago were astoundingly positive, and I want to thank everyone who stopped by to chat, or take the time to preview the first issue, arriving in comic shops everywhere the first week of December.
Warn others.
Scott Reed
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