Zoom Suit
Encyclopedia
John Taddeo
John Taddeo is a comic book writer and creator of the company .Taddeo has formerly worked for Marvel Entertainment and Big Entertainment . is a new storyteller to come out of the comic and trading card industries. Taddeo has created a lighthearted action packed boy turns superhero adventure story...
, that debuted in April, 2006
2006 in comics
-January:*January 1, 2006: Newsweek offer a look back at 2005 through editorial cartoons. *January 2, 2006: The Cincinnati Enquirer cartoonist Jim Borgman starts a blog to detail his creative process...
, a year after the animated short film won its first Best Animation at the Palm Beach Film Festival.
Overview
The story follows an alien suit, taken from the crash at RoswellRoswell, New Mexico
Roswell is a city in and the county seat of Chaves County in the southeastern quarter of the state of New Mexico, United States. The population was 48,366 at the 2010 census. It is a center for irrigation farming, dairying, ranching, manufacturing, distribution, and petroleum production. It is also...
in 1947, that the government has been unsuccessfully trying to reverse engineer. The suit is stolen by NSA agent Simon Bane, but lost in a free-fall from a helicopter and found by 12-year-old Myles, who mistakes the suit for a particularly cool Halloween costume. Superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
-style adventures follow - at the urging of Myles' friend and crush, Brittany - as Myles learns the powers and limitations of the suit while avoiding Bane.
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
, X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
, Green Lantern
Green Lantern
The Green Lantern is the shared primary alias of several fictional characters, superheroes appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The first Green Lantern was created by writer Bill Finger and artist Martin Nodell in All-American Comics #16 .Each Green Lantern possesses a power ring and...
, and others. Pop culture references are hidden throughout each issue, and all of the 'advertisements' are either in-jokes or clues to the interactive online treasure hunt for the second short film.
Written by John Taddeo, Zoom Suit features both interior and cover art by Billy Dallas Patton. Each issue has at least two different covers, although issue #1 had more than half a dozen. Other cover artists include established comics illustrators Bob Layton
Bob Layton
Bob Layton is an American comic book artist, writer, and editor, who has worked for Marvel Comics, Valiant Comics, DC Comics, Future Comics, and other publishers.-Early life:...
, Gene Colan
Gene Colan
Eugene Jules "Gene" Colan was an American comic book artist best known for his work for Marvel Comics, where his signature titles include the superhero series, Daredevil, the cult-hit satiric series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror series...
, Bart Sears
Bart Sears
Bart Whitman Sears is an American artist and author, originally from Syracuse, New York.Sears has lent his unique style and creative ideas to multiple industries, including but not limited to: Comics , Toys, and Computer Games...
, Jim Starlin
Jim Starlin
James P. "Jim" Starlin is an American comic book writer and artist. With a career dating back to the early 1970s, he is best known for "cosmic" tales and space opera; for revamping the Marvel Comics characters Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock; and for creating or co-creating the Marvel characters...
, Billy Tucci, Jorge Palacios and Keron Grant
Keron Grant
Keron Grant is a Jamaican-American comic book artist, who has worked mostly for Marvel Comics.His first published work was a pinup in the back of one of the final issues of Dale Keown's Pitt. His first steady comics work was drawing three issues of the unpublished Century comic from Rob Liefeld's...
.
The Zoom Suit animated short, which combines traditional
Traditional animation
Traditional animation, is an animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand...
and computer animation
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
, has won Best Animation awards at film festivals around the country, as well as "Grand Festival" and "Best in Show" awards. The suit was adopted as the official school mascot of the Charter High School of the Arts in Sherman Oaks, California in March, 2006.
Characters
The Zoom Suit -The Zoom Suit is alien technology recovered from the Roswell crash in 1947, the only undamaged suit of its kind. So far, known capabilities include flight, superhuman strength, and sonic speed, but there are powers yet to be revealed, including laser blasts. It also automatically shuts down when it gets wet. Too small for the average adult human, it's just the right size for a 12-year-old boy.
Myles -
Twelve-year-old Myles is a latch-key kid and an outcast. He seems to have a bit of a crush on his friend and neighbor, Brittany, and it is at her urging that he steps up to become a 'superhero' after donning a suit he mistook for a Halloween costume. Initially frightened and reluctant, he's a little more comfortable with the idea after his first successful rescue.
Brittany -
Brittany is Myles' blonde and bubbly superhero-loving neighbor. She's the one who, with a kiss on the cheek, convinced Myles that saving people was the thing to do after he found himself the owner of a hi-tech alien suit.
Simon Bane -
Simon Bane is "the most decorated NSA agent in history", who looks to have a power-hungry larcenous streak. Having survived the 10,000-foot fall from the helicopter he blew up stealing the suit, the least that can be said about Bane is that he's something more than human. Bane's speech tends to be riddled with oxymorons.
Katerina Tesla -
The granddaughter of Nikola Tesla, NSA scientist Katerina Tesla is smart and sexy. Even though she doesn't know much about the suit, it's more than anyone else does.
Hot Spot -
Little is known about this character except that she has the ability to create flames at will. More will be revealed in Zoom Suit II in October, 2007.
External links
- Superverse website
- Zoom Suit news archive at Comics 2 Film
- Secret Zoom Suit Episode Hidden Online, Broken Frontier
- Previewing Zoom Suit #1, NewsaramaNewsaramaNewsarama is an American website that publishes news, interviews and essays about the American comic book industry.-History:Newsarama began in Summer 1995 as a series of Internet forum postings on the Prodigy comic-book message boards by fan Mike Doran. In these short messages. Doran shared...
Interviews
- John Taddeo Talk
- John Taddeo's Zoom Suit Blasts Off In April, Comics BulletinComics BulletinComics Bulletin is a website with an emphasis on the American comic book industry, updated daily with news, reviews, interviews, and editorial content. Coverage ranges from mainstream to independent/small press comic book and graphic novel publishers.-History:...