100 pages. Full colour.
Titan Magazines
Edited by Martin Eden.
Cover photo (uncredited).
Contents:
2 The Perfect Break advertisement for World Snooker Championship on Nintendo DS.
3 Editorial by Martin Eden; illustrations from UNKNOWN, promotional photos (uncredited).
4 Heroes Welcome messages from Milo Ventimiglia, Ali Larter, James Kyson Lee, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Jack Coleman, Tim Kring, Hayden Panettiere, Greg Grunberg, Zachary uinto, Adrian Pasdar, Dania Ramirez, and Masi Oka; photographs from Heroes World Tour.
6 Contents (one and two thirds pages).
7 Creators credits. / Indicia
8 Heroes Headlines news feature compiled by Rob Francis.
13 Kevin Smith Tells it Like it Is! advertisement for My Boring-Ass Life: The Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith.
14 Afraid of the Dark? in-house advertisement for Lost: The Official Magazine.
16 Supergroup - An Interview with the Entire Cast of Heroes! by Abbie Bernstein.
25 Resistance is Futile! in-house advertisement for Star Trek Magazine.
26 Secret Origins Tim Kring interview by Abbie Bernstein.
33 Celebrating 30 Years of Star Wars in-house advertisement for Star Wars Insider.
34 Heroes - Season One Episode Guide & Cast Interviews guide by Rob Francis, interviews by Abbie Bernstein; photographs (uncredited).
38 Cast Interviews Milo Ventimiglia
40 Cast Interviews Adrian Pasdar
44 Cast Interviews Ali Larter
46 Cast Interviews Leonard Roberts
50 Cast Interviews Sendhil Ramamurthy
52 Cast Interviews Santiago Cabrera
56 Cast Interviews Hayden Panettiere
58 Cast Interviews Greg Grunberg
62 Cast Interviews Masi Oka
66 Whodunnit? Can You Solve the Case of the Six Million Dollar Man? Find Out in the First Issue of The Official CSI Magazine in-house advertisement.
68 Which Hero Are You? personality quiz by Kate Anderson; photos (uncredited).
74 Comic Book Heroes feature and interviews by Bryan Cairns.
77 Comic Book Heroes Micah Gunnell
78 Comic Book Heroes Michael Turner
79 Comic Book Heroes Chuck Kim
80 Comic Book Heroes Heroes Web-Comic Guide
82 The Heroes World Tour! photo feature.
88 Win Heroes Part One DVD! competition.
89 Gate Adventures! in-house advertisement for Stargate SG-1 & Atlantis - the Official Magazine.
90 Forbidden Planet advertisement.
91 Time After Time feature by K. Stoddard Hayes; photos (uncredited).
96 My Heroes Jack Coleman feature compiled by Abbie Bernstein.
97 Launch Issue Subscription Offer! Subscribe Now & Save Up to 30%!
98 To Be Continued... in Heroes Magazine #2
99 We Could Be... Heroes in-house advertisement for graphic novel.
100 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Hard Evidence advertisement for DVD.
It made sense to focus a magazine on Heroes, given the obvious crossover appeal of the series, though this title's approach is a decidedly conservative one. Much like Titan's approach with Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate and... Lost1, the photo-heavy articles are as uncritical and breezy as possible, with no attempt to offer up original insights into a television tradition the series is part of. Every glaringly obvious opportunity for the title to step out from the shadow of established franchises is squandered.
A photo cover - utilizing the series logo - mostly works fine, though this is a lazy layout with little care for detail. The strap across the top is pointed in the wrong direction, for instance, indicating the spine rather than the direction of the pages. That a similar image on the third page is used correctly makes its initial use all the more annoying. It is incredibly difficult to get worked up about the series when the magazine feels so half-hearted about it - this is meant to be a grandstanding celebration, screaming the joys of the show as loud as it can. But it doesn't.
This is a whisper of celebration. A croak, perhaps, delivered behind an embarrassed hand.
Martin Eden's introduction wisely uses panels from the web-comic alongside photos, which are to dominate the rest of the issue, reminding readers of Heroes central premise better than any number of carefully-staged promotional shots. Following this with comments from the main cast is a little odd, but not as strange as filling the centre of a two-page spread with an image of the cover. Are we really that stupid, we need to be reminded what the magazine we've just bought looks like?
In contrast, Heroes Headlines is actually informative, highlighting a Got Milk campaign, the initial DVD release of Season One (well... half of it, anyway), the graphic novel, an Ubisoft tie-in game, and trading cards. It isn't a great haul to track down - unlike features on Star Wars merchandise - but it makes for an interesting change of pace before a torrent of NBC-pleasing butt-kissing overwhelms the title, with Supergroup being the most blatant example of this.
It is one thing to play nice when dealing with a big franchise, it is another to be completely uncritical. Interviewing the actors, there are no suggestions that the any problems have been noticed. No talk, therefore, of out-of-character moments, unconvincing special effects, wooden acting, flat direction, or clunky lines of dialogue. No siree, the show is perfect. Had there been acknowledgment of the early failings, then the promo-friendly lines wouldn't have felt like so many rehearsed and company-approved soundbites.
Tim Kring's interview explains a lot about the way Heroes came together, admitting that he is isn't an X-Men fan (join the club) and that Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind informed some of his decisions while writing. More of this would have been appreciated, as it is interesting to now which shows he worked on before tackling Heroes, then attempt to see traces of those shows in the fabric of his plotting and characterizations.
An episode guide, for the entirety of the first season, is rather too much to take in one go. With so little provided for each episode (less than half a page dedicated to an episode) there is little to recommend paying more than the briefest attention to what Rob Francis provides. I'm sure he has a real interest in the series, but with such brevity there is no possibility of anything approaching comprehensive analysis, nor discussion of themes or influences.
Worse, wasting six pages on a quiz - Which Hero Are You - is a sign that this publication isn't being taken seriously by the creative personnel, making it difficult, as a reader, to take the title seriously.
Far better than expected, the focus on the webcomic, in the aptly titled Comic Book Heroes, is good introduction to the artists and stories, though the lack of reprinted material limits how interesting the feature is to any readers without prior exposure to the strips.
When looking back at the title's launch, the one thing that works beautifully is a chronological analysis of Hiro's appearances. For a 100-page title to have but five pages of solid, entertaining, and informative material which is without fault presents a shocking lack of foresight on the part of Titan Magazines.
This tie-in is, in part, a reason I stopped watching the TV series.
Between this issue and the first episode of the second season, the lack of quality surrounding the franchise, combined with a sense that the series was milking fans rather than rewarding them, dissuaded me from looking back in on what was happening with the characters in particular, or the franchise in general. There shouldn't be this many obstacles in the way of potential audience members enjoying spin-off material.
1. One of these things is not like the others.
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