Mathew's Greatest Hits!
Ah, poor Mathew. He really does get the crap beat out of him on a regular basis. Oh well, that's the price you pay for trying to be a hero...
BLURDY BACKGROUND:
Every superman needs his Kryptonite or his love of Lois Lane in order to keep the possibility of failure open and some suspense alive for the audience. “The Helm” came out of the idea of pushing the flaw to the point where the main character was so unsuited to be a hero that his own superpower was disgusted by him.
While the subject is handled with a sense of humor, “The Helm” plays with some deeper issues as well. What makes someone a hero? Being brave, invincible and superhuman would certainly make it easier to act heroically—but what if you were cowardly, soft and all-too-human? How much more heroic would you need to be to act heroically then?
That’s how Mathew Blurdy was born—as a sort of epitome of the slightly-below-average, average guy. He’s cowardly, out of shape, unemployed, undisciplined and morally “flexible”. What happens when a guy like that finds out that the fate of the world and the lives of those he loves rest in his fairly incapable hands?
It’s been totally cool getting to work with Bart Sears on this project. He’s gone so far with the Brutes and Babes approach that it seemed perfect to have him drawing Mathew in all his chubby glory. Bart's got such an eye for detail—like the occasional exposed bit of Matt’s butt crack—he's really nailed who Matt is.