Axiom-man™ : But the End is Not Yet (Axiom-man™ Origin Story, Pt. 3 of 3)

For two years after June, 2000, I pursued my writing, and took my first step into the world of publishing in the spring of 2002 with A Stranger Dead. At the time, and given my naivety of the business, I used a subsidy press to get the book out and it was one headache after another, an unforgiving migraine that continued till well after A Stranger Dead’s release in January, 2003. However, despite all the problems and all the stress—too much to get into here—that horrific ordeal ironically rekindled my love of self-publishing, something I had planned to do way back when I was going to put out my own comics myself.

In February of 2004, Coscom Entertainment released its first title, Book Marketing for the Financially-challenged Author, which was a book marketing eBook primer for those looking to market their work for less than the cost of a meal. I hadn’t originally planned on expanding the Coscom Entertainment line past my own work but when author Keith Gouveia approached me about publishing a benefit horror anthology for the late Charles Grant, I decided to give it a go and in August of 2004, Small Bites was published, paving the way for Coscom Entertainment to release new titles by other authors ever since.

It was sometime in 2005 that, one night while surfing the Web, I stumbled upon a superhero called The Wraith, created by Frank Dirscherl. I was blown away. Though I didn’t know anything about the character yet, what amazed me was Frank’s ambition to get his character out there via his own company, Trinity Comics. Online, he had created his own little universe for the character; just simply got him out there for all the world to see. He had even published a novel through Lulu.com. I bought it, read it, and a short time later offered him a contract to increase the title’s distribution.

It was also around this time that a gentleman by the name of Jon Klement also queried Coscom Entertainment for his own superhero creations, Rush and the Grey Fox. At the time, Rush and the Grey Fox were only characters in a comic strip so I encouraged Jon to write a novel based on the characters and agreed to take a look at it once he was done. Jon came through and presented me with Rush and the Grey Fox the novel. I offered him a contract and it was published in November of 2005. Like Frank before him, here was another guy who had created his own heroes and did something about it.

In late 2005, I was on a Batman message board and found out about a character named Knight Seeker, created by Eric Cooper. I visited the website, was inspired by what I found, and bought the Knight Seeker novel. I read it and loved it, and it was during that reading that it finally hit me: here I was with three examples of folks who dreamed up their own superhero creations and decided to do something about it. They didn’t wait for a comic book company to approach them, they weren’t famous or had a name to trade on—they were just ordinary guys with a love for superheroes who went the extra mile.

And so it was late 2005 that I decided to finally do something I’ve been itching to do for a long time: get Axiom out there. I was in the perfect position to do so, after all. I had a publishing company and had learned what to do and what not to do when putting out a book. I had marketing know-how and a drive to get things done even if I had to do it myself. All I needed was a hardcopy version of my vision.

During the last bit of 2005, I began to think long and hard as to how I was going to approach the Axiom character and how I was going to put him down on paper. And this was where, at that point, about 12 years worth of ideas and drawings—the two histories—finally merged. See, up until that point, Axiom didn’t have a back story. He was pretty much a costume and a name. And since the fantasy I had come up with so long ago was very personal to me and since I had an intimate understanding of it, I decided to merge that fantasy with the Axiom character, in turn creating something near and dear to my heart. I tweaked Axiom’s powers and scaled them down to three special abilities: flight, super strength up to 1000lbs and blue energy beams he shot from his eyes.

It was late January, 2006, when I first set out to write the novel. But before I did, I realized I was missing one key ingredient: Axiom’s real name. He never had one before and if I had created one for him, I completely forgot what it was. So, I named Axiom’s secret identity after my son, Gabriel, and being the fan of comic book name alliteration that I was, I gave him the last name “Garrison,” because I thought the two together sounded good together. What I didn’t realize until later when reflecting upon the “Garrison” name, was a “garrison” meant a body of troops planted in a fortified place or a permanent military post or refuge. Fitting, when you think about it, for a character who was destined to be a hero, a type of refuge for others.

Using the origin sequence I came up with during my childhood fantasy as a series of flashbacks throughout the novel, I composed the main story, which takes place four months after that event. I even got to indirectly use the “Messenger” name, as it was a nameless messenger who visited Gabriel the night he couldn’t sleep and bestowed upon him his powers.

It was also during the final chapters of the novel that I discovered the name/word “Axiom” was already trademarked. I was distraught that I couldn’t use it lest I risk a possible legal scuffle in the future. But I still loved that name. It had been a part of the character, and of me, for so long. And so, in homage to the characters that I fell in love with growing up, I added “man” to the end. After all, an axiom is an irrefutable principle or ideal or law, and what better name to bestow upon somebody than a man who encompassed an ideal and set out to make an example of the principle of righteousness.

Relieved that all was not lost, I continued working on the story, pouring everything I had into it, creating the first installment of many in a saga that I hope to continue for a long time. I have about 14 years worth of stories to tell. Just need the time to write them all down.

I applied for trademark registration of the Axiom-man name and submitted all the necessary information to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.

The first draft of the novel was finished a week or two before I went to Florida in May, and it was shortly after I came back that I began the editing process.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Axiom-man was released September 29, 2006. Since the novel takes place in my home town of Winnipeg, Manitoba, the media here ate it up and I found myself on TV, in the paper and on the radio. I did seven successful book signings (the stores loved the idea) and the staff who read the book thoroughly enjoyed it. Axiom-man even has his own standalone display at one of the Chapters stores.

In early October, 2006, I began work on Axiom-man II and completed the novel the end of February, 2007. The first draft came in at 119,000 words and I will begin editing it mid April. The cover is being done up and I plan on getting pre-orders underway beginning of May for a July 27, 2007, release. Also at that time, and which I’m presently working on, I’ll be publishing Axiom-man Episode #0: First Night Out, a novella covering, you guessed it, his first night out as hinted at in the first Axiom-man novel. Episode #0 takes place after the origin sequence in the first book, but before the main narrative of the first book.

There’s no shortage of ideas and not only are there plans for further novel and novella-length adventures, some Axiom-man comic book work is also on the horizon. Last year I wrote a comic book one-shot called Axiom-man/Magic Man: Of Magic and Men, which is a 36-page comic featuring my hero and a sadistic villain, the Magic Man, who had been the subject of my 2005 chapbook of the same name and of a short story in an upcoming anthology called Raw Meat. At this point the comic has yet to be drawn but I have an artist lined up. As well, Axiom-man will appear in summer 2008’s War of the Independents, a mega crossover of independent characters, featuring such notables as Cerebus, Savage Dragon, Shi, Shadowhawk, The Wraith, Bluewing and others. Also, a secret superhero team one-shot featuring Axiom-man is also in the works, with a 2009 release date.

There is lots coming up and, as said, Axiom-man will continue for a long time to come, with a new novel and episode planned each and every year, with the occasional novel-length team up adventure as well (the first being an Axiom-man/The Wraith crossover, at present due for release December, 2007).

I have a plan for this series. A beginning, middle and end. Yes, the saga will end, but not for a long, long time. But it will end.

Just not yet.

Finis.