Union of Heroes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Union of Heroes is a photographed webcomic from Germany created by the advertising agency Wünsche and Schulenberg GbR of Dortmund. In addition to common banner-ads and merchandise it uses product placement and creative placement as means of financing.
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[edit] Content design
The Union of Heroes is not designed around a daily gag basis but instead features a continuing, serious storyline. The storyline evolves around the adventures of superheroes in the Ruhr Area. The story starts out on our planet but quickly switches to a parallel earth. The only difference between the the two earths is that on the other earth there are superheroes. The heroes are ordinary humans, who received their powers from diverse sources typical for the genre (magic, mutation, mythology, technology). The plot is not as usually set in New York (like most Marvel Comics), a fictive America (typical for DC Comics) or Japan (like in most manga). The heroes experience their adventures in Dortmund, the Bermudadreieck of Bochum and other Germay cities. The Union of Heroes is thus the first comic project for a long time ever to try and convey the superhero genre to Germany.
[edit] Publications
The Union of Heroes is published online since April 2008. It updates Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The series is published in both German and English.
[edit] Development
The idea for the Union of Heroes arose during a business plan contest in 2006. In Germany, the medium photocomic (or photo novel) was priorly made common only by the lovestory of teenager magazine "Bravo" and a Star Wars photocomic by publisher Tokyopop. Photocomics have rarely been used as a means of advertising. If at all, the utilization of comics in advertising culminated in the usage of adverts in comic style to tell a short story with a clear focus on the advertised product. The Union of Heroes transfers the practice of product placement to a photocomic and uses it as a means of funding. Responsible for the Union of Heroes are the advertisting agency’s founders Arne Schulenberg (Story development) and Eric Wünsche (Marketing and Distribution). They are assisted by photographer Jens Sundheim, Illustrator Patrick Soeder, Programmer Christian Nölle and fashion designer Judith Gagliardi. In addition, there is a changing cast of actors. Amongst the project’s supporters are the Kreativwirtschaft-Netzwerk of the Wirtschaftsförderung Dortmund. It took the project 1 ½ years from birth, to preparing the first story, on to staging the first photo shooting, to building the website, and up to launch.
[edit] Awards
The Union of Heroes was decorated during the start2grow IT-Gründungswettbewerb 2007.
