One can't really ask for better mentors to have in the comic-book industry than Stan Lee and Todd McFarlane.
German artist Thomas Leopold learned about creating an iconic sort of hero from them, yet it's the red-masked protagonist in Leopold's Arch Enemy Entertainment comic series The Counselor who literally has all knowledge of mankind at his fingertips.
"He's got a vast wealth of power, but not what audiences typically think of as power," Leopold says. "For the Counselor, knowledge is power — power that can be corrupted in the wrong hands."
Every Thursday, USA TODAY will exclusively present new pages from the first issue of The Counselor, illustrated by Leopold and written by Robert Heracles.
Before the comic, though, the Counselor was the winning submission in a 2011 Talenthouse contest hosted by McFarlane and the Stan Lee Foundation to find the next great superhero. He met both icons at that year's San Diego Comic-Con as well as Arch Enemy's William Wilson, Percy Carey and Neil Herndon.
"That was when the whole thing really took off for me," Leopold says.
He wastes no time getting into the thick of things either when it comes to The Counselor. When a crisis becomes very personal for the president of the United States, he calls on the Counselor — and his mystical book of knowledge — for help.
Leopold's book is much more of a mystery thriller than superhero tale, according to the creator, and the biggest enigma is the Counselor himself.
"He's more than just a man with a book," the artist says. "His abilities are as much a mystery as the origin of the mystical book he keeps. Readers will want to see bad guys put those skills to the test.
"No one knows exactly who he is and where he comes from or where the book comes from. But in the end, that is what it's all about: the question of what that book really is and why it is here. I can tell you this much: Even the Counselor doesn't have all the answers."
The president is a pretty big guest star in the first issue of The Counselor, but the FBI and its head man also play a role in the series as does "a pretty mysterious group of villains, who turn out to be much more powerful than they look," Leopold says.
Leopold designed the Counselor's look to be as iconic and bold as Lee and McFarlane's characters and to stand as a hero, and just like those famous guys, he wants to inspire a new generation of fans, too.
"I want audiences to say, 'Wow, how cool is that?!" and think of my characters in the same league as the creations of Todd and Stan," Leopold says. "If I can achieve that with at least one reader, then it was all worth it."
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