Jason Badower

Jason Badower
About
Title	Artist
Date of birth	1975
Origin	Melbourne, Australia
Gender
Website
comicbookdb profile

Jason Badower is a comic artist from Melbourne, Australia who has done several Heroes graphic novels.

About

Jason is the illustrator of Top Cow's forthcoming Zero G, as well as Emperor, Fisher: Cathexes, Issue #3, and the photo-realistic Phase. He also created the cover for the first issue (The Beginning) of The Innocents series.

Graphic Novels Created

• Road Kill
• War Buddies, Part 4
• War Buddies, Part 5
• The Death of Hana Gitelman, Part 1
• The Death of Hana Gitelman, Part 2

Graphic Novels Colored

• The Death of Hana Gitelman, Part 1
• The Death of Hana Gitelman, Part 2

Trivia

• According to his blogger profile, Jason is also a personal trainer and martial artist, and owns two personal training studios in Australia.
• In 2004, Jason was nominated for four Ledger Awards for Killeroo Book 2.
• According to his blog, Jason was hired by NBC on a Saturday afternoon, and created Road Kill by the following Friday.
• Jason says he draws digitally with a Wacom tablet.

Galleries

Road Kill

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  Jason first drew three a layout pages for Road Kill to be approved by NBC.
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  Jason felt his layout made the comic easier to read in PDF format; NBC was concerned there was too much unused space.
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  Jason traced over screenshots from various episodes in Photoshop to created the likenesses of Mr. Bennet and the Haitian.
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  Jason says, "Doing layouts burns my brain out. Trying to conceive things from all possible angles is a real nightmare."
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  Jason tried to use more space to address NBC's concerns.
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  Jason said he got "a huge buzz" from drawing Charlie, Hiro, and Ando. He is especially proud of Hiro's likeness.
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  "I grabbed Charlie from where she is chatting to the sheriff and the deputy and flipped her. I grabbed a zoom in shot of Hiro and Ando. I stole a Hiro from somewhere else and the Sylar is from his own shot."
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  Jason redrew Sylar's head for this shot. "It was good, but it wasn't good enough ... It's more menacing, but I just didn't like it."
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  Jason said he was going to headbutt his monitor because of all the cop cars he had to draw. He also said that after panel two, he simply forgot to draw the helicopter again. His colorist kept the continuity by placing flood lights in subsequent panels. Additionally, he credits her with "adding a foreboding sense of drama".
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  According to the script Jason received, "The driver's door is open and Sylar is Telekinetically moving himself to a safe place against the mountain." Also of note, Jason drew a particularly thin branch to show that Sylar is holding his own weight with his telekinesis.
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  Jason was disappointed that he did not draw Zane behind a security door since in Run!, Zane Taylor's home has a security door. However, this is the page of which he is most proud; he feels the likenesses of Zane and Sylar are particularly well-captured.
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  Jason says this is his favorite drawing of Sylar. However, he first drew Sylar wearing a hat. Realizing that Sylar doesn't wear a hat in Virginia Beach, Jason retouched the panel at the last minute.

War Buddies, Part 4

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  Jason said his three biggest challenges were getting the likenesses correct, researching Vietnam, and continuing the previous story. Jason is particularly proud of the details on page one, though he publicly apologizes for the continuity errors with Dallas and Austin's watches.
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  Jason was very happy with his version of Au Co, in part because he was the model for her: "She's supposed to be about 10 years old. With no models available, I modeled for her. Given that I'm 6'1" and 92kg (a little over 200 lbs) I thought I made a stunning 10 year old girl." He also tends to pose for other background characters (including the smoking guard), and finds that he has to act "a little larger than life" to convey the correct emotions.
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  Jason credits Annette Kwok with making this page "beyond superb". He especially liked the mud on the faces and thinks it "makes them almost look like photos." Excited, he emailed Annette, "That! That! That's what I want our stuff to look like! That's it, right there! How do we do that again?" Annette replied back with, "I dunno. Put mud on everyone's face?"
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  Jason did a lot of research on how the huts, vegetables, and Vietnamese people should look. He used a wide shot on the second panel because he thinks "Dallas is pretty sneaky so he should be hard to spot." Ultimately, Jason felt this entire story is about character arc. To Jason, Austin's anguish is what makes this story interesting. He tried to project that anguish in the last panel.
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  The script for this panel reads, "Austin sits crouched down hidden by wooden crates holding a detonator. ... Austin looks at his watch." However, Jason wanted to "communicate a greater sense of conflict in Austin's eyes and presence. ... I wanted him looking at us, asking us, 'Am I doing the right thing?'"
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  Jason was not originally scheduled to do the art for War Buddies. Frank Mastromauro at Aspen Comics informed Jason that the previous artist had backed out of the project, and offered the job to Jason at the last minute. Working under a tight deadline, Jason forgot the bullet casings and blood splatters on this page. Annette Kwok added them in for Jason.
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  The way Au Co's guardian runs reminds Jason of the way "my mum would run (she doesn't do a lot of running at her age). It's really convincing to me." He also notes that the watches switch wrists because he chose to flip some panels. "I just felt that Austin needs to jump from the right holding us back from visually progressing in the natural direction we want to read."
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  To research the Vietnam War, Jason bought Platoon and got video captures of huts, guns, uniforms, Vietnamese villagers, jungle, vegetables and likenesses. He said it was particularly difficult for Annette Kwok and him to gel with the choices of the previous artist and colorist. The previous work didn't suit Jason's artwork very much, and he found it a little "cheap and a little fluoro".

War Buddies, Part 5

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  After Annette Kwok joked about having a seizure if she had to color another vegetable, Jason decided to throw some in this page as a playful dig.
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  Jason originally drew Au Co's guardian being killed, but NBC asked that he remove her from the scene as they felt it was too distracting.
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  "When he grabs her in panel 3 and nothing happens ... she's dead.... The script stated that she is shot in the gut. I moved it up to the chest to not only make it more lethal, but also because we know Austin can heal someone of a chest wound if they're not dead."
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  Jason liked "how dirty our boys are compared to the guards", but wonders how the Army got filing cabinets inside the tent. In the last panel, Jason tried to avoid a "superhero" effect for Dallas's punch, instead going for a "good solid sock to the jaw".
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  The Silver Star served as the model for Dallas and Austin's medals. The Silver Star is actually a gold star with a small silver star in the middle, but the script called for a silver medal, so Annette colored it accordingly.
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  Jason wanted a minimalist feel on this page: he felt we were already "drawn in" to the characters enough at this point that he didn't feel he had to include his normal amount of detail, but rather just have fun.
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  This line was not originally in the script. Jason likes to think his drawings inspired writers Harrison Wilcox and Oliver Grigsby.
• 
  Jason, feeling burnt out and tired from tight deadlines, felt inspired by fan support. He dedicates this page to the "whacky kids on the 9th Wonders Forums". He also feels that the 3rd panel is one of his "strongest character performances".
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  Jason feels his depiction of Nathan as a child is one of his weakest illustrations (using an adult as reference for a child did not work the way he wanted). However, he feels he made up for it by going off-script to have Nathan hold flying toys. "It's probably my favourite bit of nerdery."
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  Jason used this behind-the-scenes image at the Petrelli mansion...
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  ...as a reference for drawing Austin's arrival.
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  In drawing Linderman and Mr. Petrelli introducing themselves, Jason decided to make Linderman in control, and Petrelli "a little out of his depth. I tried to communicate that by giving Linderman the higher ground and a very Machiavellian look. I also like Petrelli's worried expression."

The Death of Hana Gitelman, Part 1

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  Jason held an informal dress design contest on his blog and 9thwonders.com for the dress Hana would wear to the nightclub.
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  Jason chose this design by Vanessa as the winning dress.
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  Runner-up entries were used to dress the other women in the club: the woman with her one arm up, the woman to Hana's right, the black woman on Hana's left, the woman who is turned away, and the blond with both arms up. This neck strap design is also featured.
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Other Works

• 
  Jason used this image of Sylar to announce his first gig with Heroes.
• 
  Jason drew this image of Peter for Comic-Con International: San Diego.

Notes about Jason's drawings are taken from his weblog.

External Links

• Jason's weblog
• Interview by MelbournePixel.com