Author notes

Chapter One, Page 9

michaelallanleonard

on July 1, 2013

Artist James E. Lyle on this page: “ Panel one is practically a portrait of Janus. Rick Davis did a nice job of inking this in what I'd call a mixture of Murphy Anderson and Joe Giella. As I love those two artists dearly, I think the image is spot on as to what I was going for, mentally speaking. “

And speaking mentally, we reveal DoorMan is a telepath. It was more a practical conclusion that I’d come to when originally writing this story in 1995, that Janus would be able to read minds, which would be a key part of how he chose the individual people he was trying to help.

It only occurred to me in the past year or so while fleshing out the backstory, deciding which of the original notes and ideas we had twenty years ago to keep for the new, definitive version of the material moving forward, that the telepathy also falls under the same classification as the ability to travel through time: something with a huge potential for misuse and abuse, if DoorMan failed to show a massive amount of compassion, discipline and self-control.

I’d be the first to admit I don’t think I’d be able to live to up the great responsibility that had to come with that power . . . and it’s interesting to step into the shoes of someone who is better equipped to deal with it.