WITH great comic book writing comes great responsibility - the responsibility to pursue fresh ideas. This is a lesson aspiring Bermudian comic creator Garan Madeiros took to heart as a child when he grew up reading comics. And he hopes originality will be a hallmark of his upcoming, independently-produced comic series Contract which will be launched in Bermuda and internationally at the end of this month.

Mr. Madeiros has owned and operated Bermuda's only comic book store for the last three-and-a-half years located right on Front Street on the ground floor of The Emporium Building.

"I opened The Comic Stop on February 14, 2005 because I've always loved comics.

"I had attended the Joe Kubert School of Cartooning and Graphic Art and when I came back to Bermuda I worked for Bermuda Press then at TMC Media," Mr. Madeiros said.

"I had finally had enough of advertising and wanted to get back to my true love of comics.

"I knew I wanted a clean crisp place that was well lit and I had seen enough of dark dingy comic book stores to know what would work and what would not. I started looking for places and found a spot in The Emporium and the rest is history!"

Currently Manga (a Japanese comic book or graphic novel) is the hot item selling for comic book stores and Mr. Madeiros says it crosses barriers which mainstream titles have been unable to break.

Mr. Madeiros explained "Manga brings in a lot of business. Tweens through adults are into Manga and it appeals to women especially because there are no superheroes in tights.

In the past few years some of the best selling comic books have been ones without superheroes in tights. Comic books like Y The Last Man, Preacher, 30 Daysof Night and Road to Perdition are all examples of comic books which did extremely well and attracted new clientele."

Road to Perdition and 30 Days of Night were made into successful feature films because of their wide cross-over appeal. Preacher is becoming a TV show on HBO which will start airing in 2009 and Y The Last Man is currently filming for major release thru New Line Cinema next year.

Mr. Madeiros is looking to tap into that market and is the creator of a new comic book coming out at the end of July entitled Contract.

Contract, which Mr. Madeiros describes as a "sci-fi future where capitalism has run amok and has Lethal Weapon type of action and humour" focuses on a team of three mercenaries who only take jobs that have high moral value and are the right thing to do.

"A hero doesn't kill people; a hero does the right thing. I wanted my characters to have character and I wanted each to have a unique personality" said Mr. Madeiros. A trait, he says, that can't be attributed to many of the hundreds of characters now populating the fictional superhero universes in the books published by industry giants Marvel and DC.

In fact he says the reason he started writing comics in the first place was because he was tired of having huge epic events in mainstream comics and wanted to "get back to the grass roots of comics where everything is one to three issues long and a person doesn't have to buy 40 or 50 issues of various different books to get the full story.

"Some of the mega-events happen and they lead right into another one, so where does the story truly end?"

That's not the case with Contract. "Each story arc will be one to three issues long and will be character driven. Something that is easier to do with indie comics rather than mainstream" explains Mr. Madeiros.

With six issues written, three of those fully complete and two issues in the final process of completion, the Contract mini series is turning some heads in the industry and gaining some huge attention.

One of the top comic book review sites (www.comicnerd.com) has given much praise and support to the project. "Wow! I'll be honest-personally I like sticking with Marvel and DC comics, but I was blown away at how much fun this comic was.

"It's great! From the dialogue to the story to the art, this is definitely a cool comic you'd be nuts to miss out on!

"Trust me, this comic delivers with a stinging punch and leaves an aftertaste that is way more satisfying than I ever expected.

"I really want to see more of this, and you shouldn't miss out on it, either, especially if you're looking for something new and fresh."

Mr. Madeiros, whose favourite superhero is Spider-Man, says he's been into comics for as long as he can remember.

He attributes comic books to having helped him learn to read quickly at a young age.

"I love comic books. Comics made me want to read when I was a kid," he explains, and it's that love that led him to start writing his own. "I started writing comics because it's entertaining.

"It's a literary-visual art form. It's a movie on paper and when story and art are brought together well, it's the perfect medium."

And Mr. Madeiros isn't the only Bermudian working on this project. Thad Branco (Letterer), Anthony Cannonier (art and backup story art) and Kirk Outerbridge (co-writer and editor) are all involved with the project. They helped shape the characters in the book and contributed to the plot.

There are three main characters in the book. Tsumi, a super intelligent master swordsman who is apathetic on the verge of being lazy.

Panzer is the brawler action hero of the group. And Jessie Garrett, the leader of the group, is an old west friendly farm girl type of character whom Mr. Madeiros hopes people identify with.

Issue zero, which in comic terms means a prequel or a promotional book that is released to get distributors and readers aware of a new product, sold very well.

Looking at the initial print run of 10,000 copies for issue zero and a print run of 5,000 for the first issue one can see the building blocks for success already.

The book is being distributed through Diamond Comic Distributors, the biggest distributor for comics in the world, and will be sold world wide at comic stores around the globe.

Here in Bermuda people can buy the book on July 30 from Mr. Madeiros directly through The Comic Stop.

Mr. Madeiros said: "Once people start reading the book, the stories and the characters will speak for themselves and I think people will enjoy it."