March
19 WWLA: "Heroes"

The highlight of Saturday at Wizard World Los Angeles was the "Heroes" panel, lead by co-exec producer and comics scribe Jeph Loeb. The panel was  packed with the writing staff of the show, which was so large that extra chairs had to be found for creator Tim Kring and comicbook artist Tim Sale. NBC.com was on hand to film fans reactions as testimonials.

The upcoming DVD release will features exclusive scenes showing what happens to some of the main characters after the upcoming season finale. The first season also will be released on HD-DVD, and the extra room on the discs will allow for more extras, including discussions with scientific experts on the reality of superpowers and how humans may evolve in the future.

The DVD also will feature the 72-minute Tim Kring cut of the pilot episode.

Kring says the series was a fairly easy sell to NBC, owing the networks’ at the time fourth-place position and desire for a serialized ensemble show.

There will be non-TV Heroes stories. A book is in the works called “Saving Charlie,” which will detail the year Hiro spent in the past with a waitress trying to save her from her eventual death, a storyline that on the show took place in a single episode.

There also will be a book containing the online comics available at NBC.com, most likely with some original material. Details are expected to be announced at Comic-Con Intl.: San Diego, which will feature many “Heroes” announcements and surprises to thank the fans at the show who supported the show so well last year.

Kring says the show learned from series like “24” and “Lost” to be clear to the audiences about when new episodes are to be airing. The serialized nature of the shows raises viewers’ frustrations when they expect a new episode and find a repeat.

While comics artist Tim Sale has been providing the artwork painted by Isaac when he uses his powers in the show, powers are transferable and the paintings may look different if someone else uses the power.
The show will continue to have “departure” episodes that veer off from the main plot to focus on a single character. Episode 20, which airs in the final batch of first season shows, will be the third such episode of the season.