Superman—as you’ve never seen him before

DIFFERENT KINDS OF HEROES

Fabok’s career would have never got off the ground if not the support of a pair of real-life heroes. While he grew up loving Super Heroes, his interest came largely from cartoons and movies. It wasn’t until high school when a teacher took notice of Fabok’s passion for drawing that he got into comics.

“He brought me comic books to read and really opened my eyes to that art form,” says Fabok. “He saw something in me I didn’t know I had and encouraged me to become an artist.”

Fabok honed his skills in the animation program at St. Clair College. Upon graduating, he reached out to local artist David Finch, who was working for Marvel at the time, to get some pointers on how to improve his technique. The serendipity of having a mentor in the same Canadian city—and not even a big city like Toronto—isn’t lost on Fabok.

“It’s funny, there are actually quite a few people in comics who have ties to the Windsor area,” he says. “There’s me. David Finch. Jeff Lemire is also from a small town in the area.”

What followed was a six-month “boot camp” where Finch took Fabok under his wing. When Finch made the jump over to DC Comics, he encouraged his protégé to send in his portfolio, confident Fabok had the chops to land a job, even without any experience in the industry. That was in 2010—and Fabok has been drawing super heroes for a living ever since.

SUPER TECHNOLOGY FOR A SUPER HERO

According to Desrochers, the idea for Superman: The Last Son of Krypton first came about when the Mint’s R&D team was working on the Sculpture of Majestic Canadian Animals series. Each coin features a gold-plated statuette rising up from the surface, depicting iconic animals like the elk and grizzly bear in a uniquely multi-dimensional way.

Having worked on a number of previous Mint DC Comics coins—including the series of Justice League coins illustrated by Fabok and Canadian colorist Brad Anderson—Superman literally leapt into Desrochers’ mind.

“When I saw those statuettes, I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if Superman could be literally bursting out of the coin?’” he recalls. “To me, that new technology was just begging to be used with Superman.”

A comic book fan for as long he can remember, Desrochers always puts himself in the shoes of a collector when thinking up new coins. With several longboxes of comic books at home along with numerous toys and statuettes, he has a pretty good idea of what fans will actually want to buy—and what they have and haven’t seen before.

“You often find the same image of Superman across countless t-shirts and mugs,” he explains. “But what really resonates with people is original art, something they can’t find anywhere else. You have to respect the fans. Having original art is the best way to do that.”

And when it came to original DC Comics art, Desrochers knew there was only one man for the job.

BRINGING THE LAST SON OF KRYPTON TO LIFE

Fabok didn’t hesitate to take on the challenge of designing a 3D Superman coin, even if he couldn’t quite grasp the idea at first.

“I had never seen anything like it,” he admits. “But once Jamie showed me the elk statuette, my jaw hit the floor. I was so impressed by the creativity. It was the kind of thing where you say, ‘Yeah, I need that in my collection.’ And to do one with Superman? That’s even better.”

Fabok quickly got started on the initial sketches for the coin, drawing Superman from every angle: front, back, side, top-down and three-quarter profile. Even for somebody who draws for a living, this was a challenge; comic book illustrations tend to stick to a handful of angles that present well on the page. This version of Superman, however, had to be presentable from every angle.

“When you’re dealing with artwork for coins, you usually have to make adjustments,” adds Desrochers. “But Jason nailed it from the get-go. He knows the character inside and out.”

Fabok’s designs were given to Mint engraver Matthew Porter, who digitally sculpted the coin using 3D software. Trial moulds based on the 3D sculpt were produced for fine-tuning and from there it was on to manufacturing—and into the hands of collectors across Canada and around the world.

“This project was challenging because there are so many more components than your typical coin,” explains Desrochers. “But our R&D team is always pushing the boundaries of minting technology. So when we saw that this coin was a possibility, we had to give it a try.”