A NOTE TO PARENTS

Hi. I’m Tim Barber. By night, I am the creator, writer, and artist behind SHREDMAN.

By day, I am a visual arts teacher. I have worked with every primary and secondary age group, from preschool to high school.

As an educator, I understand how important it is to know what sorts of media your kids consume. I also know that as soon as my students find out I’m a comic book artist, their first question is

“Can we read it???”

I would love to say yes right away, but I feel that I should be completely transparent about the content of my book so that parents can make informed decisions about the type of content their children are exposed to. Here is a breakdown of the potentially sensitive content in SHREDMAN.

VIOLENCE

SHREDMAN is an action comic, much like any other superhero comic. The main antagonists of the story are a group of robotic humanoid henchmen. These goons will often try to dispatch our hero by using firearms and explosives. Our hero’s weapon of choice is a sword that he carries on his back, which he uses for self-defense and fighting evil.

LANGUAGE

There are a few bits of dialogue in the story where the characters use some mildly colorful language. In the interest of being transparent, I will tell you that characters use the following expletives (list updated regularly):

“crap”

“shit”

“damn”

“bullshit”

but that’s about it.

TOBACCO REFERENCE

There is a scene in the beginning where one of the bad guys is smoking a cigarette. SHREDMAN knows that smoking is hazardous to your health, and does not smoke cigarettes.

THINGS YOU WILL NOT SEE IN THIS BOOK

SHREDMAN’S Blend of Gritty Science-Fiction and Skateboarding Culture amounts to a work that is true to my artistic vision and true to the source material. However, it is not overtly offensive or gruesome for the sake of being edgy or controversial. In SHREDMAN, there is NO CONTENT that could be described as sexually explicit, referential to drugs, gratuitously bloody or gory, or language that is hateful or derogatory.

I am incredibly passionate about my work, and I want more than anything to be able to share it with my students and their families. If I had to describe the level of humor, violence, and language in SHREDMAN, I would compare it to a STAR WARS or AVENGERS movie. Slightly edgy, action-packed fights with a curse word here or there, but at the end of the day, it’s about a guy on a skateboard fighting evil robots with a sword.

I personally believe that SHREDMAN would be appropriate, at the discretion of the parents, for kids ages 12+. If it were a video game, I’d rate it T for Teen. If it were a movie, I would rate it PG-13.

If you have any other questions about the content of my book, I am happy to talk about it. Please feel free to email me:

shredmancomic@gmail.com

Alternatively, if you are a parent of one of my students, please feel free to reach out through my school email, and I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you for your support.

-Tim (Mr. B)