MIAMI _ Inspired by their sons, Charlie, 8, and Jamie, 6, and the lack of thoughtful superhero-related content available for young boys, Ed and Crissi Boland created Whimzy Entertainment and its first product line, the HeroBoys. The Miami startup's signature item is an 18-inch plush-and-plastic hero, and related comic books provide complementary superhero stories for young customers.
"Boys love superheroes. ... But there is not much there for boys under 10 that is thoughtful, developmentally appropriate and not violent," said Ed Boland, a former venture capitalist. "Boys also love comic books, and it is a great tool to promote literacy because it combines words and pictures in such a dynamic way,"
The couple developed an early prototype and wrote a comic book for a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign last fall, raising $58,000 and exceeding their goal. More importantly, the online campaign helped validate the concept.
Two prototypes later and the Bolands have a team of six diverse HeroBoys, each with his own name and personality developed through the comic book stories.
"These are designed to encourage children to find their own strengths and become the best version of themselves they can be," Ed Boland said. "There's a hero inside every boy."
The Bolands have sold more than 500 HeroBoy toys, which retail for $65. They have published four comic books ($7.99 each), which come in the mail addressed to the child, just like back in the day. In the comic book stories, the HeroBoys have to learn to work together as a team and bring their abilities to bear when the situation calls for it, because they are living in a city that is being overrun by selfishness and narcissistic behavior.
"All the comics are meant to be teachable moments and encourage the values that we want to encourage in our own children, such as compassion, humility and diligence," said Crissi Boland, a sales expert who managed a business for 10 years. "It is good, wholesome superhero fun."
The products are available on heroboys.com, Amazon.com and will be appearing on Zulily in the fall, the Bolands said. T-shirts, caps, masks and capes are also for sale, and apps and games are in the plans.
Crissi said that during a series of readings in local schools, the girls often asked, "Where are the HeroGirls?" In 2017, the company will introduce HeroGirls. The Bolands have already started to plant them in the comic books as background characters, and some will soon be joining the team. Every year, some character will graduate, and new characters will be introduced.
"It will allow us to go to a lot of places where there hasn't been a lot of representation of superheros _ girls, ethnically diverse characters, superheroes with disabilities," Ed Boland said. "In the comics, we can travel through time and space and worlds and countries. We can run with our imaginations."
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