Way back in 2004 I had just written a five page story for Live Wire! Radio. The show was just after the election and Portland was reeling from the absurdity that George W. Bush had just been reelected. At the time I was thinking about this pompous Superhero who wanted to get into politics, but what I had written so far was a look at why the hero had hung up his cape in the first place.
The audience, a good few hundred, was tremendously supportive. So I kept writing and about 5 months later I had a draft of a novel on my hands.