Former Shropshire scientist Matthew Craig is looking forward to a life with superheroes after quitting top level research to become a comic strip writer.The Bostin Heroes are the subject of 33-year-old Matthew’s attentions now and samples of his strips are published online. The Heroes’ antics will eventually become full-blown, regular episodes on the internet and be available as hardcopy comics this winter.

All this is a far cry from Matthew’s former career which began when he graduated with a BSc in biochemistry from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology in 1996.

Matthew, who lives in Madeley, Telford, went on to an MSc in biomolecular archaeology at Sheffield University.

He was a research assistant at The Sanger Institute in Cambridge in 1998 and worked on the famous Human Genome project, mapping out the human DNA sequences, until 2000 when his love of superhero comics finally got the better of him and he resigned.

Matthew said: “As a child I had always loved the Marvel Comics, featuring superheroes such as The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man, and in later years I loved writing stories.

“I was also keen on drawing, but it wasn’t until 2001 when it occurred to me I shouId decide to put all of that together and began writing short comic strips.”

His early works went online at www.thematthewcraig.com in 2003 and is now featuring The Bostin Heroes at www.bostinheroes.com

Shrewsbury-born Matthew is now looking forward to exhibiting his talents at The Birmingham International Comic Show at Millennium Point in Birmingham on October 4 and 5, where the hardcopy of the comic strip will be available.

By Simon Hardy