The series emulates the aesthetic style and storytelling of American comic books, using multi-episode story arcs that build upon a larger, more encompassing narrative.

[4] The critically acclaimed first season had a run of 23 episodes and garnered an average of 14.3 million viewers in the United States, receiving the highest rating for an NBC drama premiere in five years.

[8] Other official Heroes media include magazines, action figures, tie-in and interactive websites, a mobile game, a novel, clothing and other merchandise.

In the first-season episode "Fallout", Jack Coleman, who portrays Noah Bennet, was upgraded from a recurring role to become the twelfth full-time cast member.

Isaac Mendez was also written out, dying at the hands of Sylar, which was shown during Hiro Nakamura's time traveling expedition to New York earlier in season one.

[19] Deanne Bray was also added as Emma Coolidge, the deaf woman who had enhanced synesthesia (seeing colors for music) including the ability to create a siren song.

This is the story of ordinary people who discover extraordinary super powers after a solar eclipse reveals them, and how these abilities affect the characters' daily lives.

In a flashback to 1977, the research is performed by the Company's founders, whose identities are eventually revealed, to discover what the effects of various strains of the virus will do to the human and superhuman population.

Meanwhile, several villains escape from the confines of Level 5, a maximum security area owned and operated by the Company within Primatech, and Noah Bennet attempts to recapture them.

The series finale ends by opening the nonexistent "Volume Six: Brave New World" in which Claire reveals the existence of people with special abilities to a group of reporters and photographers.

This system allowed every writer to contribute to every episode,[31] and enabled the writing team to finish scripts sooner, so the filming crew could shoot more scenes at a location.

[37] In November 2008, NBC fired Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb from the production staff of Heroes over creative differences and budget problems.

[39] However, a high-ranking insider told TV Guide that rather than pressure from NBC or Universal Media responding to recent plummeting ratings, it was Kring himself who fired Alexander and Loeb, because the duo refused to continue character-driven stories that made the first season popular from the start.

[40] In December 2008, Bryan Fuller signed a two-year deal with Universal Media Studios after the cancellation of his ABC series Pushing Daisies.

[citation needed] In the pilot episode, Kring suggested that a "dreamy" cue be used in the scene involving Claire Bennet running into a burning train.

Niki Sanders's theme was based on her character's alter-ego Jessica and involved winds and Indian voices chanting in an underscore to give a feeling that she was possessed.

On February 29, 2008, the Group released five music videos created by Heroes producer/director Allan Arkush, each combining show footage with songs from the soundtrack.

[60] The show was supposed to air after the completion of the second season of Heroes in April 2008;[59] however, on October 31, 2007, it was reported that Origins had been postponed because of the Writers Guild of America strike.

"[68] Less favorable reviews included The Philadelphia Inquirer, who commented that although the show had lots of "cool effects," it "lands, splat, in a pile of nonsense and dim dialogue."

Milo Ventimiglia stated that "when there's a little bit of a delay, there's not that instant, rewarding scene or moment or episode... people get impatient, so it has been extremely important for them to strike a balance between giving and getting.

Kring also outlined what he felt were problems with plot development, stating that season two "took too long to get to the big-picture story", explaining that Peter's vision of the viral armageddon should have occurred in the first episode instead of the seventh.

Although the ratings were lower than average, this episode was considered to be a turning point for the declining season, as a major plot twist was introduced and the volume's "big picture storyline" was presented.

The tour took place in North America (New York and Toronto), Asia (Singapore, Tokyo, and Hong Kong) and Europe (Munich, Paris and London).

[130] The first collected volume included novels 1–34, and featured two different covers by Alex Ross and Jim Lee as well as an introduction by Masi Oka and artwork by Tim Sale.

[142] However, that network left the air at the start of December 2008, and on the day and date of MOJO's discontinuation G4 launched their HD simulcast feed, thus now carrying the show in both regular and high definition forms.

In November 2007, the BBC made four short '2 Dimensional' films where actors from the series look through a '2' shaped hole into a room that reflects the character they play in Heroes.

Writers Joe Pokaski and Aron Coleite hold a "Question and Answer" column hosted by Comic Book Resources titled "Behind the Eclipse".

Other media and digital extensions announced include an online manhunts for the villains, the addition of more micro sites that allow the users to uncover more of the Heroes universe, wireless iTV interactivity and the ability to view the graphic novel on mobile platforms.

Heroes creator, Tim Kring, addressed this directly when asked about it some time after his show premiered by stating that he has never read Rising Stars, and that he purposefully refused to familiarize himself with a number of superhero-related works to avoid such accusations of improper inspiration.

On December 11, 2007, the New York Law Journal reported on Mallery v. NBC Universal, quoting from Southern District Judge Denise Cote's opinion that "the line between mere 'ideas' and protected 'expression' is 'famously difficult to fix precisely'", and stating that Heroes was not close to infringing.