Bobby Wagner is teaming up with Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, the Seahawks & The NFL to educate the 12s on the signs of stroke with the story of FAST54. Learn more and donate to the Phenia Mae Fund for stroke care.
A secret superhero organization known as “The Other League” - led by a mysterious benefactor recruits professional athletes to help protect the world. Bobby Wagner, a veteran in the “OL”, is now tasked with mentoring their newest member (the “rookie”) to get him mission ready.
During their training day, Bobby winds up saving someone who is having a stroke - not with tech or superpowers, but by simply identifying that they are having a stroke and taking the proper steps to getting that person to a hospital quickly. The rookie asks Bobby how he was able to do that, thinking it was some sixth sense or special ability. But Bobby says know the signals so that anyone can be a hero- they just need to learn the signs and know what to do. Read and react, just like he does on the football field. The rookie is impressed and Bobby realizes in that moment how you don’t need to be a superhero or have billion-dollar tech to save lives and impact your community. A nice lesson that he learned himself while training the new recruit.
The emergence of FAST in Bobby’s life started years ago when his mother tragically passed away from a stroke. Now, with a storied NFL career and a global platform, Bobby is looking to help raise awareness for the condition that took his mother, and countless others across the globe.
We will honor Phenia Wagner and Bobby’s commitment to her and his community through using this moment to help audiences understand why he is so passionate about this topic and how he uses her memory as his motivation day in and day out. Just like Uncle Ben in Spider-Man.
From a storytelling perspective, we will point to Phenia’s strong will and the impact she had on Bobby through well-placed flashbacks and dialogue. While her presence will be felt throughout the story, the events of her passing will not be shown. Our focus will be on the lessons she taught him, and the love that fueled him to become the man he is today.
Miles Morales - TMNT - Jay-Z - Nipsey Hustle - Jordan - Justice League.
STORY BREAKDOWN
Pages 1-6: Set up Backstory of Bobby Wagner - if you don’t know who he is, we’ll get you acquainted. And If you do, this will be a nice stroll down memory lane, which begins almost like a Miles Morales narrated sports documentary and leads into the graphic novel premise and world we have built.
Pages 7-12: Superhero Transition into the fictional element - we introduce Bobby’s secret superhero life, and come along with him on a ride along, as he is assigned to mentor the newest superhero recruit. We follow Bobby and the “rookie” around the secret super facility, and on a few smaller “neighborhood level” missions, to get the rook acclimated.
Pages 13-18: Key Moment - This is where we introduce FAST - Now that we have already brought the reader into our world, set the stakes, and have their attention, we can showcase the core initiative of FAST without it feeling forced or generic. Here is where we have Bobby save a community member from a stroke in heroic fashion. But when his ride along companion asks what super gadget he’s used to save the stroke victim, Bobby explains it’s all “Read and React”, no super powers, or devices needed. Anyone can do it.
Pages 19-22: Core Messaging This is all Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. While we will have the hospital weaved throughout the whole story, here is where we go to the institution, through Bobby’s lens, as Bobby and the rookie spend time with the stroke victim they helped, and where Bobby gets the idea to start the organization dedicated to educating people on FAST. To conclude the story, Bobby holds a press conference to announce his expansion and partnership with the hospital in community awareness around FAST - we then bring it back to the fun stuff, as he gets a message from his superhero dispatch with a new mission.
The campaign was a huge success, garnering more than 10x value from the media spend around it. With 1.78million of media value, the FAST54 comic book brought a fresh new look to integrated campaigns for NFL players. This was the FIRST ever comic-book the NFL or any of its players created for national awareness. To read the comic in full visit www.FAST54.org.
Over 11 million impressions, and 300,000 usd raised later, FAST54 was a success on and off the field!
The Comic appeared on the NFLs social media more than 10 times throughout the 2023 season.
The local NBC, KING5 station in Seattle covered the story live at Emerald City Comic Con- Click Here to Watch the interview!
