1996-1997 (vol. 2). In this story arc the Espers come to the rescue of a 17-year-old high school girl from California named Skye Lanning, a petulant teenager possessed of powerful psychometric powers, who is being pursued by the Triad and the Inner Circle. Espers: Black Magic: the first 4 issues published by Image from 1997-1998 (vol. 3). In "Black Magic," the Espers come under attack by the occult branch of the Architects called the Pentacle while trying to stop the Architects' master plan to turn the US Navy's High Frequency Active Aural Research Project into, "the most powerful mind control device on the planet." Espers: Crossed Purposes: the final 3 issues published by Image in 1998 (vol. 3) presumably would have been part of this next storyline. But it was never completed. Publication ceased after issue 7. In these three issues the Espers seek out the Triad and S.E.A. to try to convince them to unite against the Architects. Influences In the introduction to the "Espers" TPB published by Caliber in 1995, James Hudnall wrote of his influences when creating the series: "My big influences at the time were my love for the spy genre and Japanese Anime films... I wanted to try something in those genres, not only because I love them but because there weren't any other books like that at the time. But I wanted it to appeal to super-hero fans, which still made up the bulk of readers in the industry..." "When I was a kid there was a short-lived British TV series called The Champions about three people with psychic powers who worked for some mysterious agency in Geneva. They went around the world fighting various criminal masterminds and conspiracies. While I only had vague memories of the show, I remember liking the concept, so that's what I decided to do. Marry the spy genre with psychic super-heroes, only tone it down and make it more 'real.'" References External links The Espers at International Hero Image Comics titles Defunct American comics Epic Comics titles Eclipse Comics titles Comic book limited series