There seems to be no hope, no perspective, until a towering figure makes his appearance in a dark and gloomy city of Zurich who not only takes out criminals and crooks but also seems to bear an uncanny resemblance to the Swiss national hero - Tell. His fleeting but effective appearances seem to suggest that he is a vigilante on the side of the common people, here to restore law and order with his crossbow - just as the legendary Tell did in the 14th century when he rid his people of a foreign tyrant and led them to freedom and prosperity.

People soon look up to the mysterious figure who seems to be offering the long awaited salvation from all the misery, and patriotism awakens again. At long last there is a hero amongst them to fight for the their rights, the rights of the people. But who is this Tell? And what are his true intentions? Finn, a reporter, who was on the scene of Tell's first appearance is intrigued and investigates the matter further.

Finding himself increasingly entangled in an obscure and menacing web of politics, financial dealings and science without ethics, the reporter is as confused as the general public when history seemingly repeats itself and the newly risen superhero Tell is confronted once again by Gessler - only this time the tyrant is clad in a costume and seems to have powers just as unworldly as those of the new Tell. It is then that our reporter learns that there is a lot more to this Tell than meets the eye...

Following his graduation in 1994 Boller worked for Marvel (Excalibur Annual, Lethal Foes of Spider-Man, Night Thrasher, Nova, Spider-Man 2099, X-Men: Time Gliders, several promotional mini-comics) and DC (Batman Chronicles, JLA 80-Page Giant) as well as several other publishers such as Acclaim (Killer Instinct Special, Magic The Gathering, Magnus Robot Fighter), Caliber (Legendlore, Oz, Raven Chronicles), Image (Witchblade) and Warp (Elfquest-Jink). Boller also created his own comic book series (Kaos Moon) in 1996, which was published by Caliber in the US, serialized in Germany in Schwermetall and featured in a series of graphic novels by Alpha Comics.

Upon his return to Switzerland in 2008, Boller founded his company Virtual Graphics and kicked off his project Zampano, a web-comic magazine platform. It is here that Boller first released his story featuring the first Swiss comic book superhero - Tell. Originally published online in weekly installments in German, French and English, the first issue of Tell was made available in a German printed edition in Graphic Novel format in late October 2010.

Tell thus provides a sharp contrast, and it is Boller's professionalism which makes the difference. Trained and experienced in the art of the American superhero comic book, he provides a look and feel to his story which provides authenticity on every page. In other words: Tell is not a Swiss interpretation of the genre, but rather the actual genre telling a story in a Swiss context, and this comes across as a very strong point of Boller's work.

Switzerland as a location has featured in a surprisingly large number of US superhero comic books (e.g. as backdrop to a story involving the Frankenstein Monster in Iron Man #101 or as the country where the Order of St Dumas has its seat and where Batman and Alfred travel to as the origins of Azrael are revealed in Sword of Azrael #1), but in the case of Tell, the story not only takes place in Switzerland, but all the characters involved are - unlike Batman and Iron Man - Swiss. However, the general plot direction is sufficiently international - the power of money and the corruption of moral and social values through greed and powermongering - to provide a story which is easily accessible (despite a few story elements which are so specifically Swiss that they may be lost to outsiders), and this is precisely what Boller had in mind during the creation of Tell:

"I was very tempted to do a comic book with a Swiss background but created in true US comics style. It creates a somewhat strange effect, but it also helps to make the story - which really is universal - interesting for readers in other countries." (translated from Stuehler, 2010)

A finished page from Tell (above) and an example of Boller's pencils and inks (below)

"Tell is a story I had planned for a long time, but the timing turned out to be just right with the worldwide financial crisis setting in. After all, Switzerland finds itself in a fiasco right now, thanks to UBS and tax affairs, and the public has never been more cynical about the political and economic leadership of the country. In other words, Tell is not a patriotic homeland comic book, but rather an anti-hero parable on the abuse of power and money." (translated from Stuehler, 2010)

Overall, Boller's art broke the ice nicely for being the first Swiss superhero comic book. The plot creates and sustains interest, although it does sometimes feel slightly rushed here and there (for example, Tell makes his first appearance after only five pages), and perhaps a little more effort should have gone into the characterization of the supporting cast to better ground the story as a whole and make it less predictable in places. These points are probably the result of Tell having originally been published in weekly one page online instalments, but they do weigh down on the overall positive picture a bit in continuous reading.