CAPE ELIZABETH – You may not have heard of Cape Elizabeth resident Jeff Kline, but he’s something of a celebrity in certain circles. A former executive at both NBC Entertainment and Columbia Pictures Television, Kline, 47, has been involved in more than 40 live action and animated TV series and pilots, with a host of Emmy nominations to his name, including wins as executive producer of his two most recent cartoon series, based on the Transformers toy line.

But a desire to cut back on the jet-setting between Los Angeles and Maine, which he’s called home since 2008, has led Kline in a new direction, as owner and publisher of a line of comic books. The first title put out by Darby Pop Publishing, called “Indestructible,” hit comic book shops in December. Authored by Kline, the third issue is scheduled for release on Feb. 5, with an additional titles, “7th Sword” and “City: The Mind in the Machine,” set to follow in March, and as many as 30 comic book series and graphic novels planned for release through 2014.

Recently, Kline sat down with the Current to talk about his new venture, how it came about, and where he hopes it will lead.

Q: After more than 20 years in Los Angeles, what brought you to Maine?

A: My wife and I are both New England kids. I was born in Boston and she grew up in Connecticut. I used to spend summers in Wells and Ogunquit when I was a kid and had very rose-colored memories of my time here. So, when we were looking to move back east, because I was teaching at Boston University, we wanted to be within two hours of Boston, and the Portland area became a possibility, just because I loved the area, plus we wanted to be near an arts scene, near a food scene, and one of the big requirements was that we be near an airport, because we knew I’d be going back and forth between coasts. Then, once we got here, it was all about the school district, because my daughter was 5 at the time and going into school, and we just really liked Cape [Elizabeth].

Q: And the comic book company is named for your daughter?

A: Right. Her name is Darby, hence Darby Pop Publishing “pop” for pop culture, but also because I’m Darby’s pop.

Q: So, you currently split your time between Maine and Los Angeles?

A: Right. Originally the plan was that I was going to, if not semi-retire, at least pull back and slow down, because I had been in pretty constant production for 20 years. So, I did one semester teaching when I got lured back to L.A. for what was supposed to be a three-month gig. That was almost five years ago. People ask me, why don’t you just move back to California? But, the thing is, when I was in Los Angeles, I was never home for dinner. It’s just not possible. I could never take the middle of the day to attend a school recital, or to drive my daughter to Girl Scouts, or whatever it might be. Here, I can be home every night, and weekends are really ours instead of me having to do industry things. So, even with this bi-coastal thing, Darby gets more of my time than if we were all still in California.

Q: Of everything you’ve done, and everything you could do, why comic books?

A: Well, I’ve been almost five years going back and forth between the coasts. I’d like to live here more full-time. But it’s really hard to run a show from 3,000 miles away and, for the time being anyway, it seems like it’s going to be a hard time to get the networks to let me run an animated series out of Portland. I do still have a development deal with Hasbro. I have another “Transformers” series coming; that’s in full-blown production right now. I have a documentary I executive-produced that’s coming out this year, as well as other TV and movie projects, but I’ve been looking for something I can do from here. With comic books, you don’t have to be on a studio lot. It’s a lot of working with freelancers who can be anywhere in the country. It’s a business that’s very used to happening not in person. So, it’s a good business to start from my home in Cape Elizabeth.

Q: Were you a comic book fan as a kid?

A: I was and that was very tied into my summers in Maine. There was a little store in Wells called the Beachcombers around the corner from a cabin we’d rent. I used to go there as a kid with change my grandparents would give me, or I scrounged around for, and buy comic books. That was very much a summer ritual for years and years. I bought them all the way though high school and even talked my parents into letting me go to a comic book convention in New York by myself as a pre-teen. But then I lost touch with it in college when they got more expensive and my limited college funds had to be directed to beer and other important things. I didn’t start getting back into it until recently when my animation guys were like, “You’ve got to see this book, or that book.” I was really amazed by some of it, there’s an incredible range of stuff outside of super-heroes, and some of it is really, really good.

Q: How did that lead into creating a comic book company?

A: Well, a lot of them did comics work and they would tell stories about the industry, some horrifying, some wonderful, and I always thought, I’d kind of like to do that one day. It just never happened. But then as I thought more about it, I asked them for people in the industry who I could ask some really stupid questions of, because I wanted to learn as much as I could. One of the guys I got hooked up with was David Whol, who had been an editor at Marvel Comics. I ended up hiring him to be my editor-in-chief and partner in this project. It initially started as me wanting to work on this one idea I had. But then I was talking to a friend about it and he said he had an idea, and it became well, I’ll do two books. That then became three books, and four, and so on into what we have planned now, with a bigger plan and needing to hire more people.

Q: You’ve described the first Darby Pop title, “Indestructible,” as a “slightly skewed” take on super-heroes. How would you describe the book to someone who is not already a comic book fan?

A: It asks a very basic question of our society today, how do celebrities like the Kardashians maintain their celebrity without actually doing anything impressive, other than being on TV? In a world where super-heroes are real and that’s the only leap we ask the reader to make it’s safe to assume they would be treated as celebrities, with everything that goes along with that. If you were a guy, in this case Greg Pincus, who accidently foiled a robbery and was mistaken for a super-hero, would you correct the misconception, or would you try to dip your toe into that world? And once you do that, once you get sucked in, how do you maintain the ruse that you have super powers when in fact you don’t and you’re incredibly mortal. Would the Kardashians put their lives at stake to maintain their celebrity? That’s what this guy does, every time he has to put himself in a situation to prove he’s a super-hero, he could just as easily take a bullet and die. The book also asks, as a celebrity, as what point does it stop being your life. That’s another part of the Kardashians that fascinates me, at least for Kim Kardashain how many of her decisions every day are her’s, and how much are really her handlers’?

Q: Will all Darby Pop titles be about super-heroes?

A: No, we’ll be exploring all kinds of different genres. “City: The Mind in the Machine” is more of a sci-fi techno thriller, while “7th Sword” is a big space opera samurai versus robots mash-up. All of our books at this point are rated PG.

Q: What do you see as the future of Darby Pop? Do you see yourself setting up an actual office here with a bullpen of Maine-based writers and artists?

A: Right now, for legal and other reasons, we are mainly soliciting people we already know. But, the hope is to become one of those places where people can bring their ideas. Given success, a big part of this for me is hiring locally. If I am going to live here full time, I’d like to work here full time, too. Already, one of our books is going to be taken over by Alex Irvine, who is a novelist and video game writer based here in Portland. I was at the Coast City Comic Con in South Portland a few months ago and met a guy named Aaron Wood, who is going to do a cover for us. There’s also the Out For Justice guys, which is a creative collective located in downtown Portland, they’re going to do some stuff for us. How I’ve always worked best creatively is in a room with a bunch of people throwing ideas around, rather than sitting in my home by myself. So, yes, eventually, I would love to have a bullpen of local writers and artists.

Q: And, working full circle, can we expect to see Darby Pop characters on the big screen?

A: Would I like to see an “Indestructible” movie? Certainly. It’s already cast in my head, with Simon Pegg as the lead. But, actually, I can go right to movies and television right now. I don’t have to do the comic books as a means to that. I’m doing the comic books because I really, really love the form and because I want to play with my stories on a more personal level than movies and TV will allow. Granted, one movie can pay for publishing a whole lot of comic books, but that’s not the primary focus. Our focus is comic books.

Jeff KlineA page from Darby Pop Publishing’s first comic book title, “Indestructible,” written by company owner Jeff Kline, of Cape Elizabeth.