Over the years, HIV has gone from a death sentence to a manageable illness.

Now it can even turn you into a superhero – at least in Robert Walker’s groundbreaking new monthly comic book series, DELETE (Digital Noixe).

DELETE sees a world transformed by technology – some of it demonic – with heroes and enemies of all sexualities, genders, cultures, ethnicities and backgrounds including a clan of HIV+ heroes known as The Omen.

“I was really interested in just the whole basis of technology,” Walker explains regarding DELETE’s inspiration. His extensive comics career includes illustration gigs for publishers DC, Marvel and Dark Horse. “Like the war thing. We have weapons that can explode the world 15 times over yet we want to advance the technology! It amazes me where it’s focused, whereas it could be focused in a stronger way. This is a platform for me to expand upon that issue and catapult other issues I want to address that you don’t see in the comic industry. Educate people and the public about certain issues they normally wouldn’t think about.”

Those include “racism and sexuality in depth,” he continues. “Being gay, being different. We’re going to talk about bathhouses, gay marriage, having a great relationship. All facets of homosexuality that have never been explored in a mainstream comic book.” With ass-kicking action to boot.

The first issue of DELETE is scheduled to hit comic stores in early September.

DELETE’s titular character, a.k.a. Cynthia Hopps, is a talented Marine and technology expert who discovers that she possesses a technology-derived superpower called Magitech. Two of Cynthia’s best friends are also gifted – Download, a gay man able to communicate with all forms of technology, and Digit, a man capable of adding or subtracting to any situation (yes, size queens, that too). Delete and her allies come up against villains, like the demonic Death Player, and other heroes, including The Omen.

The Omen, a diverse assortment of HIV+ individuals – including gay Irish mogul Night Cry, African-American down-low brotha K-OSS, Hispanic lesbian ex-stripper Fury, and straight super-strong vanity case Eros – developed superpowers thanks to a supernaturally-touched experimental HIV antidote.

Now they’re on the run from a corrupt government determined to silence them permanently.

For “bug chasers” who might already consider HIV a magical “gift,” Walker clarifies that, superpowers or no, HIV can and does kill even The Omen’s members. “They die the way any person with AIDS dies,” Walker says. “I don’t want to glamorize HIV whatsoever and I won’t. I really want to show HIV and AIDS in a real way. There’s one character, no matter what you do to him you can’t kill him. But he can die from the virus.”

The Omen will headline their own eponymous spin-off series – a prequel (dubbed the “negative” issue) is planned for December release (to closely coincide with World AIDS Day). As a further nod to the realities of HIV/AIDS, The Omen series will include an advice column written by an HIV/AIDS specialist, Erik Mortenson.

Some aspects of DELETE and The Omen are more playfully culled from reality. Download is based on Walker’s ex-boyfriend Steph Watts, Digit represents current boyfriend Leroy Wall and illusion master Snake is drawn from gay photographer Aaron Cobbett, whom Walker met at a Soho loft party.

“He stepped up to me and was like, ‘here’s my card, let me know if you want to model,’” Walker recalls. “I was like, ‘OK,’ and I saw he was striking, different looking, and I saw the superpower of illusion [in him], because he has this whole world he tries to create with images and photos. I try to tailor the character’s power to their personality and Aaron told me he lives in his own world and how he sees the world should be. I thought that’d be great.”

As a home to his own titles, Walker has launched the Digital Noixe imprint.

“The reason I created it is to upgrade a digital world,” he says. That world may eventually include a top 40 superhero: Walker’s in talks with a pop icon’s management to bring her to comic book pages. Alas, her identity remains secret for now…