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Saturday night's Cartoonistas meeting (actually, party!) was just what the doctor ordered after a rather sobering post I made earlier that day.
This momentous event was hosted by Cartoonista RAUL AGUIRRE JR. Yep kids, that's right, the host of the very lively MAN VS. ART podcast!
That's Señor Aguirre, in the red shoes, sitting comfortably under one of his lovely paintings. Raul is in fact such a whirlwind of artistic energy that my camera can only capture him as a blur even as he's sitting still!!
Raul and his lovely wife Hortencia were more than generous to host us at their wonderful home, which seems more like an art gallery and working studio space. Surrounded by all kinds of artwork, you really get a feeling for the love this couple has for art.
And another thing you get at Casa Aguirre is food. Lots of great tasting food!
Hortencia told us she was up til 2:00 AM earlier that day prepping all the food! Her homemade chicken parmesan pasta was especially exquisite, as was the one with ground beef. Cartoonista Grasiela Rodriguez, who by the way is one of the super troopers of the group, enjoyed one of Hortencias homemade brownies.
(You can see a bit of the dispenser in the foreground that was filled with several gallons of Hortencia's homemade horchata!! Man was that delicious!!)
It's a Cartoonista tradition to eat and eat along with all the art that gets created. Although that evening, even though we brought our sketchbooks, some of us didn't crack them open (I'm one of the guilty ones). What we did do was talk about comic artist's Neal Adams 'Expanding Earth Theory', Frank Miller's fall from grace (although some of us are hoping he actually starts making great comics again!!) and why the Godfather films are so &*^%$* great! I also shared with the folks why I first saw the EXORCIST on a sunny Saturday afternoon with all the living rooms curtains open (and yeah, I was in my 20s!!).
Some important business was conducted. We crowned two new artists into the Cartoonista fold.
. The man in the middle is Geo Brawn IV, comic book creator and artist, and to his left is an animator and cartoonist who came to us very highly recommended by Raul Agurrie, Mr. Luis Escobar.
I had actually met Geo on a few previous occasions, and took a liking to his get-up-and-go attitude. Luis I had never met, but found him to be very approachable and I think he'll be a great addition for us. Glad to have you two gents aboard.
Here's Co-Founder Jim Lujan looking satisfied with the festivities.
When Jimmy approached me about the idea of Co-founding the Cartoonistas with him, I'm not sure either of us truly expected how enriching this would be for us. Certainly I've made some new friends and associates in the group. And all the artists over the last two years have shared great experiences with one another. The live art shows we perform, many for young audiences, have been the things we're most proud of, and pretty much all the Cartoonistas feel the same way. Jim and I have talked about continuing to make the Cartoonista brand even better, and working alongside all our talented members, I think we're heading that way.
Another highlight for me last night was receiving a very special gift from Hortencia:
She made me a trio of sugar skulls, customized for El Muerto! I was floored by this wonderful surprise. Her creative talents, and generosity, are not to be overlooked. Not only are these sugar skulls labor and time intensive (made from scratch, naturally) but what a great idea! She truly earned my deepest gratitude, and I was flattered to have received these.
It's gonna be hard to top this Cartoonista get-together, but we like a good challenge!
Four years ago, after filming had ended on the EL MUERTO movie, I knew it would be some time before the film would be ready to be seen. What with all the post-production involved, and lining up a distributor, etc.
Besides anxiously awaiting the completion of the film, I had a thought in my mind that I felt would come true. We would either get a national release of some sort, or at least hit the film festival circuit and then get a DVD release. We ended with latter, the film having been available on DVD since 07. But my thought was this: Once the film was made and then released to screens or DVD and/or cable, it would have made the same cycle every film makes. It gets made, it gets released, and then it is permanently 'out there'. Just look at YouTube for pretty much anything that's ever been recorded, whether it's a movie, cartoon, commercial or some type of filmed footage. Everything is out there in one way or another.
It's like putting a message in a bottle and tossing it into the ocean. Eventually down the line somebody finds it and opens the bottle and reads the message. They'll have some sort of response to whatever was written.
My thought regarding the movie was that once it's done and had it's run, we'll all move on to our next project. The cast and crew of EL MUERTO moved on to their next movie projects, I jumped back on the drawing board.
Well, some two years later, after the film's release on DVD, people are still finding that bottle, and luckily, through the internet, I can hear about it.
A week ago I came across a review for EL MUERTO on a blog called ROSCOE'S DREAMS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS. Roscoe just happened to catch it one night on TV and had a strong, favorable reaction to it. I really admire the passion that he had for the film. Thank you, Roscoe!
A few days ago I received an email from a High School student in Colorado. For his Spanish class, he was assigned a project where he has to choose a Mexican-American artist to profile. Turns out this student had seen my comic book work before ('fascinated by your drawings' he wrote) and wanted to do his report on me. Of course I was more than happy to assist him, and flattered of course. Yesterday they actually watched EL MUERTO in his Spanish class, reporting that "We just finished watching the live action film today. I must say I was very entertained by it. Had a very dark side to it which kept the whole class engaged". Man, that's great to hear. I love how this happened in a Spanish class, too. I wrote him a couple of thoughts on something he asked me to. Hopefully I'll find out how his report was received.
I bring these two instances up because they just occurred, and within days of each other. But they really demonstrate the 'message in a bottle' scenario I mentioned earlier. Mind you, I have read my share of opinions of people who weren't too happy with their experience watching the film!(Or judging it based only on seeing the trailer, or even just an image!). But a long time ago I finally trained myself to not let those negative comments affect me. Of course, it's my prerogative to let the positive opinions and experiences have an encouraging effect on me!
I'll look forward to the next time someone gets the Movie Muerto Message in the Bottle...
Earlie today I received an email from a Joe Rodriguez in Waco, TX. Turns out Mr. Rodriguez recently caught EL MUERTO on cable and was inspired to dress up as the Aztec Zombie for Halloween!
Joe credits his wife Nicole for all the hard work making the suit. The bones and skull logo were cut out of felt material. A very nice version of the movie Muerto costume! These are yet another one of those unexpected moments I relish as a the creator of the character. It's totally a 'Wow!' moment for me.
As you can see, the whole family, including their daughter Luna Azul (Blue Moon), got into the 'spirit' of los Muertos. They even won a Halloween costume contest as a family! A double Thumbs-Up to Joe, Nicole and little Luna Azul.
Speaking of costumes, here's one from last year. My El Muerto.Com webmaster, Rick Rodriguez, sent me this pick after he dressed up as Muerto for Halloween 08.
Gotta love it when your webdesigner/host gets in the mood and makes his own El Muerto costume. Right On, Rick!
Keeping the costume theme going, about 8 years ago I had my own El Muerto costume made. No, not for me! I had it made so I could have a 'spokesMuerto' appear with me at conventions and other appearances. I had a total of 4 different guys wear the suit over the years. Since most of them appeared before I had a digital camera, I have to dedicate the time to scanning the photos. But here's one from 2006 San Diego Comic Con. The gent in the suit is Jon Alonso, a Portland, Oregon- based musician who emailed me some years before to approach me for a project. Well, turns out he was going to be in San Diego during the show and I asked him if he would do me a favor...
Jon's a singer in a band, so this Muerto naturally gave off more of a rocker vibe.
And rounding off the world of Muerto costume culture, I have to say with a huge amount of bias, that this is one of my favorites!
Yep. Me and Wilmer Valderrama, standing in the middle of a graveyard in East LA, a few moments after we filmed our scene together for EL MUERTO.(If I had to compile 20 photographs to highlight the favorite moments of my life to this point, that would definitely be one of them!). El Muerto's costume for the film was designed by Alexa Stone, who really added a great touch with the little bones lining the costume. My pancho was donated to me after filming by the producers, and the paper-mâché mask was made by me and my friend Steve Guerra.
Thanks to everyone whose ever donned an El Muerto costume, whether I knew about it or not! And thanks to Joe Rodriguez for getting the ball rolling, in regards to me blogging about all this, by sending me his pics.
Okay, another post about Dia de Los Muertos. My second post about it today, and my third post for the day!?
I have a very passionate fan of my comic El Muerto, and I'm glad to say he's a very good friend as well. His name is Jose Iturriaga. Back when I had a Message Board on EL MUERTO.COM, he was one of the early, and frequent members.
Well, about an hour or so ago, Jose sent me some pics of the little Dia de Los Muertos display he and his wife made in their home. A very personal, elegant little scene, with some artwork they bought recently. But check out what, or who, is also in the pictures!
Yep, that little figure in there is El Muerto! That figure was actually made by Jose, a completely customized 12" action figure of El Muerto. Jose actually made two: one for him and one for little ol' me! He based his figures on the film version of El Muerto, as played by Wilmer Valderrama.
Check out how lifelike the figure looks, sitting amongst the other mementos, looking at the sugar skull in his hand. Wow.
When I first saw these photos, I was just enjoying the nice setup Jose had built. Of course I was also happy to see his El Muerto figure in the display, too. But I started to think about how years ago I used to joke how I wanted El Muerto to become as identified with Dia de Los Muertos the way people automatically think of Santa Claus as inseparable form Christmas. I mean, let's be realistic and think of the, um, commercial results that could benefit the creator!
But seriously, when I saw Jose's display, and think about how much he both celebrates so much of his Mexican culture, and totally became a fan of both the El Muerto comics and the movie, well, I can honestly say that I'm truly humbled by the fact that my character can become a little special thing to people in that way. Honestly, companies invest millions into trying to tie their product into people's consciousness, and their commerce. I can't speak for those companies, but the feeling I get from this type of result from fans of my comic work...Well, it's worth to me a lot more than a large check I could deposit in the ATM.
Don't get me wrong for a minute: I am open and eager, and anxious to receive money for my work, lots and lots of it. But this....Well, this is really, really great. I am thankful that there is a Dia de Los Muertos, which took many people many years to bring to the level of celebration it enjoys in many parts of Mexico and here in the U.S. And I'm thankful for everyone who's path I crossed over the last 11 years of creating El Muerto. For fans, and friends, like Jose.
When I emailed him a while ago for permission to use his photographs, he was totally cool with it. He mentioned that he was actually watching the EL MUERTO movie! There are tons of Christmas movies, and everyone likes to watch their favorite Halloween movies on October 31. But how cool that I can say we now have a film available to watch on Nov. 2, the Day of the Dead. (And it actually portrays the sentiments found in the holiday, it's not some bloody, gory zombie horror fest). I still have about an hour before Dia de Los Muertos gives way to November 3, so I think I'll watch EL MUERTO too!
For the family and friends and others I've admired who have passed on, God Bless.
The co-creator of SPIDER-MAN turns 82 today!
Steve Ditko, whose comic career is now in it's 56th year, is getting ready to release a new comic book. This book, "DITKO ACT TWO", is actually the 6th comic book he's released since October 2008! He's published these with Robin Snyder, who he's been working with for the last 20 years, releasing almost 20 books in that time. Check out Bob H's excellent Ditko blog for most of these Snyder/Ditko books. Also, Bob has posted a really nice slideshow showing 82 b&w images by Ditko. I really enjoyed his selections, as you get a real good sense of the variety of work Ditko produces: humor, horror, action, violence and other cool, weird stuff!
Ditko has certainly left his impact on the mainstream comics world with his work on Spider-Man and numerous other characters (he designed the original red & gold armor for Iron Man that has been the basis of most versions of that character for 40 years). But his self-published work of the last 20 years is testament to his life-long goal of doing this his own way. Sure, there are several other examples of much more commercially successful self-publishers (Jeff Smith with BONE and Peter Laird's & Kevin Eastman's TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES), but I admire most of all the comic book artists who've ever worked. He functions purely as an artist (who chose comics as his voice of expression) who has something to say and does so without any other considerations other than telling his story. They may not be marketed with the most far-reaching business savy, or their appeal doesn't connect with the 'marketplace', but he's crafting the type of stories he wants to. And the fact that he's putting out more books in this current series tells us someone besides me is buying them!
Steve Ditko is working away in his studio producing new comic books. At age 82. He's not pausing in between pages to Twitter, or to add Friends to his Facebook page. He isn't scheduling his next podcast, or checking with his agent if Disney is going to greenlight a MR. A animated series.
He's just making comic books.
Happy Birthday, Mr. Ditko.
Okay, I have to go and Twitter this post...
El Muerto appears in Jose Cabrera's web comic, CRYING MACHO MAN! See El Muerto get treated to a trick!
El Muerto will be appearing in Jose Cabrera's CRYING MACHO MAN online strip this Friday, October 30th!
Jose's been creating his CRYING MACHO MAN for 5 years now, a satirical, irreverent look at the silly, stupid, tragic things we all go through. I've seen his art evolve over the years, and as an artist I admire the growth he exhibits as his line work becomes more fluid and elastic and his inking becomes more expressive and evocative. Certainly the man's always had a wicked sense of humor, which he applies so strongly in his strips.
He's got two book collections out now, with more on the way. For the past year now, he's been in Mexico on a Fulbright Scholarship. His Mexican adventure has been wonderfully captured by he and his wife Naomi on their blog OUR YEAR IN MEXICO. By January, Jose will be back in Los Angeles, with all new kinds of cartooning adventures awaiting him!
In the meantime, let's all enjoy the upcoming El Muerto appearance this coming Friday. Jose and I talked about working together on a project, so I thought that handing him my little dead boy for a day would be fun. Basically, he came up with the gag, ran the rough draft by me, and then inked the final piece. Because this is CRYING MACHO MAN, don't expect one of my angst-filled, Mexican telenovela melodramas/haunted hero routines! No way, Jose! This is Crying Dead Man courtesy of the pulse-pounding Mr. Cabrera! I couldn't be happier with this appearance, and thanks to Jose for letting me be a part of his strip.
Last year, you may recall, El Muerto appeared for a 5-part appearance in the nationally syndicated newspaper strip, BALDO. That also ran over the Halloween/Day of the Dead weekend, and I'm glad to once again have El Muerto appear in another strip over the same weekend. Maybe I can make this a tradition. Any other web or syndicated cartoonists wanna have El Muerto guest-star in your strip next Halloween/Day of the Dead?
. The man in the middle is Geo Brawn IV, comic book creator and artist, and to his left is an animator and cartoonist who came to us very highly recommended by Raul Agurrie, Mr. Luis Escobar.
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