Get ready for my upcoming mini-comic...The MAN-SWAMP!!!

Okay, I have a new EL MUERTO comic coming out in November. I'm also premiering my new character, DEMOLITION DOVE in early 2009 under the XOMIX COMIX imprint.

But I also have another new/long-lost character I'm debuting in a mini-comic book in January. Kevin Cross, a cartoonist from Portland, has started a Mini Comics Dumptruck club. He's got about 19 artists signed up already! Each artist has until January to make a 12-24 page Mini (a 4.25" x 5.5" comic). So I thought I would use a character I created a few years back, The Man-Swamp! He first appeared in an 'ad' in KING SIZE EL MUERTO #1 (2002):



Man-Swamp started out as a gag idea, more or less. An homage to the legendary swamp monsters in film and comics. Just a way to fill up a page in KING SIZE EL MUERTO #1 , really. But over the years I kept going back to the idea. In 2004, I was teaching a Comic Book Workshop, and as an instructional aid, I had the students contribute to the plot of a comic and aid in the comic book storytelling. I would set up the scene and ask the students to come up with a ideas for the narrative. A couple of the girls came up with the idea of 'Ducky'!






I drew the pages during two class sessions, using the same markers as the students, so as to encourage them in finishing their comics. So this is the first appearance of Man-Swamp in a comic, I guess! But when I was invited to join the Mini Comics Dumptruck, I immediately thought of bringing back Bog Breath back for a proper comic book story. I've actually fleshed out a more involved back story for the character, so the Man-Swamp mini comic will actually be more than just a gag story. But of course, with a name like he's got, this is still a freaky, whacked-out idea!

Here's a sketch I did a week or so back. Once I get started on the actual mini (sometime in December), I'll post some more updates.

MAN-SWAMP ™and © 2008 Javier Hernandez. All Rights Reserved.