Monday, November 01, 2010

Meet an El Muerto junior fan!

I'm currently teaching a comic book class at an after school program in Los Angeles. The class is once a week, and runs for an entire quarter.

Last week, one of my co-workers gave me this little paper doll: 

  
El Muerto with an awesome pompadour! This is from a young boy in the Arts & Craft class, who had recently seen EL MUERTO on cable. I was flattered that he picked El Muerto as a subject for his project. He doesn't even know that I'm teaching a class at the program, so it's not like he made it to show me.


Last night, my co-worker sent me to this photograph:

Last Friday they had a Halloween party at the school, and guess what our little Muerto fan asked for at the face-painting table?

I'm sure his only exposure to my character is through the movie, but we know the impact movies have on people in out modern culture. Whatever audiences a comic book can't reach, movies & television can more than make up for it. I've said it before, but even a relatively small production like our movie, once it hits circulation via television, attains a certain level of saturation in the public consciousness. Over the last month or so of non-stop events I've been exhibiting at, it's been very evident to me by the amount of people who stop by my table and say "Oh, I've seen this movie on TV" (which invariably leads to some comic sales) .


When I go back to the class on Tuesday, I'm going to give a small package of Muerto swag to my co-worker so she can give to this El Muerto fan. Believe me, if there were hundreds or even thousands of kids doing this, I'd have to hold back on the gift packs, but when I run across the occasional fan like this, I think it's certainly worth some type of appreciation on my part.


Moments like these are really uplifting to me. It's not the primary reason I create comic books, but it's certainly an after affect that I enjoy and appreciate.

3 comments:

pinguino said...

that kid is adorable. so awesome that your movie is bringing in new comic readers!

Greenblatt the Great! said...

Love the paper doll. That's the next step in your merch plan! :)

Javier Hernandez said...

Maybe I should find out if the company that makes Shrinky Dinks is still around!

I can already smell the millions!