I'll be at Wondercon this Friday, March 29

This Friday I'll be appearing at Wondercon for two presentations:

Wondercon will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center from March 29-31.

While I won't have a table at the show, I hope some of you can make it out to see me. The Latino Comics Roundtable should be fun, so feel free to ask questions and keep the roundtable spinning! And bring your kids out to my comic book workshop, I guarantee you they'll have fun making their own comics!

Here comes THE LOS COMEX CODEX

I'm currently in production on my first trade-paperback collection:

('Codex' is the name of the ancient manuscripts composed of sheets of hand-written content. The Aztecs and Mayans were known for their folded codices, one large continuous paper featuring their hand-drawn & colored stories and histories).

THE LOS COMEX CODEX is going to be a hefty book, at 8.5" x 11" some 130 pages or so. I'm collecting several of my titles in this volume, some of which will soon be out-of-print in their current comic book format. The stories being collected are: Weapon Tex-Mex vs El Muerto, Man-Swamp, Manga Muerto in "A Day at the Beach" (from MANGA MUERTO Vol 1), The Coma and Dead Dinosaurio.

The Codex will not only function as a collection of my work, but also marks the 15th Anniversary of Los Comex, my imprint from which I've been publishing all my comics work since I started in 1998. I'm writing a foreward to the book, featuring some recollections of the comics that inspired me as a kid, what drove me to draw and my motivations to create my own comics. Plus there'll be a brief introduction to each story, sharing some insight into the making of that particular comic. 

I'm having a great time designing the book, as it allows me play around with a lot of creative choices in terms of presentation and graphic design. That's one of the things I love about self-publishing, having the freedom to make creative decisions on the look of the whole book. The entire publication becomes a reflection of one's artistic voice, in addition to creating the story and characters.

As a kid growing up in the 70s, some of my favorite books were a series of paperbacks written by Stan Lee, writer and co-creator of the original Marvel Comics superstars like Spider-Man and Fantastic Four. I first saw ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS advertised in the comics themselves, then one day at a local store, BOOKLAND, I saw the entire series up on their wall behind the cash register. Well, with my allowance money (and extra pestering of Mom and Dad), I eventually completed my run of all four books in the series.

Each book featured Stan's recollections on the creation and development of each title. As a kid, it was fascinating to read such behind-the-scenes revelations, and I'm sure it sparked in me the idea of creating my own actual stories.

So, with the upcoming LOS COMEX CODEX, it'll be a nice nod to those early books, but also a way to introduce new readers to my work. If you already have copies of some of my floppy comics, perhaps you'd still like to have something a little heftier to put on your bookshelf alongside your Shakespeare and Stephen King novels!

Some of my comic books are going out of print!

We're having a disappearing act going on with some of our comics in the Los Comex Webshop!


 













These two titles are now out-of-print!

Recently, the print-on-demand printing company I was using for the last 2 years or so has seemingly went out of business. 'Seemingly' because it's been reported by several friends I know who have used their services, plus the fact that my own query via email has gone unanswered. That, and the fact that their website has been pulled offline....

As for the other POD service I used several years ago, their pricing is particularly unnattractive to me, as the profit margin, if I price my comics fairly for retail, is thinner than I would like.

Offset printing, where usually you have to order an amount of 3000 copies, can run easily about $2000. My first couple of comics were published offset, but between the price and the years it takes me to sell that many issues, it's not a route I've taken for over 10 years.

So I am considering other options for publishing my books, among them making them available online. But, the reason I made this post was to basically to call attention to the fact that in some cases, I'm down to the last copies of some of my comics. After they're gone, some will definitely not be available as floppy comics afterwards. So, if in the past you've considered ordering some of my comics, I'd recommend you do so now if possible. There are two titles that are already sold out, and several of them have as few as 2 copies available through my webshop.

A few more copies of THE COMA are available...

I certainly don't mean to sound alarmist. Not trying to scare anyone into thinking I'm done making comics! It's just that a good selection of my printed floppies currenty in stock will be a thing of the past. Most will be back in another form, but if you like collecting comics in that traditional folded & stapled format, here's your chance to grab the last few copies online of THE COMA, ART OF THE COMA, WEAPON TEX-MEX Vs EL MUERTO, MANGA MUERTO Vol 1, COMIC POP & DEAD DINOSARIO.

If you have some of these books, you know I like to add extras to my comics, such as production artwork, rough drafts of pages, character designs, etc. And I loved designing the whole comic, the covers and inside front covers, editorial pages and ads. There was a whole process for me from the very beginning to the final production. 

Another comic that's down to a few more copies in the webshop!

Anyway, visit my online webshop and scoop up the final floppy printings of some of my work. For any upcoming shows, I'll have a few copies available as well, but once they're gone, that's it!