Day 6: A quick one today. (Catch up on the previous 5 entries, detailing a history of the El Muerto comics, by starting here).
The new James Bond film SPECTRE starts with a spectacular opening featuring a Dia de Los Muertos festival in Mexico City. I'm a long-time Bond fans so it was exciting to see 007 enter the realm of the Day of the Dead. So I thought it'd be fun to play along and do a little homage. Sort of reversing the roles:
Back in November of 2006, we held one of our first screenings for EL MUERTO, in Santa Monica, CA during the American Film Market. I deliberately posed with my brother, his wife and my sister in front of the CASINO ROYALE poster for good fortune! (Coming up next week on THE 12 DAYS OF MUERTO, we'll explore the entire movie experience!)
The original Ian Fleming novels, and the movie series, have been a large influence on me. Certainly when creating my stories bits and pieces from the books and films make their way into my work. Not overtly, since I'm not doing spy stories, but in subtle ways that may only be known to me. But they're their, and they help add to the creativity on my end.
One of the things that made and impression on my was how Fleming described his process for writing his stories. He'd sit at the typewriter and bang out the beginning of the story, with no real outline to go from. He'd work, end the day, come back the next day to continue writing, but he wouldn't look back at the previous. He'd just press forward. Later he'd edit the whole draft, but that initial hammering out of the story is what stuck with me. When I draw the draft of my latest comic, I tend to just keep moving forward, or else I may look at the previous pages and wince or become bewildered and get bogged down with rewriting. That can come after the whole story is done, I'd like to think. Something about driving that first draft like a runaway train appeals to me. And it's also the sense I get from a master cartoonist like the late Jack Kirby, someone whose work to this day entertains and teaches me.
One of the things that made and impression on my was how Fleming described his process for writing his stories. He'd sit at the typewriter and bang out the beginning of the story, with no real outline to go from. He'd work, end the day, come back the next day to continue writing, but he wouldn't look back at the previous. He'd just press forward. Later he'd edit the whole draft, but that initial hammering out of the story is what stuck with me. When I draw the draft of my latest comic, I tend to just keep moving forward, or else I may look at the previous pages and wince or become bewildered and get bogged down with rewriting. That can come after the whole story is done, I'd like to think. Something about driving that first draft like a runaway train appeals to me. And it's also the sense I get from a master cartoonist like the late Jack Kirby, someone whose work to this day entertains and teaches me.
One last thing about James Bond and SPECTRE. You know what makes me smile? I can now say that both James Bond and myself have worn Day of the Dead costumes in our movies!
Tune in tomorrow for more tales of the Aztec Zombie...
El Muerto and all related characters are ™ & © Javier Hernandez 1998-2015
El Muerto and all related characters are ™ & © Javier Hernandez 1998-2015
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