Since 'sneak peeks' are quite popular at comic book conventions, I'd like to give you a preview of my upcoming comic book project:
COMIC POP is a really special anthology. Besides having a brand new autobiographic story from me, 'DOS MIL DIEZ' (Spanish for 2010), I'll also be reprinting 5 short stories I've worked on that many of my readers may not be aware of. The cover is pretty much the final version, but once I'm done putting the whole book together I'll most likely tinker with some of the text and add the price.
Let me start with the reprints. Over the years I've worked on various comics with some good friends of mine. I work with them on a project, they work with me on a project. That's what friends do. Or at least the ones I have! When I got the idea for these, I asked each artist for permission to reprint the story. These comics, for the most part, appeared in their own titles, so I just wanted to make sure they would be okay with this. In each case, of course, permission was granted!
Here's the rundown of the stories:
WEAPON TEX-MEX in "DESTROY ALL MEXICANS":
This is actually my first-ever published comic, a year before the first El Muerto comic debuted. I was invited by the publishers of HOT MEXICAN LOVE COMICS to contribute a story to the latest book, and at the time I was already working on the first El Muerto story. I didn't want to knock out a quickie Muerto comic, so I came up with Weapon Tex-Mex, kinda in the vein of the Thing (Fantastic Four): A big lug with a heart of gold. So in 1997, when HOT MEXICAN LOVE was published, I had my debut as a published cartoonist. The original comic was in black and white, I added the gray tones this year when I published the WANTED:WEAPON TEX-MEX mini-comic for the Phoenix Comic Con. (A few copies remain in the JAVZILLA WEB SHOP)
EL GATO CRIME MANGLER
Left, one of my pages, on the right, Michael Aushenker's cover
My friend Michael Aushenker's CRIME MANGLER series is filled with gonzo comedy featuring an oaf of a masked mexican wrestler and his misadventures in 1930s Los Angeles. For his NINE LOVES OF EL GATO (2003) romance comic, he had 9 artists each illustrate a chapter, dealing with an ex-girlfriend. He asked me to draw one of the stories, for which he provided a script. That was actually the first time I ever drew from a script, but the story was heavy on wrestling action so I had a ball with it. I even snuck in a cameo with the legendary WWE commentator team of Jesse 'The Body Ventura' and Gorilla Monsoon! This is one of the early comics I did where I used Sharpie markers. They can be cumbersome for detailed drawings, but I liked the chunky look it gave the story.
MASKS OF SONAMBULO
Left, a page of art drawn by Ted Seko, script by me, on the right, Rafael Navarro's painted cover.
This was an interesting collaboration. Rafael Navarro, creator of the Xeric Award-winning SONAMBULO comic, was putting together his own anthology, featuring stories written and drawn by others. He asked me to contribute to MASKS OF SONAMBULO (2003), and I immediately thought to ask Ted Seko if he'd be willing to illustrate a story I would write. Ted and I had previously worked together on "SKYMAN AND MANGA MUERTO Vs THE MONSTER MEKS", so we had already established a routine for working together. For this Sonambulo tale, I wanted to do a story with Sonambulo as a young kid, where he meets an old witch who foretells the future he will grow into. It wasn't an origin story, but it was nice for Rafael to let me delve into Sonambulo's early life.
EL MUERTO:MARK OF MICLANTEHCUHTLI
This mini-comic was created for the 2007 DVD release of EL MUERTO. When it came time to working with the distributor for ideas about what to include in the DVD, I suggested we include a comic book. After giving them a budget, I set out on what turned out to be an amazing final product. I wrote the script and provided loose pencil layouts and hired Mort Todd for the finished artwork, inks, gray tones and lettering. He's been working in cartoons and comics since his teenage years, becoming Editor-in-Chief of CRACKED Magazine in 1985 at the age of 23. We actually met some years previously via an Ebay transaction, believe it or not! Mort's tremendously talented and prolific, and his production values, as evident in the above image, really made this story sing!
EL MUERTO MEETS BALDO
Well, that's going to be some book! Reprints of my first ever comic, the El Muerto DVD comic, the Baldo/El Muerto newspaper strip and two other stories I worked on some years ago.
I'll post previews of the autobio comic as we get closer to the release date, which is scheduled for APE this October. While the JAVCON will be running through Monday, the good ol JAVZILLA blog will be here long afterwards, so make sure you keep coming back!
I hope you've enjoyed this preview of my next comic book. We still have lots more content to share here at the JAVCON, including some never-before-seen storyboards I did for the EL MUERTO movie, the CD artwork I created for an indie band, and a never-before-published El Muerto comic! I'll be recording an episode of my D.I.Y. Comics podcast JAVILAND later today, so look for that here tomorrow as well.
Well, the word is out! EL MUERTO will be appearing in the newspaper strip BALDO the week of Halloween, culminating in the color Sunday section, on the Day of the Dead! Without question, this has got to be one of the top opportunities I've had with the EL MUERTO character.
BALDO is created by writer Hector Cantú and artist Carlos Castellanos. Their strip began 8 years ago and is seen in over 200 newspapers, and is also printed in Spanish in some markets. I met Carlos and Hector back in March 2007 at the San Diego Latino Film Festival, where we guests of the festivals. I was there for the World Premiere of the EL MUERTO film, and Hector and Carlos were screening episodes of their BALDO Animated Series. We met up again in November of '07 as guests of Wizard World Texas.
BALDO has had two previous crossovers with other comic book characters, once with Richard Dominguez's EL GATO NEGRO and another with Lela Lee's "ANGRY LITTLE GIRLS!". When I last saw Hector and Carlos at Wizard World Texas, I asked them when was El Muerto going to appear in BALDO.... They told me to hit them up with a story. So earlier this year I hit them up with the story! I ran a plot by them, one that revolved around the Halloween/Dia de Los Muertos weekend (Yeah, that timing was a pretty smart move, I will admit!). We tinkered with the storyline, and then scheduled it for production. I won't detail the storyline at this point, but working with the BADLO creators was a unique and welcome challenge. I will tell you that I have contributed to the artwork, but more to be revealed later. The part that was most challenging was thinking in terms of the particular format of the daily newspaper strip. You have about 3 or 4 panels for the daily, and each segment has to stand alone, yet tie into the next days strip! And of course the Sunday strip has it's own challenges. Not every paper necessarily carries the Daily and the Sunday, so there are interesting challenges there as well.
But what is the payoff? I get to work with some talented newspaper strip cartoonists in a new medium for me, and EL MUERTO makes his debut in that venerable American classic institution, the Sunday color funnies! That's such a wonderful opportunity, and one of those 'once-in-a-lifetime' gigs. Kinda like getting a movie made out of your comic book.... :)
El Muerto's appearance will run in the storyline from Oct. 27 to Nov. 2, which is the same date as Dia de Los Muertos. If you read my previous post, you know that I will be in San Francisco that weekend at the Alternative Press Expo comic convention, debuting
the latest issue of EL MUERTO and commemorating my 10th Anniversary appearance at APE, which is where I debuted EL MUERTO back in 1998. So El Muerto appears simultaneously in a comic book and a newpaper strip that weekend... That is pretty beyond anything I would have dreamt years ago!
Check your local paper to see if it carries BALDO, if not, send a very polite (yet forceful!) plea to see if they can get the strip. And check out the official BALDO website for prevous episodes and information on the series.
And now to write something I've always wanted to say (and in the strict literal sense!):
See you in the funny papers!
10 years ago in February 1998, I published the first-ever EL MUERTO comic book!! A black & white photocopied comic book introducing the Aztec Zombie. The book recieved it's official debut at the Alternative Press Expo in San Jose, CA.
Here we are, 10 years later on the web, in comics, independent film and even a radio show! All this cause I wanted to create my own comic book character. So many people to thank, that's for sure! Family, friends, fellow artists and of course the Fans! And let's not forget the retailers, galleries, filmmakers, web designer, and many others who have all helped out in various ways.
This Tuesday, Feb. 19 on my radio show, PLANET COMIC BOOK RADIO, I'll be podcasting a Special King-Size El Muerto Anniversary Show! We have a great guest, Carlos Castellanos, the artist for the nationally-syndicated BALDO newspaper strip.
I'll also announce how you can win tickets for the EL MUERTO film screening at the Whittier Film Festival on Friday, March 7. And I'll also be talking about starting EL MUERTO 10 years ago and how the Dead Guy has taken me on the Liveliest ride of my life!
Of course, over the next 12 months here at Javzilla, I'll be sharing with you stories about creating EL MUERTO and all the adventures in publishing, conventions, art galleries, filmmaking and wherever else EL MUERTO has taken me. Plus I'll have news coming up in March about a Top Secret brand-new character I've created! One that will be seen in a Top Secret, brand-new publishing venture I'm starting with a good friend of mine! All I can tell you right now about the new comic is this:
Take RAMBO, BILLY JACK and DEATH WISH, cross it with ANIMAL FARM,DESTROYER DUCK and MR. A, and mix it with PLANET OF THE APES, HAWK & DOVE and THE PUNISHER!!! What we're gonna get is one personal, shoot-em-up, slam bang political hot-potato!!!
'Nuff said!!!!
I'm playing catch-up here,but this is my report from last weekend's WizardWorld comic convention in Texas. With the Thanksgiving holiday two days ago, and my radio show starting earlier this week, I'm kind of backtracking, but at least I'm getting it blogged!
My good friend, and fellow comic creator, Dallas-based Richard Dominguez had actually approached Wizard about hosting a group of us for a 'Latinos in Comics' panel. With the able assistance of Richard's agent/rep, Ken Levin, Wizard generously agreed to not only fly me in from Los Angeles, but also some artists from Florida and Puerto Rico! Here's a pic of me, Richard and the artist of the newspaper strip, BALDO, Carlos Castellanos.
While Richard is the reason we were all brought together, a last minute scheduling conflcit meant that he had to leave us for the weekend. His brother Robert was able to watch his table for the weekend though. Richard is the creator of EL GATO NEGRO, and in fact was a big influence on me in creating my own character. Thanks Richard, we couldn't have done this without ya!
One of the other artists in our 'Comic Book Companeros' group was David Alvarez, the creator of the YENNY comic strip that appears in Puerto Rican newspapers, as well a brief run as an Alias comic book a year or so ago. David's worked quite a bit in animation as well as the Looney Tunes comic book. He's a super talented guy and incredibly funny! Armed with a quit wit and a library of cartoon voices, this guy is riot to hang around with!
Seated next to me in our Artist Alley tables were the creators of the BALDO newspaper strip, which is syndicated in over 200 newspapers. Writer Hector Cantu and artist Carlos Castellanos. I had the pleasure of meeting these two this past March at the San Diego Latino Film Festival. They actually have a completed Baldo animated series to their credit! It's currently in the distribution deal phase. Carlos was my roommate for the weekend in the swanky Sheraton Hotel next door to the convention center. Again, these two guys and myself instantly bonded with one another and led to so many insane moments over the course of the show!
Friday was the first day of the show, and there was an EL MUERTO film screening scheduled that evening. Thanks to Ken Levin and Wizard to arranging that. Apparently, the Arlington Convention Center was scheduled to close at 6pm that evening after the end of the show. But after much behind-the-scenes maneuvering, the center agreed to let us screen the film 'after hours'. I introduced the film and stayed around for the first half hour or so of the screening. Afterwards, I snuck out for about an hour and wandered the hotel. I even went up to my room and sat around for awhile. Sometimes I get restless watching the film with an audience! Also, I had no idea how the crowd would react to the film. Maybe because I was in Texas, or screening the film at a Wizard show (which is generally aimed more at the 'maninstream' comic fan, in my opinion), I just wasn't sure what to expect.
But I came back to the screening for the last 10 minutes and was happy to find that the response was very enthusiastic. I like to think that part of the reason was the relative novelty of the cultural elements in the story, and also that our film is a smaller, character driven piece, as opposed to the huge, expensive CGI-heavy blockbusters most superhero comic book movies have to be nowadays. We had about a half hour Q&A after the film, moderated by Hector. The fans were genuinely supportive of the film. My sense was that the whole indie-comic-turned-film really responds well to people. I was really satisfied to hear one of the fans come up to me afterwards and actually tell me "I'm sorry that they changed the name of the film (to the DEAD ONE). EL MUERTO is a much better name". He even mispronounced EL MUERTO but to hear this guy in a slight Texas drawl tell me this just reinforced my position on the whole name-change incident. I'd love to keep screening the movie to audiences all over the country. And not for the obvious reason of selling more DVDs (which I did that weekend!) but just to see how different types of people react to the film.
Here's me, Ken Levin and Hector after the Q&A.
Ken Levin, I found out as I talked to him over the weekend, has a long history in comics. He was one of the co-founders of First Comics back in the 80s, which was one of the first major independents in the early days of the direct market. He reps quite a few comics creators and has been involved in lots of comic-to-film deals. Sounds to me like Ken would make a great guest on my radio show!
I had a great time meeting new fans throughout the weekend. Sales on the comics, prints and DVDs were brisk, and makes me hungry to go to more out of state shows. Here's me talking to my travel agent booking flights all over the country for next year!
What would a comic convention be without some superheroes and monsters? Rorschach, getting ready to become next summer's Hollywood IT-boy.....
A Yuletide greeting from Alien and Predator!
And I even got a celebrity endorsement from Dr. Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme. Just what the doctor ordered!
Hector Cantu brought some taco shells along with him on saturday, which he used for promotion! He rolled up flyers for BALDO in the tacos, but I told him we could upgrade that idea. I said the four of us (David, Hector, Carlos and myself) show sign the tacos and give them away to fans! Here's a very limited signed and sketched Javier Hernandez EL Muerto original!
I also got to meet other artists at the show. One of them was Paul Maybury, whose new book, AQUA LEUNG, with writer Mark Smith, is due out from Image early next year. Paul's what I refer to as one of the newer, younger artists. And I don't mean that in a negative way at all. It's just that I admire how productive he's been in his early 20s. I had been visiting Paul's blog over the last year, and since he now lives in Texas, he decided to make a visit to Wizard, so he stopped by my table. He also gave me the original ink drawing to an impromtu El Muerto pinup he sent me a few weeks earlier! Check out the colored version of his sweet pinup.
'The Comic Book Companeros' had a panel on sunday, which was a nice way to spend the afternoon. Moderated by Ken Levin, we got to share our experiences in creating our individual books and how we see ourselves as artists of Latino backgrounds. All said, I had a really good time in Texas. And I have to say, that the after-show escapades I had with David, Hector and Carlos have to rank amongst my most memorable. I've been doing shows for a good decade, and these guys are among the funniest and friendly I've ever had the pleasure to know. I hope we one day get a chance to get together again!
This was taken saturday night at a Mandarin Chinese restaraunt, the site of some of the most hilarious tear-inducing shenanigans ever! And all of us sober, mind you!! All I can say about that eveing is Hector is one swell guy for being a good sport, and David rocks for having appropriate porno music as one of his ring tones!
