I'm currently taking Pre-Orders for my new book, the LOS COMEX CODEX!
The CODEX is a 138 page collection of 5 of my out-of-print comics. Measuring 8.5" x 11", this hefty volume reprints Weapon Tex-Mex vs El Muerto, The Coma, Man-Swamp, Dead Dinosaurio and "A Day at the Beach" from MANGA MUERTO Vol 1. The covers are in color, the interior pages are b&w (some stories are toned in gray, one is drawn entirely in pencil).
The book will debut at the upcoming LATINO COMICS EXPO LA, being held August 17 & 18 at the Musuem of Latin American Art in Long Beach, CA.
But, if you're not a local, or just can't wait, you can now order a copy of LOS COMEX CODEX, which will include a full-color marker sketch on the title page. Here's one with The Coma:
The drawings will be signed, and if you'd like, I can personalize it to you or someone else if you're in a gift-giving mood!
Here are some pages from the book:
Pre-Order price is $20.00, which includes Priority Mail via USPS. Visit my Webshop to place your order.
I also put together some Archive Editions, featuring a page of original comic book art. The pages are the actual ones I drew to create the original comic books. Most of these are 8.5"x11", but the Weapon Tex-Mex/El Muerto page is 11"x14" and the cover artwork to the COMEX CODEX is 11"x17".
Check out my Pre-Order section over at my Los Comex Webshop for prices and the complete selection of Archive Editions. By the way, the reason I don't have any Dead Dinosaurio pages available is that most of the pages sold when I had that comic on Pre-Order last year.
And the Manga Muerto pages? Well, that one's tougher to explain. A few years ago, I had my car stolen, and inside were the original pages to this particular story. I was sharing them with my students at one of my comic book classes the day before, and unfortunately didn't remove them from the car the following day. At least I had already scanned the pages!
Pre-Orders help me to get the book printed, so I appreciate anyone who buys a copy. All orders will begin shipping by August 22, so everyone who bought a copy will get them by the end of August. It's possible I might start shipping a few days earlier, I'll notify folks via email once the books are mailed off.
Pre-Orders for the LOS COMEX CODEX will end on Wednesday, July 31. Order through the Los Comex Webshop.
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!
Being a self-publisher, not only do I have to create, write and draw the story, but I have to design the entire book. Since I've been doing this for 11 years, it's so natural for me to think of the entire comic book from the beginning, starting with the actual stories to the covers and even the editorial content and 'special features' to include in every book I publish. First thing I think about is the actual story, but then I always have the look of the entire published book simmering in the back of my head.
As I mentioned in my previous posts (Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3), one of the things I love about this Manga-ized version of El Muerto is the much more 'kid-friendly' aspect of the stories. The character designs, the 'shorthand' plots and dialogue, the more 'Saturday morning cartoon' tempo of the storytelling, etc., should also be reflected in the cover. The cover is, traditionally, the central image that represents a particular comic book, as far as the whole marketing/branding aspects.
First thing I needed for this new comic book project was a new logo for Manga Muerto. The two previous stories were printed in black & white publications, and the logo was basically the same one I used for the 'standard' EL MUERTO comic. This time I was printing the collection (2 reprints and one whole new story) in comic book form with color covers. I also realized that I would not only be re-introducing the character, but also introducing Manga Muerto to new readers. I wanted to re-launch the whole Manga Muerto brand with it's own logo.
2nd Manga Muerto appearance, from 2001 mini-comic
I ended up choosing a font I think reads clearly and, to me, has that certain 'J-Pop' simplicity and playfulness. I looked at other fonts that had a more stylized 'Japanese' look, but my ultimate goal with Manga Muerto is to not make a book that looks like it was literally brought over from Japan, but rather a comic that reflected my personal affection for English-adapted, childhood favorites like GIGANTOR and SPEED RACER. I think the somewhat 'cutesy' skull I added really solidified the look I was going for.
The color choices on the cover, white background with pink and baby blue elements, read to me like clean, J-Pop graphics. Something that would look like eye-candy to all readers. Certainly the younger readers this material would appeal to, and to folks with even a passing familiarity with the more colorful, cartoony manga/anime. Again, these are just my own observations of what I've seen, what I imagine people would associate with a book called MANGA MUERTO. That's what I love about design (and even storytelling): Point your viewer in the right direction (in this case, the whole Manga pop art element) and hopefully between the title of the book, the color image of El Muerto on the cover and the design choices I've made with text and graphics, the viewer will see the cover of MANGA MUERTO VOL. 1 and have some idea of what the contents of the book will be like.
For the back cover, I wanted to keep the same design elements:
This time I wanted to give more glimpses of the artwork contained in the actual comic. The three panels are taken from the actual stories (the third panel down is just the penciled thumbnail of a particular panel, once I ink it I will switch it out with the thumbnail sketch). I actually drew that image of Diego (Manga Diego, technically!) specifically for the back cover. One, I wanted an image to tie into the text to his left, and also I hadn't created any color images of Diego. The yellow and red T-shirt, by the way, is a direct swipe/homage to the one worn by Akira Fudo, the human counterpart to Devilman from the 1970s DEVILMAN anime!
This back cover had about 2 previous versions, but I cut down the text on the description of each panel. It's interesting because I sent a trusted friend a copy of the front cover and he mentioned that it may have been possible that there was too much text. I told him that all the text was conveying something about the contents. I felt that the viewer will first look at the title, then the full color Muerto/Skeletron image, then the pink boxes, then probably read the text. And this is all instantaneous. My cover for the previous EL MUERTO comic was a more full bleed 'impact' cover. And the cover for my other book due out shortly, MAN-SWAMP, had another full bleed image, with some classic, old-school comic book 'hype type'.
Just realized the similarity in that both characters are raising a hand to the viewer!
Every cover should reflect the actual comic book it's portraying, that's a given. What's interesting for me, as the creator of these books, is to see how each final version represents a total process: the creation of the character and the story, the mood and tone of the story, the presentation of the comic book. All these elements get reflected and summarized in the cover design. Least that's what goes through my mind in creating the whole comic book.
