Day 3: So with that first issue done, I basically started hitting the convention circuit in California, traveling up and down the coast when (day job) time permitted. I also made the scenes around Los Angeles, soliciting comic shops and independent bookstores (usually the type that dealt with Latino-related material). Since mine was a photocopied book, I even searched out zine & mini-comics event, as I definitely had the DIY aesthetic. Also, with a concept like El Muerto, I exhibited at the various Day of the Dead festivals throughout town, as well as other cultural events. From the first day I knew I would seek out Latino audiences, figuring they would appreciate a culturally-themed character from a Latino creator. This was back in the late 90s, and there was a small movement of Mexican-American creators, as well as other Latino groups, publishing books featuring Latino characters.
In Texas there was Richard Dominguez (El Gato Negro), and along the West Coast such folks as Carlos Saldaña (Burrito), Fernando Rodriguez (Aztec of the City), Laura Molina (Jaguar), Rhode Montijo (Pablo's Inferno) and Rafael Navarro (Sonambulo), among others, were branching out and making their path in the independent comics world. Plus there were others across the country doing the same thing. It was an exciting time to be making comics. It was in this environment, amongst these pioneering artists, that I found camaraderie.
I did a second printing of THE NUMERO EDITION, about 150 more copies, if my memory serves me right. In addition to that (and instead of jumping back to the continuing saga of El Muerto!) I went off and made some other comics. What happens to me, and this you'll see occur throughout the next 16 years, is that I can get an idea in my head that won't rest until I put it in comic book form. One was an autobiographic story called DOS MIL (2000) and the other was a spin-off idea of my character called.... Manga Muerto. Basically taking the giant robot genre from Japan and mashing it up with El Muerto. I'll delve more into that little enterprise in the upcoming days, trust me. It was also during this time, Summer of 2001, that I did an interview with NPR during the San Diego Comic Con that would later go on to have a significant impact on my career (and that'll be covered in my upcoming posts about the El Muerto movie!).
Remember my day job as an art production employee at the screenprinting company? It had evolved in being promoted to Art Director. That meant leaving behind the retail world, and getting a decent paying career in art. It also meant a lot overtime hours, and eventually some sporadic weekends. It was actually getting stressful in the last two years or so. Won't go into all the details, but our workload increased, meaning my responsibilities increased. All that translates into a trip to the doctor to find out I had high blood pressure! Pretty much things got shaky with the management. For the better, because that place was killing me and it was time to decide to get the heck out of there...
That brings us to 2002. It was also time for me to level up from photocopied comics and get my book printed through an offset printer, which would include a glossy cover and larger print run. Eventually my goal was to try to get the book carried in comic book stores by Diamond Distributors, the national comics distributor. One thing about making that Art Director money meant having the means to pay for such a print. I found a local printer, China Times Press, who specialized in newspapers and printing for the local Asian communities. But it was only a matter of showing them samples of comic books so they could quote me a price.
And so with a few extras features and all new covers, and an $1800 printing bill, I reprinted the first Muerto story in a new package, KING SIZE EL MUERTO #1. The book was also accepted and carried by Diamond Distributors, which meant comic shops across the land carried it. The orders for that book weren't over 1000, but it was a big deal for me back then. Here's the cover, and the back cover which featured a painting from my friend & fellow cartoonist Rhode Montijo, as well as a few interior pages:
And because I wanted to hit the national comics scene with the full brass band, I gathered up a nice selection of guest pinups from a variety of cartoonists, including this delightful one by Carlos Saldaña:
With this new package, I spent the later half of 2002 once again making the rounds, hitting the convention circuit, finding new places to sell to, new fans to make. And having quit my Art Director job over the summer, I was completely re-energized and ready to rock and roll!
At some point in late 2002 or early 2003, I took a part-time job at a local comic book shop run by my friend John Franco. It was a way to keep a little steady money coming in, but also proved to be an interesting look into another facet of the comics biz, the retail side. I really liked working there, as it was a pretty low-key job but I was surrounded by comics and was able to chat with comic fans. Eventually though, I got a more stable job. Interesting enough, it was another stint as a production artist for a local screenprinting company, but this time I would stick to the relatively sedate position and avoid any management role! I wanted to put in my 40 hours a week, punch out at the time clock and not worry about overtime or weekends or fighting with the higher ups.
The next issue of El Muerto turned out to be an anthology featuring a new chapter in the story of our hero Diego, reprints of my auto-biographic comic DOS MIL and the first Manga Muerto story, and also a fun little 2 page featuring martians. The title for this one was obvious (to me, at least!). The back cover featured a painting by another friend and fellow cartoonist of mine, Ted Seko. Pinups included work by AXE COP co-creator Ethan Nicolle (bottom image in this group). From 2004, I present to you:
Like the KING SIZE special, EL MUERTO MISH MASH was also printed by China Times Press. Another 3000 copies, another $1800. Only this time, it wasn't carried by Diamond. Their form letter had two categories checked off on their decision to not carry this book. One was that there was too much time between the publication of each issue. The other was that the artwork was not up to their standards. Okay, I can't argue the time lag between issues. It is what it is. The art issue? Well, it was drawn by the same guy who did the first book that you guys carried...
Anyway, I didn't bother to plead my case to Diamond. I took the letter, placed it back inside the envelope and slipped it in a drawer. I told myself right there and then: Let's see how much of a setback this is. Let's see if I continue, move forward, and don't quit because the sole distributor in the industry doesn't carry me. Let's save this little piece of paper they sent me.That was back in 2004...
Tomorrow, more Muerto comics, more twists and turns!
El Muerto and all related characters ™ & © Javier Hernandez 1998-2015
2 quick days at Comic Con, that's all I did. Got there Thursday morning, left by Friday afternoon. But what a packed 2 days it was!
I wasn't exhibiting this year, but I wanted to check out the show. Well, actually, I just wanted to visit some friends I don't see very often. The first time I attended Comic Con was back in 1992! And the first time I exhibited at Comic Con was in 1998, the first year I started publishing my comic book, EL MUERTO. Since then, I've probably attended the Con about 6 or 7 times as an exhibitor, and the other years as an attendee, if even for just a few days. There's something about that place that draws me there. Could be the chance of finding some good books, either old comics or new ones I haven't discovered yet. This year was for meeting up with friends though....
My good friend Michael Aushenker!
I've shared plenty of tables with him at past conventions, and it's always a riot hanging out with Mikey. We met about 12 years ago, and it's been great to see both of us grow old together as cartoonists. Michael demanded me to get back into the 'game' next year and return to San Diego as an exhibitor. That's my plan, for sure! Michael's latest books are his new CARTOON FLOPHOUSE featuring GREENBLATT THE GREAT, and his except-for-the-last-10-pages kid's comic, SILLY GOOSE!
Another pair of friends who've been sharing a booth at Comic Con for some years now are James Baker and Rhode Montijo. James is a cartoonist who works primarily in animation, with Pixar's UP being his latest film. I usually also see Jamie every year at APE in San Francisco. He and Rhode for the last couple of years have been dressing up their booths, and themselves, with a theme. This year's was the most ambitious one of all!
Comic Bot! Robot from the future!
Apparently, in the future, robots will make the comics, all one has to do is type in the kind of comics you like and viola...There you go!
I could not believe this enormous robot-thing they built! It's so beautifully chintzy! People were really digging it. Man, these two artistes really raise the bar as far as dressing up their booths...without a major publisher or big-wig movie studio bankrolling em.
Rhode of course is an equally prolific artist. His Xeric Award-winning comic PABLO'S INFERNO was his first entry into DIY comics. Afterwards, he would co-create the wildly successful HAPPY TREE FRIENDS cartoon. Following his dreams, he would eventually work in children's book industry, illustrating the popular MELVIN BEEDERMAN chapter books as well as getting his own illustrated picture book, CLOUD BOY, published by Simon & Shuster!
I not only get inspired by this man's creativity, but he's been so supportive and encouraging of everything I've done as an artist since we first met back in 1997. And even if neither of us were artists, he'd still be one of my closest friends on account of his extremely good nature and positive spirit.
Met up with several other friends and creators, but I didn't take the time to shoot any pics. Sometimes, sometimes I try not to turn every instance into a blog-worthy moment, believe it or not! I did run into this gentleman:
I was never into Transformers myself, but I liked this costume. It wasn't so perfect that it looked like it was bought by a licensed manufacturer, but it also took some effort to create. I can appreciate that type of creativity and fan enthusiasm. So many times you read about people making fun of folks in costumes (and yeah, sometimes they look terrible!) but I think this type of fandom is an important part of this whole wide comics biz. I'll tell you for a fact that when I once saw someone dressed up like my character EL MUERTO for Halloween I was jazzed.
There was of course the requisite dinner in Old Town San Diego on Thursday night at a secret Mexican restaurant I go to at least once every year for Con. The strawberry margaritas are part of the ritual, as is the filling up of the outdoor patio with all sorts of great cartoonists. This year, and I'm sorry I didn't take any photos, the list included Hector Cantu, the co-creator/writer of the BALDO newspaper strip, Richard Dominguez, the creator of the comic book EL GATO NEGRO (and one of my early influences to publish my own comic book), Jason Martin, creator of SUPER REAL whose turned out to be a real good friend since we sat exhibited next door to each other at Con 4 years ago, Rhode Montijo, James Baker, Sam Hiti of the Xeric Award winning TIEMPOS FINALES (which is currently under development as a film), and several other artist I met for the first time during dinner. Quite the talented bunch of creators!
Here's a pic of Jason Martin, one the very far left in the black t-shirt, with me and Mort Todd in the foreground:
I hung out with Mort for most of the two days I was there. In fact, I picked him up from the airport Thursday morning as I got into town. I met Mort a few years ago and we've worked together on several projects. He actually hosted the first EL MUERTO film panel we had, back during Comic Con 2005. Mort moderated the panel with me, producer Larry Rattner, stars Tony Plana, Joel David Moore and Wilmer Valderrama. Mort also worked with me on the mini-comic that was included with the DVD release of EL MUERTO, me handling the script and layouts, and Mort providing the finished art, inking and grey tones. He's also contributed a spectacular pin-up to my upcoming MANGA MUERTO comic book.
Mort came to the Con to screen a documentary on SADISTIK, a 1960s European photo novel/film property that he's acquired the rights to. Unfortunately, I missed the screening as I was gone before Saturday's showing, but it was great to catch up with this amazingly prolific and talented artist. Mort, in his early 20s, was the Editor-in-Chief of CRACKED Magazine, then in the 90s he worked for Marvel and launched several reprint comics using Marvel's vast library of 1950s/60s monster/horror comics. He's worked with Dan Clowes, Steve Ditko, John Severin, Gene Colan, John K, and many other legendary artists. He's published his own monster magazines, numerous books and comics, and is currently working on animation for PLAYBOY and other projects. He's always been a real stand-up type of guy and a total professional. In this biz you meet so many people who 'befriend' you then flake out in a spectacular fashion, but Mort has always been the Real Deal.
With all this excitement at Con this year, it's no wonder I didn't miss exhibiting! But, like I told Michael Aushenker, I do indeed wanna get back 'in the game' next year.
For a brief audio report, check out this episode of the ART & STORY EXTREME podcast, hosted by some friends of mine, cartoonists Jerzy Drozd and Mark Rudolph. They interviewed me Saturday and I was glad to share some Con stories with them, including the Golden Age panel I was lucky enough to attend.
