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!
My premiere podcast for PLANET COMIC BOOK RADIO went off with flying colors! The show went live this past tuesday, Nov. 20 at 5 pm Pacific Time and is now available at PerspectiveRadio.Com Just click the link with the PCBR logo and you can listen to my inaugural interview with Jason Martin, a Portland, Oregon area artist whose self-published book, SUPER REAL, is a fun romp through the world of reality TV via a superhero group book.
Jason and I have been good friends since we met a few years ago at Comic Con San Diego, and he's a very savy individual who's worked hard on his comic book, so I thought he would be a great guest to debut the show with. And judging by how fast our 45 minutes whizzed by, I'd say he was a great choice! Thanks Jason!
Jason also contributed a very stylish pin-up to the Galeria Del Muerto gallery on the EL MUERTO/THE DEAD ONE DVD! Here it is:
The show runs an hour, so for the first 15 minutes I pretty much just introduced myself to my audience. Comic creator, filmmaker, and now radio host! To think all this happened because I got off my butt and created my own comic years ago. Is a radio show a natural progression from making comics? Maybe not. But radio, like comics, and film, is an outlet for expression. The EL MUERTO film came about because of a one-in-a-million shot (or series of shots). But I was ready to move on it. Same with this radio show. Check my previous post here to see how this radio show came about
So before the show, Renato Aguirre, one of the show's producers (me being the other!) and I were running a quick tutorial on running the board. This is a small, independent, DYI outfit, so you, as the host, pretty much have the controls to everything. Pressing the all-mighty BROADCAST button and controlling the songs and station I.D. tags! Everthing. Renato had given me a rundown last week, but it never hurts to 'make sure'! So the next thing I know it's 3 minutes to 5 pm! We pop on a song to lead into the show, then I have to hit the station I.D. blurb, followed by what I hope becomes my theme song, DAZE OF THE DEAD by Richard Odie and Johhny Franco.
FYI: Franco is an old friend of mine from way back. In fact, in 1983/84, while I was in High School, he opened up the first comic book shop in Whittier. Years later when I published my first EL MUERTO comic in zine form, he wrote a song inspired by the title of the origin story, DAZE OF THE DEAD! We ended up releasing it as a CD single limited to 102 signed and numbered copies. Playing it as the opening theme for my new radio show just seemed like a great place to reintroduce it to the public.
As DAZE OF THE DEAD is playing, we place the call to Jason and SHAZAM, we have Jason on the air soon as the song ends. Smooth.... Well, okay, I think in my opening, I may have stumbled over a word or two, but considering this is podcast live, I think I did okay. Once I got into the interview with Jason, I felt completely at ease. Granted, he's a friend of mine, but talking to another person about comics is not something that I have to force myself to do! Next thing I know, I'm getting the signal from Renato that we have only 8 minutes left. I was genuinely surprised that the time went so quick. I found a good spot to wrap up the interview then signed off by playing another song, "SENOR HERNANDEZ: WAY OF THE COMICS LONER" by Dr. T and The Sea Lions with Rabies! That piece was recently written by a friend of mine who's been a member of my El Muerto Message Board for a couple of years. I think it's a great little song and if you listen to the lyrics, a little too close to the mark!
All in all, a very successful launch. The folks at PerspectiveRadio.Com were very happy with it, Jason was a great guest, and I really had a great time. Very much looking forward to continuing with more guests and more shows.
On Friday night at 6pm, we'll be screening EL MUERTO, followed by a Q&A with me. On Sunday I'll be on a panel 'Latinos in Comics' with comic strip creators David Alvarez YENNY and Hector Cantu & Carlos Castellanos BALDO, and comic book creator Richard Dominguez EL GATO NEGRO
This is actually my first out-of-state show so it will be real exciting to get out there and see all the Tejano comic book fans! Stop by my Artist Alley table #2320 ( I should be there when I'm not on the exhibit floor looking for cool comics or hitting up artists to be guest on my new radio show!)
Here's a link to Wizard's website with downloadble PDF's of event schedules and such.
If you attend, please stop by and say hello. I'll have copies of the DVD for sale!
Javier
The interview I did last week on CinNews is now archived and available for listening here. The show's host, Scott Essman, is a filmmaker himself. And like myself, a fan of comic book movies. We spent most of the show talking about our favorite, or least favorite, superhero movies! And we both agreed that Rocketeer
is a way better film that it's given credit for!
We did of course talk about my own comic book film, EL MUERTO. And I took advantage of the time to announce my own radio show on Perspective Radio.Com, PLANET COMIC BOOK RADIO! It was cool being in studio with Scott for that interview, because in a few more weeks (Tuesday, November 20, 5pm), I'll be sitting in the host's chair talking to my own guest. I'll announce the name of my guest later this week.....
In the meantime, if you want to hear some geek filled talk about comic book movies, tune in to my interview.
Me and Wilmer Valderrama after filming my cameo in EL MUERTO. In the heart of East Los Angeles at Evergreen Memorial Park.
Steve Ditko, the co-creator of Spider-Man and artist of true visionary status, turned 80 today. A very Happy Birthday wish to Mr. Ditko.
To celebrate his birthday, I watched my SPIDER-MAN 3 DVD I picked up this past tuesday. When Stan Lee and Ditko created Spidey back in '62, no one was even remotely thinking that one day they would have laid down the foundation for a billion dollar film franchise decades later!
This has been a big year for the Ditko fans. Marvel has released several hardcover collections including the 1000+ page SPIDER-MAN OMNIBUS and the AMAZING FANTASY OMNIBUS that reprints tons of Ditko pre-Spider-Man sci-fi/monster stories he did with Stan Lee. And of course, the BBC http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifdocumentary IN SEARCH OF STEVE DITKO was all the rage when it hit the internet a few months ago (it's been put up and taken down numerous times on YouTube....and it's currently down again!).
The big new today is that Fantagraphics officially announced it will be publishing Blake Bell's long-awaited Ditko retrospective next June. This is the book that many of us are looking forward to. A career spanning, critical survey of one of the industry's premiere creators.
As an 8 year old discovering the love of comics, I was always intrigued by the uniqueness of Ditko art. And even now, decades later, I admire the man as much as an artist and as a person who stands his own ground and follows his own instincts. Here's a blog entry I wrote last year about a letter I once received from Ditko.
Again, a very Happy 80th Birthday wish to Mr. Ditko.
No tricks here folks, just another lucky treat thrown my way. I'll be hosting my very own radio show on Perspective Radio.Com:
Perspective Radio.Com is based here in the LA area. I met the folks who run the station last year at a local arts festival and ran into them again at this year's event. I updated them on the release of the EL MUERTO DVD and they suggested that I appear on one of their other shows, CinNews, to talk about my movie experience. (That interview was conducted last night, by the way).
But as I was talking to Renato from Perspective Radio that day at the art fair, he mentioned that they were looking to add another program to their line-up. A 'geek culture'-type of show. Sci-Fi/ movie/TV and ...comics. As we talked of the type of program it would be, he suggested that I maybe could co-host the segments on comics. Since we were speaking at an art fair that day, I would occasionally head back to watch my own table. Throughout the day I'd go back to the Perspective Radio booth and chat some more with Renato. I would start telling him about my nearly 10 years experience in comics. The trials and tribulations of self-publishing, the many travels to conventions and signings, the whole Muerto movie experience. I told him about all the artists and creators I had met in the last 10 years, and on and on.
He looked at me and said' "You should host your own show!". To which I could only agree! Seriously, that's pretty much how it happened. The next day I emailed Renato and started to outline my idea for how the show would be set up. I was even brazen enough to suggest that we drop the co-hosting idea for the other show and let me be sole host of my own show! Overnight I gave a lot of thought to hosting my own comic book radio show. Outside of the time commitment, I could never come up with any reasons not to do it. I thought about why I went ahead and accepted the movie deal. To bring my idea to wider audience. A radio show about the subject of comics is very different from a film adaptation of my comic book. But the point is, it's another platform form where to communicate ideas to another audience, in this case, my great love for the comics medium.
Opportunities like this are supposed to come once in great while. But here it was less than a month after the El Muerto DVD gets released and I have the chance to host my own radio show! The show will give me the stage to talk about the kinds of comics I like, and the various issues and people in the field that I think should be heard. I'll be focusing quite a bit on self-published comicss, with an emphasis on the artists. But there are so many other things to talk about as well. One thing I won't be spending too much time on, if any, are the Big Two publishers. I mean, they have more that enough mouthpieces, ah... I mean, outlets where their comics are talked about! Course, the thing about the Big Two is that they have had some great creators and comics in their pasts. So looking back at the comics I grew up with will certainly fill some programming.
And to be honest, as a kid I always thought Wolfman Jack, the legenday radio personality, was a very cool dude with a really cool job. Sitting in a room talking to people over the radio.
And even when I saw the Clint Eastwood movie, PLAY MISTY FOR ME, I thought that Clint's character had a great job: hosting a jazz show from the top of a lighthouse, in the middle of the night. Well, everything except the crazy stalker girlfriend he met!
This will be a pretty self-indulgent show, when you think about it. It'll be about the things I want to talk about! But it'll be my responsibility to Perspective Radio.Com and the audience to make the show interesting and entertaining. Shouldn't be too hard, considering I'm talking about comics!
Stay tuned here for info on my first guest and more about PLANET COMIC BOOK RADIO!
Yeesh, it's been a few weeks since I posted here! Well, I've been working on some stuff behind-the-scenes, and in fact I will be using my upcoming radio appearance to announce just what exatly my newest project will be.
Tuesday, October 30, at 4pm, I'll be interviewed live on PerspectiveRadio.Com's CinNews show. Hosted by writer/producer/director Scott Essman, CinNews covers all aspects of the movie business. His previous two interviews have included Rob Zombie and filmmaker Frank Darabont (The Green Mile & The Shawshank Redemption). I'll be talking to Scott about making the EL MUERTO movie and, as I mentioned, I'll announce my latest project!
Saturday, Oct. 6, I made a whirlwind trip to the SiliCon convention in San Jose. Lemme tell ya, them one day turn-a-round flights are a killer!
San Jose, for those unfamiliar with Muerto folklore, is the city where EL MUERTO was debuted as a comic book back in 1998...last century, or millenium, if anyone's counting! I was invited to show the film and also attend a comics-to-film panel, so I was arranged to to it all in one day, as that worked best for my schedule.
My flight from LAX was scheduled to leave at 7:45am, and unfortunately I arrived at the airport at about 7:30! I rushed to the ticket booth to get my boarding pass as was told by the nice lady that it was too late to board. I panicked, of course, and tried this line on her: "Um, Miss...I'm scheduled to make an 11:30am appearance at a show in San Jose. Is there anyway I can make that flight?!". So, probably not even concerned with my reason, she dialed the checkpoint upstairs, then told me, "Okay, go up that escalator". So I rushed and then told the security guy running the screening process "Ah, they called from downstairs. My flight leaves in a few minutes..", I tell the guy, even as he's looking at me like he'd rather bounce me down the escalator!. I misunderstand what he says and proceed to the back of the line, which is about 100 or so people long. I hear a very loud, angry yell, "SIR..SIR!!!". It appears that I wasn't supposed to get in the back of the line but actually get to proceed ahead of everyone. It was really nerve-wracking hearing a guard yell in an airport. Everyone looked at me for a second as if I was a Mad Bomber or something!
So I go through the security screening, then scramble down the hall, pulling my jacket and shoes back on as I frantically try to make my gate. Of course, the plane had left.
I felt like a limp noodle. "Ah crap.... Damn...%&$#* *$#&^(%^ _@#$@&$%^ !!!!!" You get the idea. I walk to a United Airlines customer service booth and ask for the next flight. 12:30. And the screening is scheduled at 11:30. More language follows that would embarass a drill sergeant. Okay, better call Chris Knight, my liason at the convention.
"Hey Javier, how's it going?" he asks. "Um, not good.............I missed my flight." Gulp. And worse, I had the copy of the DVD on me! No me, no screening! But I tell Chris to get someone over to Blockbuster ASAP and rent the damn thing, I'll pay! Eventually we suggests that I look at another airline, and lo and behold, another filght is available in about an hour. That means I make the screening and can grab myself a couple of sausage biscuits at McDonald's!
So I board the flight a much nicer, happier Jav. Flying into the city of San Jose, I can't help but think of the time I went there, back in 1998. I drove up with a friend, my boxes of b&w photocopied EL MUERTO comics ready to debut to the world (or at least the attendees to that year's Alternative Press Expo). Now I was flying into the same city, with a copy of the Muerto movie in my carry-on bag! Pretty flippin' cool, I thought to myself.
I get picked up at the airport by Chris and get shuttled to the San Jose DoubleTree, where the con is being held. Because I had just arrived, I wanted a little time to decompress, so I handed the tech guys the DVD and told them I'd be back in an hour and a half for the Q&A. As I wandered around the exhibitors area, I ran into a couple of LA-area comic creators and caught up with them. I also ran into Lee Hester, a local San Jose comics retailer who I had met years ago through my pal Rafael Navarro. Lee's Comics is one of the area's movers and shakers, and Lee himself is a very entertaining, dapper gent. Some years ago he and I walked across the floor of the San Deigo Comic Con singing James Bond Theme Songs! And all the time I was dressed up as Rafael's character, SONAMBULO!! (That was in my pre-El Muerto Creator days, when I could take the time to spokesmodel as my friend's creations!) How's that for a nugget of Jav-Lore?
So Lee and I catch up with one another, and I tell him that my film is screening next door. Lee then tells his employee to watch the booth as me and Mr. Hester head on over to catch EL MUERTO! I wasn't planning on watching the film again, but as usual I sat down and enjoyed it. Each time I seem to focus on another aspect of the story or on a particular character. This time I was transfixed on the lovely Angie Cepeda.... and her character Maria. Not a bad sight to fixate on, believe me.
After the screening, I had about a half hour break until the Comics-to-Film panel I was scheduled for. I relaxed a bit then soon found myself sharing a table with a couple of other comics writers and a the cast/crew of a fan film called THE CROW: PURGATORY 2. These folks apparantly have recieved some good reaction with their film, a sequel to their previous entry. Crow creator James O'Barr is said to have given his support to their film, which is cool. I'd love to see an EL MUERTO fan film, to be honest! Afterwards, I asked the Crow team if I could take a photo with them. I told them that I too often hear knee-jerk reactions that the Muerto comic, and film, are Crow 'wannabees'. That would be because Muerto's got a white skull face and wear's black, and has come back from the dead. But like I told the Crow film folks, all the guys who come back from the dead go for the b&w look: Beetlejuice, Jack Skelington, The Crow, etc.! They laughed, and agreed, and so the creator of El Muerto and the filmakers behind the Crow fan film took this picture in Dead Guy solidarity.
As I was only there at the con for a day, I didn't bring any product to set up. I walked the various exhibits and isles of the convention and did manage to come across R2D2 signing at a table!
I also ran into this gentlemen, who was toting around Rascal, the self-proclaimed Ugliest Dog in the World. Hmm....
I had told a friend of mine, Miguel,that I would be in San Jose that day. We met up at the convention later in the day and left for dinner, as I had about an hour and a half til my flight. Miguel took me to a great little Mexican restaurant not far from the hotel. We indulged in tacos, enchiladas, and strawberry margaritas (well, I did...). He brought a copy of the Muerto DVD he had purchased, and he told me how much he enjoyed the film. I signed his copy, and in fact that's been the first DVD I've signed! That felt like a full circle. Signing a copy of the DVD almost 10 years later after signing the first Muerto comics in San Jose all that time ago......
I made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. In fact, the place was fairly empty, least by LAX standards. Kinda spooky, but at the same time a welcome relief from the whirlwind day I had experienced. In a way it's been whirlwind decade of EL Muerto. For the next 45 minutes or so I was able to enjoy the downtime. Then I was on a nightflight back to LA.
And another 10 years of EL Muerto. And more Life in general.
In what has to be a great bit of karma, EL MUERTO will be screening in San Jose, the very city I first debuted the EL Muerto comic book back in February 1998!
SILICON will be held from friday, October 5-7 and is being held at The San Jose DoubleTree Hotel, 2050 Gateway Place,
San Jose, California 95110. A multi-media event showcasing comic books/horror/sci-fi and lots of other cool things, SiliCon will be screening EL MUERTO on saturday, October 6 at 11:30am. I'll be hosting a Q&A following the film, and will also be on a Comics-to-Film panel that day. You can check the convention schedule for more info here. I understand that as of this writing, the panel is going to be moved to later that afternoon, as it currently runs the same time as the film screening!
I'll only be there on saturday, but I'm very much looking forward to showing the film. And like I said, I really dig how this is a sort of homecoming for me and El Muerto as that is where we both started our century-crossing, decade-long magical mystery tour in the unpredicatble, exciting and rewarding career in indie comics and film!
I'll report back here on how the convention went.
SciFiTalk.com has now put up their podcast interview with Brian Cox.
And my interview was put up earlier in the week here.
About an hour north of Los Angeles lies Oxnard, and this year they hosted their 10th Annual Independent Film Festival. EL MUERTO was chosen (um, no pun intended for those who've seen the film!) as the opening night film and it was my honor to attend the screening. They even had a red carpet leading into the theatre!
Also attending the festival was my friend Martin Espino, who worked on the film as well. Here he's being interviewed outside the theatre by some local press. (Martin's the gent wearing the suave hat)
Martin worked with our composer Tony Humeke and director Brian Cox on the film's unique pre-Columbian sounds. Martin handcrafs his own instruments, just as they were created by the ancient Mexicans hundreds of years ago. And he's also fluent in the Aztec toungue, Nahuatl. The various chants you hear in the film come from Martin, as well as a jaguar growl or two! He's a wonderful artist, an inspiring person, and most important that night, a heck of a lot of fun to be around.
One great thing about attending the festivals is actually meeting fans of the movie. One such fan was this wonderful lady, Terry, who drove out from a neighboring city to catch the movie. Martin took this picture, and for good luck made sure to include the cash machine in the shot! Hmmmm..... Hope the gods were watching!
The screening was held in the theatre where DRAGON WARS was playing, so for the 7 o'clock showing at least, El Muerto slew the dragons! There was a full audience when I entered the theatre, represented by a good cross section of people. Men and women, old and young. Earlier, I had seem some younger kids outside checking out the poster, and was glad to see them inside awaiting the movie.
Originally I had told Martin that we should stick around for the opening, then maybe we could dart out and grab some margaritas, returing back in time for the Q&A. However, Martin and I were having such a great time sharing our individual commentary with one another during certain scenes that we ended up staying for the whole movie! Just as well, because I really enjoy hearing the audiences reactions to the film. And sometimes I get so wrapped up in how beautifully the film was made I just want to see the whole thing through.
Afterwards was very enjoyable as well. Most of the people who watched the film stayed for the Q&A. The usual questions such as my inspiration for the comic were asked, but people were also keen on the story elements in the film and the use of symbolism evident in the picture. This crowd, largley Latino, really responded to the film in ways that only they can. It was obvious to me that these folks were very much into the mythology as well as the culture El Muerto came from. Their support of the film only reinforced what I've believed all along in the character and the story. Sure, you want to appeal to the mainstream, at least as far as a commercial enterprise like a film is concerned, but there will always be certain groups that will be the core support for whatever your endeavor might be.
Following the Q&A we all headed up the block for a real nice after-party held in a restaurant. When I got there, one of the organizers announced me and to my surprise there was a real nice round of applause from the seated guests! It's moments like this that can't be measured with any amount of ticket or DVD sales.
Another moment that's hard to put a price on is feeling like a movie star surrounded by pretty ladies like these!
Before I had arrived at the restaurant, I had called my girlfriend to let her know how things were progressing. One of the last thing she told me was "Well, go enjoy yourself and have fun signing b**b**s!" To which I responded "Aw, c'mon sweetie, ya know I wouldn't do that!". However, I was asked by one of the gals to sign her T-Shirt, so I figured I better do my part as Associate Producer of the film and oblige!
The another lovely Latina asked me to sign her festival badge. Much obliged. Looking at this pic, I think we could have both used a cigarette afterwards! (and I don't even smoke!!)
Next thing I know, they all want their badges signed. I love the movie biz!
The food was very good, served buffet style. And it was nice to be able to chat with the audience members on a more personal basis. I was even introduced to one of the local Councilmen when he stopped by to visit the party. At one point, trying to give a photographer from the local paper a good photo op, I started drawing on the table top (don't worry, that's a paper table mat!).
Julio Alcala, who works as one of the festival programmers is an amicable guy. Very accomodating to his guest, and engaging to talk to about the independent film biz, as well at the Chicano arts scene. Here's a shot of he and I, and a friendly guest, kicking back at the bar.
This young man, Graciel, said he was really moved by the film. I stopped by his table and we discussed some more of his questions about the film and Mexican culture in general. He was very proud of his Mayan roots and was happy with this drawing I made for him (from another one of the table coverings!).
The gentleman in the pink shirt is originally from Mexico and he was very keen on the Aztec prophesies and themes of sacrifice portrayed in the film. He said he was grateful to see Aztec mythology portrayed in a film. I had a few comics on me so I made sure he got a signed copy.
I was asked to do another interview at the restaurant, for which I was more than happy to do. Veronica, the delightful young reporter from a local college television show, was a little nervous as she said this was her first time. Resisting the obivous joke, I told her that we would do just fine. "I'm an old pro at this," I reasurred her, hoping it would turn out to be the case! She did fine though. I'd sure like to see a lot more of her on TV!
The staff of the Oxnard Independent Film Festival put on a wonderful event, and I made sure to let them know. They themselves started from humble roots 10 years ago (their first festival was held in someone's garage!) and now they were celebrating their 10th year. It's been about 10 years since I first published El Muerto so I guess it was some type of fate that brought us together to show EL MUERTO as the opening night film to this year's festival. When you're working in your chosen medium as an independent, wether it's film, music, comics or whatever, you've got every imaginable obstacle in your way. Sometimes you don't 'make it', but if you keep slugging away, against all the obstacles, critics, setbacks, maybe even your own insecurites, you just might make the mountaintop you were eyeing years ago.
Maybe someday you'll really get lucky and get rich while doing it! But the journey, as they say, has been an enriching experience for me since day one.
Whew! DVD released tuesday, the film started a theatrical run at a local arthouse theatre last friday...and tomorrow, Sept. 20, EL MUERTO will be the opening night film at the Oxnard Independent Film Festival!
I'll be hosting the now obligatory Q&A after the screening, which I learned by my second film festival always brings out new questions and comments each time. Oxnard lies about an hour or so north of Los Angeles, so it will be a new crowd for me to talk to. Info available at the festival website here.
And I was sent this pic from my producer. The local Latino paper up there has put El Muerto on their cover! I'll grab me a good stack of those tomorrow evening, for sure!
The media whirlwind continues!
Tony Tellado, the host of Sci-Fi Talk, interviewed me about self-publishing, creating El Muerto, the comic and the movie. Here's the link to the podcast. He also has an interview coming up tomorrow with Muerto screenwriter/director Brian Cox.
And remember...EL MUERTO (The Dead One) comes out on DVD tomorrow!!
Friday night was our opening night at the Laemmle Grand 4-Plex in Downtown Los Angeles! Finally a theatrical run! I've always dreamed we'd get an art-house release, so this run at the Laemmle fullfilled that one. Here's me inside the lobby:
We hosted a Q&A after the 7:20 screening. Screenwriter/director Brian Cox and I fielded questions and comments from the audience. It was great to share the spotlight with Brian, as he was previously neck deep in other productions during the other film festivals we've attended. Films are really the domain of the director, and in this case he also wrote the script. So for him to hear from and talk to the audience gave me a great deal of satifaction.
Afterwards we all posed for the obligatory pics in the lobby. Here's a trio of us from Whittier, the place I've called home for umpteen years. I'm flanked on the right by my old friend Tony Saxon. We met last century in college and for several years attended Comic Con together with other friends (until I had to get uppity and become a publisher/exhibitor!). The gentleman tp my left is Martin Espino, a musician who I met a couple of years ago at one of my signings in Whittier. Turns out that during post-production, my director was looking for someone who could sing in Nahuatl (the Aztec tounge) as well as perform the indigenous pre-Columbian music so prevelant in our film. I got Brian in touch with Martin and next thing you know, another Whittier artist gets involved in the Muerto movie! (Our head make-up artist, Mark Bautista, also hails from Whittier)
Keith Rainville also showed up. A friend of mine I've met several years ago, Keith is publisher of the fabled FROM PARTS UNKOWN, a zine that helped to spread the work about the world of masked Mexican culture called Lucha Libre. Kieth's publishing online now, and also has his hand in creating a major animated lucha libre cartoon called LOS CAMPEONES.
This nice group shot includes me, and starting on my left: Tony Humeke, our film composer who really enhanced the picture with his atmospheric score, director Brian Cox, Marin Espino, and film editor Chris Wright. Nice to see some of the filmmakers and thier families out enjoying the film on the big screen.
Without a doubt, the key creative person on this project was our writer and director, Brian Cox. The shear amount of determination and hard work to get the film made was, to me, astronomical. Regardless the size of the budget, any film involves so many elements. Not only on the creative/artistic side, but technical issues, logistical problems, marketing differences, money availability and the usual case of politics! His personal take on the story and the characters, while of course taken directly from my comic book, really won me over. I saw a story unfold that I would not have thought of to write myself, so I had the duel pleasure of having my comic adapted to film, but at the same time see an original story unflold before my eyes. So many people were involved in making our film: the Leones, our executive producers, for financing the project, our producer Larry Rattner for putting the deal and film together, all of our crew and cast. Everyone gets my gratitude and respect.
But I often tell people that there would not be an EL MUERTO film if I didn't feel that Brian was the right person to make the film. I signed the deal ulimately because I believed in his orginal vision for the film, his promise of collaboration with me, and mostly the honesty I felt in him to do right by the comic and me. All these elements I'm glad to report turned out to be true. Hollywood often gets a bad rap (and it's self-inflicted, of course) but Brian Cox turned out to be a real stand-up guy, an artist with unwavering passion, a man of integrity and, I'm glad to say, a good friend.
Next up for us is the DVD release this tuesday, Sept. 18. And on thurday, I'll be at the Oxnard Independent Film Festival introducing the opening night film, EL MUERTO! In the meantime, it's about noon on sunday, and I'm taking my girlfriend to see a movie in Downtown Los Angeles. It's called EL MUERTO.
Taking my girl to see my movie. No having to dress up, no Q&A afterwards, no having to put on my filmmaker face. Just gonna buy us a pair of tickets, get us some popcorn and soda pop, watch the movie and catch lunch in Little Tokyo after.
Best date ever.
EL MUERTO will start an exclusive engagement this friday, Sept. 14 in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Grand 4-Plex! Following the friday 7:20 pm screening, writer/director Brian Cox and myself will be hosting a Q&A with the audience.
The film will be playing all week, so anyone can catch it at all times. Here are the official times:
Fri: 5:10, 7:20 & 9:55
Sat & Sun: 1:00, 3:00, 5:10, 7:20 & 9:55
Mon-Thu: 5:10, 7:20
And the address:
Laemmle's Grande 4-plex
345 S. Figueroa St.
Downtown Los Angeles, 90071
213-617-0268
Theatre website here
I look forward to presenting the film with it's actual theatrical run. But I also look forward to returning for another viewing over the weekend incognito, complete with popcorn and tank of soda! Wouldn't do to have a Q&A or a press conference at a festival screening with popcorn in my teeth. When I watch it again on sunday with a friend of mine, I will definitely be off the clock!
Here's a cool comic I discovered only a few months ago (my girlfriend lent me her copy and I fell in love with the book instantly!). I wrote the creator, Blair Kitchen, and ordered my own copy of issue #1 and his more recent #2. And here's what I think about THE POSSUM...
This is a great book! The hero, a teenage comic book geek/comic book creator by the name of Stuart Spankly (hmmm...who says they don't make comics I can't relate to anymore...Um...except the teenage part!!) gains zombie powers through a foolish mishap and becomes The Possum! Actually, 'the Possum' is the name of Stuart's comic book character, and in fact dresses up as his own character at comic cons as he tries selling his book! Hats off to Blair for coming up with such a great idea.
Stuart is a good-hearted kid, just not the most athletic hero around! Blair's artwork and writing are perfectly in tune with the story he wants to tell. His animation background definitely comes into play with the manic action and expressiveness he evokes in his drawings. A humor book that actually delivers on the humor. Tons of great visual gags abound in both issues. The first book, at a whopping 72 pages, covers the origin of the Possum, while the second book features a battle royal with a team of masked, midget Mexican wrestlers, Los 7 Deadly Dwarfs! Issue #2 even has a car chase that lasts for about 18 pages...out of a 23 pg. book! Not since a late 1960s Gene Colan drawn issue of DAREDEVIL have I seen a car chase that exciting!
If you read his blog, you'll discover that Blair is a very hardworking publisher as well. He's got quite a lot of comic book conventions under his utility belt (in fact he travelled from Toronto, Canada to the APE in San Francisco this past year...and I missed him!!). He's generous about creating for the fans free Possum sketches. That's a great guy, and a nice way to build a rapport with the fans. As a publisher myself, I always appreciate seeing how others conduct themselves with the public. Sometimes I even steal some of their tricks!
I hope Blair continues to create more Possum comics, as his love for his comic is very evident. THE POSSUM is a professionally crafted book, with a refreshing good-natured sense of fun. In a perfect world, independent artists who love creating their comics would never have to worry about making ends meet. But, an imperfect world filled with creative, energetic cartoonist doing what they do for the shear love of their art ain't a bad world to live in. Do all of us a favor and order your own copies!
Oh yeah, and along with my comics, I recieved this little gem from Blair. Very cool, no?!
Thanks Blair!
