Juda Fist Finally!!!

Hey guys, I just wanted to take the time to let you know I am finally working on Juda Fist: 7 Deaths of the Yobi Issue 1. Here is a sneak peak at some of he layouts and sketches so far.

Stay tuned as I talk more about my process!

Better Pontiac Comic Book Workshop

For the last few years I have been teaching comic book illustration and writing under the auspices of the Metro Detroit artists group Detroit Trade Craft. I trained many artists under that group who have gone on to do some outstanding work. However it was decided that Detroit Tradecraft wasn't in the business of training any longer, so I had a dilemma...

If I wanted to keep training artists I would need some support. It just so happens that my long-time buddies Sean Kammer and Chris Gratten had started a not-for-profit organization dedicated to making my hometown of Pontiac, Michigan a better place. So ultimately I thought maybe I could do some things together with their non profit Better Pontiac. So I took the workshop to them to help me facilitate.

It has worked out wonderfully so far. Last year's class put out an anthology comic showcasing the writing and drawing skills of the group. This year our goal is to do the same. I teach a Wednesday night workshop at our local university. I teach 3 Saturday classes (1 in Pontiac, 1 in Downtown Detroit and a late night Skype Class). I have met some outstanding people teaching this class and many of the students self-publish.

Sean, his wife Megan, and Chris, along with our liaison and fellow board member Alexa are outstanding people. Their belief in the program makes me want to work even harder to produce an outstanding crop of creators.

For More Information go to
https://www.facebook.com/pontiaccomics/

The Honeycomb Hideout Episode 29: ACTUAL Shapes and Sizes!

Alright, 'Combies! After a bit of a hiatus and a lot of kitbashing, we're back to discuss yet another controversial topic: the female anatomy and how it's conveyed in the media! But to cover our bases, we actually have a woman on the show to help rein us in a bit (if that's possible). Artist Katie Hodges joins Joe, Mark and Nik in the Hideout to talk about this very controversial and yet extremely important issue in regards to art and media. So come on down and see where this particular rabbit hole leads!

Download this episode (right click and save)

And for those playing the home game, to follow along with the discussion, here are the relevant articles in the order they are discussed:
Huffington Post article
Empowerment vs Objectication comic strip
Milo Manara Spider-Woman variant cover
Catwoman #0 cover

As for the later pictographic descent into madness, here are those links...
First
Second
Third
Fourth
Fifth
Sixth
Seventh

The Honeycomb Hideout Episode 28: Social Justice WTF?!

Check it out, 'Combies! Your boys in the 'Hideout are back again with another engrossing societal cross-section. Joined by our 'Combie Tess, Mark and Joe examine numerous controversies in geek and national news, ranging from the Indiana Religious Freedom Act to the infamous variant cover outrage that has gripped the geek and artistic communities. We're digging deep on this one and getting real on these topics tonight. So kick back and listen while we get to the meet of not only issues involved but the consequences of these issues, as well as what lead to their prominence.

Download this episode (right click and save)

Don't forget that our comic anthology, "Imaginos Plus" is still available here!

And Imaginos Workshop will be at Comic City's Pontiac store this saturday the 18th from noon to 4. We'll be signing comics and answering questions. So come on out and hang with us!   :)

The Honeycomb Hideout Episode 27: The Spoils of Geekdom

The time to return is here again, 'Combies! This time, host Joe Cain is joined again by Ben Rodriguez as the two rattle off and on about a menagerie of topics. From the interesting pickin's at the theater (Spoilerific reviews of "Jupiter Ascending" and "Kingsman: The Secret Service, you have been warned) to revisitations, adaptations and flatout reboots abound to some Ben's most recent reads to net neutrality. Also, prepare for loads and loads of geektastic topic dissection, but then that might go without saying. It's a veritable rabbit hole of nerdity, so sit back and see if you can keep up!


Download this episode (right click and save)

Imaginos Plus: On Sale Now!

It's been a long road, folks (and it's still going by the way) but our totally original comic book "Imaginos Plus" is now officially FOR SALE. Our wonderful Kickstarter backers have been able to download their free copy for a couple weeks now, but now everyone can get in on the fun. All you need to do is head over to DriveThruComics and purchase our inaugural issue for an easy $0.99. 

We would again like to thank all the friends, family, funders and peers that have helped us get this off the ground. But this is just the beginning! We have big plans to keep this going in bigger and better ways. As always, sharing this with your geeky friends will do a HUGE part in keeping this ball rolling! We hope you enjoy the book.

'Imaginos Plus' is LIVE!

This is it, folks. Our first totally original comic book is DONE, and our faithful Kickstarter funders can download a free digital copy right now. If you're not a Kickstarter backer, don't worry: the book will be available to buy and download within the next week.

 If you've been following along at home you know the book includes three totally original comic properties: REQUIEM, CANDY COATED & JUDA FIST: 7 DEATHS OF THE YOBI. The book also includes an introduction to RIFTS®: THE ADVENTURES OF YOUNG ERIN TARN, an imaginative story based on the character from Kevin Siembieda's Palladium Books® and the Rifts "Megaverse."

Though the book itself is now done, we have plenty of work to do now, which includes submitting the book to comic publishers and printing physical copies of the book. Soon the book will be available to buy and download in digital form, as well as the physical comic book shops. 

You will need a comic book reader in order to open and read the file on your computer, and we've included a link to Comical Cross-Platform CBR/CBZ comic reader in the update. It is a quick and free download. If you don't already have comic reading software on your computer, simply download the file for either Windows, Mac or Linux. Then open or "extract" the files on your computer. You will then be able to read the Imaginos Plus file with Comical.

Stay tuned for more updates as we work to get this book in comic shops and online comic stores.

The Honeycomb Hideout: Episode 26 - A Furry New Year!

What's up, 'Combies? Your boys are back in the year 2015 with a whole lot to share! Joe, Mark and Nick welcome comic artist Ben Rodriguez to tell us about his ongoing project "Peter is the Wolf" and everybody shares their thoughts on a variety of topics ranging from the awesomeness of yesteryear to Captain America: The Winter Soldier to wrestling. Yeah, it's that kind of episode.  LOL  So sit back, relax and welcome back to The Honeycomb Hideout!

Download this episode (right click and save)

To check out more of Ben's artwork, make sure to visit: Ben's deviantART: Ben's deviantART

And to read his comic, make sure to visit his website and remember that it's age-specific for an older audience but also segmented for those who wish to avoid the more graphic content: Peter is the Wolf

Finishing touches

Sneak peak of the Requiem poster, before inking. #ImaginosPlus

 Almost done with the contours. Gotta put in the details tomorrow then off to the inks. Poster for J Albert Cain's REQUIEM comic.

The Honeycomb Hideout Episode Special: In the Trenches

Alright, 'Combies! Mark Dudley's taking the reins once again for a special artist-centric episode of the Honeycomb Hideout. Returning to the Hideout is phenomenal artist Sharard Jackson and making her debut in the Hideout is Whitney Cook, an incredibly talented colorist and one of our collaborators on our soon-to-be-completed anthology "Imaginos Plus" as the colorist on Mark Dudley's "Juda Fist".

A great many serious and inane topics abound in this episode as the trio discuss the ins-and-outs of making a kickstarter work, the trials and tribulations of comic book production and politics involved in the professional and fan portions of the comics community. There's likely more there too, so come on down and enjoy!

Download this episode (right click and save)

And don't forget, our shows are also available on iTunes, so feel free to check us out there as well.  :)

Kickstarter Update: New Artwork, Prizes Coming Very Soon!

No professional and creative endeavor that's worth a damn ever goes off exactly according to plan. While we were thrilled to have our Imaginos Plus comic book fully funded on Kickstarter, that was just the beginning of one helluva process. Despite some bumps in the road and production changes, we are moving forward nicely.

Custom-designed Juda Fist and Imaginos Team T-Shirt prizes will be shipping out to backers as soon as the end of next week, and we have more prizes (sketchbooks, posters) in the pipeline after that. We've said it before and we can't say it enough: thank you again to everyone that has supported us, financially and otherwise, during this process. We are thrilled to be in a position to produce something real and awesome - hopefully something that we ourselves would want to experience as fans of the medium.

Here's a sneak peak of the superhero action-comedy Candy Coated, which will appear in Imaginos Plus. Hopefully you like the results we're getting as much as we do. Don't forget to click on the link at the bottom of this post: our Kickstarter Update will give even more details and sneak peaks of the colored pages!

Imaginos Plus: Kickstarter Update #20

Work Updates and First Event of the Year

So far 2014 has been off to a great start. We've been hard at work on the Imaginos Workshop Anthology - drawing, flatting, inking and lettering are all part of the process and so far we love the results. There will be prizes coming out for our wonderful Kickstarter backers in the first quarter of the year, as we continue to put this comic book together.

We're proud to show a sneak peak: Requiem Page 1, now fully inked and looking sweet!

We're also about to kick off Black History Month with our first event of the year: Black Comic Book Day 2014 (#bcbd2014). The event is taking place at the Detroit Public Library from 11 am - 5 pm on Saturday, Feb 1. We will be there selling sketchbooks and posters, and chatting with the good people of Detroit. Come down and see us there!

And here's a glance of Candy Coated the way it was always meant to be: in full color.

Don't forget to Like our Facebook Page, follow us on Twitter and check for Kickstarter updates. 

A DYING BREED......(aka A Dissertation On Haters)

What the hell is a Hater?  Our friends at Urban Dictionary define the term as:

hater	5596 up, 1373 down
	A person that simply cannot be happy for another person's success. So rather than be happy they make a point of exposing a flaw in that person.

It goes on to say about the term, 

Overused word that people like to use just because someone else expresses a dislike for a certain individual.

I am utterly tired of the term because it gives people who produce wackness a shelter for being irresponsible artists. The visual arts, as a craft, can only be improved upon through practice and dedication. Often times people can't deal with this, so they cut corners and attempt to sell (as genuine) a watered down version of something that is, in and of itself, Cool as hell!!!!

After money has been made and accolades garnered for the rip, then the bad taste of buying inferior products begins to permeate the pallet. As the aforementioned "perpetrator" (as we called these types in the 80's) attempts the same ole tired formula for maintaining his or her dwindling fame and status as an artist a bewildering thing happens. The artist finds that his or her efforts meet with quickly diminishing marginal returns. Ultimately, this person and his or her works will fade into obscurity and be forgotten as quickly as their meteoric rise. 

However, during this person's fiery ascent, anyone who calls this poser out on his merits and that of his or her artwork is considered a HATER!! Why? Because a concept (being a hater) which once was reserved for people who disliked anything that they as the mainstream couldn't readily touch and take, is now turned on its ear to mean something new.

Now a hater is anyone who has a legitimate gripe about the organic nature, authenticity and/or social proclivity of a work, and who is not willing to congratulate the author for making such an effort. But, isn't wack still wack? When did that change? 

I notice that especially when art is corporatized to the extent that art forms such as music find themselves radically altered. Then the people in the boardrooms force the taste down your throat via control of distribution channels. Often, people who are truly talented in their field, e.g. Vanilla Ice (yeah I said it), are forced by the corporatocracy to allow themselves to be Terraformed by the corporate B.S. and become a tool of the very things they hate. 

Often times it's the money (an all-powerful motivator) that drives otherwise talented people into mediocrity. After all, who is going to turn down millions of dollars in exchange for something as ethereal as artistic integrity? No matter what the reasons, society seems to believe that if you're rich, no matter how you got there, you should be celebrated. Anyone who dissents on this notion is viewed as a "Hater," a person jealous of another's fame and wealth, even if their reason for "hating" on the artist's work is academic and not personal.

I personally refuse to not speak my educated opinion on anyone's art. I can take the criticism as a creator as much and maybe more than I can deliver it. If you don't like my work that doesn't make you a hater, because it could simply not be your aesthetic cup of tea.

I also reject the assertion that everyone who envisions something and puts it out there for all to see is an artist. All ideas aren't good ideas and knowing how to best display your ideas is an important part of art. In comics I have seen a plethora of malformed ideas from people who don't possess the necessary skill sets at that time to help display these ideas properly. They usually  get clowned on by other more accomplished artists, only  to erroneously  brand the more accomplished art a HATER. This has become so prevalent that accomplished artists seldom want to comment on such weak displays for fear of being branded a hater.

Where I am  going with this is ultimately: just because I don't like your work doesn't make me a hater. If you ask me I will tell you, and expect anyone with issues with my work to do the same. Art is subjective, not everyone is going to like everything. However, everyone can appreciate skills. If you see a guy with damn good skills and you continue to not respect those skills, then not only are you a Hater in the true sense of the word but you're also and enabler of  wackness. You should end this practice immediately for the sake of all art forms. 

Mark 

Youmacon Wrap-Up 2012

Youmacon 2012 gave Imaginos Workshop another awesome opportunity to spread the word about our work and talk with fans of comics, anime, manga and storytelling. Youmacon, a relatively young anime convention in downtown Detroit, attracts an enthusiastic crowd of die-hard fans and creative cosplayers. I was impressed with the huge number of people cosplaying in Detroit for the weekend. I'm new to the world of anime and manga, so a lot of the costumes went over my head. But I could appreciate the time, money and creativity of the cosplayers, and there was some crossover: I saw characters from movies and video games as well, along with several Doctor Who's and Walter Whites. The con itself showed some serious growing pains. Registration for many was a lengthy and confusing process, and one that involved waiting in lines, wandering various floors of registration, and walking back and forth between Cobo and the Ren Cen. These are organizational problems that will hopefully get worked out as the convention grows and perfects itself. Despite these issues, the overall attitude at the convention was one of conciliatory excitement.

Star Wars maintained a presence amid the anime and manga cosplayers.

Imaginos Workshop handed out posters, flyers, business cards, stickers and our new "Dirty Weaponry" sketch book. We talked as much as we could with people, and tried to make inroads with a crowd that wasn't our normal demographic: an anime convention is not the same thing as a comic convention, but people still seemed encouraging of our work. This convention also marked our first official, public collaboration with the girls producing the webcomic Mutare Ludum. Their names are Danielle Todd and April Cox, and they've evolved from Mark's students to peers and promising young artists. They are developing a webcomic that is parts fantasy and horror; you can check out their blog here.

Probably the most encouraging part of the whole weekend for me was Imaginos Workshop's public panel How To Create Comics, led by our own Mark Dudley. He led a panel that quickly turned into a fun, interactive discussion on constructing, writing and drawing comics from start to finish. We had good attendance and the people there were enthusiastic and engaged. Nick and Joe also contributed to the panel by leading some of the discussion and answering questions. Even Danielle and April were able to add some words of wisdom. Unfortunately the panel was cut shorter due to an oversight on the part of the convention planners (not the last time that happened over the weekend) but it was still a good experience. After the panel ended, a group of artists, fans and writers hung out and talked with us about creating stories and drawing. It was fun and informative, and it gave us all some great connections and interactions with people that are all part of the wide web of creative industries in Michigan.

Mark Dudley leads the How To Create Comics panel.

We are still working on our Imaginos Plus comic book, part of which will be sent to Image Comics on completion so hopefully we can get a publisher for our work. We also have movie scripts and video projects in the works, and we want to continue pushing our online presence and interacting with what we hope will be a growing and loyal fan base.

Jon

Youmacon 2012: Day 2 Update

It's Friday night at 2 AM and the arcade in the Ontario Room of the Renaissance Center is humming. The lights are dim and groups of people crowd around the glow of flat screen TV's or stand, mashing buttons at old-school arcade kiosks. Here, after the main events of Youmacon's second day have ended, people show no signs of sleep just yet. There is a truly eclectic mix of games present, creating a hybrid sort of arcade that sits old school and new school side by side. Players can get a heavy dose of nostalgia with classics like TMNT, Captain America: and The Avengers and the 6-player X-Men arcade. These occupy the same space as popular newer series like Halo, Call of Duty and Gears of War. Gamers crowd around several TV's of Super Smash Bros, both on the GameCube and the Wii. For gamers and curious cosplayers, the Ontario room arcade represents an intoxicating and unique time warp, representing decades of gaming all in one room.

The Renaissance Center shares hosting duties with Detroit's Cobo Hall.

Youmacon, Detroit's fastest growing anime convention also attracts fans of manga, comics, video games and movies. 10,000 people attended the convention last year and the event has been growing since its inception in 2004. The event held in downtown Detroit brings out passionate fans and a remarkably high number of cosplayers: the variety, quality and uniqueness of the costumes are impressive. After the convention's normal hours wrap up and artists' alley closes down for the day, many attendees are just getting started. There are panels and events well into the night, and places like the arcade room never close down. It is a four day, 24-hour long event, and the Renaissance Center is completely booked for it.

Friday was a busy and eventful day at the event, and we spent the first part of the day at our Imaginos Workshop tables, talking with people, taking pictures and handing out swag like posters, stickers and sketch books. We recorded an interview with veteran anime voice actor Sonny Strait, who is most known for his work on Dragon Ball Z, Fullmetal Alchemist and One Piece. He has also done voice acting for video games including Splosion Man and Borderlands 2. Later, we held a panel on creating comics and stories: the process from beginning to end. By that point in the night it was time for many to get some much needed rest. For many others roaming the halls and rooms of the Renaissance Center, and sitting down to play some of their favorite games of yesterday and today, the night was still very young.

Jon

Kickstarter Update: Proposal Delayed, Work Continues

As you probably know, we have recently been promoting our Kickstarter bid as a way to help fund our comic book Imaginos Plus. As of last week however we have decided to cancel our Kickstarter bid for now. We were not on track to meet our financial goal, and we decided to postpone the crowd-sourcing project so we could retool our proposal, as well as continue working on our project. Just because we have postponed our Kickstarter bid does not mean we've stopped working on the project itself. On the contrary, we are working harder than ever on our comic book and the artwork is coming along great. While we're disappointed that our first Kickstarter bid didn't make it, we feel confident in our work and we will definitely try again in the future. In the meantime, we keep working.

Thank you so much to those of you who donated and shared our project while we were promoting it. You people are amazing, and we're going to need your encouragement and support while we keep doing our thing. The cool thing about Kickstarter is all the money is automatically returned - so nobody lost anything except a little bit of time and effort. We are sincerely grateful for those of you that showed your belief in us and our work. Stay tuned, because we haven't slowed down and we haven't given up on crowd-sourcing our projects. Despite not making the goal, it was a great learning experience.

And just so you know, we are going to be at this year's Youmacon 2012 in Detroit! Look for our table there where we will be selling copies of The Door and showing off some of Mark's awesome artwork! The event is this Thursday-Sunday, Nov. 1-4. Find out more info at their official site. Thank you, hopefully we will see you there.

Jon

Imaginos Plus: A 3-part Comic Adventure - And You Can Help

Everyone knows that Detroit has fallen on hard times. This is nothing new. It is and has been suffering from financial crisis, joblessness, urban dilapidation and political scandal. It has become something of a warning sign for a nation feeling the pangs of unemployment and political stalemate. Detroit has also become something else in the meantime: a symbol of pride for the entire state. There’s something about its working-class, damaged goods persona that appeals to a certain crowd. People in this country can’t help but root for the underdog. Young, college-educated people are actually moving into Detroit, and the city is experiencing something of a mini-Renaissance, even amidst some of its darkest hours. A product of this professional influx is an export that will be very important if Detroit is to come back: The Arts. Detroit has some very real and ongoing problems, just as it is experiencing a resurgence in cultural pride and artistic output.

Somewhere out of this imperfect love comes Imaginos Workshop, but one of many professional and artistic endeavors owing to the history and people of Michigan and the Detroit area. There’s nothing special about us except that we love comics and movies and just about anything that tells a story. Imaginos Workshop is just the name we decided to give ourselves when we decided we wanted to write movie scripts and produce comic books. We recently became a Limited Liability Company, and our first stab at a self-produced comic book, Imaginos Plus, is in the works (as you’ve probably read on here by now). It is three storylines in one – kind of ambitious for a first project, but we just really like these properties.

The first is called Requiem, and I can use the word “epic” here without feeling too hyperbolic. Joe and Mark have been crafting this storyline for a long time, and it has evolved accordingly. What we’ve written for Imaginos Plus is just the tip of a very big iceberg: they’ve written millions of years of bloody history for the multiverse that holds the story. Despite all this grandiosity, the story lives and dies by its character development, as a group of “black-bag” agents provide our key-hole into a mysterious and dangerous world. There’s almost too much to summarize here, but let’s just say it involves brutal action, multiple dimensions, the occult and corporate corruption.

The second property is the ridiculously-titled Candy Coated, a unique and truly spontaneous action adventure that employs an interesting writing style. The basis of the comic comes from Palladium Books’ Heroes Unlimited pen-and-paper RPG franchise. In case you haven’t reached the level of monumental geek that we have, RPG stands for role-playing-game, and it involves a group of people sitting around together using characters they created to explore a world that exists as dictated by their GM, or game-master. They use their imaginations to move through the world, and usually a set of books or rules to give shape and stats to the world and what they can do in it. Dungeons & Dragons is the most famous example of this, and only partly deserves the stigma it has gathered over the years. Candy Coated is written as it happened during these gaming sessions: it is truly spontaneous and organic. We “wrote” the story insofar that we experienced it in-game and responded to the events in Mark’s story with a disturbing lack of forward thinking. The story itself is about a group of damaged superheroes who mostly attempt to do good but almost always end up damaging things in the process. They are dysfunctional, confused and selfish, and their powers mostly the result of dangerously irresponsible experimentation that they don’t understand. This was a fun comic to play through, and we hope it’s just as fun to read.

The third and final property is called Juda Fist: 7 Deaths of the Yobi, and it is a story truly many years in the making. It is the brainchild of Mark Dudley, and it is a truly cool mix of genres. It is a sci-fi dystopian action-epic, with heavy doses of hip hop culture and blaxploitation, influenced by Hong Kong cinema and inspired by the books of Octavia Butler. It is stylish, dark and violent, and always gets a great reaction from people checking out Mark’s artwork. The story centers on a group of antihero mercenaries living one day at a time in futuristic Detroit. Their journey intertwines with an ancient conflict that threatens not just their lives but the fate of the solar system.

So there’s Imaginos Plus – and here comes the pitch. We have recently put the project up on the crowd-sourcing site Kickstarter in an attempt to get the thing funded. We are going to get the book done at some point either way, but if we could get some funds from Kickstarter it would happen a whole lot sooner and we could afford to pay the awesome inkers, artists and colorists that would help us finish the project. So if you feel so inclined, we would absolutely appreciate any contribution you could make to our book. We also really appreciate you telling others about the project: friends, family and fans sharing the project are the only way we’ll reach our goal. Thanks to all of you that have supported us and worked with us. Hopefully we can reward you with some cool stories and art in the future. We’re enjoying the process.

Author's Note: As of October 2012 we were unable to reach our monetary goal for our Kickstarter project. While this is disappointing, it does not mean that we've stopped working on our projects. Work on the comic book and scripts continues just as before, and we look forward to showing you more and more and trying again with crowd-sourcing in the future. A sincere and heart-felt thank you to everyone who donated to our project - your encouragement and donations help keep us creating.

Jon

Imaginos Hits C2E2 Part 1

Part 1

Last Thursday the Imaginos Workshop crew (Nik, Joe, Jon, Alexa and yours truly) set out for Chitown to attend the third annual Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo aka C2E2. From the start something was crazily amiss. As the crew came to my house to pick me up they ALL got a chance to meet Kim (my wife) and Delores (my mom-n-law). Moms and the wife were thoroughly entertained by Nik's jokes and Jon's...err...BLACK CAPE (who does this lol).

As we set off to Chicago we made a pitstop at the airport to pick up my lightbox from my buddy and collaborator Bar Scorpio and we were off again. After a few stops and some more hilarity we arrived at our hotel. Now is where the insanity begins. The Chinatown Hotel Insanity!!!

After dropping Joe and company off to handle the check-in business, Nik and I set of to find some Petrol to feed the conveyance. Little did we know until we got a call from Joe that all hell had broken loose. These clowns had screwed up our rooms a week earlier and then reneged on a promise to give us upgraded rooms for the mistake.

We ultimately ended up staying in a room no bigger than a broom closet, with some of us sleeping on the floor and others manning the beds. The first night Nik and I (angry as hell) got no sleep. A good and hilarious thing happened that night however. As we sat in the hotel kitchen/lounge/dungeon pondering how we were going to pay these Triad Gangsters back for messing up our rooms we found a kindred spirit in the form of DONTE. Expletives flew everywhere as Donte, a comic dealer from New York City, proceeded to tell us how he was being played like a sucka and was not gonna stand for it. He also went on his own tirade about the crappy room situation. Another good thing is that I was able to finish page one of Candy Coated.

Morning came and we finally got ready to get dressed and set off to the con and WOW!!! It was worth every penny. I felt like I was given the red carpet treatment the minute I walked up in McCormick Place. Huge Banners, multiple floors and EVERYTHING a comic convention could ever need all under one roof.
Restaurants, Kinkos and escalators EVERYWHERE. Also good (but expensive) food all around too. Man I was in heaven.

The Process: Creating a Comic Book Page. Part One.

Here is a video outlining the process of actually putting together a comic book page. This is purely from a pencilling perspective. I hope it is informative. Look out for part 2, I will show the finished pencils, and maybe some intro inking work. .

The Importance of Influence: Me and my "funny books"

Continuing the influences train, let's go ahead and go a little deeper into mine. For Mark, it was the '70s; for me, it was comic books. As it's already known at this point, I've been a comic book head for years and they've had a profound influence on me in a multitude of ways, specifically creatively. In many ways, despite how many fans there are of it and how much farther it's reaching, the medium itself still doesn't seem like it's utilized to its fullest potential. But moving back to to the topic at hand, the influence that comics has had on me creatively. Don't get me wrong, my influences go beyond just comics, but I'll just stick with them for this entry. Their influence goes back a long ways actually, so let's start at the beginning...

1) Spider-Man

When I was a kid, all of my friends' comic book heroes were always Batman, Superman or Wolverine. It was always about the coolest gadgets, powers or biggest badasses. But for me, it was always about understanding and relatability. He was THE kid superhero, the one that was out there doing the right thing despite what it cost him and often still had to deal with day-to-day troubles on top of everything else. That resonated with me a lot, even at a young age. He was the first comic book character I literally couldn't get enough of and because of the variety of his adventures and how many were in already in print by then, I had plenty to partake of. There are some I prefer more than others, but it's the one that's never REALLY let me down. And I was inspired by the character's overall resilience from a printing and personal standpoint.

2) Hulk

Now, this guy... he and I have been through a lot over the years. My favorite stories are still the ones that take place during Peter David's runs on the book as well as the stories featuring the "Joe Fix-It" personality. He was a vast departure from the Hulk I'd known up until then, that and the Gray Hulk just always struck me as more interesting considering the fact that he was the "real" original Hulk. But it became something else later, as the character himself became more complex and the subject of psychology came more into play in his development, it showed me how important psychology and personality in general are in developing characters.


3) The Avengers

This particular assembly always resonated in one fashion or another from the moment I started reading comics. There have been periods during the team's publishing history that I've definitely not enjoyed, but there are others that have absolutely shined! It was one of the first serious examples that I had seen of a team that may have been well-oiled in some incarnations but were barely staying on track in others. The Fantastic Four were specifically written as a family and the Justice League always had this kind of extended family kind of vibe to it, but the Avengers were different to me. They were a team that didn't necessarily always get along, but proved that it was about getting the job done. Oh sure, there were rosters that were like family, but that wasn't centerstage, it all came down to doing the job. They weren't a family, they were an office, a group of people brought together to fulfill a function. Interpersonal dynamics always played a role but at the end of the day, it was about moving past that and protecting the Earth and doing what they had to do to do it. In fact, it was the remixing of the team, the storyline "Dissassembled" and the subsequent reissued series "The New Avengers" that revived my desire to actually want to create comics and cemented Brian Michael Bendis as one of my all-time favorite writers.

4) The Authority

While this is another superhero team, they're on this list for a very different reason. The Authority was a different kind of team. Formed out of the ashes of Wildstorm Comics' "Stormwatch", they were a group that saw a better world and what needed to be done to bring it forth. They were extraordinary, but truly "human", human beings that wanted to bring about the better world that they felt the Earth could be, but also falling short in the realization that they were still humans and didn't know what we needed as much as they thought they did. It was a series about extraordinary people attempting to do the impossible and what happens after. Powerful stuff in a lot of ways.

5) Marvel Comics

This one I can actually keep fairly short. I've been a marvel-head most of my life for one reason: they showed me that "Superpeople are still just people". That counts for way more than anything else in my mind.


Now, of course, this is just one piece in the pie-chart of my influences, but I'll leave you to chew on this one for now.   ;)

-Joe