The Internet and Comics

So I’m having a relaxation day, since for the past week I’ve been running around Montreal like a chicken with its head chopped off. I was doing my usual internet routine when the extent of the internet’s influence on breaking into the comics industry really dawned on me. As most of you know, my big aspiration is to someday work proffessionally in the comic book field – it’s a medium I’ve always been very interested in.

Well, I’ve recently formally started my journey, publishing my comic series Election with Ronin Studios, an online community of self-publishing creators. Joining this group has been one of the best things to happen to me in the comics area. I’ve met a number of great up-and-comers such as Thomas Mauer (Starship Troopers, HoCal, You’ll Never Die), Diana Greenhalgh (Bloodrayne), Victor Cabanelas (The Allotted Witch, Lightning Squirrel, Epsilon Realm), and Pat Loika (Path to Armaggedon, HoCal), just to name a few. My work has also gotten a lot more exposure this year – Election #1 is about to go on sale on Indyplanet, and I know that a number of people will be buying it.

And none of it would have been possible without the internet – I can say with full confidence that I would be nowhere near where I am today without this wonderful networking tool. The time I spend on it is often written off as time wasted, but when I reflect on all the benefits its provided in the long term, I tend to think otherwise.

And on that note, I’ve got three interviews in the works. Two will be at Hidden Robot, a great new interview site founded by artist Tim Daniel. One will be discussing Ronin Studios, and the other will be discussing Election. The third interview will be a podcast interview – my first ever – with Fear and Loathing in Ottawa, a great local podcast discussing Ottawa’s underground cultural scene, including comics. I’m not too sure when exactly they’ll be up by, but stay tuned.

So in conclusion: the internet’s great. (See? You could have just read this last line without any of the above babbling – sorry about that!)

300 Movie Review

I’ve just returned from seeing 300, a film based on Frank Miller and Lynn Varley’s graphic novel of the same name:

I’m of two minds about this film. On the one hand, the cinematography was quite impressive at a number of moments. The fight scenes were brilliantly choreographed, and the rich scenery and digitally created beasts and armies were brilliant. However, looking at this film any deeper than that lowers my opinion of it. Many reviewers have argued that the interpretation of the legendary story shows blatant overcompensation and neo-conservative, pro-war messages, with lines such as “freedom isn’t free”. Well, excuse me while I begin humming the score from Team America: World Police.

I partially agree with the conclusions made by movie reviewers. Whether it was intended or not, certain scenes made me squirm in my seat and compare the Spartans’ war to the War on Terror. However, on the other hand, it’s a bit headache-inducing to find the political messages in every film, book, or comic.

On the whole, the movie was fun, if you accept it as cheesy, over-the-top popcorn entertainment. However, if you analyze it too deeply, it causes a political debate that I think everyone has had enough of.

Of Montreal and Grand Buffet

Hello! I’m writing from Montreal, where I’m staying at my sister’s apartment for the week. Last night, we went to see Of Montreal, an alternative band that I’ve recently become quite fond of:

Their opening band, Grand Buffet, was nothing special – essentially a very poor man’s Beastie Boys, whining about politicians drinking children’s blood. If they want to have “deep, political messages”, they should at the very least back it up with some good, entertaining music – unfortunately, that was nowhere to be found.

Fortunately, however, they were finished soon enough, and the real fun began. As you can see from the above picture, Of Montreal have a certain…flair for the theatrics. The lead singer spent half the show singing in a skin tight Peter Pan-esque top and fish net stockings, and the band were also in similar costumes. Normally, one would write this off as a cheap gimmick, but these guys make it into a lot of fun. The live show was great, and the ridiculous costumes only accentuated the overall performance.

They interacted very nicely with the crowd and used a wide variety of material (I think they’ve got something like ten albums or so). On the whole, I really enjoyed it, despite the cramped concert hall and stupid crowd-surfers.

I recommend you all listen to their CD Satanic Panic in the Attic. It’s a lot of fun, and really represents what they’re all about.

Pictures!

Election #1 copies… ^_^

Election Copies Are IN!

Well, after quite the learning experience with Paypal and UPS, I’m proud to say that the initial print run of Election #1 is in my hands! It’s been a long time coming, and it’s a wonderful feeling to have them. I’m also happy because I’ve checked over to be sure, and there are NO typos! Yay (fun fact: typos/grammatical errors are a death sentence for independent comics)! For inquiring minds, Election #1 is the series’ set-up issue – it establishes the status quo and characters of the series, and plants the seeds for the plots I’ll be exploring over the next three issues. So if you don’t find the issue doubling your heart rate, not to worry – it gets better from here.

Indyplanet is down because of their long-awaited server switcheroo, but when the issue goes up on their site, I’ll let you guys know.

I’d like to take a moment to thank Diana Greenhalgh for green-lighting the series and being really supportive and helpful over the course of its development. Stay tuned for more updates…

Spring Break Ahead!

I’m quite excited, ladies and gentlemen! Why, you ask? Because by the end of tomorrow, I’ll be taking the week off! I’ll be staying at my sister’s apartment in Montreal, where we’ll be seeing both The Shins and Of Montreal in concert! Between those two movies, I’ll be drawing like mad on Election #2, and possibly catching 300 and Zodiac at the movies, and taking a tour of Concordia University, somewhere I’m thinking of applying.

I’m also excited because in about an hour, I’ll be heading off to the UPS Store to get my copies of Election #1! Hopefully the Indy Planet site will go back up, and it’ll be on sale there, as well!

Excitement all around!

The Confusing World of UPS

So, I was expecting to find my copies of Election #1 upon arriving at home…

but instead, I get a lovely InfoNotice from UPS saying I have to be physically there to accept the package, as well as pay them for customs stuff – sigh. So after spending over an hour calling random numbers, I finally reached an actual person (gasp!) who said I could pick it up at the UPS store within the next 5 business days.

Whhyyyy does life have to be so complicated? I’ve never had this come up with other packages – but oh well. I’ll just be glad to finally have my comics.

Election #1 – On Sale Ridiculously Soon!

According to the UPS site, my copies of Election #1 (my comic series), should be arriving at my doorstep tomorrow! I can’t emphasize how truly excited I am for this – I came up with the comic’s initial concept two or three years ago, then, I began working on character designs and plot outlines during my trip to Japan this past spring. I finally started cranking out pages in August, and I finally sent the issue off to the printers two months ago.

This issue that’s taken me six months to make, and over a year to plan, is about to arrive, and it’s such a great feeling. Regardless of how my art has improved since starting it, I’ll just be so happy that my idea has officially seen the light of day.

I’ll update with pictures tomorrow!

Jamie Madrox

One day, I was seriously in the mood to draw some lesser known, but good, X-Men characters. So, the first one who came to mind was Jamie Madrox, The Multiple Man. Peter David has been nailing the character in the new X-Factor ongoing series, so I thought I’d give him a shot. After slapping on some basic colours, I decided I really liked the piece, and you can now find it all over the place – on my deviantART and Comicspace account, as well as my avatars on various comic message boards. Enjoy!

Vote Yahweh

Here’s a mock propaganda poster I made for Election. The poster features Katherine “God” Yahweh, leader of the Judeo-Islamic Party. I made the poster on a whim one evening and decided to give it some simple flats on Photoshop. When I looked at the end product, I decided to use it!