Okay, so I barely use this blog. I put all my weird stuff up on my facebook profile (its private, though a reader or two have emailed me enough to let my defenses down. Otherwise, join the theory of everything comics group.) And then I post stuff from there on foundonthefloor.net

Anyway, its 4:30 in the morning and I ought to be doing other stuff, like sleeping.
So I thought I'd try to analyze "The Devil and the Monk".

Originally, I was writing "The Devil and The Monk" as part of God(tm). The guy in line, right before or right after was supposed to be a character from God(tm) somewhere in the middle of the story. Already, I was thinking non-linearly for God(tm), I wanted it to have all these tangents like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. That sort of structure of storytelling feels like the Internet being forced to be linear and traditional.

When I write long stories, I'll work on little sections, the ones that pop into my head, key scenes, I would sketch/write them out and then work around them.

My intention of this story was to explain how reincarnation can exist in a Christian Cosmological structure, but in a funny way. When I finished my first draft of "The Devil and The Monk", I thought I had something here. I was trying to get the rust off my joints and just dived into the comic.

Page 01 & 02 - (mind you, two pages on this site create 1 page of print. I didn't like how the comic book aspect ratio required you to scroll, so I cut it in half.) So, we're at the Gates of Heaven. I wanted it to feel light. I thought a lever would be very cartoonish, plus I threw in Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln is one of those character who you can't fuck up drawing. If you were to put a top hat, suit and beard on a Chinese guy; you would know that that's supposed to be Abe Lincoln.

Page 03 & 04 - Introduction of Hell. I'll have to admit, I appropriated the Monk falling into Hell from a page in Frank Miller's Sin City (that book is why I wanted to do comics). The Devils, I wanted them to be light as well. As if they have a routine. Hell is normal for them. Hell is just as boring and exciting to them as where you live.

When I was originally designing Alavaka (yes, he's unnamed here. yes, there will be a sequel, and that's the name he will be called and that's how I think of him lately)
I was going for a classic devil look: red with horns. But I didn't want him to be the Greek god Pan. So I played around with the horns and I drew him with the horns going through his eyes. Its as if he was constantly suffering and blind: ignorant to God. And that idea of horns being more like an injury really paid off. So I designed all the other Devils with the horn-as-injury ideas.

Page 05 & 06 - The Monk breaks the routines of Hell. I wanted the reader to feel a bit of stoicism here, an oasis in Hell. As if they're looking at a statue of the Buddha. Someone on Stumbleupon criticized me for making this character a Mary Sue, a character that was much too perfect. But the Monk isn't a character to me. I didn't give him a name or history or anything. You don't even know what kind of Buddhist he is. (Okay, by the cut of his robe, he's Thai. But I'm not saying anything about Thai Buddhists, I just think their robes are the most stylish of any Buddhist monk.) To me, he's just an ideal personified.

--Back to Hell: Again, making Hell feel normal and mundane. I also used racial slurs. I'm not saying anything bad about Asians (because I'm one), I just thought this is how Devils would speak. I mean, the White Devil is racist, why not the red ones?

Page 07 & 08 - Man, I was lazy with the backgrounds. Anyway, a reader who was raised Hindu was trying to figure out what the monk was saying in Sanskrit (or Hindi-- not sure) when he said "d'oh" he figured it out and nearly fell off his chair. Anyway, here I start to establish rhythm: Torture. Ohm. Torture. Ohm.

Page 09 & 10 - I wanted the torture to be light, cartoony and childish. Warner Bros. cartoons. Milton Bradley games. Oh, and I know I misspelled "butterflies". I kept the typo because there's something funny and childish about "butterlies"

Page 11 & 12 - Page 11 is either everything I abhor about media at that time or something Christian, since this was part of God(tm). Its how Hell would be for me. Here are the shows:
1. Home Shopping Network
2. Game Shows. As a friend of mine told me, its the death of the American dream.
3. That guy from the Westboro Baptist Church. The "God Hates Fags" guy. I'm sure somebody touched him once.
4&5. Tim and Eric from Adult Swim. I really hate this show and an old roommate really loved it. This show made me nauseous. It was trying to be funny by being awful. I know there's plenty of fans out there. Now think about how you feel about Twilight and Twilight fans. This is exactly how I feel about you.
6. A Christian puppet show. Okay, a concept as crazy and mind blowing as God embodied as a human being and then suffering as a human sacrifice so that we may join God should have nothing to do with hand puppets. This is what happens when you veer away from a Liturgical and Apostolic tradition.
7. TMZ- I don't care about what celebrities are doing. Its as if they are a sort of god. Its as if the death of a young celebrity is a myth that can be analyzed by Joseph Campbell or this or that actress fits a Jungian archetype. The people who I consider celebrities make or say something powerful. Pretty faces are just pretty faces (although, a pretty face with brains, now that's awesome)
8. Jerry Springer
9. I forgot which televangelist this was, but he's obviously a foney.
10. Chris Crocker. I once went to a gallery opening he was also attending. I did not make eye contact. I don't hate on him because he's flaming. Flaming Gay Men can be really funny people with really raunchy senses of humor. I hate him because he's an annoying attention whore and he got famous for being awful.
11. The Loonatics. This was Warner Bros. relaunch of the Looney Toons. They have no idea what they're doing.
12. Jerry Fallwell (I know I spelled it wrong)
13. Flavor of Love. I hate reality shows. And I used to like Public Enemy. No, I haven't seen this show. Again, its something people watch because its awful.
14. I think this is someone attacking a midget on Jerry Springer.
15. Some Christian show
16. A Japanese tv show. That's a guy in drag.

Page 13 & 14 - This is where Alavaka's character design paid off. He's a fallen angel with swords stuck in his eyes. He's mutated and twisted and in pain. Maybe he forgot Heaven. You could sort of feel Alavaka's anger. His frustration, his regret, his ignorance. At this point he's no longer a two dimensional character. He has some complexity. In one single panel, he has a horrible past.

Page 15 & 16 - I wanted to get back into the light-hearted mood. So I drew a crappy blueprint like in a Roadrunner cartoon.

Page 17 & 18 - This was the entire reason why this comic exists. This simple scene. A monk falling into a pregnant girl. She's about 3 months pregnant, when a fetus starts to kick. And I did base her mom off of Hilary Clinton. I didn't intend to say anything political. Its just that I liked how she looked and dressed.

Page 19 & 20 - I felt sad when I drew and wrote this part. I think after I established that Alavaka was a 3 dimensional character, his emotions came out better.He had a sense of loss and emptiness. He was always empty, and he thought torturing souls would fill that. But its as if he's more aware of that emptiness by being around this monk.

Suburbia is a type of Hell.

Page 21 & 22 - When I wrote this part, it just made sense. It just seemed natural. I felt something, a satisfaction, the same sort of feeling when I finished "Speak No Evil" I originally intended it to end at page 18, but there was something about that Devil that needed to be resolved.

From some of the comments and emails I've gotten about this comic, its as if I wrote a Sutra or something. I'm not Buddhist. I might know more about Buddhism than the average American, and I've tried some Buddhist meditation. But I'm Gnostic Christian and that has a sort of "poetry" that's more closer to Buddhism than it was with American Christianity.

Labels: blog, comics, God(tm), my work, religion

If you've been paying attention, I had some computer problems lately.

I'm starting up a new section entitled "Citizen Kane Could Suck My ****"

This entire section will be in Flash, so if you have a slow connection, please be patient.

Also, I'm not updating weekly. At least for now. Maybe some time after I finish "Citizen Kane Could Suck My ****" but maybe not.

Anyway, if you haven't read "Joeb! Look Out!"

And if you haven't started at the beginning at all, go here.

Labels: comics, God(tm), my work, updates

Someone translated POTATOE! A Children's Book for Adults into Polish. I've sort of forgotten this was posted up online.



Check it out

Thanks drPepper!

Labels: comics, my work

At Webcomic Beacon they celebrated this week, their 2nd year of podcasting. They also featured my interpretation of their mascot, Becky, as this week cover image.

Check out their gallery to see the complete image.

Over the last year or so, they've been supportive of Theory of Everything Comics, so check them out.

Labels: comics, my work, podcast

Labels: comics

A friend of mine, Shannon Cronin, wrote a comic for zudacomics.com



Its a fun gory little piece that will probably lead to a killer plant doing something evil.

Please check it out. Register at zudacomics.com, and if you feel inclined to do so, vote (click on the little box that says "vote", for "Revenge of the Homicidal Pumpkins".

http://zudacomics.com/node/1452

Labels: comics, friends

Burbank, CA and New York, NY, August 31, 2009 —Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:MVL) in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.

Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.

"This transaction combines Marvel's strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney's creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories," said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. "Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney."

http://corporate.disney.go.com/news/corporate/2009/2009_0831_disney_and_marvel_entertainment.html

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2009/08/31/live-blogging-disney-marvel-investor-call/

Well, this just gives me more material and somewhat fulfills my prophecy.

Labels: blog, comics, God(tm)

You could either buy the August 2009 issue of Animation Magazine (it got Sponge Bob on the cover!), get it free at San Diego Comic Con (it got Ponyo on the cover!--but that's too late now) or check it out on the web.

http://www.animationmagazine.net/article/10350

Go on, do it now. They quote me a couple times and I sound kinda smart.




Anyway, the interview was more like an e-mail questionnaire and I thought you might like to read my complete answers to that questionnaire.

Questions by Tom McLean.



Is there a difference in your mind between webcomics and print comics?

There are more similarities than differences. At least with the sort of webcomics that I do. I design them anticipating print. Its more a kin to the differences between watching your favorite movie in the theater vs. DVD vs. airing on TV vs. downloaded illegally.

Much of it is based on the way its delivered. I can read a print comic and enjoy it on a comfortable couch or at a peaceful park or wherever. Most people read webcomics on a computer, most likely, sitting on an uncomfortable office chair, in a cubicle, fearing the boss might see them goof off. You have different expectations from a computer than from a book. The computer is interactive and engaging. You expect it to play video, have animated graphics, talk to your friends, multi-task.

This is why the most successful webcomics are in a daily strip format. If the content isn't interactive then people want it short. True, they have the option of looking in the archives and spending an entire day reading 10 years worth of Sinfest.net, but that's an option.

Now this is something that might change as screen culture and technology changes. We might have mobile devices that we could read on a comfortable couch. And the expectations of those mobile devices might not put us in a multi-task mode.

Another difference with a webcomic is the use of hyperlinks. My current project, God(tm) uses hyperlinks to something I'm making a reference of. For example, the one I just gave you, a character is singing a song, and comics being a visual medium, songs don't translate well. But the hyperlinks are of three different performances of the same song.

There's also page 13 of God(tm) which speaks for itself. (its a roll-over image) And the use of Infinite Canvas



Do you approach creating a comic for the web differently than one you do for print, i.e., does the story affect your decision to do it on the web vs. in print or vice versa?

To a degree. My past work was just putting a print comic on the web (Speak No Evil is like this). But my current work, I'm considering the short attention span that people have in front of a screen. I like doing long stories and those don't fair as well as 4 panel daily strips. I try to make up for that by making the pacing faster. There's a staccatto rhythm to my current work. The story is constantly interrupted like a Monty Python skit (plus the humor is sort of Monty Python too).

Last night I was just re-planning a page because the pacing wasn't fast enough. Though earlier drafts of the page may work in a printed comic, it wont work for this particular webcomic.

Also, since a certain look and feel is expected from a print comic, a history and subculure that goes back to the 1930's, I think I'm being more experimental with the look than I would if I did a print comic.

As for how I approach a print comic, when you read a page, you are aware of two pages, the one your attention is at and the one next to it. If you want to surprise the reader or reveal something, it can only be on an even numbered page. In web, you can have more surprises with a click of the mouse. Every page, potentially, can show a shocking and unexpected revelation.



Do you have a formal process for creating webcomics, i.e, a script, pencils, inks, colors, etc.? What tools do you use?

My creative process in general:

1)I draw a little comic in my sketchbook, my first draft. I find it a waste of time to start out with a script because I can draw faster than I could describe with words. I write the dialogue as I go. I figure out the composition.

2) I take the sketchy comic and translate that into a script. Its easier to edit dialogue this way or work with a scene that's more dependent on words than pictures.

3) I make another sketchy comic based on steps one and two. If I'm not happy with the sketchy comic, I go back to step two and might go back and forth between script and drawing until I have a good sketchy comic.

4) I take those sketches of pages, they're maybe 4x6 inches, scan them, figure out word balloon composition in photoshop, put in guide rules for perspective and print it out in non-photo blue.

5) In blue pencil I draw in details and ink.

6) Scan, color, maybe some dialogue changes and put it up online.


Web comics vary quite a bit in their presentation, so how do you decide the best way to present your story?

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking and you might end up sending me a follow-up email on this subject, but here I go:

One thing I do (also, a subtle difference between web vs print) is have different backgrounds or wallpapers for each part of the story. If the page is about anger, then you'll see red. If it takes place in Heaven or on an airplane, you'll see the sky.

There's one section in God(tm) where I give a back story. But the designs of the artwork tells a the history of visual mass media. I take advantage of the wallpapers to further emphasize this theme.


How much thought do you give to making your web comics "print ready" should a publishing opportunity arise?

I always take it into consideration because it has always been my goal to be a print comic book artist (I find it strange that I actually have to type the word "print" in order to make myself clear). Since everyone's monitor is not created equal, I anticipate for smaller monitors. A print comic page doesn't fit well on a small monitor.You have to scroll. But half a print page does.

When I design a comic page for the web, I'm actually designing two pages. One stacked on the other makes a print page. And I have to consider not only the composition of the webcomic page, but the overall composition of a print page.


Do you ever consider incorporating animation, movement or sound of any type into your webcomics?

Yes. This subject was part of my senior thesis in art school and I ended up working very hard on something I wasn't happy with and there wasn't much of it.

Such bells and whistles need to be important to the story. I have worked professionally in traditional animation. I know how much work goes into it and I'd rather put that energy into making ten pages than 6 seconds. So far, I haven't found it necessary to put music or animation in a comic. I am planning to, though, when my current story gets more surreal. But if I did it where I'm at right now, it would just be busy work and unnecessary.


Do you know what kind of audience has your work has found on the web? Do you see a lot of crossover between webcomics readers and fans of print comics?

Its sort of hazy who is a fan of my work. I've found links to my site on atheist and buddhist forums, mainly because religious and philosphical themes are important on my work that's online. There was one podcast about print comics and superheroes that did a review of one of my comics. I even found a link on a site that features gay porn (the best guess I could make about this is that I was poking fun at Mormons and with prop8, they like making fun of Mormons too.... but maybe my main male character is kinda cute). I'd like to think I'm attracting people who like good story and like good art, even if they have or haven't read a comic book in their life.

With my work, I want to attract people who don't usually read superhero comics or pop manga. The Wednesday comic shop junky can easily become a fan of my work. And I welcome them because I used to be one. But since I'm on the web and I'm basically giving it away for free, I might as well go for anyone that'll care. It might just be five people but I'll do the type of work that interests me...

Labels: animation, comics, Eisner Awards, Speak No Evil

11:00-12:00 Spirituality in Comics— Panelists discuss the influence of spiritual themes in comics and popular culture, and the importance of spirituality to readers, creators, and the stories they tell. Moderated by Scott Shuford of the Christian Comic Arts Society, with panelists including Holly Golightly (School Bites), Buzz Dixon (Serenity, Goofyfoot Gurl), Leo Partible (Behind the Screen: Insiders on Faith), and others. Room 3

"Others" meaning yours truly. I just got on last minute.

Labels: comics, events, gnostic, religion

And now this important message from The Girls Entertainment Network:

For one exciting week in July, the GEN comics team reviews over fifty books nominated for the 2009 Eisner Awards!

In celebration of the 2009 Eisner Awards, the Girls Entertainment Network comics team will be presenting a week-long feature event focusing on a select ten nomination categories: Best Short Story, Best Continuing Series, Best Limited Series, Best New Series, Best Digital Comic, Best Writer, Best Writer/Artist, Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team, Best Cover Artist, and Best Coloring. The articles--released two at a time for a total of ten articles--will be written by the five comics staff members and focus on one category at a time, highlighting each of the nominees.

This upcoming event will help to promote comics at the Girls Entertainment Network and build a better interactive community of readers and fans. To facilitate this process and strengthen the overall outcome, three winners will be randomly chosen from a pool of commenters during the event week. The winners will be announced and contacted by the Comics Editor, Stephanie "WITA" Carmichael, at the end of the contest, and each will be awarded a custom Eisner-nominated prize pack featuring a congratulatory note from the GEN comics girls!

The Eisner review feature is the biggest undertaking from the GEN comics section yet and results from the collaboration of dozens of publishers and creators--including Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and many more! The event and contest will begin Monday, July 6^th and end Friday, July 10^th.

I just thought this was an appropriate image- Elan'

Labels: comics, Eisner Awards, review

http://twitter.com/T_of_E_comics

I don't plan to tell you what I'm doing every single minute of my life.

But I do plan on tweeting every minute when I'm at conventions, signings or other events.

Think of it, if you want to see if I'm available to do a sketch or something, you could find out if I'm at the table.

Or maybe I'm heading to a panel discussion, and instead of walking around the floor at Comic Con, you think-- that sounds like a good discussion.

Maybe I'm completely hung over, and instead of going to my table expecting I'd be there, you'd know that I'm vomiting into a toilet.

Labels: blog, comics, God(tm), my work, Speak No Evil, updates

comicbookreligion.com Is a nice long database logging the religious or non-religious affiliations of several comic book characters and characters of other media that have appeared in comics.

They just updated their site to include Joeb Kim, Mormotron and Mormobot.

Its one of those sites that you look at in two in the morning and you use it to impress the guys at the comic shop when you make the counter argument: "Batman is Episcopalian! He'd never say that!"

Labels: comics, God(tm), religion

I have finished two sections of God(tm) (c) 2XX8 *** ***** ****** ******* Incorporated. All rights reserved. God and all related characters, titles, names and documents are trademarks of *** ***** ****** ******* Incorporated. No similarity between any of the names, characters, persons and/or institutions in this deity with those of any living or dead person or institutions is intended and any such similarity which may exist is purely coincidental.

Or "God Trademark" when referred to orally.

Unfortunately, my site is horribly designed and you can't tell where part one ends or part two begins. So here's some help:

Part One.

Part Two.

At least, set-up wise, I've taken care of the back story. I just need to get Joeb Kim out of the cafe. (Now I can work on redesigning my site)

Labels: comics, God(tm), my work, updates

[sauce]

Labels: animation, asian, comics, video

The thing with Speak No Evil was that it felt like a neglected child who I thought had potential. Sure, the first born got all the attention and I was concentrating a lot of time on the youngest, but I knew that my middle child was special.

I'm proud to say that Speak No Evil: Melancholy of A Space Mexican is the recipient of the Webcomic Beacon Standalone Simplex Beaky Award. I didn't even know I was nominated because I haven't had time to check out the Webcomic Beacon podcast for a while.



Yes, the Eisners Awards are much more established and much bigger and you actually get a physical award. But my problem with Eisner's Best Digital Comics Award is that there should be more than one, like Best Daily Digital Comic or Best Digital Comic Story, etc. etc. I get the feeling that the judges who picked the nominees aren't that familiar with the webcomic world.

I've found a few blogs about the Eisner Digital Comics Nominees, complaining about how they've never heard of them. They talk about how there are much more popular webcomics that deserve an Eisner nomination.

But the Beakys are much more down-to-earth. The judges LOVE webcomics and the podcast helps me keep up with what's out there on the net and how much my website needs to be re-designed.

I like how they think my comic is good, but they seem very uncomfortable explaining why it is good.

I must be doing something right.



Basically, this award means acceptance from the burgeoning and evolving webcomics community. A community that might eventually take over the traditional print comics/comic shop system.

...but it would've been nice if they contacted me.

Hopefully, this might be a good barometer to the Eisner winner.

Check out their podcast.

Labels: awards, comics, Eisner Awards, my work, podcast, Speak No Evil

So this morning I was surprised to get this e-mail:

Congratulations! "Speak No Evil" has been nominated for a 2009 Will Eisner Comics Industry Award in the Best Digital Comic category. I'm still in the process of verifying all the Eisner nominations, but we are planning the official announcement for tomorrow.

Ballots will be going out in mid-April, and the winners will be announced at Comic-Con International at the Eisner Awards ceremony on July 24.

Best,

Jackie Estrada
Eisner Awards Administrator

Of course I called my Mom.

You can check out the comic here. Or go to the mirror site: http://tinyurl.com/SNEmirror

Labels: comics, Eisner Awards, my work, Speak No Evil

One of the featured artists at Physical Nostalgia was Kiyoshi Nakazawa. He does a great zine called Drunken Master.
He has this very raw yet graphic style. Some of it reminiscent of Zen Brush Painting, some of it more urban and punk rock.
He also sells original prints if you're interested. www.luckynakazawa.etsy.com

Labels: Art, artists, comics, friends, links

Since that piece I did has brought me some attention, or at least upped my numbers whenever you search my name on google, I've been also searching "watchmen hostess" and have found other parodies.

My earliest memories of the Hostess Ads was that when I was a kid, I had an issue of Spider-Man with a Spider-Man Hostess Ad and it REALLY CONFUSED ME. I thought it was part of the comic book. I was, maybe, in the second or third grade. But the beauty of these ads was the campy way that Hostess products were used to save the world or something.

1)The first, I have no idea who did it.

I like the "voice-over editing". Its a nice homage to Alan Moore's words and timing. But this thing was scanned in low rez and the fruit was just sort of hacked out and pasted on.

2)I think this was in the back of an issue of Deep Fried by Jason Yungbluth, but I'm not sure.

One thing I hate about parodies, not because of the artist, but because of the legal reasons, is that all the names are replaced. I think this artist could've gotten away with naming the character Rorschach.
Giving Twinkies to dogs to distract them actually seems realistic. It might've actually worked in the Watchmen world. And what I loved about the Hostess Ads was that the use of Twinkies as a solution to crime made sense only in a Hostess Comic Book Universe.
But the dialog is pretty funny. The dialog's in the Hostess world.
I didn't like the coloring, too many gradients, wrong color pallet (but that might also be a legal thing), its obviously done in photoshop, it would've looked beautiful if he just used the color halftone filter and made it look like bad printing. The thing I love about a good parody is that for a second, you're not sure if this is the real thing or not. I've worked with Photoshop too much and if he just added that one detail-- it would've made up for the use of fake names.

3)Here's a well-rendered one done by Brian Michael Bendis... I think.


What I love about it is that it pretty much sticks to Dave Gibbons's style. It looks like it was colored with marker, though. But its better than making it all slick and photoshoppy. But the semen joke, its just too adolescent for me. Its an easy joke. Its a desperate joke.

4)Of course I'm biased. I have a high opinion of my work:

The biggest difference about my Watchmen/Hostess Parody is that it takes place in a universe that has Hostess Comics Ad logic. The others take place in a Watchmen world. And I wanted it to be devoid of any real logic. So preventing rape with the use of Hostess Fruit Pies makes no sense in our world or the Watchmen world.

It did cross my mind to have Silk Spectre I be the victim. But then it wouldn't be funny. Sexual violence toward women is really really fucked up. I don't find it funny at all. I was once an animator on a cable show where there was a rape joke involving a female character and a bunch of inmates. If I was the one assigned to animate that scene, I would decline. I have no idea if that was eventually cut by the network execs.

But male rape is funny...
At least to the guy doing the raping.

Also I think the first unsaid rule of being a man is that you don't get raped. A boy can get raped, and that's horrible and he ought to get some help. A girl can get raped and that's a lot more horrible, especially when such a union creates a child. But man on man forced sexual copulation-- its demeaning... but its really funny when its happening to someone who deserves to be demeaned.

(Just to make myself clear, I see nothing homosexual about man rape. Its sexual sport like in Sodom and Gommorah or the State Penn. There are much more hilarious and interesting things about gay culture than man sex. Like when you're in the Castro, you should check out Little Orphan Andy's you gotta love their mascot)

Plus the line, "Oh no! The Comedian is raping Richard Nixon!" has a ring to it.

The beauty of Watchmen was that it deconstructed what began as a childish genre and made it adult (or adolescent-- if you look at how it influenced the genre too). So I took adult characters and themes and put them back in a childish world. In other words, another difference between my Hostess Parody and the others is that its a deconstruction of a deconstruction.

I will confess that I "inked" Dave Gibbons's original work. "Inked" in a "Chasing Amy" sense. I wanted it to look like Gibbons pencilled it and maybe someone else inked it. I didn't color it because it wasn't for print or for the public to think of it as print, plus I was lazy.

The back story, or at least the fictitious back story, of this piece was that someone was payed to make this comic as a real ad, but it got rejected for obvious reasons. It eventually resurfaced at an art exhibit. Besides, I find original comic book art beautiful. You get to see where the artist made their mistakes, sometimes they used different inks so that some of the linework fades to a purplish color. Its a physical object, something that was handmade-- not like a comic book which is machine made.

I think the best parodies are near forgeries. And I did my best to make this a faithful forgery.

But the only thing in this piece that looses the authenticity is the Hostess packages in the end. Now it doesn't show on the jpeg, but if you saw the real thing, it looks like a computer print out pasted onto the page because it is a computer print out pasted onto the page. I originally wrote in red pencil, "apple" & "cherry", but that didn't sell the joke. It didn't have the right impact at the end (just like the movie). I didn't have time to draw it in, or make a believable print-out, I just found a pic of an original ad, did my photoshop magic, cut, paste, wa-la!

Anyway, I've been thinking too much about this piece all week. Hopefully, getting all this out of my head will help me move on. Hopefully, I could stop jerking myself off with this damned piece and do things that don't require me riding on the coattails of Comic Book Legends.

(But I am thinking of doing other Hostess parodies that also look like artwork that's 20 or 30 years old. Hey, this one sold, I'm going to get laid off again for hiatus at the end of the week. I needs the money.)

And here's one last thought.

Labels: Alan Moore, blog, comics, my work, Watchmen

I'm not going to get into how much I love the original masterpiece. Its obvious. I mean, my work is viral with the Nixon and the Hostess and all.

But by the end of that movie I walked out of the theater disappointed. I was tempted to walk out when Laurie was talking to her mother about her real father, but I stuck around hoping it'll be saved in some way. It was too late, but the shot of New York being reconstructed was a nice touch which could've been used in the comic.

Almost all the changes, I felt were valid. Pacing is important in a film. Some parts they had to shorten or take out. I'm not one of those fans yelling: "BUT WHAT ABOUT THE PIRATE STORY??!!!"

The chemistry between Nite Owl and Silk Spectre II didn't exist at all. The actress who played Silk Spectre II wasn't mature enough for that role. I could live with having a younger person play that role, but she needs to be a better actress.

Nite Owl was good enough. I think his non-heroic voice made up for Nite Owl not looking silly.

The Comedian was okay. I think they could've done something to his voice so he sounded older. But he looks too much like Robert Downey Jr.

Rorschach was perfect. Dr. Mahnattan was good. Ozymandius -- wasn't villainous enough, he couldn't pull of the moral dilema that he had.

I was okay with the fact that this film lacked subtlety. In the comic, the sentence "The Comedian is Sally's father" was never said, it was implied. In the comic, the sex scenes had a sort of subtlety to them. More like having real sex than watching porn. The slow motion shots-- like when Veidt got shot-- I could live with that, but too many.

Some scenes, like the opening sequence and Nite Owl & Silk Spectre fighting in jail, I didn't like when I saw them on youtube. But put into context, they were fine.

BUT!!!!

Putting the blame on Dr. Manhattan didn't make sense to me. Even though Dr. Manhattan was blamed for destroying millions on US and Russian soil, Russia would still jump the gun and immediately send their nukes to the US. Hell, the entire world would blame the US. When people get pissed, they need to blame something. And when they blame something, they'll do something about it. There would still be a nuclear war.

I don't care if there wasn't a giant one-eyed vagina squid creature, but the thing that saves the world needed to be an alien threat! It had to be! Its what brought everyone together in "Independence Day".

That part made me cringe. Everything to that point, I felt-- "Okay, this is a nice tribute to Alan Moore's and Dave Gibbons's work. This is like a high budget fan film." But the ending-- the ending made me cringe!!!!

V for Vendetta still stands as the best Alan Moore inspired film.

I understand your pain, Mister Moore.

PS... Attempted rape isn't as fucked up as actual, or at least implied rape. This movie could've been more cynical. That's why the comic was great.

Labels: Alan Moore, comics, movies, review, Watchmen

I love the Watchmen. I actually have original Watchmen issues-- I think up to issue 3. I read all of Watchmen when I was about sixteen. I can explain to you why Watchmen is a great piece of Superhero Deconstructionist Literature and exactly how it deconstructs superhero archetypes.

So why haven't I watched the Watchmen?

Well, for the past couple of weeks I've been swimming in it. I went to WonderCon and there was Watchmen! I made a great piece, that sold by the way, and it was basically me drawing (and sometimes tracing) Dave Gibbons's style. I go to the bookstore: Watchmen. I go on my favorite websites: Watchmen. I look outside, Watchmen.

My dad even wants to see it, which is weird, like he'll understand something of my subculture.

I want to take a breather from Watchmen. I will see it soon, just not this week.

-----

But since we're on the subject of Watchmen, its sort of weird that its surfaced. That this thing that was "in the know" is out now. Something very important in my little comics subculture is out in public. A lot of people have read Watchmen now.

That's really weird. I first read it when I was sixteen. A kid in my class saw me read it and looked at the price of the trade paperback-- sixteen or seventeen bucks back then, and said, "are you crazy? sixteen bucks for this?"

But for me, shelling out $16 for a graphic novel was like someone normal buying a record.

I rarely buy records, and if I do, they're songs you don't hear on the radio-- at least American radio.

Anyway, back when I read it when I was 16, it was very slow and very boring to me. I did like Dr. Manhattan's chapter, Rorschach's chapter and the end. But I didn't think the book was a masterpiece until I came back to it when I was 22 or 23. When I read it when I was older, the dialog yelled out to me. I could hear it, in my head.

So when people read Watchmen and say its boring, I use that as a barometer on how mature they are. Its as if their brain is a sixteen-year-old brain.

----------

I've noticed a lot of Watchmen fan art that makes them into a parody. Like baby Watchmen or Watchmen Saturday Morning cartoons. I've also added to this meme.

I think its because Watchmen was a deconstruction of what started out to be a genre for children. Thus, making the superhero genre something adult. And by making Watchmen childish, then we're further deconstructing a deconstruction. Or rather, a sort of reconstruction.

--I think.

--I could just be talking out of my arse.

But one great thing about Watchmen is that its boosted people's interest in comics. Average non-comics readers, after reading Watchmen, ask "what else have you got?"

More people reading comics is a good thing-- at least for me. Hopefully I can make a comfortable living off of it.

Also consider, back in the days of the Depression, comics were the biggest form of entertainment. Now we're heading into, possibly, another Depression.

Hopefully, there'll be work for me.

Labels: Alan Moore, blog, comics, movies, Watchmen

I was mentioned on the comics blog, "The Beat". Why? Because I depicted a US president getting sexually molested by a comic book character, that's why.

Actually, its more of a link to the LA Weekly blog. But I'm mentioned by name anyway and it ups my numbers when I narcissisticly google my name.

Although, I have had one e-mail asking where they could find an image of the entire thing and pointed them to this here blog.

Labels: Alan Moore, comics, my work, review, Watchmen

http://blogs.laweekly.com/style_council/art/rorschach-blue-marilyn-watchme/



"So wrong, and yet so dead on."

Labels: Alan Moore, Art, comics, my work, review, Watchmen

I just sold this piece at Meltdown Comics. As I've heard, a guy who works on Family Guy bought it.

It was placed at this weird corner which was sort of hard to see. My friend who curated the gallery said that he put it there so that the laughter would echo in the room. I think that's one of the reasons. But I think, partially, its because of the subject matter.

I'm not complaining. I'd put it there too and I was a little worried on how it would be received. The thing got sold. And it was fun standing there to see people's reactions: laughter or confusion.

I have two other pieces at the gallery show.

And not only am I referencing Watchmen but also old ads you'd find in comics.

(added March 12)
Also, because I didn't expect for this piece to get so viral, I'd like to give credit where credit is due. Some panels (especially panel 4) I "inked" from the original Gibbons work. Some, I copied by eye. Some, a combination (in panel 3 its the same pose for the Comedian, but different costume).

The joke wouldn't be as clear if I didn't "ink" Mr. Gibbon's fine work.

And since I made money on this and I am not a thief, I will share the meager 150 bucks I made on this piece with Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons ONLY in the form of a meal on me, or perhaps some drinks, or maybe pie.

yes... a fruit pie.

Labels: Alan Moore, Art, comics, my work, Watchmen

PHYSICAL NOSTALGIA

@ MELT GALLERY

7522 Sunset Blvd, L.A., CA, 90046

323.851.7223

March 7 – 22, 2009

Artist’s Reception Saturday, March 7 from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

The Melt Gallery at Meltdown is proud to present PHYSICAL NOSTALGIA, A group art showing that will serve as an examination of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s graphic novel WATCHMEN and how the themes and images contained therein have permeated pop art culture.

An artist’s reception party will take place on Saturday, March 7, 2009 from 7:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. and is sponsored by Asahi beer.

Curator Marz Richards says, “PHYSICAL NOSTALGIA will exhibit a wild variety of art styles and media to present facets of this seminal work that will be lost as WATCHMEN transitions from the page to the silver screen. Now is the last moment for the knot-tops and grizzled vigilantes of art to stand up and show us what WATCHMEN means to them as the last five minutes of the doomsday clock tick away.”

Exhibiting artists include Eldon Asp, Steven Daily, Howard Hallis, Mack Hill, Jim Mahfood aka FOOD ONE, Kiyoshi Nakazawa, Jeret Ochi, Osgood Perkins, Raymond Persi, Renfield, Fill Marc Sagadraca, Christopher Stangl, Elan Trinidad and Gustavo Garcia Vaca with items from the private collections of John Cogan and David Mandel.

The show will continue in exhibition from March 7 until Saturday, March 22 at the Melt Gallery.

www.meltcomics.com

Labels: Alan Moore, Art, comics, events, my work, Watchmen

Labels: blog, comics, my work

From now on, we'll just refer to this comic as God(tm) or "God - trademark" when referred to orally. The title is still God(tm) (c) 2XX8 *** ***** ****** ******* Incorporated. All rights reserved. God and all related characters, titles, names and documents are trademarks of *** ***** ****** ******* Incorporated. No similarity between any of the names, characters, persons and/or institutions in this deity with those of any living or dead person or institutions is intended and any such similarity which may exist is purely coincidental. but none of you are sharp enough to remember that.

Anyway, Part 1 of "Meet Joeb Kim" is completed. As far as the story goes, nothing still makes any sense. Although, the next part will start to make sense.

But I have to rewrite it. And you won't see anything from the second part for a while.

So I suggest that you e-mail me at elanrodgertrinidad@gmail.com if you want to be updated. Although I don't expect too many e-mails because I haven't gotten to the really good part yet.

Labels: comics, God(tm), my work, updates

For those of you who aren't fanboys, P. Craig Russell is one of the best comic book illustrators alive.

Anyway, on lurid.com there's some videos of Mr. Russell breaking down his work for us.

{sauce}

Labels: comics, Lessons in Cartooning

2008 was an interesting year, but I'm glad to see it go because most of it was spent "funemployed". Although I am thankful for several things, like people who actually read my comics and the high profile job which looks good on a resume.

But I should gear up for this year and try to create some nice goals for myself.

1) Publish A Dream of Conscious Thought on Lulu.
Some years ago I started a comic book company with some high school friends. This company failed miserably. At this company, I started a full color comic book called A Dream of Conscious Thought. It was a metaphysical sort of love story and was a way for me to deal with some love-life drama. Since that time I've gone through a relationship, gone on a few dates, and have found ways to make Ms."Love-life drama" feel very uncomfortable. So I'm not as emotionally motivated to finish the book, but its something I ought to finish. So probably after I'm done with the first part of God™ (and its only a few pages away from part one from completion, I'll prep A Dream of Conscious Thought: book one for Lulu which can be ready by spring or even earlier.

2) Finish my Tarot Card set
Maybe a year and a half ago, I started to redesign the Rider-Waite Tarot with symbols of my own (a lot of Star Wars and Kung Fu). I want to finish it and actually do readings with it (because it impresses chicks).

3) Take Yoga classes and maybe a dance class
I'm thirty and I don't exercise. Besides, I heard people who took Yoga have a better awareness of their body and doing that would probably help me with animation and some weird stage performances that I'm involved with. I wanna take a dance class because I don't want to dance sarcastically like a hipster when I'm drunk.

4) Re-design this site
I forgot what my hit average is. But it isn't bad for a horribly designed website. Sure I know Flash and I'm sure I could take a class, but I really don't have the time for that. I'd rather put my energy into making comics and art and have someone else worry about scripting. I would really like a forum for this site because I've found on reddit.com, people having interesting discussions about The Devil and The Monk and Speak No Evil that can potentially go in interesting directions. But this is something I could probably worry about when I'm on hiatus. I'm not sure when that's going to happen, and really, since my pockets were emptied out last year, the later the better.

These are the main things. I might quit smoking this year, but then again I've been saying that for the past couple of years.

Labels: comics, God(tm), holiday, Life, my work, Speak No Evil, updates, Work In Progress

Whenever I narcissisticly google "Space Mexican" I'll find an entry in a Filipino's blog about it and how I'm Filipino.

I don't have any trouble with this, although I do scratch my head since I haven't found any blogs about "Speak No Evil" on any Mexican blogs. Either I'm not searching hard enough or maybe its because Mexicans are more likely to go out, drink, dance, have a quinceniera, than some Filipinos who stay home and log onto (enter social network website here) all night.

I find a pattern. Filipino blogger who mentions that I'm Filipino.

This clever science fiction story is also a social commentary by Filipino artist Elan Rodger Trinidad. Read the whole piece at Theory of Everything Comics, and don’t forget to check out Elan Rodger’s afterword.

Very easily one of the best online comics I've ever read. "Speak No Evil" is a one-shot scifi webcomic made by a Filipino, Elan Rodger Trinidad. Well worth the few minutes it takes to get through the whole thing.

There's a bunch on livejournal entries, although the Google isn't finding them right now.

I can only speculate why this phenomenon is happening.

1) I mentioned that I was Filipino in the afterward. (Which wasn't a pride thing. I just wanted to show some sort of legitimacy to the story. That this was a story about immigration in general rather than the plight of the Mexicans.)

2) I hit a chord with the Filipinos because the immigration experience depicted was much closer to the Filipino experience than the Mexican experience.

3) A single voice sings "Dahil Sa'yo" while everyone is singing "Besame Mucho".

4) Just as Manny Pacquiao beat Oscar De La Hoya, so too will the Filipino readership of Theory of Everything Comics obliterate the Mexican readership!

5) Mexicans think I'm being racist when I talk about Space Mexicans, or creepily sympathetic (which is LIKE racism).

If you haven't already, check out Speak No Evil: Melancholy of A Space Mexican.

BTW, more on the Filipinos vs Mexicans thing. I just got back from Cancun and visited the Yucatan. Looks just like Bohol.

...except Bohol's got better beaches.

But I gotta admit, the service at the resorts in Cancun was WAY better in Cancun. And free drinks and buffet.

...but Philippines has prettier nature.

...

...

...

...but no free drinks and buffet :(

...

...


PACQUIAO RULES!

Labels: blog, comics, filipino, my work, Speak No Evil

I've colored some previously uncolored pages and added a few more pages. Hopefully we'll see a couple more pages this week.

And if you're new, start here.





And now ladies and gentleman, Miss Macross herself, Lynn Minmay:



And now, ladies and gentleman, Ms. Reba West:



And now ladies and gentleman, an exceptionally cute fobby girl with a video camera, a microphone and too much time on her hands:



I think I'll court her some day.

Labels: anime, comics, God(tm), music, my work, updates

Hey, just to let you know that I'll be up in San Francisco for Alternative Press Expo November 1st and 2nd. (Although I'll probably head out early on the 2nd.)

I'll be at the Fool's Gold Press table selling, trading, or if you're cute, giving away copies of Theory of Everything Comics #1

So, if you're in San Francisco over the weekend and the line for the Chris Ware signing is too damn long, come by the Fool's Gold Press table, I'll sketch ya something nice, chat, maybe even read Tarot (which has actually gotten me a meal once).

Labels: comics, my work, updates

At the podcast Webcomics Beacon they did a short review of Speak No Evil: Melancholy of a Space Mexican.

Someones mic goes out in the middle of the review. I'm amused.

So check out their podcast. I'm always entertained by it, therefore, I will not tell you where to fast forward to, just so you can hear the review.

Labels: comics, my work, podcast, review, Speak No Evil

There's a lot to think about with webcomics. Especially since I'm doing one. So far, the most popular ones are daily strip format. Like PvP, Sinfest and Penny Arcade. One reason why short daily strips are popular is that they don't require that much commitment.

Most people who read webcomics are at work and are taking a break from whatever they've been doing. They want to be entertained for just twenty seconds. They click their bookmark. They forward it to their friends.

Most people don't want to sit in front of a computer a long period of time to read a 40 page comic. They could be spending that same amount of time for something engaging like a video game or chatting or watching videos.

Of course there are exceptions to the rule, and they've written really nice reviews on Stumbleupon, Reddit and have posted links on random blogs. (I find that "The Devil and The Monk" seem to be noticed by atheists and agnostics while "Speak No Evil" is popular among Filipinos on LiveJournal. I hope Chicanos don't think its racist or anything.)

I personally like reading a comic book on a comfortable couch, reclined, head resting on the couch's arm. Its a different experience from reading it on an office chair.

So, what am I to do? I'm not a daily strip guy. Currently, I don't have time for a lot of things.

So I'm considering doing this:

A semi-weekly strip of comics I've never finished called "Work In Progress". They'll be one to five pages long. Think Carol Lay's Story Minute.

When I write a first draft of a comic, they're usually scribbles and some word balloons. At least some of my ideas have a home somewhere out in the collective unconscious.

But, here's the kicker. Some of these comics I wouldn't mind submitting to Zuda or whatever comic book publisher where they own the rights. And I wouldn't mind not drawing them or sharing ownership or even having someone else rewrite them (the deal would vary between different comics). Plus, if an artist was a novice/intermediate, I could teach them what I know about art and comics.

I don't think I'll be able to implement this for a while. I want to prepare these things. Be two months ahead (eight stories prepared).

I want to have something new for my readers at a regular basis since my life outside of this website has been eatting up my time.

Anyone care to comment on my idea?

Labels: comics, my work, Work In Progress

Don't worry. I'm building up to something.

I've gotten a new job and its been taking up a lot of my time right now. I've finished some pages, but I haven't colored them.

Check out the two new pages.

Labels: comics, God(tm), my work, updates

I'm probably inviting something I could do without by posting this. So I'm not going to criticize the subject matter of Holy Comics!

I will, however, criticize the artists' limited understanding of human anatomy. Stringy arms. Stiff pose. Has he ever spent hours just looking at fabric? How it flows and dances with a slight breeze How its slavishly married to the forces gravity? The body looks flat. The waist is so thin. He could use a figure drawing class or two.

Also, the stroke around the "The Most Marvelous Mortal Man" is much too thick. I would stick with all caps. The logo in itself is pretty clever. But I think it could use a 3D element like Steranko's X-men logo.

I don't understand the cast shadow in front of Captain Miracle. Is there another Captain Miracle standing in front of him? And cast shadows are rarely that dark unless there's a powerful spotlight that's so hot, all the color would be washed out on the figure. Cast shadows usually fade off under usual lighting conditions.

Labels: Art, comics, religion, review

My European agent and art dealer just notified me that Theory of Everything Comics #1, a mini comic print version of "The Devil & the Monk" and "Speak No Evil" are available at Orbital Manga.

Orbital Manga
4c Orion House,
Upper St. Martins Lane,
London,
WC2H 9NY

tel:0207 2405577

My agent has already booked a future signing at Orbital, but the contract says that I have to become famous and NOT an asshole in order to participate in this future signing.

...the asshole clause of that contract might be broken already.

Labels: comics, my work, updates

I've added two new pages to God(tm) (c)2XX8 *** ***** ****** ******* Incorporated. All rights reserved. God and all related characters, titles, names and documents are trademarks of *** ***** ****** ******* Incorporated. No similarity between any of the names, characters, persons and/or institutions in this deity with those of any living or dead person or institutions is intended and any such similarity which may exist is purely coincidental.

I finally get to draw some robots. Although, after the next scene, you won't see them for a while.

Labels: comics, God(tm), my work, robots, updates

A friend in London (who I've yet to meet) visited comic book writer/magician/corporate publishing victim, Alan Moore and Melinda Gibbie at Orbital Comics.




Here, he strikes a pose for us.





She got my favorite writer to personally insult me. This is awesome on so many various levels.

I have no idea how to repay her for this. I dunno, maybe a lap dance or something.

Labels: Alan Moore, comics

I can only hope that I can become an eccentric old comic book artist, like this guy:



I can only hope.

Labels: artists, comics

At mangascreener.com, I've been keeping up with Naoki Urasawa's Pluto. Unfortunately, they're not translating it anymore.

The story was originally an Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atom) story by Osamu Tezuka called "The World's Strongest Robot". As summarized by Amazon.com:

A wealthy sultan creates a giant robot to become the ruler of all other robots on Earth. But in order for that to happen, he must defeat the seven most powerful robots in the world, including Astro Boy, who must have his horsepower raised from 100,000 to 1,000,000 to face the challenge! And his sister, Uran, also flies in to lend a helping hand!

It's in the Astro Boy vol. 3 collection.

But Pluto takes those ideas and puts an adult spin on it. It deconstructs the Astro Boy world. Much like Watchmen, it took these childish ideas and made them mature. For example, the Sultan in the original story is now, basically, Saddam Hussein. The ideas of robot prejudice are further fleshed out by Uraswa. There's this great concept: robots don't forget, in fact they remember everything with precision. There are a lot of robot war veterans in this story, and their sense of regret is beyond human imagination.

There's a touching scene when the robot wife (she kind of reminded me of Rosie from the Jetsons) of a robot police officer is told that her husband has been killed on duty. Although her character design shows no emotion, the story and pacing is done so well that you can feel what this robot is thinking. You get a sense that she might not feel things like a human being, but she still mourns for her mechanical husband in her own way.

Also, there's a great scene where Dr Tenma's love/hate for Atom (Astro Boy) is sort of explained but in just a few pages. And the way Astro Boy was interpreted in this story is just brilliant! The concept of a robot having 1,000,000 horsepower is updated to robots having advanced Artificial Intelligence. This advanced AI makes them capable of mass destruction, but also near-human emotion. And, what was originally a minor character in "The World's Strongest Robot" is the main character. And he has a bad ass missile hand!

When I compare the original "The World's Strongest Robot" to its contemporary "Pluto" it's like I'm being told the same story, except one storyteller is ten-years-old and the other is forty. It's a good story, no matter who tells it, and I regret that I didn't grow up with Astro Boy as a kid (I had to settle for Garfield).

Fortunately, Viz Media will be translating this manga and it will be released in February 2009.

Labels: anime, comics, manga, Osamu Tezuka

Labels: comics, my work, pretentious lightbulb men

Although Dark Knight was a brilliant film, well, really, what are the kids gonna play with? It was such a dark film. Although Batman CAN be dark, there was a time when he was light, fun, adventurous, sometimes he was hit with a ray that turned him into "Zebra Batman" and he was meant for ten year olds. So, that's why there's Batman: Brave and the Bold



It's trying to be retro and campy. And I'm not against A retro and campy Batman (it balances out the grim and gritty movie), but as I've entitled this blog entry: "Sound is Everything"



If Batman: Brave and the Bold sounds or feels like this, then it'll be the sort of cartoon that makes me wish that I knocked up a girl 3 or 4 years ago so I have a mini-me to watch this with.

Labels: animation, comics, video

Labels: comics, found on the floor

Yes, Chip Zdarsky, creator of Prison Funnies a great comic strip about prison.


Well, I asked myself what happened to this Zdarsky character, someone who'd obviously have a blog.

I like this image.

Labels: artists, blog, comics

This artist was just brought to my attention, check out http://rumblo.com/ for more comics.

Labels: comics, found on the floor

I am pretty excited about the new WATCHMEN movie that's scheduled to come out next year. It's based on the groundbreaking superhero mini-series by Alan Moore. It might very well be the only movie based on an Alan Moore book that doesn't suck. I'm not saying Alan Moore will like it, but at least Dave Gibbons is working on it.

Although, to the uninitiated, they're going to say "The plot was stolen from that Pixar movie! Why don't I feel happy?! I shouldn't have brought my kids here!" Although I did enjoy Brad Bird's take on superhero reconstructionism, and I mean no disrespect to this man's talents and work, we gotta take into account who the real genius is.

Labels: Alan Moore, animation, comics, movies, Watchmen

The first six pages of "God(tm) (c) 2XX8 *** ***** ****** ******* Incorporated. All rights reserved. God and all related characters, titles, names and documents are trademarks of *** ***** ****** ******* Incorporated. No similarity between any of the names, characters, persons and/or institutions in this deity with those of any living or dead person or institutions is intended and any such similarity which may exist is purely coincidental."
have been completed. Yes, that is the title. No. I haven't even memorized my own title yet. It's a science fiction satire about... well, you can guess by the title.
http://www.theoryofeverythingcomics.com/god/01/

I plan to update it little by little and then have my formal announcement that a scene is finished. I feel the story doesn't hit its stride around page 11 or 12.

And I'll get around to sprucing up the website since people are actually visiting it.

Labels: comics, God(tm), my work, updates

At Comixtreme.com the award winning The Devil and the Monk
(winner of The 2008 Elan' Rodger Trinidad Award in Comic Book Excellence and Bad-assery) was Chase's pick of the week.

Check out the podcast. They mention The Devil and the Monk at the end. But this episode is devoted to Plastic Man and I love Plastic Man. So I'm not going to be a douche bag and tell you where to fast forward to.

UNFORTUNATELY

They got the name of the website wrong and their links to my site are wrong.

Oh well, this is what I get for creating very long domain names. Imagine if there was a domain name for my new comic (which I'm coloring at three in the morning-- I abandoned a nice little party in Little Tokyo for this. AND I got a Comics Crit Meetup tomorrow) it would be:

http://www.godtrademarkcopyright2XX8xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxincorporatedallrightsreservedgodandallrelatedcharacterstitlesnamesanddocumentsaretrademarksofxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxincorporatednosimilaritybetweenanyofthenamescharacterspersonsandorinstitutionsinthisdeitywiththoseofanylivingordeadpersonorinstitutionsisintendedandanysuchsimilaritywhichmayexistispurelycoincidental.com

Y'know, it took me a while to delete all the spaces, just for you. I hope you appreciate all my hard work, especially for the thirty or so people who've subscribed to this blog.

They also mispronounced my name, but I'm used to that. Hell, technically my parents mispronounce my name, and they're the ones that randomly picked it from a baby book.

Hopefully, by the time you check out the site, they'd have corrected the links. If not, then we'll start an e-mail letter writing campaign.

Update: They fixed the link.

Labels: comics, my work, podcast

Labels: comics, my work, pretentious lightbulb men

Labels: comics, friends