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

Vatican City, Dec 19, 2009 / 12:23 pm (CNA).- The Vatican made a declaration on the protection of the figure of the Pope on Saturday morning. The statement seeks to establish and safeguard the name, image and any symbols of the Pope as being expressly for official use of the Holy See unless otherwise authorized.

The statement cited a "great increase of affection and esteem for the person of the Holy Father" in recent years as contributing to a desire to use the Pontiff's name for all manner of educational and cultural institutions, civic groups and foundations.

Due to this demand, the Vatican has felt it necessary to declare that "it alone has the right to ensure the respect due to the Successors of Peter, and therefore, to protect the figure and personal identity of the Pope from the unauthorized use of his name and/or the papal coat of arms for ends and activities which have little or nothing to do with the Catholic Church."

The declaration alludes to attempts to use ecclesiastical or pontifical symbols and logos to "attribute credibility and authority to initiatives" as another reason to establish their “copyright” on the Holy Father's name, picture and coat of arms.

"Consequently, the use of anything referring directly to the person or office of the Supreme Pontiff... and/or the use of the title 'Pontifical,' must receive previous and express authorization from the Holy See," concluded the message released to the press.

I need to finish writing God(tm) because it seems that reality will write it for me.

Labels: God(tm), religion

At The Holy Land Experience you can watch reenactments of the death of Jesus Christ. Its a great photo op!

Since when has Jesus Christ become Mickey Mouse? And as I've said before, this is what happens when you don't have a Liturgical tradition. It just cheapens this 2,000-year-old tradition!

(Yes, I plan to visit for the sake of sarcasm and irony.)

Besides, they don't even use real nails and that's not real blood. This is why I'm proud of being Filipino.

Labels: God(tm), religion

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

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

Labels: gnostic, poetry, religion, video

Labels: gnostic, religion

[SAUCE]

When the Dalai Lama paid a visit to Emory University, he offered an introductory lecture to Tibetan Buddhism. The lecture is not exactly what you’d normally get in the university classroom. The talk is not entirely linear. And he spends some time speaking in English, then speaks in his native tongue (with the help of an interpreter). But, he can talk about Buddhism with the authority that few authors can, and there’s a reason audiences come to see him in droves.

Things really get going about 23 minutes in.

Labels: lecture, religion, video

I was just reading Paul Sloboda's review of God(tm)...again (I'm much too lazy to cut and paste the complete title right now, and at some point I ought to memorize it)

One of the things he likes is the pixellation of corporate logos.

The usage of low-resolution pixellation in the comic is a brilliant touch. I'm sure more than one person will think it's a problem with their browser. He employs this approach on a number of corporate names and logos, and it seems to walk hand in hand with the contractually obscured nature of the comic's title. Legally, I'm sure Elan couldn't stretch the copyright concept of "Fair Use" far enough to use the real St*tb*cks logo in every instance he has it obscured in the comic... but artistically, why would he want to? If copyright laws don't allow him to do it, it's their shortcoming he's illustrating, in their bold and clunky pixellated matrices.

There are several reasons why I do this:

1) I don't want anyone to sue me but I do believe in fair use. Its weird that modern media has to be a little careful to use corporate logos in order to artistically comment and express the realities of our modern world. After all, these billboards, t-shirts, banner ads, etc. etc. have invaded our world are part of the flora and fauna of our modern world. And depicting this or that fast food logo or this or that erectile dysfunction ad should be natural when we contribute to this culture.

I mean, I could use the real logos. But when this book sees print, I might be over using the logos so much that I could get sued.

2) I find it distracting when artists use fake logos. Look at Geof Darrow's work on Hard Boiled. There's familiar red cans that say "Cola Cola" in nice friendly letters and fake advertisements that whirlwind into the visual noise of urban life. I'm not criticizing Darrow's brilliant work, but you tend to pay more attention to the ads than you would to the ads in your everyday life.

I wanted something familiar, like when you see a guy on COPS and his t-shirt is all blurry. Or when you're out and about, past bus billboards, and you only give the ad half a thought because you realize your date stood you up (you know who you are).

There's something impressionistic about the cacophony of advertisements these days. And I chose to make it literal.

3) Some ads are just squiggles I draw in Photoshop and then I hit the mosaic filter. Making obscured ads is less time consuming than drawing fake ones. I'm also a very lazy artist.

4) One theme that is apparent, or will become apparent, in this story is equating corporate entities to deities. Corporations have the same rights as people. That's so the individual(s) who own a corporation don't have to deal with the fuss about paying taxes or buying pencils or going to jail.

But corporations have sort of become our pagan gods. We pray to them by buying their goods and services. They employ middle management and accountants as their priests. When we appease them, they make our economy prosper.

And when we say their name in vain and slander, they send their lawyers down from the heavens and hand us a cease and desist notice.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not some liberal who hates anything and everything corporate. But I am a moderate who looks at corporations with a weary eye, just like I look at the guy who asks me for change. I have benefited from corporate goods, services, and employment (especially employment) over the years. I'll be good to them if they shower me with electronics and movies and processed food. But corporations aren't gods. They're more like a cow that has walked into your living room. You want its milk and meat, but you don't want to have to plan your life around a cow that is in your living room.

And that's why we should vote for leaders who will (hopefully) take the cow outside and milk it for us, or in some cases, take it to the slaughter house.

Corporations are creatures that will do anything and everything to eat money. If what they do is helpful to us, we should reward a corporation for making our lives easier. They will tell us lies and half truths to make them believe in their brand, but in the end, you'll realize that this deodorant isn't helping you get laid, despite what the magic box says. But you like how it makes you smell because its a better option than how you'd usually smell.

5) Pixellation looks really cool. I wonder why it isn't used more often.

6) By obscuring a logo, since the colors were chosen to be associated with that brand, you still understand what that brand is.

Anyway, I hope this all makes me sound really smart and that I never get sued. If I ever do get a cease and desist notice, then that cease and desist notice will be used to obscure that logo.

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

Four minutes of dramatic readings from choice selections in various fundamentalist Christian online forums. http://www.fstdt.com/

Labels: religion, video

You gotta love the Jesuits.

For the full video, go to http://fora.tv/2008/03/02/Brother_Guy_Consolmagno_God_s_Mechanics#chapter_02

Labels: religion, science, video

http://www.npr.org/programs/re/geography_heaven/kawakarpo/wheeloflife/slide.html

Labels: links, religion

Labels: religion, video

http://www.carm.org/cults/cultgrid.htm


http://kishcom.com/the_golden_rule.jpg

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/karen_armstrong_makes_her_ted_prize_wish_the_charter_for_compassion.html

http://www.ourrisingsound.com/2008/08/19/presbyterian-vs-catholic-church-sign-debate/

http://www.religionfacts.com/

Labels: links, religion

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

This comic is truly profound. One of the main points the Lotus Sutra teaches is that anyone regardless of past deeds can attain enlightenment in this life time. You are also correct about demons being converted and serving as guardians, but not just for temples. Some demons take on protective duties for all Buddha's after spending time trying to make the Buddhist's life as painful as possible. So in a way that demon reincarnating the monk in the story would have served his purpose of acting as a protector, and the fact that afterwards begins to meditate afterwards falls right in line with everything I've ever heard about demons in Buddhist practice.

--Hiro Shimada
(a Buddhist)

I've gotten a few e-mails from other Buddhists and a Hindu on The Devil and The Monk, but I think that this is what I wanted to hear. That is, a Catholic-born Gnostic-convert living in America gave a good interpretation of Buddhist ideas, both philosophical and mythic/cultural.

For people who might take offense or misinterpretation of the word "myth", I'm using the definition I learned from my instructor in my old "Fairytales and Folklore" class.

Myth: a story that may or may not be true but is culturally important to a people (I'm paraphrasing of course, I took that class like-- 6 or 7 years ago. I'm not gonna dig up that syllabus I kept from college).

So, if I refer to a "Christian Myth", I am not an angry atheist, I'm just stating that this old tale, that God only knows is historically accurate, is important to the Christian people and culture.

P.S. Heather Joseph-Whitham was a great teacher. If I could find a link to that one book she wrote about Klingon Fan Culture, I'd post it up (although there has been a steady decline in the Klingon population that seems to coincide with the depletion of the Ozone Layer). She's also made appearances on Mythbusters as a Folklorist and Urban Legend specialist.

Labels: feedback, my work, religion

Labels: Alan Watts, philosophy, religion

I bet that whatever country the animation was done in, they weren't Christian. (This isn't meant to be a mean statement. I worked on a cartoon about the Buddha.)


There are ten commandments and seven deadly sins, but this one breaks the laws of all twelve principles of animation! I liked the old days when a deity was praised with a statue or painting. But a badly animated production in shoddy "Anime Style", a visual style few Americans really understand, just lacks any sort of class. At least the first cartoon had production value.


I really like his character design of Jesus but I'm expecting a song and dance number.


I kinda like the animation. Reminds me of Alex Toth designs. I hope someone will some day edit this with episode of Super Friends. I like the sound effect when Jesus is "re-created".


These two look like they were done by the same animation studio. This cartoon manages to discredit itself with its limited animation more than it does Mormonism.

Labels: animation, religion, video

At comicbookreligion.com some one (or a team) has meticulously cataloged every superhero and comic book character so fanboys can site more fictitious facts to answer the question: "Who'd win in a fight..."

They actually put an entry for Theory of Everything Comics and sited the award winning The Devil and The Monk.

The award in question is the 2008 Elan' Rodger Trinidad Award in Comic Book Excellence and Bad-assery. How do you think Will Eisner won all those Eisner Awards? He took initiative and made his own award ceremony!

The winner of this year's Elan' Rodger Trinidad Award in Comic Book Excellence and Bad-assery, who by coincidence was Elan' Rodger Trinidad, got to go to the Eagle Rock Jollibee and ordered the Chicken Joy Bucket with an Ube Shake and Halo Halo.
(Remember, all you non-Filipinos who've stumbled into Jollibee ORDER THE CHICKEN JOY, NOT THE BURGERS!-- at least when you're in the US Jollibee, if you're in the Philippines, the burgers are all right.)

Labels: comics, filipino, my work, religion