RUIN

"RUIN is the path to TRANSFORMATION."...Heard this quote in 2 movies recently,...and it's truth cuts deep.

The AMAZON is WILD!

The Amazon is indeed wild! A little online company called AMAZON has chosen Jazan Wild's CARNIVAL COMICS as the FIRST and ONLY comic book company to be part of their App store company launch! I am proud to be Carnival comic's lead artist and happy that I can finally announce this great news! To shed some light on the honor, this launch was and is not an APP free for all, where almost anyone can register and provide content like most of the communication platforms providing APP content. This is a different model that AMAZON and ANDROID are establishing whereby the APP content is more selective so that you the consumer don't have to sift through mountains of sub-par APPS. We at CARNIVAL have been graced by the titan online retailer that is AMAZON and ANDROID to provide entertaining APPS that represent the vast comic book community.

There are so many great and talented books out there that I'm certain we will be in good company soon. The digital age is upon us and although I myself miss what it's like to enjoy a visceral experience with print comics, what should always be the most important part of comics, is the story.

I have worked closely with Jazan Wild long enough to see his grand vision come to life both in music and art, both of which entwine his magical stories. His stuff is in your face and what Rock 'n' Roll comics is all about.

I am in the trenches completing Jazan's 4th and final Funhouse of Horrors book after which I will be continuing the CARNIVAL of SOULS series that stopped at Issue 3 when published at Marcosia. Issue's 1-3 of both CARNIVAL of SOULS and the FUNHOUSE of HORRORS are available for download at Amazon right now! What's even better about this is that they're FREE!

On top of that, AMAZON has developed a new feature that allows you to test the APP on your computer! Now you can catch up on all the CARNIVAL titles before we release the books I've been working on. Click on the title above for a link to the books! Strap in and enjoy the ride!

The UNIQUES

This is a long time coming. I finally have a minute to mention and rave about The UNIQUES. This is a comic series created, written, drawn and colored by the dynamic duo, Adam Withers and Comfort Love.

They've been adding to the Uniques mythos for a while and have a lot of books under their belt. It's super hero stuff at it's best in the indy market. The art is spectacular and they have created a rich three dimensional universe. You can get your fix here, either in print or online: http://uniquescomic.com/
They do this for a living so be generous. A while back they asked myself and other talented folks to contribute to a spin off feature called The Uniques Tales. I was asked to draw a pinup of their character the Country Man, which was part of a story in The UNIQUES TALES Issue # 5. You can read the story online here: http://uniquescomic.com/issueut.php
Thanks so much for enoying this stuff and supporting your independent comics.

The Opossum!

The Opossum!

Yes, that's right you heard me correctly. The Opossum! I know, it's a little odd hearing that and relating it to comic books but is it? It's comics after all and I can think of another rodent turned the symbol of hope for a city called Gotham.

Anyway, last summer I was invited to be a guest at a fledgling Con down in the gulf of TX (TABLE Con), in Brownsville and McAllen Texas specifically. I was invited by Nino Mesarina, (of Too Much Laundry Detergent Man, fame) and the talented team of Omer Garcia III(Glitch) and Aaron Moses (The Opossum).

They were great hosts. We visited South Padre island for a great dinner and I met a lot of nice fans. I was fortunate enough to make new friends and colleagues and be introduced to their local comic book offerings. This always excites me because I am reminded as to why I wanted to start working in this industry to begin with.

The Opossum has a lot of potential as do the creators I met. There is an abundance of talent in south Texas and plenty of kindness. Take some time to say Hi yp these guys on Facebook or Myspace and inspire one another. Till next time.

www.theopossum.com

New Year...right?

Wow, ok I don't even know where to start. Or even if I should but the show (life) must go on right?

This isn't a memoir so I won't go into much detail. I think that's been my problem though, is that I tell people way too much and still keep important bits to myself. The pieces that aren't very flattering and in the end I am my worst fan, which leads to not so great things.

I've had to reprioritize my life yet again and hopefully move forward in a positive way. What this means for you, is more art and hopefully better art. I know pain is good for creative people so I've got a mountain load of it to kull from.

I've learned and am learning one of the biggest lessons ever. First, you can't really love anyone 100% until you love yourself. In the end, you'll self implode and there will be collateral damage. The people around you.

Second, who we are is determined not by how we act but how we RE-act. Trust me, when things happen and we fall or are kocked down or knock ourselves down, what we do next says a lot about who we choose to be. We are not 2 dimensional people but humans with a mosaic of feelings, experiences and angels and demons. How we choose to deal with these will affect who we are profoundly.

Through the last few months, I've learned a lot about myself and the people around me. Or the people I had around me. It's a blessing and has streamlined my life in both good and bad ways.

I'm grateful I was forced to look at myself and admit so many things. That part was and is by far the hardest. Now it's time to get up and walk on.

I'm excited to be posting work from CARNIVAL Comics soon and hopefully some great stuff in between. Thank you for being there with me. I don't forget it.

We are all works in progress and like the art we do, we don't exit this life perfect and done. We abandon life as a work in progress hoping for all of our flaws, we are still appreciated for the rest of our beauty. No one is an exception. Sometimes we need to die in order to be reborn again. Let's see what this year brings.

2010 Best of the Best: El Paso's Best Artist Winner for What's up Magazine

I'm not big on contests or awards but if you're recognized it is an honor because that means that somewhere out there someone is recognizing you. That means a lot to me because as a creator my goal is to express myself and I do that by doing what I love. I love sequential art and I didn't think that had any room in the fine art world as well, but I guess it does.

For whatever reason, thank you all for the endless encouragement and kind words. I'm always appreciative that anyone at all cares about what I do. I hope I can continue to use my art to help people to think, feel and grow in any way possible. Thank you What's Up Magazine for helping El Pasoans vote me the city's BEST ARTIST this year. It's an honor. Hopefully I can live up to that by giving you all some decent art and stories soon.

CARNIVAL comics Sues NBC

"Both stories have a Hunter who attacks the Carnival while his daughter is at the Carnival. On the left is a scene where the Hunter from Carnival of Souls is looking at his daughter through the scope of his rifle. In the picture on the right, the Hunter from Heroes is also looking at his daughter through the scope of his gun, while he is attacking the Carnival."




"Above is where both stories have an evil character enter the House Of Mirrors and blast an enemy with Kinetic Energy from his hands. The camera angle is substantially similar. Both are overhead shots as the evil character enters. The design of the mirrors is similar, as is the darkness behind the mirrors. The scene seems to be directly storyboarded from Carnival of Souls."






"Above is where both protagonists have their names called out to them and both protagonists then reply 'Mother/Mom' when their dead mother appears to them in the mirrors. The camera angle of both characters as well as the circular House Of Mirrors design are substantially similar. The scene seems to be directly storyboarded from Carnival of Souls.)"





To read details click on the Title above. The nitty gritty of this case is how we feed these corporate creatures enough that they are capable of consuming US at some point. I'm the ARTIST for the upcoming issues for CARNIVAL Comics CARNIVAL of SOULS series, available for download on your smart phone. I can tell you that what I know and have seen leaves little doubt as to whether or not NBC indeed got lazy and stole story elements from the CARNIVAL of SOULS series.

This circumstance and the images are now a matter of public record so, although there will be a presiding Judge in the case, I know you will still judge based on what you see. That's what people do.

Since the lawsuit was filed, I've seen the response online and am perplexed at how quickly people have an opinion, especially after NOT having read the comic book in reference. The lawsuit is NOT based on stolen, CONCEPTS, TITLES or general IDEAS. The entertainment industry in general is full of projects that very obviously do "their" version of the same idea. Sometimes with similar TITLES and promotional graphic images to lull us into buying some derivitive or second hand version.

That IS NOT the issue here. What happens when you have generic ideas or concepts lifted but it doesn't stop there. What if YOUR "STORY" which was obviously literally available to anyone at their fingertips (You can read the Carnival of Souls comics on your smart phone right now so it's not like it's obscure) is used on a well financed show? We're talking about not only, the concepts (which aren't original) but specific screen shots, story elements and sequences of specific events that ecompass an entire story. Of couse, the characters are not expactly the same and other elements are different, but to focus on the differences is simply misdirection. We're talking about the elements that are the same.

The facts are, there was MOTIVE, ( the shows ratings were dropping) there was OPPORTUNITY, (I can't divulge those details) and the worst part of all, is I'm sure they think they can get away with it.

If you think, you're safe from this kind of corporate Piracy, think again. It's a subtle thievery but keep in mind these writers are under a lot of pressure to keep these huge shows afloat. It only takes one person to compromise their morals and a huge network to back them up for advertising money on a once successful show.

We all create comic books because we love them, and usually money isn't the reason we continue to do them but just because we're barely on the mainsteams radar that does NOT give some CORPORATION the right to do this. I love lot's of other NBC shows, so it's not a boycott but if it looks like a DUCK in this case.....