Interviewed on NBC Latino.Com

There's a new interview with me up on NBC Latino.Com. 

I was contacted due to my role in the Latino Comics Expo, which is happening this weekend in San Francisco, once again at the Cartoon Art Musuem. In addition to talking about the Expo, we also discussed my own comics work.

Please click the link to read the interview, and if you're inclined to leave a comment on their site, please do so!

And hope to see you at the Latino Comics Expo in San Francisco this June 1 & 2!

3 more titles in my Webshop are sold out/out of print

Three more of my comics are now "Out of Stock" in my Webshop!

COMIC POP!, MANGA MUERTO Vol 1 and THE COMA.

 

Along with the previously announce MAN-SWAMP and EL MUERTO: DEAD & CONFUSED, that brings my number of Out-of-Print books up to 5!

I'm always glad, of course, when people purchase my books.
With the unfortunate demise of IC GEEKS PUBLISHING last year, I've not found a suitable printer for my floppy comics. And by suitable I mean 'good pricing'. Shopping around, I find way fewer financially attractive choices in terms of a POD (print on demand) comic book printers. POD allows me to order a nominal number of copies at a time. Ordering 50-100 copies of a book at a time is reasonable, giving the shows I do, and other outlets I have to sell my books. The great thing about POD is that I could always order another batch of books when I needed them.

I'm in the process of putting together THE LOS COMEX CODEX, a paperback collection of my out-of-print books, but that won't be released until a few more months.

The thing is, I really designing in the floppy comic book format. Most of my books include additional artwork on the back covers, inside covers, plus I usually include behind-the-scenes text pieces on each book, including production art and thumbnails of the original pages. But that makes the printed copies special once they're sold out! The folks who have them will have something a little different from those who read them in paperback form. And yes, I realize that I need to get my books in digital formats as well. But even those will have contents different than the printed versions.

I think that the most unique book I had in my product line was COMIC POP!

 
This book featured rare work of mine, some done for other creator's comics. In 2008 I had contributed to an appearance in the BALDO newspaper strip, where El Muerto showed up in Baldo's world. With a special arrangement with creators Hector Cantu and Carolos Castellanos, I had permission to reprint the multi-part storyline in this comic.

While these three titles are no longer available in the Webshop, there are a few copies probably floating around in some of the shops I have them in. I always keep one or two copies of each of my titles for file copies. Since I won't be going back and printing these titles, at least not in their current format, any copies that turn up at my convention appearances will be placed in that 'Out-of-Print' category. Aimed more at serious collectors and completists, if you know what I mean.....

Check out my Webshop if you'd like to purchase my remaining titles, and thanks to all who've supported me in the past. Your purchases and readership are very much appreciated. 

Interviewed on HISPANIC.COM

I've got a brief interview over at Hispanic.Com. 

We talk about creating comics, the Muerto movie and working with younger artists, among other things!

Check it out. And they also have an interview with me and Ricardo Padilla about starting the Latino Comics Expo. 

I'll be at the WHAM BANG POW - THE RETRO EDITION tonight

The follow-up to last November's inaugural WHAM! BANG! POW! art show is happening tonight at The Vex.

I'll be there selling my ever-dwindling supply of floppy comics, as well as my Poster Comics and prints. I'll also have my brand-new Sketch Posters....

It comes printed with full-color images of my characters, along with a unique hand-drawn sketch!

The event begins at 8pm tonight. Check out their Facebook page for more details!  

LOLIPOP KID & CUP CAT Poster Comic plus a free Comic Book Workshop!

If you couldn't tell I've been exceptionally busy by my lack of posts so far this year, the fact that I finally had time to devote to creating a new Poster Comic should prove that!

Here it is, my latest one-page comic, starring LoliPop Kid & Cup Cat!

These two characters are ones that I've been using for the last several years in my comic book workshops. When demonstrating to the students methods on creating a comic page, I use Lolipop Kid and Cup Cat as characters in the lesson. I solicit ideas from the class on which way to take the story, then I'll illustrate each panel as they describe the action.

It's a great way to engage them in the storytelling process, after which they begin working on designing their own characters and later, draw their own comic.

I had never created my own story with these two, so I thought it'd be fun to use them for a Poster Comic. The artwork was produced soley via computer, on a program called Illustrator. The lines are all drawn in what's called 'vector art', a process which I'm lousy at describing but it's produced with either the 'pen' or 'pencil' tool (I used both).

It's a little hard to read at the size it appears here, but if you go to my page on DeviantArt, and click on the image once you see the page, you'll open up a much larger, more readable version.

It was fun working on a real simple, all-ages comic. This comic can also function as a guide to storytelling with comics, so it'll serve an instructional purpose in addition to it's entertainment value.

And lest anyone think I've lost my 'edge', here's a peek at the character for my next Poster Comic....

By the way, speaking of workshops, I'll be conducting one of my free "Let's Make Comics!" workshops this weekend at the Hastings Branch Library in Pasadena. No registration is required. The workshop is being brought to you by the Library as part of their FREE COMIC BOOK DAY celebration, so join in the fun and let's make comics!

I'll be at Wondercon this Friday, March 29

This Friday I'll be appearing at Wondercon for two presentations:

Wondercon will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center from March 29-31.

While I won't have a table at the show, I hope some of you can make it out to see me. The Latino Comics Roundtable should be fun, so feel free to ask questions and keep the roundtable spinning! And bring your kids out to my comic book workshop, I guarantee you they'll have fun making their own comics!

Here comes THE LOS COMEX CODEX

I'm currently in production on my first trade-paperback collection:

('Codex' is the name of the ancient manuscripts composed of sheets of hand-written content. The Aztecs and Mayans were known for their folded codices, one large continuous paper featuring their hand-drawn & colored stories and histories).

THE LOS COMEX CODEX is going to be a hefty book, at 8.5" x 11" some 130 pages or so. I'm collecting several of my titles in this volume, some of which will soon be out-of-print in their current comic book format. The stories being collected are: Weapon Tex-Mex vs El Muerto, Man-Swamp, Manga Muerto in "A Day at the Beach" (from MANGA MUERTO Vol 1), The Coma and Dead Dinosaurio.

The Codex will not only function as a collection of my work, but also marks the 15th Anniversary of Los Comex, my imprint from which I've been publishing all my comics work since I started in 1998. I'm writing a foreward to the book, featuring some recollections of the comics that inspired me as a kid, what drove me to draw and my motivations to create my own comics. Plus there'll be a brief introduction to each story, sharing some insight into the making of that particular comic. 

I'm having a great time designing the book, as it allows me play around with a lot of creative choices in terms of presentation and graphic design. That's one of the things I love about self-publishing, having the freedom to make creative decisions on the look of the whole book. The entire publication becomes a reflection of one's artistic voice, in addition to creating the story and characters.

As a kid growing up in the 70s, some of my favorite books were a series of paperbacks written by Stan Lee, writer and co-creator of the original Marvel Comics superstars like Spider-Man and Fantastic Four. I first saw ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS advertised in the comics themselves, then one day at a local store, BOOKLAND, I saw the entire series up on their wall behind the cash register. Well, with my allowance money (and extra pestering of Mom and Dad), I eventually completed my run of all four books in the series.

Each book featured Stan's recollections on the creation and development of each title. As a kid, it was fascinating to read such behind-the-scenes revelations, and I'm sure it sparked in me the idea of creating my own actual stories.

So, with the upcoming LOS COMEX CODEX, it'll be a nice nod to those early books, but also a way to introduce new readers to my work. If you already have copies of some of my floppy comics, perhaps you'd still like to have something a little heftier to put on your bookshelf alongside your Shakespeare and Stephen King novels!