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My main reason for joining is to do a shout out, so to speak, about Cyberlight Comics. There are many Christian sibling artists (and writers) who have not heard about Cyberlight. Cyberlight is basically a haven for Christian comics of all types. We work together to keep our massive web site constantly updated, which has earned us a positive reputation in the web community. We get about 1,200 unique visitors each month and over 2,000 visits. We have about 800 or so people on our mailing list. We have almost two dozen titles on the site.
Our focus is not about making impressive site stats. Indeed, we are about promoting christian comics and entertainment from all over, in order to glorify God.
So, if you have never heard of Cyberlight before, check us out. Poke around the site, kick the tires, and read the "About Us" pages. :) If you like what you see, join our bulletin board (That where you can usually find me) and let us know what works for you and what does not. Finally, if you think that a partnership (of any type) can benefit the kingdom of God, contact me. You would be surprised just how many different ways we can work together to lead people closer to Him.
By His Grace,
JCServant
Cyberlight Comics
Project Director
Each week Zondervan is previewing a new comic on the "Exclusives" page of theire website and this week it's HeroTV's turn in the spotlight.
The comic can be downloaded at: http://www.zgraphicnovels.com/exclusives/
HeroTV #1 is the first part in a three-part story arc focusing on the villain of HeroTV: CAPES, Professor Gravitron. The story is by Ben Avery and Jeremy Zehr, with art by Darren Brady, Chuck Von Schaaf, Jonathan Koelsch, Sherwin Schwartzrock and yours truly.
Check out the comic and please take a few moments to complete the survey that follows the comic. It will help guide future projects for the Z Graphic Novel line.
Megazeen is an independent, raw anthology founded in early 2002 by Joseph Crossett and me. The idea behind the book was to create a Christian comic that WE would want to read. It would not be the traditional "safe" fare that Christian comics were traditionally known for, which was either extremely kid-friendly or in-your-face and down-your-throat evangelism. We were tired of people telling us what faith-based entertainment SHOULD be. We didn't want a book that the forty-year-old moms at the Christian bookstores would look through. Our book would be raw, entertaining, funny, even controversial at times, geared toward regular comic book readers, loser kids, kids on the fence. Gone would be the sappy cliche's and dardee dar endings we'd become accustomed to. And from that came our first slogan, "Christian comics without the cheese."
This, of course, ticked some people off.
Were we implying that Christian comics were cheesy? Yup. Were we implying that Christian comics should be geared toward the Beavis and Butthead generation more than the church youth group? Yup.
The hate mail was almost immediate. Even before the first issue debuted.
And it was all from Christians.
It surprised us- but from that came our second slogan. "If you're not ticking someone off, chances are you're not doing it right."
Megazeen has become, in many ways, instrumental in the ongoing success of Christian comics in general. More on that later.
I'm going to be updating the main website shortly, with a page devoted to each issue we did. It will show some clips from the book, some of the stories behind the scenes, even some of the bitter internal feuds we had as we disagreed about content more than once. We even managed to tick each other off!
As we wrap up production on our 14th and 15th regular issues, it's pretty amazing looking back to see where we came from- but looking ahead, there's no end to this series.
Submissions ALWAYS welcome- just don't make 'em CHEESY!
Viva la Megazeen, la comica sans fromage!
Leave a comment there and let me know what you think.
The Spitfire Grill
The Apostle
Saved
The Shawshank Redemption
Chocolat
The Sky Is Watching
Black Snake Moan
Shadowlands
Cool Hand Luke
The Green Mile
Meet John Doe
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The Poseidon Adventure
Luther
Spirited Away
The Return of the Jedi
Blade Runner
The Matrix Revolutions
What films do you think should be added to the list?
I figured if I spoke these then I would become accountable for these, instead of keeping them hidden to myself. Some are short-term, some are long-term. Here goes:
I would like to get back to doing fine art shows, the last one was in ?1997. I've done several one man shows and several two person shows. Which means I need to produce new works, yea! Find an outlet/gallery for sales of the works. Produce prints, etc. I'd like to do more painting (oils and acrylics), and sculpting, as well as some more pencils work. i'd like to do more experimenting in the digital medium.
Finish, market, sale my tattoo flash art cd.
Comics: finishing coloring Joe Sonntag's Vengeance Studio Reeper-Destroyer comic.
Comics: Several projects for Roman Morales III's Third Empire Studio.
Comics: Revive some of my creator-owned projects from the 1990's:The Agenda, Kangaroo Court, Seal, The Fisherman, The Angel Called Machinehead, Queen of the Pygmies, and many more.
Comics: Produce some recent creator-owned properties: Parlay-A Western Tale, and Control Syndicate.
I'd eventually like to work with Sean Terry, Jason Pell, Derek Ivan Webster(again), Sketch Magazine, Nar, Jon Malin, Dan Prado, Queenie and Pocket Full of Posiez(tm), too start.
I'd like to produce a Grizzly Adams comic (remember the old shows). and Thundarr the Barbarian (remember the old cartoons).
Produce/sculpt/market/sale toys to go with the above goals.
I'm thinking I might start my tourism paper back up...or not, I don't know yet.
I'd also like to get some animated properties going....
I'd like to do a fundraising comic for the National Cancer Society (in honor and memory of family members that have had or have cancer)
There are several other goals, but they have to do with family, home and day job/finances, so I won't bore everyone with that.
As an Artist, there are many thing, probably unlimited Motivators that light that fuse. What are some of your inspirations that help you design, what kind of motivators do you look for when going after a specific work?
I love Music, various types of music, this is one of my stimuli's, I also love visual stimuli, I love to watch Discovery, Military, National Geographic, History and Cartoon Channels...........
Rain, Thunder (especially thunder), sunsets, the forest, the smell of sage after a rain. and as being a Cop, I love the adrenaline rush of the chase, the contact with suspects and the incidents that arise from various circumstances. I use all that energy that is built up and put it to paper, in words, lines and shapes, and in sculptures.....
Gods handy work in nature, The laughter of my kids, my wifes smile, her eyes....her voice...I've been very blessed by God, and its time to give back and raise Him with what I can do....I hope you can enjoy what I do and see the inspiration that is within the lines..
That is where I usually start,
what are your switches and fuse's?
Subtitle: Overcoming Temptations… Part 1
1. There is no temptation if there is no tempter.
The devil doesn’t know everything that is in our minds, but he does know if we have accepted a thought that he suggested… Satan doesn’t know all things so he presents different situations to us to get us to fall. There are times that he fails, because what he thinks might be a temptation to us may not be a temptation at all. But when he finds something that he can hook a person with he’ll use that one thing as best as he can until he destroys the individual with that thing (and for many it’s multiple things that he uses). If stealing isn’t a strong temptation to you, when the devil realizes it he’ll try to tempt you with something else. He’s trying to hook our heart to something that is against the will of God to pull us out of righteousness back into sin. The hook can develop in us if we entertain the temptation long enough. The hook can already be implanted in our soul, or he can even use the hook he has in our sin natured body if we haven’t denied or spiritually crucified our selves- Rom 7:22-25, Gal 2:20, Luke 9:23. The hook the devil will try and use to pull us can even be in the form of a demon/principality brooding/hovering over the atmosphere we are walking into or through on the streets or in a building/house, but this is where we need to know the scriptures that counteract the nature of whichever temptation the devil is using. This is why St. Paul tells us to be filled with the spirit- Eph 5:18-21, so that when the devil comes he has no place to put his hook, because your mind is preoccupied with the things of God. So now the power radiating in your atmosphere caused by the word and worship or prayer disrupts, disturbs and repels the sinful atmosphere trying to influence you to sin. Or there is a detailed word in our spirit that strengthens us not to give in to the devil.
Atmospheric influence:
If there is a great influence of spiritual activity in an atmosphere, everyone and everything that comes into it’s territory will fall subject to it’s power unless something in your spirit is stronger than the spiritual activities happening in that place. Saul wanted to kill David at Naioth in Ramah, but the activity of the Holy Spirit was so high in that place that it caused Saul’s men to prophesy instead of arresting David three separate times. Saul himself fell subject to the Power of Gods Spirit and prophesied the entire night instead of laying hands on David to kill him -1Sam 19:20-23. You can be going to school to become a doctor but if the power working in your spirit isn’t greater than the atmospheric powers of Satan in that place you’ll most likely fall a prey to what ever it’s influencing the people to do. If it’s an influential spirit of failure you can become a dropout, if it’s to make fast and dishonest money then drug dealing may seem more appealing. You can go to a city to evangelize to prostitutes but if you’re not covered and empowered by Gods leading you can end up sleeping with them instead, because this is the influence of the atmosphere you’re walking into. In the same way someone can go to church with carnal intentions but end up getting saved. The great thing about atmospheric influence is that they all become subject to the Christian when he/she realizes the authority he/she has and WALKS IN IT…
2. Eve wasn’t tempted to eat the forbidden fruit in Genesis Chap 3 until the devil opened his dirty mouth and said something to her… but at the same time she entertained the devil long enough to hear and believe his lies. So if you are tempted to do evil it’s also a sign that you’re in a better condition than what you’re tempted to do and God must have a better plan for you, otherwise the devil wouldn’t bother.
3. If the devil has a hook in you the first step to deliverance is to confess it. If you don’t confess it you will always fall for it because you are in denial of truth. It’s the truth that makes us free St. John 8:32 even if it’s a confession of being hooked, so we have to be honest with ourselves… King David said “When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.” Psalms 94:18 . This is where you allow God to take over and become your strength in dealing with the powers of that or those temptations, it is then that you will have inner victory. Let go of your own strength now, and depend on God. This is how the believer lives, not by his own strength and abilities but by FAITH in Gods’ abilities… 2Cor 5:7, Zech 4:6 Rev 12:11
Temptations will always come because the devil will always try, but some days will be much easier than others because the devil and his demons can’t be everywhere at one time and he’ll even go away for seasons as he did to Jesus - Luke 4:13. but remember that temptations aren’t designed to frustrate you but to build your faith and patience in God- James 1:2-4…
I've got crushing student loans looming overhead, demanding to be paid. Praise God, my wife has a job lined up, but thus far I have nothing concrete as far as work is concerned. I got generally positive feedback at Wizard World from editors, but aside from being generally vaporous requests to see more samples - which I'm thankful for, don't get me wrong - I don't yet have a reason to think I won't have to hit the bricks and start job-hunting once we get to Los Angeles. And that first job may well be a non-art-related job, just to help pay bills and rent.
The thing is, right now I can't help but feel as though getting anything other than a job working in comics, or storyboarding, or art of some kind, would be a failure. I know that's not necessarily true, but having gone through four years of art school and having to make enough money to begin the long, long process of paying it off, I can't escape the feeling that I should be handed something more concrete than a degree come December. I guess I've always assumed that I would have work lined up by the time I was ready to graduate; I kind of imagined a line of company representatives hovering over the graduating class, sizing up the talent and handing out business cards. Thus far I haven't seen any evidence of that - some of the friends I've made here who have graduated are still struggling to find paying art careers.
I ran into my Foundation Writing teacher today, and she reminded me to check with the Career Center on campus. Completely reasonable suggestion, and yet somehow it totally eluded me. I've also been planning to really hit up my old teachers for connections this semester, in the hopes that one of them might be able to hook me up with somebody. And one of my teachers this semester got work with Target as an illustrator/graphic designer right after she graduated. So who knows? Maybe my little fantasy won't be too far off the mark?
That's the scariest part for me. I don't know. I don't know how this is supposed to work. One of the main reasons I didn't go to art school until I was 30 was that my parents didn't know anything about the art world, and neither did I. I didn't know where I was supposed to look, whom I was supposed to talk to, what I was supposed to have in my portfolio, and so on. I kind of gave up on the whole idea after a few rejected submissions, figuring I'd just have to make comics in my spare time. But that's exhausting - at least, it was for me (though I think it's likely I'm just easily winded). Coming home from the 9-to-5, I just felt too tired to think about being creative and artistic. But that was then. It's possible I've learned a little bit of work ethic since then...
Man, I hope so.
The CCAS was absolutely essential to my education about comics and the comics industry. It's because of the CCAS that I began networking, and it's what really started this long journey into comic-dom. And that was started because I turned to God in prayer and said, "Hey, why don't I make comics that glorify You?" So I guess I'm asking the CCAS to help me again: pray for me, would you?
I post these here because I think they have particular relevance to the issue of how an artist who is a Christian (note I didn't say the phrase "Christian artist") can and perhaps should approach his or her creative life.
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For the Christian, there is no distinction between the sacred andsecular. Everything a Christian does is an expression of his faith.Hedoes not make choices based on the religious significance of thealternative. As a Christian he makes the choice that is a logicalextension of the values he has derived from his faith…
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Whathappened to radical Christianity, the un-nice brand of Christianitythat turned the world upside-down? What happened to thecategorysmashing, life-threatening, anti-institutional gospel thatspread through the first century like wildfire and was considered (bythose in power) dangerous? What happened to the kind of Christianswhose hearts were on fire, who had no fear,who spoke the truth nomatter what the consequence, who made the world uncomfortable, who werewilling to follow Jesus wherever He went? What happened to the kind ofChristians who were filled with passion and gratitude, and who everyday were unable to get over the grace of God?
I’m ready forChristianity that “ruins”my life, that captures my heart and makes meuncomfortable. I want to be filled with an astonishment which is socaptivating that I am considered wild and unpredictable and…well…dangerous. Yes, I want to be “dangerous” to a dull and boringreligion. I want a faith that is considered “dangerous” by ourpredictable and monotonous culture.
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Predictability and faith cannot coexist.What characterized Jesus and His disciples was unpredictability. Jesus was always surprising the disciples by eating at the wrong houses (those of sinners), hanging around the wrong people (tax collectors, adulterers, prostitutes, lepers), and healing people on the wrong day (the Sabbath). There was no Day Timer, no strategic plan, no mission statement; there was only the eager anticipation of the present moment. The Pharisees wanted Jesus to be the same as they were.His truth should be the same truth that they had spent centuries taming. But truth is unpredictable.When Jesus is present, everyone is uncomfortable yet mysteriously glad at the same time. People do not like the surprises—even church people—and they don’t want to be uncomfortable. They want a nice, tame Jesus.
what a busy time, my son goes into the seventh grade monday.my daughter started kindergarten last week. now i start college next week.
since this will hamper my art time for comics, i'm trying to finish up several short projects. a couple pages for the megezeen sci-fi issue an a story for panel comics.
my goal is to do a whole book before next summer's conventions roll in. a large task by any means, but who knows what our lord has planned for us , eh? "hey god, can you drop some clues?"
until then i have to put down the pencil an grab a math book, bbbrrrr....math. maybe my son will tutor me.
Just in case you all didn't know, the Z Graphic Novel site has been up and running since the first of the month.
I could go on about this and the line, but for now, I'll just let this do the talking:
Lisa Hutchinson has a new site totally dedicated to her excellent manga series, Shelter of Wings.
Head on over to www.ShelterOfWings.com and check it out.
Here's a sample of Lisa'a beautiful artwork:
Shelter of Wings (c) 2007 Brethren Entertainment
Artwork (c) 2007 Lisa Hutchinson
IDWhas come through for me, and I'll have copies of Gene SimmonsDominatrix and Gene Simmons House of Horrors for sale at the table, butnot an unlimited quantity, so they'll be first come, first sold. Also,I'll have several copies of the Nick Simmons Skullduggery book for saleas well.
Of course, for all the long-term fans I'll havecopies of the Fishnet Angel: Jane Doe comic miniseries as well, and afew remaining copies of the Shooting Star Comics Anthology for thereally die-hard fans.
And when you've finished spending allyou cash at the table, please drop by one of these panels that I'll betaking part in as either a panelist or moderator.
Friday
Lights! Camera! Pencils!
4:00 pm
Sex and the Single Superhero
7:00 pm
Saturday
Redemption - The Flawed Hero
1:00 pm
Sunday
The Write Approach – Scripting Comics for Different Styles
1:00 pm
Monday
The Tools for Ghouls
11:30 am
Once More with Multiple Printings
4:00 pm
So get your costumes ready and pay me a visit. I'd love to meet you.
Here are a few excerpts.
Dear Don,
“I already called Felix after I got home to let her know I’m “still alive.”
“Besides meeting all the wonderful people and staff during my month in rehab, I was surprised to receive a card from Diane Dudoit-Raiche, the director of the national Catholic Educational Association (She’s from my hometown, Lake Charles, La., and the NCEA will get my Christian comic book collection). Anyway Diane arranged for a Mass to be said at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, as well as the related shrine in Belleville, Ill. for my healing. Interestingly, I regained the ability to move my right leg which I lost use of over 25 years ago when I broke my neck in May of 1980.”
“Besides getting a card and drawing from Felix, I also got good wishes and prayers from John Pierce, you, Chris & Erica Well, Kevin Yong, Robert Marsh, Don Kelly and friends at Holy Spirit Catholic Church without whose help and praise I could never had made it this far.”
God’s blessings on you and AO
Harry M.
Don: Harry was one of the charter members to Alpha-Omega and was on the CCAS Board for a number of years.
A few years ago (okay lots of years ago -- I keep forgetting how old I am), I used to maintain a website for spiritual equal footing for people of any faith or no faith to at least examine the life of Christian faith. The site was called Form and Matter, and I kept it up for quite a few years before I completely lost time to devote to it. But it's spirit will live on in the blog that used to coincide with it -- Formless Ramblings.
Anyway, just check it out for yourself.
The link is: http://form-and-matter.blogspot.com/
See ya there.
The con was good for me. As always, it was invigorating to see other people's work and thus be re-energized to work on my own material. I attended a couple of panels on creating comics and the comics industry, and had the opportunity to show my portfolio to a few editors. The responses were positive - invitations to send JPEGs of more of my work, and talk of the possibility of future projects. I got to see some old friends again, I met George Macas for the first time, had dinner with Ben Avery, and met a few other Christians for the first time (hi, Kim!).
I also rode on the Elevator of Celebrity with Ben. The first time we waited for the elevator to arrive, Lou Ferrigno stepped out. One of the guys who were there waiting yelled, "Lou Ferrigno!" He grinned and said, "Why don't you say that a little louder, guys?" The next time we walked aboard, Michael Madsen ("Reservoir Dogs") and his wife (?) were there. He said he had been wondering whether that theory about jumping at the last moment before the elevator crashes would work. Fortunately, we didn't have to test it, but there was a lot of fanboy weight in there.
And lots of fun was had by all.
