Home of OmniLegend Tales!
I've been reading up on the publishing industry lately out of curiosity. A question has always lingered in the back of my head since about 2010. Why do people really write, particularly fiction?
I learned to read at a very early age, but didn't get into drawing until about halfway to 2nd grade. I was mostly drawing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but my affinity for art really kicked off after playing the Sega Genesis game Sonic the Hedgehog. For some reason, the design of the little blue fella just set me off and drawing became my new hobby (as well as the Sonic games, back then I just had to have the newest game in the series). Then, as I went through the rest of elementary school, my instructors saw promise in the fiction I wrote for my classmates. One particular counselor at the after-school program at the campus took major interest. Out of respect for him, I will only call him "Big Dre".
If it weren't for Big Dre, I
surely wouldn't have pursued my new hobby. My family wasn't really supportive
of this "gift" I had. As a matter of fact, my folks once told Dre
that they were actively trying to discourage me from cultivating my hobby
because it was interfering with my studies (looking back, it was video games
that distracted me, not art). Dre told them point-blank not to do it, because I
was great at what I was doing. Then, around 4th grade, at a summer program I
met a friend with the next thing that fanned the flame of my artistic desire:
Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comics.
Reading these was the first time I really read comics (my parents had taken away my Spider-Man comics because they were "too violent"). I was fascinated with how the format worked, the art itself, the vocabulary (prior to this, I didn't know what the word "henceforth" meant). And back then they said comics weren't literature!), it was... unreal. Not to mention they were stories about my favorite hedgehog and friends.
Returning to school in the fall, I started creating my own Sonic comics, and then grew into creating my own stories and original characters. As I progressed through my educational career, I spent more and more time writing and illustrating my own comics. By the time I reached the end of middle school, I had a pretty good foundation of the mechanics and nuances of the comic book medium. At that point, I had completed a 3-part series starring a character named "Dynamo": each issue was 13 pages. Then I made a "top-secret" epilogue issue, which capped at 32 pages, I believe. It was quite an achievement that I still look back on fondly. The books now reside with my young cousin as a gift, who's colored them.
In high school, my next project took off in 11th grade, in AP History. As we read and discussed the Vietnam War, I took great interest, and at the time we were also going over Black history and systemic racism. The injustices of both subjects led to me forming a new idea addressing them. At the time, the film "Spider-Man 2" was close to release. At that time, I remembered my fascination with the guy back in my youth. After sketching out designs, I eventually created "The Viper", a Black/Vietnamese young adult originally infliltrating a shadow ninja clan bent on avenging the atrocites of the Vietnam War. However, eventually I felt I was not really prepared to address such sensitive issues, and I was eventually encouraged to slightly change the subject matter.
I was also taking a graphic design class with a great instructor. One day, we were given an assignment that challenged us to integrate pencils into a drawing. At that point, I had created another new character: A boy with pencil arms, a dog, and a pencil-themed jet. The boy's adversary was a cloaked figure with a pencil staff who rode on a pencil-themed shark. Needless to say, that assignment got an A+.
When I got into college, things got complicated. I honestly thought I'd dive straight into my art studies (after all, I had taken part in a rigorous but fulfilling 5-day program at The Art Institute in San Francisco), but I found out that the niceties of education still had to be addressed: core classes and a couple electives. It was disappointing , but I dealt with it and drew in my spare time. In 2007, I got my first job. It was a decent one, didn't take up all of my time, and I was able to work my work schedule with my college schedule. Also around that time, I had eventually finalized the pencil boy adventure in what would finally be dubbed "Lil' Hero Artists". As I worked, schooled, and wrote/drew my stories, I caught wind of a publication contest by Alterna Comics. The top 3 winners would get a print publishing deal. It was 2008 and I was polishing Lil' Hero Artists, also having found a friend to collaborate with on the series: A spectacular scribe named Nick Vollmer. Teaming up, we entered Lil' Hero Artists, which did pretty well in the contest polls over time. I'll never forget what one of Alterna's editors, Michael S. Bracco, said as he cast his vote: He compared Lil' Hero Artists to the likes of Bone. Yes, THAT Bone. Jeff Smith's Bone, one of the all-time greats in graphic novel mythos. That was VERY humbling, to say the least.
Nick and I didn't win the contest as we didn't make the top three. However, we were surprisingly dubbed "runners-up" (there was another runner-up, but they failed to deliver on time). As such, we got something not hinted at before: An e-comic publishing deal. We gladly took it, and finally got a publishers name/logo plastered on the front cover. It was great, for a time.
I was still working the day job and going to school, until one day I checked our sales and saw that we weren't really making... much of anything. I also learned that the whole "if you build it, they will come" stuff doesn't apply in the business world - not even the comic/graphic novel business. I didn't know the first thing about marketing and promotion, and I was struggling to find the time to continue with the next installment (we had only published one thru Alterna). I decided then that this was not the right path for us. It was gut-wrenchingly difficult, but I eventually had to inform Alterna that I couldn't continue with them as I wanted to do my own thing with Lil' Hero Artists. Alterna gave the rights back to me and Nick, and we parted ways on good terms.
As I grew at my job, I realized that I could get our stuff printed professionally through POD (print on demand) services online. It took a few tumbles, but eventually we got a 136-page complete graphic novel. Finally, Lil' Hero Artists saw print. At the time, we had also done an AU (alternate universe) version of LHA with more detailed character designs, a slightly different storyline, and all scripting duties handled by Nick. We dubbed it "Lil' Hero Artists: Manga-ized". Long story short, it was well received and made it's first-ever bookstore debut in a village not far from where I live.
As I was nearing the end of college, my newest idea took shape. I was taking a class called "Eco Art Matters", in which we discussed how art could be used to address environmental issues plaguing the planet. I was fascinated at what various artists did, like Andy Goldsworthy's rock sculptures resembling eggs. Word got out about Lil' Hero Artists upon request, and all were impressed; one of my classmates' niece was there at the time, and throughout the whole two-and-a-half hour class she was hooked on the graphic novel. At the end of class she asked my classmate (her aunt) if she could buy the book, to which Auntie sadly said she had no money on hand. But soon after, I thought that perhaps I could use the comic book medium to tell an eco-story.
As the semester was drawing to a close, the class was faced with a gallery showing to finish off the year. At that time I had created and polished my newest idea: a team of animals who swore to protect Earth from an extremist organization. The idea was partially inspired by an old throwaway character I previously named Sneakers the Chipmunk back in around 1998, I think. He had special shoes capable of flight, sticking to walls with built in suction cups, springs for altitude, and a few other things. I decided to change him into a squirrel and limit the shoes only to flight. I created some buddies to fight alongside him and an underground city which contained their headquarters. When all was said and done, the product was completed and named "Sneakers and the U-Force". Long story short, my instructor treated the 24-page intro comic like it was the star of the gallery, and I was spotlighted in the college newspaper photo and all.
After I finally graduated in 2020, I had two main series staring multiple characters from my whole career thus far: Lil' Hero Artists and Sneakers and the U-Force, which eventually became just "Sneakers' U-Force". As far as my characters Dynamo and Viper go, instead of retiring them, they play a big part in my crossover comic in the LHA universe, titled "Curse of Creation". Both series have been picking a lot of steam, and my friend Nick still has more scripts for "Manga-ized" in the event he's able to return to continue (He has his own obligations; family, day job which he loves, etc.). I'm happy for him and for myself as I have finally achieved my dream of becoming a graphic novelist who's seen a bit of press, have a great collaborator and collaboration, wonderful fans (including my closest friends who are honest critics but kind ones at the same time.), and a bookstore owner's graces. And the funny thing is, if this is as far as I go, I'm good. Hell, if I lose all of this, I can take it. Because I'll still have myself, who will always find value in the work and, on a more personal level, the one loyal reader referred to in Scott McCloud's "Making Comics".
Achieving such success as
this alone, being the "one loyal reader", feels really strange and
even narcissistic, though everyone tells me otherwise. I've come to accept it
for what it is: that I'm happy I achieved what I've been pursuing for most of
my life.
I'm in the process of putting this site together, so I'll need some time. In the meantime, here are some links you might be interested in:
- OmniLegend Tales' Current Library -
Here, you can read my current comics for free at Comic Fury.
- OmniLegend Tales' Storefront -
Here, the current Lil' Hero Artists series can be purchased in paperback form.
- OmniLegend Tales on Amazon -
(Sneakers' U-Force is no longer available there, but will be coming to IndyPlanet.com soon. More info to follow.)
No comments:
Post a Comment