The Next Big Super Hero Team

Greek Mythology meets Ancient Alien Technology

In case you haven't been to New Your Comic Con 2017 or Megacon Orlando 2018, This is Earth's newest team of young defenders, Rise of Atlantis.  The group consist of several young demi-gods who use ancient alien technology to get them super powers.  Each of them take on a role of responsibility represented by a Greek god.  Under the organizational leadership and guidance of Dean Papadopoulos, AKA "Pops", the young guardians help defend the world through their secret missions.

The story begins through the journey of the team's newest member, Zack, a young Indian genius who is starting his university studies.  He is recruited by the young gods and given an amazing opportunity to make a real difference in the world.  This is the story of the trials that Zack must face and endure to become the next young demi-god.  

Rise of Atlantis: Young Gods is a full colored graphic novel by Robert Estape and art by Andres R. Prieto, under Digital Hand Studios.  The book is scheduled to be released by the end of the year but is looking into publishing through Image Comics, a large publisher of independent comic books. 

The book is currently in the process of production with many new pages updated weekly through the book's Facebook page.  As it stands, the book is estimated to be 120 to 140 pages at release towards the end of the year. 

We're moving...

Yes my friends, we're moving... to another website.  We are going to be moving our articles to our main website.  This has been a great run but that time has come where we have to become committed to presenting a higher quality of information.  In the time that we've been doing this we have found a great wealth of information on the creation, distribution, and marketing of comics and graphic novels and even though they fall in the same industry, both are managed significantly different.  The same applies to print vs digital publishing. 

Our main website will host a magazine style page for New Miami Comics, Miami's local indie resource magazine.  I'd like to start including printers and advertisers, distribution methods and guides, upcoming conventions and local comic book stores.  There are many resources out there but as a creator its easy to miss, especially when your focussed on your work.

There are a few magazines that touch many of those topics and address the local FLORIDA comic community.  Come visit us at:

www.digitalhandstudios.com

Romance: A Niche' to Consider

 

As the larger publisher saturate the diversity market many indie publishers look for new niche's to dive into.  One such niche' is the romance market.  As more young women pour into the comic industry as readers, artists, and writers, this market may start making a come-back.  Romance lends itself to a wide variety of sub-genres that make it very robust for today's creators. 

The current reader requires a modernized version of that classical romance we are use to seeing.  The importance of romance is that the reader has to connect with it.  As a creator you need to explore pop culture.  Many things don't change from generation to generation, but the style and theme does so investigate. By no means is today's market as simple as "boy meets girl".  You should explore current issues and culture for ideas.

Romance is about relationships.  This is a great opportunity to create diverse and intricate characters.  Explore personality traits and work on interesting dialogue.  Remember that your main conflict should be a relationship problem.  Remember that you might find yourself replacing a lot of fist fights with kissing and crying.  Become familiar with emotional responses to situations.

Understand your age group and audience.  If you are writing to a younger reader keep the situation very simple.  Your story will be more about friendships, holding hands and maybe a first kiss.  When you deal with a much more mature audience you can dive into more complex topics like adultery, passion, polygamy, and raunchiness.  Learn your distributor's guidelines so you can property label your book.

Something to keep in mind: fashion can play a significant role in attracting readers to your book.  The art should contain modern styles if appropriate.  What I mean is if the story is set in a modern day high school use popular clothes on the characters.  It adds a layer of realism that helps the reader submerge into your story.  Of course if its in a Victorian age please don't give the characters jeans and tank tops.

Easy tip:  You can always try short comics (10 pages or less) to get a feel for your audience and develop your story telling style.  Get feed back.
   
 

Super Battles, Super Bust!

It would seem all the big publishers are coming out with these large scale wars between super heroes.  Its seems like only natural for the smaller indie publishers to follow.  I mean with all the super hero movies coming out and big graphic novels or comic series everyone is on a binge for comic conflict.  So why aren't you selling more books? 

One of the biggest factors that many creators fail to acknowledge is the lack of fan base to drive their comics forward.  There are many reasons for this outcome but the most common are these:

Lack of Foundation:  You have a great story and a cool group of heroes and villains but not enough going on to get anyone interested.  I'm not talking about action.  Yeah you got a 10 page battle but the real reason people aren't interested is because they have no connection to the conflict. 

Somewhere along the lines you got a little to busy with the awesome battle that you might have forgotten to show your readers why they should care.  Even more did you even evaluate the reason, did it sound concerning or believable, how about interesting?  Your story has no roots!

Build this up by creating tension between heroes and villains.  Add real problems.  Make the hard choices.  Build a history with your characters so that your readers feel like they have a stake in it. 

Great Conflict:  Heroes and villains fight all the time.  Why is this time so special.  You need to find that urgency in the problem they face.  Try to get away from cliche's...the bigger publishers have beaten that horse dead a long time ago.  Look for fresh new ideas.  Use current events as a resource.

The damsel in distress doesn't work in a world fighting for equal rights for men and women. You'll end up with a mediocre response.  Avengers: Civil War is practically about human rights.  X-Men: Age of Apocalypse is about choosing sides on morality and so on.  Find a topic to parallel and work you major conflict from there.  A lot of these topics will involve what's wrong or right scenarios and does the end justify the means type questions.

Remember to build your fan base up before releasing a major conflict title.  You can use a series of stories leading up to the major issue.  This will help get that major title off the ground when you release it since the issues leading up to it will act as your marketing and advertising. 

 

Racism and How to Deal With it in Comics

Comics are not exempt from racism, nor has it been absent from it's pages.  We all understand what it is: the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. And with recent events police shootings and other events have created a cultural divide and naturally cause an artistic individual to express themselves through their medium.  For us its comics, its the creation of stories that translate our opinions on such delicate matters.  This article was created to contain the tools necessary to express your thoughts through your comic without being offensive and carrying out your message.

I know there are readers about there that think "I don't care if I piss off some people!".  The reason this is wrong is because you'll limit your fan base and maybe put yourself in a bad situation that could cost you a publishing gig or burn some bridges with other great creators.  You can still get your message across and let people know how you feel without getting carried away.

Here are a few things we will cover:

Racial Comics vs Hate Speech
Working with Diversity and Culture
Colorful Language
Working with and around Stereotypes
Racial and Cultural Topics and Themes to Write About

This will help you navigate this complex territory without losing any friends and come out with a strong message.  Understand that racism and prejudice is making a come back so we as comic creators in touch with young readers have the opportunity to make a difference.

Racial Comics vs Hate Speech

You can write a story about racism and it will fall into one of two categories: a story about racism or hate speech.  When you write a story there's usually an under lined theme that is apparent in your story through a series of events and or actions.  The resolution should push forth that message by promoting what the theme or message is.  The messages used in racial stories illustrate the injustices faced by that particular group of people or culture BUT offer a positive resolution in the end.  It is when you finish your story with a negative message that you fall into the hate speech which will limit your success to get the book published or even read.

Working with Diversity and Culture

Understand that there are many different cultures in the world with very unique views.  If you wish to work with different cultures you must first do your due diligence and research the culture.  Race is one thing but culture is another and usually the one you represent by the way your characters act. You can have a Black, Asian, or Hispanic character but the culture could be Haitian or American Black, Chinese or Japanese, Cuban or Puerto Rican.  There are very distinct characteristics about each culture to take into account.  Lucky for you, just like you are able to read this article you are also able to search the web for information about different cultures.  You will want to research:

• Slang
• customs
• food
• history
• current events

The CIA World Fact Book online is a great place to start along with Wikipedia.

Working with Colorful Language

Most cultures have a slang that is particular to them.  By using it in context and with the guidelines you have setup for your audience, you can easily submerge your readers into a rich story filled with diversity.  Remember to include a translation near the lexicon (slang).  Some slang may not be appropriate for your audience, especially if you market to younger readers. 

(To be continued in issue #1)   

    
 

7 Reasons Why Your Women Look Horrendous

There's an old saying that goes "An artist that knows how to draw beautiful women will never go hungry."  There's almost nothing more beautiful in this world than a woman.  Art attempts to capture that beauty in the form of illustration.  This is very apparent in comics through out history.  But unfortunately its a complex concept to grasp for many artists.  Drawing gorgeous women for your comic stories is more dynamic than just squiggling a couple of round boobs and a big butt.

Reason #1

The face of a women is incredibly important so if the proportions are off it will affect it tremendously.  Most artist have that down for the most part, but where it becomes insanely tricky is the expression.  A good deal of the attraction starts off in the face.  As an illustrator you must master the art of expression, specifically suggestive facial expressions.  A good exercise is to draw several faces from sexy advertising...or "other places".  You know what I'm talking about, don't make this awkward!

Reason #2

Hands.  Yes, hands.  Some new artists avoid drawing women's hands as much as Rob Liefeld did with drawing feet.  They can only hold bouquets of flowers for only so long.  I know it's a pain in the butt to draw those five to ten pages of hand studies but DO IT!  And remember to study WOMEN's hands.  Its so very surprising to see a drawing of a sexy comic book heroine with big gorilla hands.   Remember, thin and round off the knuckles a bit.

Reason #3

And while we are at it lets also mention FEET!  Same as with hands.  Go through those exercises and learn the correct positioning and movement of feet.  This is actually a big one.  Practice drawing toes from up close.  No one likes gargoyle feet on a nice looking women.

Reason #4

Character depth.  Personality.  The half nude women heroines in leotards might work well with the young adolescents but adults prefer to be romanced a bit with personality and character.  Don't make Latoya a black female just to have diversity in your comic.  Give her likes and dislikes, a genuine history, and make her real, in other words have her react to situations that stimulate mature thinking.  "No Don, I'm not going to be one of your side chicks.  Go play with your girls because you're messin' with a REAL WOMAN now!"

Reason #5

Drawing realistic and relevant hair.  You better believe it.  Women's hair is biblical.  You need to understand women's hairstyles and how to best draw those curls and shadows.  Please get out of the habit of drawing these 80's big porn star hair styles.  Your readers are palm facing and you're just not getting it.  Once again, use references.

(Continued in Issue #1) 

Deafening Diversity: What This Means for Indie Publishers

 

Racial diversity in comics has long since been a rather controversial topic.  Apparently since the golden age of comics diversity in main characters has been quite absent from the medium.  It wasn't until the silver age that black characters took on main roles.  One of the first mainstream characters was the Black Panther in 1966.  Latino or Hispanic followed after with the exception a few characters like El Zorro.  Now in modern day comics we find a much more diverse characters throughout the larger publishers, which is great.  But now as all the large publishers fight to take on as much diversity as possible how does that affect the smaller indie publishers?

Traditionally indie publishers acted as the leaders in pushing the limits.  Many publishers were even labeled as "underground"  just solely on the topics of genre's they produced.  Typically indie publishers has a very wide range of topics to chose from that made them so different from the larger publishers, who were also constrained by their sponsors.  This was the upper hand advantage that indie publishers could go to in order to compete.  But as the views of society broaden and become more liberal so too has the range in which the larger publishers operate.  Hence the issue of diversity which was a few years ago a playground for the smaller publishers and still a field of land mines for the larger companies, now has overrun the world of comics.  And even though I'm glad that diversity has gone as far as it has with comics, it also worries me because of the fear that the larger publishers will begin pushing it to extremes.  

How so?  Well just look into the latest controversies over the choice of actors playing ethnic roles and the out cries claiming white washing in Hollywood.  For those who are not familiar with the term, its when white Anglo actors take on a role associated with a character of a specific culture or race.

 
But that isn't the question that I'm really posting here.  It comes down to what do indie publishers do when the larger companies take over their niche'?  Now that they are claiming in full force the diversity market what now?  The indies proposed the question of diversity in comics and the larger publishers answered it.  The smaller comic creators can continue to write diverse comics but eventually Marvel and DC will swallow the market for that niche', leaving many companies searching for a new market.  It doesn't mean that smaller publisher will stop writing about diversity in comic, but it will mean that they will need more than that to compete in the highly competitive market of comics.