Off Topic...And Loving It!

The Pérez Archives Seeking Contributions

(3/29/2001) Few modern comic book artists have garnered both the fan appreciation and skill level of artist George Pérez, whose first mainstream comic work appeared in 1974 in Marvel's Astonishing Tales. Pérez is famous (some say infamous) for his work on books with large casts of characters, including memorable runs on Avengers and Justice League of America, as well as New Teen Titans, UltraForce, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wonder Woman, and many other projects.

Since the early 1980s, comic writer and journalist Andy Mangels has kept an archive of work by Pérez, and has published complete checklists of his work in publications such as Focus on George Pérez and Amazing Heroes. Mangels has interviewed Pérez for many magazines, including the mammoth Comics Interview #50, as well as in spotlight panels at the San Diego Comic Con.

This summer, at the 2001 San Diego Comic Con, Mangels will be presenting a special publication dubbed "The Pérez Archives," as a benefit for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF). The project will include a complete checklist of every item which has featured artwork by Pérez in the comic book field, the book publishing arena, licensing, theatrical productions, and other areas. Currently, the book is planned at approximately 100 pages, with a very small print run.

"The Archives book will also feature a selection of artwork by George," says Mangels, "including convention sketches, unpublished pages from previous projects such as JLA/Avengers and a Teen Titans graphic novel, pin-ups, covers, character designs, and more."

This latter area is where Mangels is looking for help from fans and collectors throughout the world. "When he has attended conventions, George has often done sketches for fans, and sold original artwork. For a short time, he also did commissioned sketches by mail. I am looking for high-quality photocopies of ALL Pérez artwork for this project, and for the main archives I maintain. This would include any convention sketches as well as cover artwork, pin-ups, or interior pages which George has penciled or inked." Mangels notes that editors or writers who have worked with George in the past are also asked to contribute any materials which might help the project.

In 2000, Pérez was awarded the Defender of Liberty Award by the CBLDF for raising a large amount of money for the organization, mainly by producing the afore-mentioned sketches at their convention tables. "I am truly flattered and amazed by all the work that my friend Andy Mangels has done in producing this massive checklist," the Pérez says about the Archives project. "There are items listed here that I'd all but forgotten. From the famous to the obscure, from the better to the worse, it's all here in one impressive volume."

"While my ego is definitely stroked by this project," Pérez continues, "I am more excited about the money this could raise for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, an organization near and dear to my heart and one that deserves the support of everyone who has ever read and enjoyed a comic book. Without the freedom of creative expression, comics, like all art forms, are an endangered species."

"For those who've enjoyed my work throughout the years this is a book you'll want to have. For those, like me, who simply love the comics, CBLDF is the group you'll want to support."

Anyone who wishes to contribute artwork to "The Pérez Archives" is asked to make high-quality photocopies or stats of the work at 8.5x11" size, and send them to Mangels at the following address: A.M. Publications, PO Box 3226, Portland, OR 97208-3226. Those wishing to find out further information about the project as it gets closer to publication may email Mangels at XFsWriter@aol.com.

Komikwerks Launches Grassroots Publishing

Boston, MA ­ (March 5, 2001) ­ Comic publishing company Komikwerks, LLC., launched its flagship website, komikwerks.com, on the morning of March 5th, 2001.

Komikwerks plans to be the premiere destination on the web for comic enthusiasts, featuring professional quality, creator-owned comics from around the world, as well as interviews with top talent in the industry, and Rants from comic pros and fans.  The main goal of the Komikwerks site is to showcase pro and novice creators' work that might not otherwise see print, due to self-publishing costs, or fierce competition in the print world.  "The low-cost of space on the web, and the accessibility to readers world-wide makes publishing comics on the web a premium idea in a vastly untapped market," says Patrick Coyle, co-founder of Komikwerks. "We've found several attempts at this sort of site before, but none of them were successful for a variety of reasons.  Komikwerks is taking a different approach, which we feel will be successful."

That "different approach" comes in the form of a "collective", where all the contributors share in the profits and in the marketing. "We're taking a much more grass-roots approach to getting the word out," states Shannon Denton, co-founder. "Many of our predecessors, be they dot-coms or publishers, tried to take too big a bite, throwing money around, and in all the wrong places.  We're not trying to secure movie and TV deals before we even have a following.  The key to our success is to focus on the thing we love most: creating comics.  Success will follow."

Komikwerks' model unites many overlapping creative industries; comics, animation, gaming, and the web.  "We found literally hundreds of really talented people in all these professions who wanted to publish their own comics, but were having little success for one reason or another.  By utilizing talent from these industries, we will in turn market to all these industries from the inside.  We feel we can strongly hit the demographic we're aiming for and grow our readership very quickly," says Shannon Denton.  He goes on to say, "Not only are we mixing industries, we're going international.  One of the creators we're launching with is from Belfast, Ireland, and we¹ve been talking to creators from several other countries around the globe!"  

Komikwerks.com launches with nine comic titles on its roster, from well-respected creators in the comic industry.  Some of the properties have seen life in print previously, but a majority of the titles are brand new, available only on the web.  Mark Pacella, formerly with Image Comics, publishes his Flash-technology based comic entitled Tooth and Claw.  Gary Carlson, former publisher of Megaton (which garnered Rob Liefeld and Erik Larsen some of their earliest published work), and creator of Big Bang Comics with Image, publishes Big Bang on Komikwerks.  Kevin Hanna, an award-winning 3D animator contributes a fully 3D rendered comic. Along the same lines, Tim Dobbert's and Tony Rizo's Moscas, another fully 3D rendered comic will be featured on the site.  Paul Holden, currently working on 2000 A.D. in the UK, lends his Marvel-inspired spoof, The Simply Incredible Hunk.  Steve Conley's Astounding Space Thrills, Marty Baumann's The Crater Kid, and John Gallagher's Buzzboy are all published on the site as well, updated daily. The founders of Komikwerks have contributed the first of their creator-owned comics; Shannon Denton's The Big Game and Patrick Coyle's Johnny Smackpants.

Komikwerks will be publishing interviews with some of the industry's biggest names, and most senior talents:  John Romita, Jr., Dan Brereton, Keith Giffen, Kurt Hathaway, Geoff Johns and many more.

"We're thrilled to have such talented and wonderful creators publishing on Komikwerks," gushes Patrick Coyle. "We've been talking to some top-tier pro talent, and we will have some announcements regarding those projects soon."

The site is updated weekly, with many more titles to be added to it's index.  More announcements as they arise.


ABOUT KOMIKWERKS
Komikwerks was founded in 2000, for the purpose of proliferating comics on a global level, utilizing a cheap and easy method of publishing:  the internet. In so doing, Komikwerks wished to offer hundreds of talented creators a chance to publish their creator-owned work.  Starting with komikwerks.com, Komikwerks will expand out to other forms of electronic media, as well as traditional print publishing, always putting an emphasis on high-quality, well-told, professional-grade, creator-owned comics.

About Shannon Denton
Shannon Denton is an 8-year veteran storyteller and artist, both in the animation and comic industries.  His animation work includes storyboard artist on the Paramount Pictures feature Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, storyboard director on the upcoming TV series Dan Dare, and design and development of virtually every action/adventure show Fox Kids Network had produced between 1995-99, including the Annie nominated Silver Surfer series.  In addition, he has worked on live action projects such as Ally McBeal and Casper Meets Wendy.  Shannon has had the opportunity to work for every major comic publisher on projects ranging from Spawn to Star Wars.  His off hours are spent designing action figure lines for various toy companies, teaching character design at the prestigious Associates in Art, as well as publishing his own creator-owned stories.

About Patrick Coyle
Patrick Coyle has worked in the interactive design industry for the last 8 years, creating award-winning CD-ROMs and websites for a variety of clients.  He established and built the design department of the Razorfish: Boston office, and has been Design Director there for 2.5 years.  A select list Patrick's clients are; SONY, The Boston Red Sox, Charles Schwab, Chase Manhattan Bank, The Discovery Channel, Microsoft, Hasbro, Fleet Bank, Pratt & Whitney, and Major League Baseball All-Star, Nomar Garciaparra.  Somewhere in there, Patrick found time to start his own web shop, MonkeyWrench, LLC, his own design and illustration studio, Non-Stop Studios, LLC, and work on a handful of comic projects.

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