A Truthful Interview: Alvaro Cortez Jr.

   Today we want to delve into the mind of Alvaro Cortez Ortiz Jr, Editor-In-Chief of Truthful Comics and writer of many titles including Fred Peterson: The mighty Warlord, The mysterious Exorcist, Cannon Girl and Project: New Wave just to name a few.

When did you came up with the idea for Fred Peterson: The Mighty Warlord?

   In 8th grade, actually. One of my best friends and me had this ongoing competition of creating characters and pitting them against each other. One day I saw a promo on a magazine for the manga Appleseed, which I had never seen before. It also had an ad for a Terminator comic, so I kind of just meshed the visuals of both ads. The personality came about more from reading The Ray (90s version) and the anime Tekkaman Blade (Teknoman in the US) and Rurouni Kenshin (Samurai X in the US).

What is the creative team behind your comic?

Just myself, though I might have to eventually outsource at least the coloring or lettering. But for now, just me.

What's the premise behind TMW?

Basically a guy that doesn't want to be a hero who turns out to be a time displaced prince that has to stop a world menacing threat. All while his personal life comes undone ad his fridge is empty.

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How many issues do you have planned to produce?

I'm hoping 100 is enough, though I honestly don't know at this rate.

Is TMW going to be a long running series or a mini-series?

Long running series. LONG running series LOL

Why self-publish?

Because now is the best time to self-publish. We have advances in technology and distribution we didn't have before. The internet is a game changer and print on demand services and webcomic hosting sites, hosting on your own site, it's easier than ever to make a product, promote it, and have eyes all over the world on it.

How do you separate yourself from the thousands who self publish their books every year?

Speaking for myself, I try to do a lot of world building and character development. It's a love letter to all the comics I loved in the late 80s and 90s. It's almost a very personal comic, really, but at the same time, that's why readers that usually don't read super hero comics actually read mine and identify with many of the characters and situations.

So where can fans get their very own copy of TMW?

Right now you can only get the original versions of the prologue, webisodes Volume 1, and issues 1-2 at indyplanet.com

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So what’s in store for TMW?

I'm doing the printed edition from scratch due to various circumstances, so I'm planning on doing trade editions, calling them the Truthful Comics Edition of the story. It's not a simple panel-for-panel remake, I'm going to cut were I need to cut, and extend where I need to extend. It's not just a shiny new edition, it will have content that is new and that will matter to the story.

Are you working on any other projects at the moment?

Always! I'm writing Project: New Wave for Manuel Carmona, I freelance as a writer so I have a few things coming out from Silver Island Studios, I also have a lot of webcomics and comics I have under my sleeve for TC. 

Anything else you wanna share with us?

Being indie, don't hold yourself back. You don't have the restraints of bigger companies and you have no one except yourself and your audience to be accountable for. So experiment, have fun, go as dark, as serious, or as silly as you want, but CREATE.

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