 So here's where I'm at with my comic book collecting, I've decided to focus exclusively on buying and collecting independent comic books; be it from small publishers or indie publishers as big as Dark Horse or Image Comics. There will be a few exceptions though, I’ll keep buying/collecting a small percentage of "Big 2" titles/characters like Miles Morales (aka Spider-Man), Lady Sif, Valkyrie and/or The Mighty Thor. These are some of my favorite characters in any form of media and I’ll always have a soft spot for them. My reasons for doing this are many, but I’ll try to list my Top 5 for why I’m changing my comic book collecting habits moving forward: 1. My interests have changed- More and more I find myself loving independent books and disliking Marvel and DC Comics books, I just don’t see the point in giving them my money anymore.
2. Price Point- Paying $4.99 for twenty pages of an extremely decompressed story, inevitably taking 6-10 issues to wrap up and have a more than likely disappointing conclusion; it just isn’t a good proposition for me anymore. 3. Not MY Characters- At least not the characters I’ve followed for years, those aren’t the ones I see on the page today. I know characters should evolve, but when you retcon incessantly and continue to disrespect the legacy of those who created these characters just because you think that’s what fans want or you’re trying to appease a section of society that just doesn’t buy comic books; I’m out. 4. Indie Comics Rock!- I shouldn’t even have to say this but in case you haven’t noticed, indie comic books are not only on par with the "Big 2" in every sense of the word; a lot of them have surpassed the "Big 2" in quality! There’s a difference when you buy a book by someone who just doesn’t care about the characters they’re working on and/or who only see a paycheck, compared to someone who’s writing and/or illustrating a character they created and they’ve put their heart and soul into; it shows when you care about a property and when you only care about a paycheck. 5. Creator's Egos- I don’t mean that every creator who’s “made it” has an inflated ego because that just isn’t the case, but more often than not I see creators talking down and even disrespecting fans; which is crazy to me since the only reason they find themselves in the position they’re in is BECAUSE of fans! I’d rather help out an up and coming indie creator who appreciates the fans than creators who "made it", think they’re “celebrities” and look at everyone over their shoulder like they're better than them. You aren't getting my hard earned money acting like that. The truth of the matter is that comic books are too expensive for me to justify buying them consistently, especially when I KNOW many creators couldn't care less about these characters and even if they do, they have to follow the direction and agendas of higher ups; ruining our favorite characters in the process. At least when I buy an indie comic book I know the story, good or bad; it's exactly what the creator(s) intended it to be. That's something I can get behind. I'll always buy comic books, the only difference is that from now on I'll be buying 90% indie comics and 10% from the "Big 2"; oh and 7% of that 10% will be back issues to fill out gaps in my collection. Yeah, this is the way I'll be buying comics from now on; I know this because I'm smiling as I type these words just thinking about it. My suggestion, buy what makes YOU happy; don't buy only because you need to support your LCS or because you can't let the industry you love so much die. You can support your LCS buying many other things like indie comic books, buying back issues, trade paperbacks, hardcovers, action figures, statues or clothing; don't buy comics you know won't satisfy you and you'll eventually end up getting the trade paperback because it just makes more sense financially. Same thing goes with supporting the "Big 2", don't buy like a zombie just because you think they'll go out of business if you don't; they won't. Marvel is owned by Disney and DC Comics is owned by WB, comic books are nothing more to them than promotional material to keep these properties alive in the public's eye; whenever they want comic books gone they'll go away... no matter how much we love or support them. For that reason alone... SUPPORT INDIE COMICS!!! PS. The one publisher/group I'll NEVER support is Comicsgate, I'm sure you all know why but if you don't; go do a quick Google search. Basically they go against everything I stand for as a creator and as a human being and I'll NEVER give them a dime of my money. Period. As always... keep it Truthful!
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Written by Manuel A. Carmona The Bounce Published by Image Comics Written by Joe Casey Illustrated by David Messina I'm going to be doing a lot more of these reviews since my goal is to push indie comics as much as possible, some books may be recent and some may be thirty years old; we're going to have fun with them either way. The book we're going to be reviewing today is called The Bounce #1.  Written by Joe Casey and beautifuly illustrated by David Messina with colors by Giovanna Niro, this books follows a young man whose powers are, you guessed it; bouncing all over the place at incredible speed! Jasper Jenkins is our "hero" and when we first meet him he's taking a hit from a bong, yeah... some hero. As he's confronted by his friend, Jasper notices on the news they're talking about a wave of break ins and tonight the Police Chief's home has been invaded but the negotiators fear the worst since no demands have been made.
As Jasper's friend takes a hit from the bong he notices that Jasper's gone. We switch scenes to the Chief of Police's home and a huge man with spikes coming out of his arms is squeezing the Chief's life out of him until The Bounce breaks in through a window and a battle ensues. The villain escapes leaving The Bounce behind only to be seen by the police and more than likely be accused of the crime. Last few pages we see Jasper meeting a drug dealer at a club trying to make a deal and when he pays the man, turns out the drug is actually coming out of the dealer; Enter: The Fog! This book gives me a strong Spider-Man vibe, from the costume all the way to him jumping around fighting bad guys to being running from the cops; with the exception of Peter being a genius and Jasper being a screwup. The book is interesting and there's a side story with some nefarious individual dealing with some high up Military people about finding another dimension and we know that Jasper is The Bounce but we don't know how he makes money, how he got his fancy costume, how he got his powers; etc. The costume is basically Spider-man's costume with a different color scheme, don't get me wrong I really like the costume; but it's kinda too on the nose at this point with the similarities I just mentioned; we'll see what the story develops into. The art on the book was really good and the story was fun and interesting enough for me to look up issue #2. If you want to get issues of The Bounce or even a trade paperback visit: The Bounce As always... keep it Truthful!  Hey everyone, hope you're doing well. This week, the blog is pretty much a throwback to the 90s and in a way one of the more poplar blogs I've written, I'm rereading Batman: Knightfall.
Perhaps the storyline I've read the most ever, I've actually haven't read it in a few years. I left behind my Knightfall collection in my old bedroom at my mom's house, and unfortunately those comics are gone due to Hurricane Maria. I was browsing around my LCS and ran into vol 1 & 2 of Knightfall, and I felt the nostalgia hit me. It was on sale due to it being the 4th anniversary of the shop (Anyone Comics in Brooklyn). So I picked up both volumes, and just flipping through it brings back so many memories of listening to grunge on the walkman, laying down in bed reading, itching to grab my notebooks so I can start sketching and go off writing my own stories. What drew me into this story immediately back then and even now, is Norm Breyfogle's artwork, even 25 years later, the art absolutely holds up. Chapter 3 has what I consider some of his best work he ever did, it was certainly one of the most intense work he ever did. This storyline had so many artists and writers that were absolutely at the top of their games and the icing on the cake were those iconic Kelley Jones covers. Growing up, this was the most intense comic story I ever read and it was mind blowing because it was happening to my favorite character, Batman, and at the time replacing a HUGE character or killing them off (like with Superman a few months before) wasn't common place, so this was a BIG thing, and flipping through it now, it still feels like a big event. Do any of you have any favorite big event comic? Let us know and let's get this trip down nostalgia hall started. As always, thank you for reading, catch you all next blog, stay safe! -Alvaro Written by Manuel A. Carmona  Recently I came to the realization that because I began reading and collecting comic books in the early 90s, I've always been in on the whole indie comics thing; that's why I never understand comic book fans who only read "Big 2" books. That being said, I've amassed quite a collection of indie books over the past 30+ years and I'd like to share them with you in my own way. Beginning in March, I'll be reviewing some of the thousands of indie comics I currently have in my collection and the thousands I'll be acquiring in the future. Not only will I be reviewing comics made in the US, I'll also be reviewing some made overseas and in my homeland of Puerto Rico. The important thing is to give you all my perspective on as many independent comic books as I can.
I'll be reviewing anything from really small studios as well as large independent publishers such as Dark Horse and Image Comics. It could be a single issue, a mini series, a trade paperback or even an entire run; as long as they're all indie books. Just to give you an idea if the titles you can expect me to review, off the top of my head: Spawn, Savage Dragon, The Darkness, Witchblade, Ninjak, X O Manowar, The Anchor, The Creech, The Lone Ranger, The Spirit, Captain Victory, The Spider, Robin Hood, Gravestone, Those Who Sleep, Bone, Hunt, Danger Girl, Battle Chasers, Crimson, The Mighty, Invincible and many; many more! I hope you'll join me on this ride, I'll try to make it fun.  Hey, everyone! About almost 3 weeks ago, I was on my first ever Facebook live with fellow comic creator Armando Drago Mendoza on his Facebook (check out his Facebook for his comic studio and his comic Wildfly HERE: www.facebook.com/Spellboxcomics ).
Well, on that live I had exclusively given the first look at the remade cover for the TC Edition of "The Mysterious Exorcist: Good Night, San Juan!". I just wanted you all to have a better look at the cover art for the new printed edition for Exorcist. It's exciting working on this comic again and fixing some of the pacing issues the original had due to the gaps in time it took me to finish it. The comic should be finished a little later this year, I will keep sharing updates here (as well as Warlord TC Editions as well). A small update on Never Mind: TC Edition Season 1- is still at the printers, there was a bit of a hiccup with the file that was sent to them but that's been resolved, and it should be printed soon and mailed to me to confirm it's printed well, and soon after that it will be available at IndyPlanet like my other titles are. As always, thank you all so much for reading, catch you all next blog, stay safe! -Alvaro   Hey everyone, hope you're all doing well! I wanted to do a quick hit of one thing I've was reading last week (I know I typically do these Sundays, but the snowstorm messed a lot of plans). This time I'm writing about Gravestone: Dark Origins issues 0-3.
For full disclosure, I have seen Gravestone grow from concepts to pinups to comics, and I personally know most of the creative team. That out of the way, I must say I very much enjoyed these comics. The comic is very unique with the pages being mostly text like a prose novel, with illustrations adorning the page. This opens up the ability to be creative with page design and have the art compliment the narrative, also giving it a much different look than traditional comics. I don't want to talk too much about the story since this really isn't a review (you can check out previous blogs here on TC reviewing issue 0 and Manuel reviewing issues 0-3 as well) and I also don't want to spoil anything for people that haven't read it, but you can check out all things Gravestone at their website www.gravestonecomic.com/ right now! Seriously, go and check out their website, it has a lot of cool nuggets of information like character profiles and webcomics. Once again, thank you all so much for reading, catch you next blog, stay safe! -Alvaro  Hey everyone, hope you're all doing well! It's Wednesday, you know what time it is....update blog, and this is a BIG one! For the FIRST TIME EVER, Warlord has original merch! That's right, I pulled the trigger on opening a RedBubble account after having a great experience with my friends over at RichMattreals, helping them with their merch design and their RedBubble, it also gave me the confidence of seeing my art on their merch to go ahead and do my own merch. FYI, this is not a competition with RM! The comic is still coming out AND I have designed new merch for the, too, so stay tuned for that! But this. This is Warlord, man. This is my baby that's on a t-shirt, and I can't WAIT for my shirt to arrive, I know that they have quality stuff, so this is exciting! Of course, it doesn't end on t-shirts. ReBubble offers a ton of stuff to have the art printed on, like stickers, magnets, journals, dresses, prints, freaking SHOWER CURTAINS!!!! This is just the beginning of me making my dream of being the latino Todd McFarlane come true! *insert laugh emoji here* The merch will have an original design of Warlord jumping around with an issue of the original physical copy of Warlord issue 1! Check out the RedBubble store here: www.redbubble.com/people/ArtofAlvaro/ Check out more pictures below and if you're inclined to give the shop a look, clink on the link above. As always, thank you all SO much for your support, more updates and announcements will roll out every Wednesday, so catch you next blog, stay safe (and warm)! -Alvaro  Hey, everyone! Hope you're all doing great. Today on One Thing I'm Reading, I want to briefly write about Adrenalina by Antonino Rosado Velez, by way of his studio Origen Comics.
This comics from Puerto Rico and it's in Spanish, and it pretty much lives up to the title of Adrenalina (Adrenaline), it's non-stop, in your face, super hero action from start to finish. The story revolves around the titular character Adrenalina as he fights crime and is in search of his brother. He runs into other characters and fights others as he throws out wisecracks as much as he throws punches. The dialogue is full of Spanish slang, that makes the dialogue and the characters feel more authentic to Puerto Rico and the backgrounds capture the essence of where they are located in PR. So far there's 4 issues with a planned 5th and final issue coming out (according to series creator Rosado Velez), so go ahead and check it out if you know Spanish or you want to brush up on it! Check out the FaceBook page here: www.facebook.com/OrigenComics As always, thank you all for reading, catch you next blog, stay safe! -Alvaro  Never Mind: TC Edition #1 Cover Hey, everyone, hope all is going well! As I mentioned, I will try to give update blogs every Wednesday to catch everyone up on TC projects, and this week is a BIG one!
Production on the TC Edition of Never Mind ended a little while ago (season 1 ends updating in 2 weeks), and if that's not enough, the PDF files has been sent to KaBlam and will be printed as soon as their schedule permits it! To the left is the brand new cover for this printed edition (and of course the digital copy edition). This will be TC's first offering of the year, and like with the Never Mind: The Original 12 Strip Collection reprint from last year, it will be in a mini comic format, and will be available to buy through the IndyPlanet online store, for both physical and digital copies. When I hav the time, both (and all TC comics) will be available on the Comic Haus app as well. It still blows my mind that not only did I finish remastering the original 12 strips, but it's made a lot of new readers that actually bought the Original 12 Strip Collection and has told me they can't wait for the TC remakes to be available for purchase as well. Not only will I be making it available through IndyPlanet again, my goal is to have a very limited run to sell at brick and mortar comic book shops as well. So, quick reminder about the goals for Never Mind: Season 12 (first 12 strips) will be ending in 2 Sundays (this one and the next Sunday), and will enter a 14-week hiatus, the gap will be filled by the TC Edition of The Cannon Girl (which is already in production). During those 14 weeks however there will be more Never Mind content on my Patreon (these updates will be for FREE), and will look at the comparisons between the original 12 strips and the remasters, as well as insight to the creations of the strips, so Never Mind won't disappear completely. Also, if you're a Patron for as little as $1, when the final strip of Never Mind: TC Edition Season 1 ends in 2 Sundays, I will SIMULTANEOUSLY upload the PDF of the printed/digital copy version, and of course, you will have access to all the $1 tier that includes hi-rez of prints and digital copies of comics! When it returns, as with season 1, season 2 will also be a remaster, TC Edition for those 12 strips, which contained some of the most acclaimed strips of the original run, so I'm pretty excited for that! For those wondering how the schedule looks like for printed comics: Never Mind: TC Edition 1- Sent to the Printers. The Cannon Girl: TC Edition 1- Currently in Production ANNOUNCEMENT- Stupid, The Cat: TC Edition- In Production The Mysterious Exorcist- Good Night, San Juan: TC Edition- In Production Fred Peterson: The Mighty Warlord Book 1 Prologue- TC Edition- In Production Project: New Wave issue 3 (Manuel Carmona, Francisco Rivera)- In Production Never Mind: TC Edition 2- In Pre-Production The Cannon Girl: TC Edition 2- In Pre Production That's about it for today. As I highlighted, yes, there WILL be a Stupid, the Cat: TC Edition (by demand), but I will talk about that next week when (hopefully). production ends on that one. But back to Never Mind: TC Edition, here are some links so you can check it out: Original Never Mind (nVd) strips on The Duck: www.theduckwebcomics.com/nVd/ Never Mind: TC Edition on FaceBook: www.facebook.com/NeverMindWebcomic Buy Never Mind: The Original 12 Strips Collection (physical and digital): indyplanet.com/never-mind-1 Patreon: www.patreon.com/lancedanger That's all for the time being, thank you all SO much for the support, catch you all next blog, stay safe! -Alvaro  Hey, everybody, hope you're all doing great! I just wanted to do new blog that hopefully I'll do every Sunday, "One Thing I'm Reading", focusing on a comic, manga, graphic novel, or book that I'm reading throughout the week. This week, I am reading something that I had started reading yers ago, but was never able to finish:
Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine. Originally published through the Optic Nerve series by Drawn & Quarterly, I bought the first part of this story in a bus stop that sold used comics back when I lived in Puerto Rico, and I LOVED it. The sharp dialogue, the believable characters, the slick art, it was mind blowing. Not too long ago at my LCS, I saw the trade of that comic I always had in the back of my mind wondering "whatever happened to this story?" I kept putting it off because I've been super busy with my day job and with working on my own projects. But last week, I said "to hell with it" and I went out to buy it...and someone else bought it! But my LCS being the GREAT place that it is, ordered a copy for me, and here we are. Going through this is SO nostalgic in a way I never expected, actually. I haven't finished reading it yet, but I can't wait to finish this one. If you have the chance to pick this one up, I highly suggest you do so! Let us know what you're reading in the comments or if you've read Optiv Nerve/Shortcomings. Thank you all for reading, catch you next blog, stay safe! -Alvaro |
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