Respect Indie!

Indie Creator Spotlight
​Jose Cruz

When did you came up with the idea for Alpha?

​​I came with the idea when I was making character designs for a story, written by me within the local artist group known back then as Trinity; later known as Unity Artist Group. The story was based on Unity characters, but from those version's future, one of those stories and one of the characters' designs; Alpha was born. Of course, only based on the story; not copying any of those original characters. 

What is the creative team behind your comic?

I am the creator of the vast majority (if not all) the characters in our studio. Likewise, I've been the writer and many times, the artist and colorist as well. Silver Island has at our service great talents, artists and writers from here, from Puerto Rico, the United States, Spain, Arabia, Brazil, Korea, the Philippines, Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela and many other Countries.

What's the premise behind Alpha?

Alpha is a character that obtains powers from a blue space rock, which is alive (within itself that is). There is an entity, it fuses with the human host and hence Alpha is born. The story involves fantastic elements, more based on science and aliens but following the genre of superheroes.
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How many issues do you have planned to produce?

​​So far two Alpha comics have been published, that is,  issues #1,and #2 with #3 in process; apart from that a few art pinup books have been published based on the character with art by different local and foreign artists. A mini series is being produced apart from the regular comic, but it does connect, where it concentrates on the presentation of new Alpha enemies; one in specific. This mini series will have three parts, but there will be more. Moreover from Alpha #4, the regular comic, will fully begin the story of the origin of Alpha and some of these characters and how Alpha gains his powers.

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

Both, we hope. The regular run was meant to be twelve issues but it will go on, better put, it'll be an ongoing series as long as the readers support it. And as I mentioned, there's a mini series in the works and much more.

​Why self-publish?

Indie publishers, as we sometimes names it, on all countries, have
nothing to envy to big publishers like DC, Marvel, etc. There is a lot of talent in independent publications in the world, they also have or have more creative freedom.

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

If you mean local, I try or WE try to give a good product, we do not look for competition, although this however is business and competition is healthy for the business; but at least we (I mean local publishers) respect each other and many times collaborate with each other. We feel if one or one reaches the maximum... we all win!

So where can fans read or get their very own copy of Alpha?

Alpha was taking, like most of our other publications, to comic shops and specialized bookstores and events, but unfortunately due to the current situation, that is canceled but those interested can write to our Facebook page and place orders for our comics at the entire island of Puerto Rico and abroad.

What's next for Alpha?

Good stories as of now, it gets better, introduction of new
characters and inclusion of other Silver Island characters in the Alpha story.

Are you working on any other projects at the moment?

Silver Island related only, for now, apart from Alpha there's a Blindsight #1 comic, based on the origin of this female character named Jenny Alvarez; who is blind from birth and has powers of her own. X-pyre, another of our main characters, will have his second issue; both characters had previous appeareances on the title Paths.

Anything else you wanna share with us?

Just stay tuned to our Silver Island Studio pages on Facebook, Instagram and all of social media, lots of good things are coming; and thanks for the continued support.