The Art of Manuel A. Carmona - Blog

The Art of Manuel A. Carmona

I Read Indie!

1/5/2020

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 bit of indie books over the past 30+ years I've been reading comics and I'd like to share them with you in my own way. Beginning in February, I'll be reviewing some of the thousands of indie comics I currently have in my collection and the thousands I'll be buying in the near future. Not only will I be reviewing comics made in the US, I'll also be reviewing some made overseas in the UK and in my homeland of Puerto Rico. The important thing is to give you 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; all it matters is that they're all indie books and that we have fun together. 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, XO 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 more! I hope you'll join me on this ride, I'll try to make it fun.

Respect Indie!

1/2/2020

Indie Creator Spotlight
Francisco J. Rivera

As you all know I've been shining a spotlight on many indie comic book creators I feel deserve more recognition than they currently get and whose body of work merits our attention. Some of these creators are writers, pencillers and today we're going to get to know a master colorist; one of my best friends, colleague and Truthful Comics brother Francisco J. Rivera!

TC: When did you discovered comic books? Was it love at first read?

As with anyone who is curious about this wonderful medium one would find magazines and books at local shops like supermarkets and pharmacies. In my early teenage years, Manuel and I discovered that a boutique happened to be selling comics and trading cards. And yes it was love at first sight.

TC: When you first started collecting, which books did you collect?

X-men comics were a big hit in the 90’s so X-men #1 had come out and was really exciting to start with the second series with Chris Claremont and Jim Lee. The industry was expanding quickly, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, Jim Valentino really got my interest. Image comics had released their lineup of series made to appeal to all kinds of comic fans: Youngblood, The Savage Dragon, Spawn, and WildC.A.T.s offered science fiction, fantasy, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor.

TC: Do you consider yourself a comic book reader, collector or both?

I became both since once you’ve dipped your toes you are hooked up to a whole new world of stories, ideas, and art that you never knew existed!

TC: Which is/are your favorite comic book character(s)?

Hands down, my favorite mutant is X-men’s Beast.

How did you get into computer coloring and/or coloring in general?

I had started to develop a passion at a very young age. Growing up as a kid that watched cartoons every chance I had, either with family or friends. I got the idea that someday I could be the one who would be drawing those same cartoons that I was watching. The Sunday comic strip would have been a fair start to spark the interest of any reader. Then as I started reading comic books I was captivated by colors and effects that artists gave characters making them come alive. As other people have tried painting their own drawings with crayons, colored pencils, watercolor, and other media. I got my first computer when I turned 18. It was 1997 Windows XP was a thing. my father just had got me a computer for college. Working around computers one will find that Windows Paint was the most accessible program to start testing your artistic aspirations.

TC: How would you weigh the importance of technical knowledge vs. aesthetic feel and experience for a colorist?

For my part, it requires patience, practice, and some level of artistic skill. Nowadays mostly coloring is done on computers. It is amazing what can be achieved. It is secondary but its as important to pencils and stories.

TC: Can a colorist have a unique style?

Yes. Although it’s difficult to stand out as today there are so many talented artists in comics. You can be doing your own style can’t help but be influenced by other colorists.

What are your artistic inspirations?

I would say many artists have influenced me but one more than others. Marte Gracia, Carlos Pacheco, Marc Silvestri, Jae Lee, Christian Lichtner, Alex Ross, Mark Texeira, Todd Mcfarlane.

TC: Which comic book colorist(s) do you follow, if any?

Marte Gracia definitely is a master. Yeah!

TC: How and when did you and Manuel A. Carmona decided to work on a project together?

As around the late 90s, Manuel came with the idea of a group of young superpowered kids who were used for their powers to bring good to this world. I wanted to see how that went cause it sounded to me a lot like what I was interested in since reading comics so New Wave was a perfect fit.

TC: What’s your approach when coloring Project: New Wave?

I try to set the colors as cinematography film would. I set the tone and mood.

Describe to the readers your coloring process.

I don’t even actually touch the art physically, but it is all done with a scanned piece of artwork. After the penciler sends scans of the inked comic page. That’s when the magic happens. Layers its the trick. It’s a wonderful thing. Highly recommended its a non-destructive approach in working your pages. Currently, I’m using Krita for colors but I’ve worked on Sai, Corel Photo-Paint (not recommended kids) and like most other colorists Photoshop.

TC: Do you see yourself coloring comic books for a long time?

Well, not really; I plan to travel to the Milky Way's Galactic Center. The center of our galaxy that is located around 26,500 light-years away from Earth. Not enough time. Need to build my spaceship.

A New Beginning...

12/30/2019

Well folks this is it, my last blog post of 2019. As I sit here typing these words I feel a sense of hope and excitement for what the future holds that quite honestly I hadn't felt in a very long time. Many things happened this year, some good, some not that great and some amazing things happened as well; so as a whole this year wasn't bad at all.

   The positives outweigh the negatives by a huge margin because the few negative things that happened to me, career wise; didn't slowed me down in the least bit. In fact, if I'm being perfectly honest; I'm actually thankful for those negatives. The negatives taught me a lot about organizing events more efficiently, it taught me that in business you have to be very careful because money changes people and last but not least; it removed toxic individuals from my inner circle... so it automatically became one of the most positive things that could've happened.

The positives are so many that it'd take me 10 paragraphs to name them all and I'm not here to gloat, but I will say this; in 2019: I finally printed Project: New Wave #1 under our studio Truthful Comics, I attended a bunch of comic conventions and events representing Truthful Comics, made great business connections, completed various art challenges including Inktober and the 12 Hour Comic Day, Buy Indie Comics Day grew even more from last year, developed various new concepts we'll be working on in the near future, planned out a series of projects that we're about to set into motion in 2020, I was able to provide my colleagues with some state of the art equipment to help them with their projects and met some incredible artists (both locally and abroad) that I'll be either collaborating with, mentoring and/or simply getting to know and hopefully building real friendships with.

   2019 also marked the start of my Respect Indie! series of interviews spotlighting independent creators that I feel deserve more recognition than they currently get, I've been busier than ever updating my blog and I finished the art on Project: New Wave issues #2 and #3. This year made it clear to me that I was holding myself back trying not to bruise other people's egos, but once they were removed from the equation; so was my need to pull back. I was then able to unleash my full potential to the forefront, and I have to admit; it feels amazing to be surrounded by people who are confident enough in their own skills that they aren't threatened by their own teammate's success. I feel like my creative juice is at an all time high and it shows, finishing not one, not two; but three complete comic books in one year! It all happens for a reason and whatever reason it was, I'm thankful and happy things turned out the way they did and I'm eager to see what 2020 will bring; not only for me... but my Truthful Comics Family as well!

   Thank you each and every one of you who's reading this, thank you whoever purchased Project: New Wave #1, thank you whoever commissioned me to do some artwork, thank you whoever donated books to our non-profit initiative Comics For Christmas; THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!!! It means the World to me. Can't wait to show you what Me and my Truthful Comics brothers have been working on. We're coming out the gate guns blazing in 2020 so get ready and as always...

Keep it Truthful.

-MC

Un Nuevo Comienzo...

12/30/2019

Bueno amigos, esta es mi última publicación de blog de 2019. Mientras me siento aquí escribiendo estas palabras, siento una sensación de esperanza y emoción por lo que depara el futuro que, sinceramente, no había sentido en mucho tiempo. Sucedieron muchas cosas este año, algunas buenas, otras no tan buenas y otras increíbles también. así que, en general, este año no estuvo nada mal.

  Los aspectos positivos superan a los negativos por un amplio margen porque las pocas cosas negativas que me sucedieron, en cuanto a mi carrera; no me detuvo en lo más mínimo. De hecho, si estoy siendo completamente honesto; estoy realmente agradecido por esos aspectos negativos. Dichos aspectos negativos me enseñaron mucho sobre la organización de eventos de manera más eficiente, me enseñaron que en los negocios hay que tener mucho cuidado porque el dinero cambia a las personas y por último pero no menos importante; eliminó a los individuos tóxicos de mi círculo íntimo... por lo que se convirtió automáticamente en una de las cosas más positivas que podría haber sucedido.

El 2019 marcó también el inicio de Respect Indie! una serie de entrevistas enfocándose en creadores de comics independientes que en mi opinion merecen más reconocimiento del que actualmente reciben. He estado más ocupado que nunca actualizando mi blog y terminé el arte de Proyect: New Wave, números 2 y 3. Este año me dejó en claro que me estaba conteniendo para tratar de no lastimarle el ego a otras personas, pero una vez fueron eliminados de la ecuación; también se fue mi necesidad de retroceder. Al fin pude liberar todo mi potencial a la vanguardia, y tengo que admitir; se siente increíble estar rodeado de personas que tienen la confianza suficiente en sus propias habilidades para no verse amenazados por el éxito de sus compañeros de equipo. Siento que mi jugo creativo está en su punto más alto y se nota, terminando no uno, no dos; ¡TRES cómics completos en un año! Todo sucede por una razón y sea cual sea, estoy agradecido y feliz de que las cosas hayan salido como lo hicieron y estoy ansioso por ver lo que traerá 2020; no solo para mí ... ¡sino también para mi familia de Truthful Comics!

  Gracias a todos y cada uno de ustedes que están leyendo esto, gracias a quien compró Project: New Wave #1, gracias a quien me encargó hacer algunas obras de arte, gracias a quien donó libros a nuestra iniciativa sin fines de lucro Comics For Christmas; ¡¡¡GRACIAS POR TODO SU APOYO!!! Significa el mundo para mi. No puedo esperar para mostrarte en lo que yo y mis hermanos de Truthful Comics hemos estado trabajando. Saldremos con las armas de la puerta en llamas en 2020, así que prepárate y como siempre...

Keep it Truthful.

-MC

The Inktober Dilemma

12/27/2019

If you're someone who's actively involved in the art community and engage in online art challenges you're probably aware of this whole Inktober dilemma. If you're not, let me bring you up to date on what's been going on. Now before I go in on this whole clusterf&%{ I'd like to give you an idea of where I stand in all of this. I love the Inktober idea, everything about it made sense to me and sounded fun. Involving the art community under a single #hashtag (in order to gain traction) in order to improve your skills as an illustrator is just a cool concept.

Me personally, I've participated in a few Inktobers and it's been everything from fun, stressful, challenging and above all; eye opening. The idea of drawing every day is a lot more difficult than it sounds. Life gets in the way. Work, kids, loved ones; it's hard work trust me! As a side effect from doing a few Inktobers I discovered that Jake Parker was the mind behind the idea and that the reason he did this was to improve his own inking skills. Who would've thought he'd create such a phenomenon. For a few years now Inktober has grown into a global movement bigger than even Jake expected, and it seemed likee there was no stopping the snowball effect anytime soon. Right?

For a while it was understood that artists who participated in the challenge could sell their artwork as prints and/or sketchbooks or any other merchandise. Even Jake posted a few Vlogs showing off his favorites throughout the years and encourage artists to continue in the tradition. But, as Inktober grew; so did the opportunities for Jake to profit from his creation. And he did! That's the goal isn't it? Create something that will generate an influx on cash for it's creator.

So, as Inktober keeps growing and growing, Jake did the smart thing and secured the Inktober trademark in order to protect his intelectual property. This is when things changed. Let me be perfectly clear, there's nothing wrong with protecting your intellectual property, the problem artists are having with all of this is basically that they feel the only reason Inktober became "a thing" is solely because of the support from the art community; they feel that securing a trademark for Inktober is basically a slap in the face to everyone involved except it's creator.

Soon after the first artist went on Twitter and posted about what Jake's lawyer had done to him, and avalanche of artists began pouring down on Twitter with similar stories and/or outraged about the whole situation. Jake wrote a short Tweet basically saying that it was all a misunderstanding and that he was working on fixing the problem. Of course artists didn't buy it and continued with a barrage of negative Tweets and eventually, the amount of people calling for an Inktober boycott was so overwhelming; that Jake had to come out with an official statement explaining the situation. Since I want to be impartial in this matter, I'm going to post his statement just as he wrote it on his website:

Hi,

Back in 2009 I created the Inktober art challenge as a way for artists to:
-Get better at drawing
-Find other cool artists
-Grow an audience for their work

Inktober is and will always be free to participate in. The hashtag is free to use (as are all hashtags). Every artist is free to sell the drawings they made during Inktober if they want to. Contrary to misstatements recently made on social media, I am not trying to stop any artist from profiting from their own artwork, and I am certainly not trying to steal your work, nor receive back payments from work that has been sold.
I love the Inktober community, and am so grateful for the outpouring of creativity that happens every year in October. It’s been amazing to think that something I used to do by myself has gotten so big.

Since 2009, Inktober has grown into a world-wide event with hundreds of thousands of people participating each year and millions of drawings being posted online during the month of October. Every year Inktober takes more and more of my time, resources, and attention to lead the challenge and engage with the community.

However, as the Inktober challenge got bigger and bigger with each passing year, it started being invaded by individuals outside of the community trying to make a quick buck. These people are not artists like you and me, and have profited off the popularity of the challenge, with no concern for the Inktober community.

One of my biggest worries is that something I’ve created as a challenge that promotes creativity and community could be used to promote hate or violence. For example, one of these people could sell a horrible racist inktober shirt. That not only affects me, but people could then associate racism with the whole inktober community. As the creator of the challenge I feel responsible to legally protect it.

I could have let these bad actors win, eventually taking over Inktober and diluting its purpose, or I could have chosen to fight back. I have chosen to fight back using my intellectual property rights, which is why I registered the trademark that I have been using since 2009.

It is not my intention (and never was my intention) to hinder the very artists that made Inktober so popular or marginalize the creators that Inktober was intended to support. I did ask my lawyers to take action against those wrongfully profiting off the Inktober brand. I did so to protect the integrity of the brand, and to protect the investments made by my sponsors, which help make Inktober possible year after year. And in that spirit, I encourage all artists to protect their creativity.
If you are a pirate, making money from the sale of Inktober merchandise (such as t-shirts, mousepads, mugs, books, etc.) and confusing the public into believing that you are somehow officially affiliated with or sponsored by me, my lawyer will contact you and I make no apologies for this.

Over the years I have encouraged artists to sell the drawings they made during Inktober, to collect those drawings into books or make prints out of them and sell those too. I still think that’s a great idea.

If you are an artist, I am NOT trying to stop you from participating in the Inktober challenge or even from selling your Inktober drawings. Yet, there is a right way and a wrong way to reference Inktober. As a participating artist, you CAN certainly sell your Inktober drawings. As a participating artist, you CAN reference Inktober in the sale of your drawings, but I’m asking that you do so in the following manner:

Please don’t use my INKTOBER logo—this is reserved for sponsors.
Totally cool to use the word INKTOBER together with the year of participation (i.e. INKTOBER 2019).
Use INKTOBER + Year as a subtitle, not as a leading title on the cover of your sketchbook. For example, it’s ok to use the subtitle “based on INKTOBER 2019 prompts” or similar reference. The public needs a way to distinguish my stuff from your stuff. It is no more complicated than that.
If you are an artist and your book is not currently consistent with the above guidelines, please contact me and I will work with you. I am not trying to stifle the creativity here, but rather I am simply trying to maintain the integrity of the challenge.

My lawyers and I are in the early stages of this enforcement. It is possible that we may have cast our initial nets too broadly in some cases, and inadvertently blocked legitimate artists. This was certainly not our intention. If you believe that your use of INKTOBER is legit and consistent with my above requests, again, please contact me. I will certainly work with you. Wreckless rants on social media serve no constructive purpose. Currently there is tons of misinformation floating around social media. I ask that if you’re reading this, please help be part of the solution, rather than perpetuating the problem.

As artists, we are all in this together. I want all artists everywhere to have success with their work. And every artist has a right to protect the things they have worked hard to create.
I will keep using the Inktober platform to inspire artists to draw and create, to spotlight artists who are doing amazing work, and to teach people to get better at drawing.

I hope you’ll join me.

Thank you,
Jake Parker

At first I was confused with the entire situation so I started to investigate and although it kinda sucks, I totally understand where he's coming from; he's simply protecting his intellectual property. With that said at this point the damage is done and, for better or worse in my humble opinion; Inktober as we knew it will never be the same. I know for a fact that thousands of artists are not even gonna use the Inktober hashtag ever again, some are even coming up with new hashtags to compete against Inktober; but the point is that from now on the idea of Inktober is going to be tainted. It's too bad cause from I've seen in his videos, following his career and from his peers; Jake is a genuinely good dude.

But there's always something to be learned from any situation, in this case there are a few things to take away with you; one of them is:
-Being completely transparent with the people you're getting involved with from day one. If you're cool with artists using your i.p. then explain in detail what they can or can't do beforehand and not after the fact. Especially if you're counting on them to pick up your idea, run with it and turn it into a global brand.
-Another thing we can take away from all this: if you participate in any art challenge; DO NOT PLACE ANYONE'S LOGO ON YOUR WORK. Why? Because this will avoid you receiving a Cease & Desist letter or a lawsuit from someone's lawyer.
-Another thing to take away from this: don't give anyone free promo, especially since something like this happens almost every time.

It's always about money, nothing wrong with getting paid; but we have to be smart. Still love Jake Parker's art, still have nothing but respect for him and what he's accomplished and he's still someone I look up to when it comes to taking charge of his art career. If you wan to check his art visit his website: www.mrjakeparker.com

NOTE: Here are some of my Inktober sketches. Enjoy!

What are your thoughts on this whole situation? Will you participate in next year's Inktober challenge or has this situation made you reconsider doing the challenge? I'd love to read your thoughts.

As always, keep it Truthful!

-MC

My Creative Process.

12/17/2019

Today I'm gonna talk about my creative process when illustrating a comic book. I know what you're thinking: why would you talk about this? Hasn't every artist known to man talked about this? The short answers are yes I'm gonna talk about this and yes many artists have talked about this, still... I get asked this question quite a bit; so I decided to answer it for anyone who might be interested and the person who asks me I'll just cry this link and save myself from writing a few paragraphs. :) With that said, let's get crackin'!

Rough Draft

Before my pencil ever touches the page a lot has to go on in terms of putting together a story. Usually I come up with an idea of what the basic story for that issue will be. After I come up with the idea I'll write a rough draft, usually with a few key frames (illustrations) in mind and send it to my writer and Truthful Comics brother Alvaro Cortez Ortiz Jr.

**Note: My rough draft will look sort of like the pic I've attached below.

After Alvaro gets my rough draft he'll usually (I'm sure) laugh hysterically for half an hour and proceed to transform my incoherent ramblings into a full script that he'll then sent me via email. This will be a full script including dialogues, captions, specific guidelines, specific key shots and everything in between. This is when my pencil touches paper for the first time.

Layouts

With Alvaro's full script in hand I then proceed to sketch out the basic layout of the book. This is one of, if not THE most important part of illustrating a comic book; this is where you figure out the page layout, composition, which shots work and which ones don't; if you don't get this step right your entire book falls apart. I can't stress this enough, if you're trying to illustrate a comic book; get this step right and everything else is just the frosting on the cake.

Pencils

This is my favorite part of making a comic book... illustrating it in all it's glory! Pencilling each page is the closest thing to getting high as I'll ever be since I don't do drugs or even drink, it's something that I could never quit doing for as long as I live; drawing is my drug of choice... besides coffee. ;-D
I cherish the hours I get to spend illustrating each page as detailed or as loose as I want them. I love using reference material to make my backgrounds as real as posible, researching buildings, vehicles, weapons; everything I can to make this World I'm creating as believable as posible.
In a way I see the process of illustrating each page as the closest I'll ever be to giving birth. I sit down knowing what's about to happen, not knowing how it's gonna turn out; hopeful everything will be ok but always fearful something might not. From the moment pencil touches paper for the first time to the time I put it away, I savor every moment and just like child birth; some are easier than other but they're all a miracle of life.

Inking

But as in everything in life, theirs always something you have to do that you really wish you didn't have to; for me that's inking. Inking is the art of tracing a pencil illustration with black ink as to make the drawing completely black and white, which makes it easier for the pages to be scanned and eventually colored. Don't get me wring, I love how an inked page looks when it's done right but I hate doing it myself, mostly because I don't trust myself enough to not mess up my detailed pencils. I'm currently at a point in my art career that I'm more comfortable inking but it's always very stressful.

**Note: The pic below is showing a fully inked page from an upcoming issue of Project: New Wave published by Truthful; Comics.

Coloring

After several weeks, a fully inked comic book rises from the ashes like a Phoenix and we're ready to send it to the colorist to work his/her magic. In my case I send them to my dear friend and color maestro Francisco J. Rivera via email since he lives in Florida. Once he finishes the book, he sends the pages back to me for approval. I always have some feedback for him on details I'd like for him to address before we finish the book. The coloring process can take a few weeks of back and forth between us but the end result is well worth the wait.

**Note: The image I've attached is the fully colored cover to Project: New Wave #2, illustrated by me and colored by Frank.

After the coloring is done we add the lettering and word balloons, we edit each page meticulously and then is off to the printers. So, next time you see a comic book keep in mind the hard work that goes into producing each and every one of them and support the creators! Until next time... keep it Truthful! -MC

Where Do I Find Inspiration To Create?

12/12/2019

Sometimes as artists we have a difficult time finding inspiration when it comes down to create. I know people immediately go to poetic answers when we talk about inspiration, but the reality is that in many cases; inspiration can come from the most unexpected places. For me, inspiration strikes anywhere and anytime; and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I could be driving around town and suddenly an old house gives me an idea for a horror story, or maybe a cool looking race car gives me the inspiration for a race story; so on and so forth. But, when it comes to sitting down at the drawing board and coming up with ideas, inspiration is elusive sometimes; that's why you have to be proactive when it comes to creating.

What do I mean by being proactive when it comes to creating? Simple, when inspiration hits; seize the moment. Don't wait until later in the day, don't let the muse escape you; stop what you're doing and create. You might be thinking "But sometimes we can't create at that specific moment in which inspiration hits, what then?" Well, here's what I do... I used to always carry with me some sort of notepad in case inspiration arrived; now I use the Notepad App on my phone. If an idea pops in my head, I simply pull out my phone and write a quick note; that way when I actually sit down to create I have a good starting point. That's me being proactive.

Now, the poetic answer about the things that inspire me is simple; my family. My kids have literally changed the way I view my art now, I don't create just for me; I create so that they can enjoy it as well. I've turned down projects because the themes are inappropriate for young audiences, cause as much as I appreciate fans loving my work; I appreciate my kids enjoying what I create even more. Other than my family, music inspires me.

Music is a powerful ally for creatives, it can motivate you, calm you down and some music can inspire you to create entire universes; for me music is as important as pencils and ink when it comes to creating art. Sometimes I need to illustrate a melancholic scene so I listen to Sarah McLaclhan, maybe I'm drawing a heartbreaking scene between two lovers so I listen to John Mayer, maybe I'm working on a fight scene so I listen to Eminem; it depends on what I'm working on at the moment but music never fails to inspire me. So there you go, my two main sources of inspiration are my family and music.

Where Do YOU Find Inspiration When Creating Art?

What Ever Happened To Comicbook Trading Cards?

12/12/2019

As you all may or may not know, I've been collecting comics since the early 90's and the other day while driving to a comic book shop here in Virginia; my friend and I were talking about how we began to collect comic books. You see, the beauty of having a lifelong friend who has a lot of the same hobbies you do is that; he might remember details of the past that you might have forgotten and vice versa. While i remembered our first steps into this larger world of comic book fandom he remembered that our first real collecting began not with comic books per se; but with comic book trading cards! When he told me this the memories came back like a tidal wave and nostalgia took over me in a way that I did not expected. As we arrived at the comic book shop, I got the books I was looking for and proceeded to search for something that was insanely popular in the 90's but not so much in this day and age... Marvel Universe trading cards!

Of course they had a few assorted cards in a box and unopened boxes as well, although we left that day without buying them. As we left all I could think about was how much fun those trading cards were back in the day. Young people, let me help you understand why these cards were so cool and important for someone like myself as I ventured into this world of comic books and geekdom in general. See, back in the day we didn't have Wikipedia to learn about all our favorite characters, we didn't have enough money to buy all the comics we wanted in order to learn everything about Spider-Man or Wolverine; what we did have were trading cards. Each card told us the character's stats, basic origin, allies, foes, powers and were usually beautifully illustrated by some of the best artists in the business! Another benefit was that they were easier to collect because they occupy far less space than comic books. But one of the things I enjoyed the most about trading cards was that you could exchange your doubles with your friends and complete the sets, making them even more engaging than comics. But how could such a wonderful hobby disappear the way trading cards did? Did fans got tired of them? What exactly happened to comic book trading cards?

I don't know what happened to the hobby of trading cards but I do know one thing, I think I got bit by the trading card collecting bug again and I'm going in full force; I'm tracking down these trading card sets and collecting them. Hopefully I'll get a few people interested in the hobby again and who knows, maybe we start building a fan base again and companies take notice. Wishful thinking! I think the time is perfect for trading cards to come back because, with so many changes and company reboots; the only way fans could keep up with storylines is if A. they're rich or B. they have a trading card set that can tell the main stories in a few cards.

So, with that said, here's a few pics of me and my boy opening our very first box of Marvel Universe Series III trading cards from way back in 1992!

P.S. Share with us in the comments if you had, or still have; a collection of trading cards. What do you think about them and/or if you'd like to see these make a comeback.

-MC

Manuel Reviews...

12/5/2019

Since today is #throwbackthursday I decided to review an older book, I hope you go with me on this ride. The Anchor, published by Boom! Studios; was written by Phil Hester and illustrated by Brian Churillo. Let's begin...

The Anchor
Published by Boom! Studios
Writer by Phil Hester
Illustrated by Brian Churillo

First things first, this book was a pleasant surprise! I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't anything even remotely close to what this book brought to the table. At first glance this book is merely a punch up story and although it most definitely has plenty of fighting in it, it also has bits of religious overtones sprinkled in with some history as well; making a delicious stew of a beautifully illustrated religious carnage.

The story revolves around a stoic behemoth of a man with amazing powers who's sole purpose is to destroy these monsters that have suddenly appeared throughout the World. As the story progress we see more of his backstory and his reasons for being hellbent (no pun intended) in destroying these creatures.

Incorporating theology, history and very stylistic art, The Anchor is a book worth checking out. The art reminds me of Hellboy and with the inclusion of demons, ghosts and a monster hunter; any Hellboy fan would be pleased with this title. The book is fun, fast paced and beautiful to look at; overall a very entertaining read.

-MC

Coaster Coffee T-Shirt Design

11/29/2019

A short while ago I was approached by the owner of my favorite coffee shop out possibly doing some graphic designs for some t-shirts they were planning on producing for the shop. My immediate answer was absolutely and so began our journey. Fast forward this morning, Black Friday madness and all; management at the coffee shop officially announced that the new t-shirts were on the shelves and available for purchase. Here's their official announcement...

Once upon a time there was an amusement park... and in the tool shed a Church was born... that church grew & would go on to another location and finally rest in Pinewell, where OV Church now resides. The church had a vision to love their community and @coaster.coffee was born. We are pleased to unveil our tribute tee designed by @m_a_carmona a local Ocean View artist. Stop by tomorrow & grab this tee!!! Coaster swag at its best!!! #coasterswag #oceanviewamusementpark #oceanviewnorfolk #visitnorfolkva #belocal #buylocal #giveback #tshirt #newdesign #tees #peopleofcoaster #nonprofit #yourpurchasematters #ovbiz

This was my first design based on the specifications given to me by the owner of the shop, but I also sent them a much more elaborate design that'll (hopefully) be on one of their t-shirts in the near future. So, if you happen to live in or near the Hampton Roads area; make sure to stop by and grab one of these limited edition t-shirts designed by yours truly. -MC