Kunoichi Boy


Ninja Attack!

It took me all day yesterday, but I managed to finish the inking and lettering of Kunoichi Boy Issue #1. Of course I had to simplify the grayscale 'colors' since I'll be working with xerox copiers this time, instead of a real printing house. Other than that, it's pretty cool. The first issue of KB clocks in at 32 pages, introducing to readers the character of Jin Dragu, perhaps the first metrosexual/new age ninja hero in a feudal Japanese fantasy age. This title marks a lot of firsts for me... my first Xerox comic (believe it or not), my first comic to have a male main character (albeit someone who dresses up as a girl), my first real NINJA comic (Kai doesn't really count as a ninja, come to think of it) and my first comic to actually be set in a Japan-esque world. That said, it's still a MAD comic- lots of kick-ass girls who aren't too shy (Mikoto won't be the last tough babe I'm going to introduce in the series), a bit of humor and lots of action.

Depending on how this first issue does (I'll be releasing it in Comic Quest soon after the Komikon), I'll be continuing the book in this format, most probably. It seems to work pretty well, and it should get a lot easier once I get used to the whole xeroxing thing.

Kon's on if a few hours. Gotta pack some K.I.A. and Angel Ace issues. Full report to follow.

Preparations

I'll be taking the day off tomorrow, but I won't be spending it getting R&R. I need the time to ready my stuff for Saturday's Komikon 2005.
Primarily I have to ready the Kunoichi Boy comic, which can be up to 32 pages long (the whole first story that should have appeared in Questor ME). This is actually the first time I've really produced a xerox-copy comic, and I'll see how it goes. I'll probably prep about 20 to 30 copies for selling tomorrow... that's me being optimistic. Heh.

Aside from that, I'll be packing up copies of K.I.A. and sets of Angel Ace (bundling the whole Again series with a copy of AA Next) for the Kon. That's a lot of stuff... I wonder if the Alamat booth can fit us all? Aside from me, Budjette will be showcasing his new comic Trese, a supernatural detective series drawn by artist Ka-Jo, and there will be some stuff from other groups.
I'm actually looking forward to seeing what other indie comic groups are coming up with these days... I'll probably spend a bundle on ashcans and first issues this weekend. Hoho! I'll also probably have to bring along a sketchpad or loads of bond paper to draw on. We'll see.
This early and I'm excited. I hope it all works out. It's not everyday there's an event for local indie comics. I hope this is just one of many soon to come.

Potty Training

Last night I finally finished reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (which delayed me a bit from finishing a page of Samurai Sis... Gah. The book's quite a read... in fact, I'd say it's topped Prisoner of Azkaban which was my favorite of the series up to now. The setpiece events- the World Quidditch Finals and the Tri-Wizard Tournament itself- were quite exciting and the book gets more intense as a certain Dark Wizard returns to the world of the living. Now I'm ready for the movie version, though after watching Azkaban and seeing the story aspects that got lost in the translation, I'm expecting a lot of stuff to be left out. Still, I'm pumped at the trailer and interested to see how the new director handles things after Albert Cuaron did POA. We'll just have to see as Goblet of Fire ignites theaters next month.

Sneak Peek

Here are two sample pages from my own Project Hero story, Samurai Sis. I really went for a look that's intentionally different from the art I did for Changing Channel, in that here it's a bit more detailed (with some attempt at a background) yet less on the finesse. It's reminiscent of my very early, early way of drawing... where quantity of lines (and lots of cross-hatching) made the art look a lot nicer than it actually is. Heh. Anyway, I think the more 'messy' way the lines look gives more character to the 'messy' state of affairs the characters are presently in. And yes, I didn't ink the pencils, so these are heavily-scanned and cleaned up from the original drawings. Does it work? I think it does...

Anyway, I'll be working on Samurai Sis pages for the rest of the week, as well as trying to sneak in work on Kunoichi Boy, which I have pretty much promised for the Komikon this weekend. It's gonna be close...


A day in the life of the Sobek household.


Careful, Sissy... those aren't chopsticks. Or at least, not ordinary chopsticks...

Samurai Sis will be coming out with other cool new superhero comic stories later this year in Project Hero from the gang at Comic Quest. Wait for it!

Resurfaced

RememberKunoichi Boy? Let's reminisce. I started thinking about an idea roughly described as 'Ninja Girl Boy' months and months ago. It would be a light-hearted mixing of elements from Ninja Scroll, Inu Yasha and Ranma 1/2. The end result was Kunoichi Shonen or more simply, Kunoichi Boy. I pitched the title to then-still alive Questor Extreme Mangamania, who accepted it as part of their upcoming lineup.

Unfortunately, delays followed long periods more delays and non-activity, until it soon became apparent that Questor Extreme, along with mother mag Questor, was DEAD. As in KAPUT. That left me with Kunoichi Boy without a home, and wanting for a release.

Anyway, after all this time, I'll finally be releasing the adventures of cross-dressing ninja warrior Jin Dragu AKA The Pink Ninja as he/she travels the land on an epic quest. The first release will be, barring any delays, a 32-page photocopy sampler comic that will contain The Pink Ninja's battle with 'One-blow Mikoto', a super-strong girl with a rock-hard body. A later, more substancial release, fully-printed and containing a larger amount of pages, will hopefully be produced in the future.
Kunoichi Boy will be seeing release this weekend, October 22, at the Komikon 2005 at UP Diliman's Alumni House. Along with the KB advance comic, I'll be selling copies of K.I.A. at a highly-discounted price (Komikon-only) and back issues of Angel Ace. Most likely, I'll be selling my stuff at the Alamat Comics booth, so check us there.

Fore more info on the Komikon, click here.

Changing Channel



Chelsea Chan could easily have been just your average, normal 15 year old girl with dreams of dates with her crush. But of course, when your parents are unnaturally addicted to Television, there's bound to be something weird in the mix. Chelsea got exposed to some strange radiation from her parents' television sets (note 'sets' as in more than one) right from her mom's belly, so when she was born she had powers far beyond that of mortal men. She has the ability to summon and materialize any character from any television show to do her bidding... how COOL is that?! And so, with her Universal Remote Control in hand, Channel the TV-tuning Superheroine is off to battle evildoers everywhere!

Changing Channel is created and written by Nikki Alfar (KC Strange, Siglo: Freedom) and drawn by Yours Truly. It's just one of the many new superheroes and super-stories to be featured in the upcoming Project HERO comic anthology, out later this year from the gang of lay-abouts at Comic Quest.

While Channel's in the bag, I'm still working on my own title, Samurai Sis, and hopefully I'll be done within the week. Then I'll have time to do some stuff for the Komikon this weekend.

WOOOHHH!!! Busy, busy, busy!!!!

Speed

I've slowed down a lot since my last stretch of doing comics. Saturday was supposed to be my Now-or-Never day for finishing Project Hero, but unfortunately I slept through several hours in the late afternoon after the kids played Playstation in The Sanctum after lunch. I started doing inks late night, and it looks like that I'll be finishing Nikki's story tomorrow. I'll be starting my own Samurai Sis story as well, and hopefully will do much progress on it.

Sigh. It doesn't help that my lower back hurts, so every moment I just want to lie down and just sleep. BAH. I should get more exercise, I guess. And maybe a diet. I'm so sluggish. Well, all that can come after. For now, I have a comic to finish.