Be YOUR OWN ADVOCATE & Answer 7 Deadly Questions
Name:
Joel Rodriguez
Creative Position:
Writer, Letterer
Contact Info:
joelrodriguez@metalninjastudios.com
FAVORITE COMIC BOOK:
Growing up:
Spawn #1
and now:
Currently, probably Sink #6
The 1 Superpower you want:
The ability to stick to and climb up walls would be fun.
Location:
Orlando, FL
Website(s):
metalninjastudios.com, The Dusk County Chronicles,
tournament.duskcountychronicles.com
Your Credits:
The Dusk County Chronicles: Writer / Letterer
Other WIP projects include:
Psychosis: Letterer
The Goode Girls and the Ghost of Lockeridge Academy: Letterer
Yet-to-be-announced issue from Supercilious Comics: Letterer
1. Pride:
What makes you different than the other 1000’s of horror writers?
Honestly, it’s the experiences that I have had. I believe that everyone can be a writer. All that you have to do is write, it’s actually quite simple when you think about it. How do you write? You sit down at a desk, and you write. That’s it. It’s not rocket science.
So if anyone one can do it, there’s only one aspect about writing that no one can replicate and that’s the lifetime of experiences that we’ve had inside and out of comics. My experiences are what guide my stories and give them heart, whether its a 3 issue mini-series, longer ongoing, or a 5-page short story like The Dusk County Chronicles.
For example, if we look at Forever Young, the second story from The Dusk County Chronicles. It’s a pretty f***** up story at first look. Without spoiling anything, A kid’s brother, who went missing years before, comes back and says “Hey, we can be together again, but there’s a catch”. The fundamental question of the story is what would you be willing to do if you could be reunited with someone that you lost? For me, that “someone” was my mom, who died back in 2011. When I started writing that one, all of my inspiration came from “How far would you be willing to go to see her again?” and more importantly “Would it be worth it?”
Mindgames has a similar through-line. The question for that one is essentially what would you do if the person who was supposed to be a hero turned out to be the worst of all? For me, the person was my stepdad of 11 years. Someone I had spent my whole life learning how to trust kicked me out of the house two months after my mom died, leaving me for homeless. The only reason I didn’t wind up on the streets was that my now-father and mother in law took me in.
At the risk of dragging on and on…I’ll wait to go into detail about the inspiration for the other two…Plus, I can’t really talk about Just Right without spoiling the story, so we need to wait until people have had a chance to read it first.
So…yeah. I may not be the best horror writer, but I’m the best horror writer that can pull inspiration from my life. The best horror writer that has seen the things that I’ve personally seen, or lived the experiences that I’ve lived. That’s what makes me different.
2. Envy
What Indie Horror Series are you currently a huge fan of and recommend?
I’m a HUGE fan of Sink by John Lees & Alex Cormack with letters by Shawn Lee (gotta show love to the letterers, you know?), published by Comixtribe.
For those that haven’t heard of it, It’s a series in which every issue tells a different story, and although the stories themselves are different, they all take place within a fictional part of a very real place: Sinkhill within Glascow, Scotland. John Lees is from Glascow, so he’s showing his home town a very twisted sense of love in every story.
There’s blood, guts, killer clowns in a blue van, and a vigilante in a fox mask…What’s not to love? If someone wants to check it out, I would recommend starting with #1 or #6. Since they are all separate stories, you may miss a few easter eggs if you read them out of order, but the story itself can be followed easily.
Sink #6 is probably my favorite book on the market right now because Lees and Cormack were able to tell a truly gruesome and haunting story…with no words! It is the book that got me into the series and the amount of skill these two guys have is remarkable. They take you on this horrific roller coaster ride with virtually no dialogue.
3. Lust
If you could pick any property to actual use out right in your stories what would it be??
I would love to do a horror parody of Winnie the Pooh, but I honestly don’t think that is going to happen any time soon. If for no other reason than it hits a bit too close for me.
I love Pooh and all of those characters and I have for my whole life. Plus, Eeyore was my mom’s favorite character, so it would be very difficult for me to turn that into a horror story.
So Pooh is safe…for now.
4. Gluttony
What do you think about Fan art and Fair use, isn’t it just taking other peoples work?
I kind of have mixed feelings about “Fan Art” which is fundamentally different than Fair Use. To start, fan art is a product, while Fair Use is a defense used in a copyright lawsuit. Full disclosure, I am not a lawyer, so I could be 100% wrong about this. I don’t think I am, but whoever is reading this, please do your own research and consult with a lawyer.
-So, now that that’s out of the way…
Looking first at the defense of Fair Use: it is just that, a defense. By claiming fair use, you are essentially saying “Yeah, I used parts of your story or characters, but I believe it was fair use because of…A, B, and C.” It’s then up to a judge to decide whether your work is truly fair use. There are many, many more factors that they look at when determining Fair Use, but for the sake of the “Fan Art” discussion, we will focus on these four for now:
-What is the purpose of the work?
Basically, are you giving it away, trying to make a profit, etc. The purpose of Fan Art is hands down to make a profit, there’s no arguing that.
-Is it transformative?
Are you adding anything new to the character or story or just copy and pasting? This is a big “it depends” (which I’ve learned is a lawyer’s favorite phrase). If you draw a picture of Superman fighting Lex Luthor, it’s probably going to be hard to claim that it is transformative. But if you draw Superman playing hopscotch with Martin Luther King, Jr…I really don’t think that DC would have drawn it, so it gets tricky.
Plus – If your piece is a one of the kind artistic masterpiece (such as a painting or painstakingly detailed pencil drawing), I assume the argument would be stronger than the mass-produced prints that are sold at cons regularly.
-How much of the story (or character) are you using?
Are you drawing Superman in his red underoo-d glory or a superhero that happens to have a red cape? I think the “How Much of…” argument is where a lot of fan artists get in trouble. It’s no surprise that people are going to be more interested in purchasing a picture of their favorite superhero than “random character A” designed by the artist. I think this is why we see such a popularity in fan art. Quite simply: it sells.
-Do you have an impact on the market share of the original work?
Are you competing with the original to the point where you will take money out of the IP (Intellectual Property) holder’s pocket? I think this is the saving grace for most fan art producers. Marvel, DC and all of these companies are too big and too busy to really care about Joe Schmo selling his prints of Spider-Man because it essentially acts as advertising that they don’t have to pay for. Joe isn’t affecting their business at all, because they aren’t really in that market.
People start getting in trouble when they add “Licensed by”, or “Official” or other crap like that. Then you are just lying to try and make a quick buck.
That was a very long-winded way of saying I don’t think that most fan art is actually “Fair Use” and I don’t agree with most of it. If they create an original work of art and sell the one of a kind or design/modify the character using their own unique style, that can be truly transformative. But I mainly disapprove of the cookie cutter “Make one and sell a s***ton of prints forever” approach. There is rarely anything transformative or “fair” about it.
5. Anger
As a Fan if Comic books what makes you angry as a Fan when you read a comic book?
When I can smell the business behind the story. That is mainly what turned me away from Marvel. I grew up on Spider-Man, X-Men, Avengers, all of the big names. Sure, I liked Batman, but it was mainly Marvel for me. Of course, I loved Spawn and the Image stuff too, but for the sake of argument, I’m talking about the big two here.
But as I grew, I started noticing just how much of the story was influenced or straight-up driven by the business behind it. I think the comic that first opened my eyes to it was Spawn #10. In it, Spawn goes to an alternate reality and the whole comic acts as a dialogue on the state of creator-owned comics vs. the big two. It has become especially apparent in recent years with the constant renumberings “because number ones sell better” or the “Annual Events” that conclude without an ending. Instead, it’s just one big ad for the next event.
Then it got to the point where the comics were being changed to directly relate to the movies. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the Marvel movies. But the final straw for me was that I started feeling like Spider-Man was always the side character in his own book because they were promoting Iron Man or whatever the “New Hero of the Month” was.
It goes against the biggest lesson that I learned from Stan [Lee], “Write stories that you want to read”. I knew then that Indie was the way to go because if I “broke in” to the big two, I would be forced to write stories that the “business” demanded.
I think Robert Kirkman said it best when he said: “Going from Indie books to the big two is like owning your own restaurant, then getting excited when Red Lobster gives you a call and asks you to cook for them”.
6. Sloth
Aren’t your Stories Just Fanart at best and worst rip off? What makes your stories fair use?
My stories, although parodies inspired by certain stories, tell completely unique tales that are in no way related to the originals. The one question that I get asked most frequently is “Aren’t you afraid that Disney will come after you for ripping off Toy Story?”
I will admit that originally it was a big concern of mine. That is why I did a bunch of research into copyright law and fair use defenses. So, looking back at those same questions:
-What is the purpose of the work?
I am obviously in this to make money, so the “Non-profit” argument won’t work for me. However, my work is created to be a form of ironic parody. The reason that I picked Toy Story (and the other stories) is that they are really cute stories; the exact type that you wouldn’t expect to be horrific nightmares.
The purpose of my project is to make people consider that things aren’t always what they seem. I do that by piercing through the veil of nostalgia and showing the darker side of these cute stories.
-Is it transformative?
How many Toy Story shows or movies have you watched in which one character goes crazy and slaughters the rest of the toys? None. Although the art style resembles the original franchise, the story contents are a stark contrast that have no connection to the original tale.
-How much of the story (or character) are you using?
Um… None. This is the part that trips people out the most. We’ve already established that the story is nothing like the original, but we also don’t use any of the characters from the original stories. We are using completely different, generic toys that intentionally draw a connection to the sense of nostalgia, without actually featuring the characters. Jack is a generic cowboy, Alice is a doll, Teddy is a bear and Astro is an astronaut. None of the colors match, the character designs don’t match, and even the personalities are way off. Honestly, the only actual character comparison that can be made is that the story features a cowboy and an astronaut, even though they are far from friends.
-Well…We also feature a slinky dog, but that’s a toy from the 50s; well before the Toy Story movie was released.
I think the closest similarity that I have is the logo, which somewhat resembles the Toy Story Logo; however, I feel that it is transformative enough to be a non-issue. I chose the color scheme because it invokes the tone of nostalgia that I was shooting for, but the font choices and shape of the red section are entirely different. The design choices behind the placement of the text even have significance with the story. Avoiding spoilers…there’s a reason the “In Me” is sectioned off and buried within the red.
-Do you have an impact on the market share of the original work?
I don’t believe so. We aren’t even going after the same target audience. Toy Story has been a kids movie since it was first released in 1995. It had a rating of “G”, so it is as “kiddy” of a kid’s movie as you can get. Over the years, it has been spun into comics and sequels, but it has always been aimed at young kids, no matter the medium.
The Dusk County Chronicles is moreso targeting the late teens-early 30s demographic. Our target audience consists of people who watched those cartoons as a kid, but have now grown past them and, although they look back fondly on their childhood, prefer stories with more substance and adult tonality. We feature blood, death, deep psychological concepts, kidnapping, the list goes on…essentially, we cover most things you DON’T want a young child to read.
7. Greed
Do you think Disney now owning so many properties is a good or bad thing and why?
I think it can be both, depending on the perspective. As a fan, I love the idea. I have loved the MCU since its inception, so I am thrilled by the prospect of being able to introduce the Fantastic Four and X-Men into the MCU.
On the business side, it can be both a cause for concern and an opportunity because they are starting to slowly monopolizing the existing IP. Although monopolies are bad, it provides potential growth opportunities for indie creators like us. Since Disney is taking everything over, they are pulling all of their media streaming from other providers (like Netflix) which leaves a void in that platform’s programming.
Netflix’s purchase of Millarworld from Mark Millar and all of the titles currently being optioned for movie deals from Image, Scout Comics, and others shows that Hollywood and the media conglomerates are starting to turn to Indie comics for ideas. Basically: We are the future of comic book movies and TV.
Well done you have a single paragraph to tell us
why we should become fans and what you
are working on now:
I’m currently on a few freelance lettering projects, featuring “Psychosis”, “The Goode Girls and the Ghost of Lockeridge Academy”, and a yet-to-be-announced project from Supercilious Comics. However, the majority of my time is spent working on pre-launch for The Dusk County Chronicles’ Kickstarter Campaign, which is set to launch on March 1, 2019. The stories inside are for anyone that has fond memories of the entertainment of their past, while wanting to see it in a darker light. These are stories that I wanted to read, and I honestly don’t think I’m the only one that has ever wondered something as dark as “What if Toy Story was a slasher” or “What if Peter Pan required a sacrifice to enter Neverland”.. So, let me ask this: Are you ready to Enter Dusk County?
(Let us know if you have art we want added. If not we will get it from a social media search off you.)
