Young artists dream big with local comic book
Published:Saturday | May 10, 2014 | 12:00 AM
Chris Bodden, Gleaner Writer
LUCEA, Hanover:
MOST OF us read comic books and had our favourite characters when were children. We ventured into a world of fantasy with superheroes with super strength battling the evil nemesis and achieving victory against the odds.
However, none of these stories filled with colourful characters had anything to do with Jamaica.
Enter the world of 19-year-old Shaun Haughton, a past student of Green Island High School; Rusea's High School past students 22-year-old Michael Gordon, 19-year-old Sheldon Brown, and 19-year-old Carla-Shaye Wilson; 20-year-old writer Daniel Johnson; and upcoming artist 17-year-old Julio Ortiles, the youngest member but by no means least talented.
These young people have bonded together to form JamBlast Comics, which is a publication in its incubation stages that incorporates four Jamaican stories from each founding member of the group. The artwork is inspired by Japanese anime.
The stories and illustrations are done exclusively within the group. The members explained that they have been drawing since their formative years and expressed a deep passion for art, including cartoon illustrations, fine art, and sign art, as well as story writing and poetry.
COSTLY PUBLICATION
They are also paying attention to the business side as they have sought to register their intellectual property and are actively seeking non-traditional ways - such as the Internet - to publish their work as traditional printing is proving to be rather expensive.
"The first issues of JamBlast Comics were published by us," Gordon told Rural Xpress.
"We actually got an inkjet printer - a cheap one - and we did a few copies to see how people would react to it. In all, about 15 copies were done and these 15 are out in circulation," he added.
"We want to launch on a larger scale; however, we don't have the resources to do this. We really would like to have everyone in Jamaica reading our work. Ultimately, we would like to see our characters become animated in a cartoon where we put voices to each character."
Gordon said they were not just about comics.
"We see ourselves as a creative studio, so what we do is not just limited to comics. We can do graphic art or book illustrations, as well as signs and posters. We are in need of funding, though, and we are looking for sponsors to advertise on our pages in each publication to offset production costs," said the artist.
The compilation consists of stories such as the Yamaica Chronicles, illustrated by Haughton and written by Johnson. This focuses on folk characters like Anancy.
Haughton said lots of action, fantasy, and a little romance are all tied together. It is also heavily influenced by the popular Manga - One Piece.
Gordon's Duppy Squad "is about spirits taking over a Jamaican high school and a couple teen students who rise to the challenge of bringing things back into balance. They get into all sorts of adventures before things return to normal", said the author.
Brown's Jambrawl is more "sport-fight oriented", with action characters in an arena-style backdrop. Scenes of Half-Way Tree and Hanover are incorporated in the comic. The story centres around four Jamaican youth and their journey to become top-flight fighters in a martial arts tournament held in Jamaica.
Wilson, the lone rose among these artistic thorns, said her inspiration is drawn from history, most of what was learned in school. Def Bomb Paradise is a world of oracles with people being able to see the future. The main character, Aurora, is led on a journey to solve a centuries-old mystery.