http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:mtorez&section=today deviantART RSS for by:mtorez en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:25:58 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/11725505/ http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/11725505/ Wed, 07 Feb 2007 17:02:24 PST
I wanted to drop a line and let you know what's been going on...

FIRST, take a look at a digital preview for SOUTHSIDE NEFERTITI,
out NOW @ TYPE ILLY PRESS...

Go here:

[link]

and just SCROLL ON DOWN...

Next, hot off the TYPE ILLY PRESSES, an animated
promo for TYPE ILLY COMICS...

go here:

[link]

Last thing:

here's a sneak peek at the upcoming cover
for SOUTHSIDE NEFERTITI # 3

[link]

Holla!!!

]]> ~mtorez http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/10410801/ http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/10410801/ Mon, 16 Oct 2006 10:14:23 PDT my man P-ISM, okay?! Dude
is bringing that pure comic
heat that we like to showcase
at TYPE ILLY.

<-----------Over there
on the left, you can see
his style, live and in color!

If you feel what he's bringing,
check him out over on his
website:

[link]

or on his myspace page:

[link]

Second thing...ATLIENS, be on the lookout
for the TYPE ILLY street team, throwing up
flyers at tons of events this fall. They'll be
hitting football games, poetry spots, music
stores - the whole nine.

They'll be mostly promoting SOUTHSIDE
NEFERTITI, but if you still want it, you
might be able to get some leftover copies
of NEFERTITI JONES at MEDU BOOKS, in
Greenbriar Mall.

Questions? Comments?

Holla!

]]> ~mtorez http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/10302588/ http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/10302588/ Fri, 06 Oct 2006 10:30:37 PDT
People sometimes ask me questions about NEFERTITI, the heroine of my new comic called SOUTHSIDE NEFERTITI. Invariably, people will remark on how she LOOKS. Not only about her style and attitude, either. They’ll say something about her physique. Because unlike the average comic female, NEFERTITI is big, powerful, courageous – and has curves.

When I first created her, I didn’t know what to expect. With a few exceptions, I’d never seen anybody like her in a comic. The thing that I’ve noticed, though, is that people of color – particularly women – LIKE how she looks. They are apparently happy to see a ‘super heroine’ that actually looks LIKE THEM. That makes sense, I suppose, because I’ve always thought that mainstream media and entertainment industries completely mis-represent AMERICAN FEMALE BEAUTY, and are hopelessly out of touch with what the AVERAGE AMERICAN WOMEN thinks is fly.

What continues to shock me, I guess, is how nobody else in the comics game seems to be up on it.

Example. Think about WONDER WOMAN. She’s an AMAZON. She kicks ass. She’s strong, she’s fierce, she’s a warrior, right? But all the representations of WONDER WOMAN are not really kick ass, athletic warrior types at all. They are pretty much the same representations of WOMEN you get on the mainstream modeling scene – size 0 OR 2’s who miraculously still manage to sling VOLKSWAGENS and TAP JAWS all over the place. That was cool when I was a kid, but as I got older, that rang false to me. When I think of AMAZON, they think SERENA WILLIAMS, not VANNA WHITE. (No diss to VANNA, I’m just sayin’.)

So when your boy put together HIS version of WONDER WOMAN, she looked a little different. Peep:



When I see WONDER WOMAN, I saw somebody with attitude, somebody raw dog, and more importantly – given the whole GREEK HISTORICAL SOURCE OF THE AMAZONIAN MYTH THAT GIVES BIRTH TO THE WONDER WOMAN COMIC – I wanted somebody who looked GREEK (or Italian or ethnic or SOMETHING). THIS Wonder Woman – all hips and thighs and ass and muscles and fierce, confrontational look – is what an AMAZON really looks like, in my urban, ethnic, old school hip hop mind.

The artistic inspiration for NEFERTITI came from that same place. When I think KICK ASS SUPER HERO GIRL, I don’t see BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. (And please, don’t get it twisted – that show was an incredible inspiration to me, and gave me hope that a story like SOUTHSIDE NEFERTITI could be taken seriously. Joss Whedon is the god, period point blank. Still, on some level something about that character rang false – BUFFY didn’t LOOK like somebody who fought and scrapped and confronted people on a routine basis. Ultimately, I realized that my dissatisfaction wasn’t with the show, though. Moreso, BUFFY just didn’t reflect my experience as a Black, hip hop cat who grew up in the “crazy eighties.” My heroine was not slim, petite, and blond. Mine was big, physical, had a presence and more importantly – HAD CURVES.




In mainstream comics, if females are given a BIG, STRONG presence, they suddenly become ‘like dudes.’ Its almost like folks can’t see them as STRONG and FEMININE at the same time. (See: SHE HULK, POWER GIRL, STARFIRE etc etc etc) I worked hard to present a character that had a big physical presence, but who also was still a woman, and who could still be feminine and I guess…sexy. Very soon, I think folks will decide whether or not I was able to pull it off.




Folks in the comics game– along with hollywood and everybody else that distributes visual content in America – will have to realize that curves are GOOD, that they represent what most American women look like, and they are not going anywhere.

The sooner they get up on it, the more successful they will be.



Holla

~~~~~ TYPE ILLY UPDATE ~~~~~
[link] ]]> ~mtorez http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/9245213/ http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/9245213/ Thu, 21 Sep 2006 11:37:07 PDT
I used to live in DC. I lived there for almost fifteen years, in fact. I spent a lot of time on public transportation, riding the 70 bus (GEORGIA AVENUE, HOLLA!) or catching the GREEN LINE (AKA THE BLACK LINE) to and from work. Or, I'd walk. I spent many days and nights trudging up and down Georgia Avenue or Rhode Island Avenue, watching the hood slowly roll by. And I can honestly say that one constant always stood out:

Single moms.

They were almost all black (this was CHOCOLATE CITY, after all) and all young, but at the same time they had an aged aura on them, too. Where the other girls at the bus stop would be playful, they'd be serious. While the other girls were carefree and silly, the single moms - no matter what else they were doing - always kept one eye cocked on the young'uns, always making sure they didn't get hurt.

When I was younger, it never fazed me much. My mind was on the next job, the next steak and cheese, or the next piece of game I could spit at a female. But when I got older, and started taking care of my own little nephews, the real impact of being a young, single mom in the big city really hit me. Here I was - college educated, cockstrong and on top of things - STRUGGLING to get my little two year old nephew quiet, or to feed him, or to make his ass STOP RUNNING AROUND ALL OVER THE PLACE!!! At the end of every babysitting episode, I couldn't wait to give his ass back to his parents, even though I loved him to death. And as soon as I got back on those DC streets, I'd see a single mom, and I'd wonder:

HOW IN THE HELL DOES SHE DO IT?

I still don't know. But I realized that a single mom who holds down her household, works multiple jobs or does whatever is necessary to take care of her kids? That' heroic. To me, these women - like my mom for a time - are heroes, who 'work miracles at Thanksgiving' to make their kids happy, even when the money is short, the bills are due, and the car is acting up and she has no idea how she'll keep it running.

SOUTHSIDE NEFERTITI is my way of wondering how a women with so much responsibility is still able to juggle it all by herself. Even though Nefertiti is fantasy, and her powers give her strength and abilities no real woman ever has, her struggle is still based on the struggles I witnessed almost every day in DC, the struggle of a woman trying to be everything to everybody, with limited funds, limited time, limied energy - LIMITED EVERYTHING. To be able to balance all that with one's morals intact - to me, superpowers or not, that's heroic.

So that's where Southside Nefertiti comes from. To all the ladies out there that share her struggle - GOD BLESS.

~ M

~~~~~ TYPE ILLY UPDATE ~~~~~
[link] ]]> ~mtorez http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/9189620/ http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/9189620/ Mon, 26 Jun 2006 13:09:21 PDT
Okay…

As you guys know, I’ve always had TWO goals for TYPE ILLY. One is selling my comics and making TYPE ILLY an established brand in the comics game.

The other is building a retail network for comics done by people of color.

Well, on the second goal, I’ve dropped another link in the chain. Last week I finished a deal that would put WILDCHILD # 1 and NEFERTITI JONES # 1 in MEDU BOOKS in Atlanta. Medu is located in that WORLD RENOWNED INSTITUTION known in the A as GREENBRIAR MALL. (Soufwess Atlanta, holla!!)

There are pros and cons to the deal with MEDU. They took the largest shipment of TYPE ILLY comics so far, twice as many as Karibu. However, my deal with them is consignment, which means if my comics don’t sell, I don’t get paid. Therefore, I’m putting together a really hot promo poster to send down there to accompany my comics. Eventually (time permitting) I may even do a signing at some point.

Regardless, I am happy about this. I am slowly but surely establishing a presence up the east coast. And with my impending trip out to San Diego for the COMICON convention, I am confident that I can have roots planted on the West coast, too. (I’ve been working on The Bay area, but its slow going. I’ll keep y’all posted.)

So…here’s the current list of spots that sell TYPE ILLY COMICS:

KARIBU BOOKS
The Mall at Prince George's
3500 East-West Highway
Hyattsville, MD 20782

KARIBU BOOKS
Bowie Town Center
15624 Emerald Way
Bowie, MD 20716

COLUMBUS BOOK EXCHANGE
6440 W Hamilton Park Dr Ste B
Columbus, GA 31909

THE KNOW BOOKSTORE
2520 Fayetteville St.
Durham, NC 27707

MEDU BOOKS
Greenbriar Mall
2841 Greenbriar Parkway
Atlanta, GA 30331

STORES UNDER CONSIDERATION

MARCUS BOOKS
1712 Fillmore St.
San Francisco, CA 94115

BLACKNIFICENT BOOKS
2011 Poole Road,
Raleigh, NC 27610

I’d like to also include Philly, Houston and Los Angeles by the end of the summer, to take my total number up to 10 stores. I’ll keep you guys posted on how things work out.

I’m also hard at work banging out promotional material. I’m doing artwork for my appearance at the Richard B. Harrision library next month, as well as for my convention work. The convention art is especially crucial, because I’ll be dealing with mainstream comic folks, who are generally a lot tougher with their critiques of comic art.

I’m also two thirds of the way through WILDCHILD # 2. The latest preview will be up in a few days. I’d love to have that done in time for the convention, since it has some of the best art I’ve done so far. We’ll see how it goes.

That’s all for now…

To all my ATL peeps, spread the word.

Holla…

[link]

~~~~~ TYPE ILLY UPDATE ~~~~~
[link] ]]> ~mtorez http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/8988213/ http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/8988213/ Tue, 06 Jun 2006 11:56:11 PDT
TYPE ILLY GIVES BACK



Yeah y’all:



First off, this update is to let my friends and fans know that I am very much STILL ALIVE and working hard. TYPE ILLY press is still chugging along, changing the game for hip hop comics everywhere. BIG UP to innocentboy productions, making big strides with their comic SONG OF SONGS



[link]



and my man FELIPE, the author of MBQ. Check out his myspace page @



[link]



I’m a big fan of their stuff and I’ve always felt like the more other hip hop comics blow up, the better it is for me. So, if anybody gets a sec, check out them sites.



As for me, two big things on the horizon.



FIRST, I was recently contacted by a local inner city library in Raleigh. The folks at the Richard B. Harris library saw the article on me in the Raleigh News Observer and they thought I’d be a good person to talk to about my comics.



To read the article, go here: [link]



I met with them recently, and they liked me a lot and are very excited. I’m going to speak to the kids, give mini-tutorials on how I make my comics, and oversee a art contest they are having with the kids down there. They said they expect a lot of turnout, because they always have folks reading in their graphic novel section and they know for a fact that MANY are comic book fans.



This is a very positive development. I have always wanted to use TYPE ILLY not only as a money making venture, but as a way to promote visual art in our community. I was very glad and eager to work with the folks down at the library – my artistic development was encouraged at places like Richard B Harris when I was young, so I think its only right that I give something back.



So that’s the altruistic angle.



BUT…



This will probably turn into a good way to market, too. (Props to my brother-in-law Mark Nelson for suggesting something like this to me months ago. BIG MARK!!!) Terry, the librarian who contacted me, made a point to tell me to talk as much as I wanted about my comics, especially NEFERTITI JONES. (Everybody likes her yall, it’s a trip!) Folks who have never heard of a black guy actually doing comics will get to see a black female superhero for the first time, and I get to say ‘if you like this, hit my site @ [link].’



I told the library folks that I wouldn’t turn the event into a sell-a-thon. (I still gotta keep it classy!) I will be handing out cards and giving away comics to the kids, though. Again, that’s partly altruistic, but also partly marketing.



Like drug dealers say ‘the first hit is free.’



The other big thing? Trying to get ready for the SAN DIEGO COMICON.



It’s a huge deal, the biggest collection of comic folks in America. Hollywood is always there, too, lurking in the background to trick folks into signing their lives away for a few pennies. I’m going to network and meet more industry folks, and to see if there are any decent deals to be had for my comics.



D-Day is the third week in July. I’ll keep y’all posted as things develop.



‘Til then? Browse the art gallery on my page (there's a new deviation)
OR hit up the site

[link]

Hollback y’all



~ M

]]> ~mtorez http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/8777911/ http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/8777911/ Mon, 15 May 2006 12:06:02 PDT
::

I DID!!!

now what?

testing ]]> ~mtorez http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/8749185/ http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/8749185/ Fri, 12 May 2006 12:02:36 PDT
I'm getting more press for TYPE ILLY, yall.


The Raleigh News Observer has done a profile on TYPE ILLY PRESS. They talk about my characters, my inspiration, my 'personal journer', and my wife even gets a shout out.

[link]

Overall, I'm very happy with the article. They shout out my page, and folks sound generally positive about my comics.

The picture sucks, but hey - I'm not mr. photogenic, so its all good.

Also, a group called RAWSISTAZ.COM reviewed THROW SOME BOWS and THE BODYROCK.

Peep:

[link]

[link]

holla

STRETCH THE EMPIRE LIKE MY MAN GEGHIS KAHN ]]> ~mtorez http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/8109825/ http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/8109825/ Thu, 09 Mar 2006 07:23:16 PST
STRETCH THE EMPIRE, LIKE MY MAN GENGHIS KAHN...

Hey yall, quick update:

~ First, I am making easing up on some more good press. Details to be announced as they come about, but it would be a good thing for me.

~ Second, I'm expanding the TYPE ILLY VENDOR NETWORK. I've contacted SHRINE OF THE BLACK MADONNA, another specialty black bookstore, like KARIBU. They operate out of Atlanta, Detroit and Houston. I've had good feedback from the Atlanta and Houston store, so far. I'm sending out press kits this week.

~ NEFERTITI JONES is finished and off to the printers. I expect to have copies for sale by the end of next week. Initital availability will be the TYPE ILLY PRESS website. As they reach the vendors, I'll let you know.


You can preview the entire issue on the site, though. Go to the front page and click the PREVIEWS/GALLERY BUTTON.


~ I slacked up on the press kit marketing because I wanted to add NEFERTITI JONES to the mix. Now that I'll have issues to add, I'll resume with renewed intensity. I've also worked up NEFERTITI JONES promo art for the press kit, and a new cover for the premiere issue.

The promo art, and the new cover are my latest DEVIATIONS here.


Be easy y'all
~ Torez

STRETCH THE EMPIRE LIKE MY MAN GEGHIS KAHN ]]> ~mtorez http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/7236529/ http://mtorez.deviantart.com/journal/7236529/ Tue, 06 Dec 2005 08:52:54 PST
Fam:

Two major things. First, I snagged a review and an INTERVIEW from
SEQUENTIAL TART (a website run my female comic pros that reviews
and discusses comics and manga.)

You can peep the review here:

[link]

Here’s an excerpt:

“The stage is set for a great storyline — rich with allegory, historical reference, grappling with issues of class and race as well as the angst of adolescence. And, we are promised, the women who run the show are powerful, well rounded characters rather than "video chicks with thongs" (Sales' FAQ).”

Of course, like almost everybody who read THE BODYROCK, she was shook by the ending:

“This is the first installment of the Wildchild series, so I am going to temper my initial reaction in the hope that the further storyline will address my concerns. After reading the comic, I was left unsettled. Perhaps this was Torres' intention with the opening comic of the series.”

Not to worry, doe...I I spoke to her worries in the interview:

[link]

MS: That reaction is completely understandable. I had a hard time writing the last half of The Bodyrock, because I knew it would potentially offend a lot of people. (I mean, my MOM reads my comics, okay?!) Nobody wants their debut comic to say "YAY! HOMOPHOBIA! YAAYYY!!"

I almost dropped the scene completely. I was finally able to resolve the conflict by thinking about one of my favorite stories — Huckleberry Finn. In that story, the 'n-word' is thrown around all over the place. On the surface, a person might see that as racist. I'm a black guy from the south — to write about that time in America, in that part of America, and not use the n-word in dialogue is just bad, inaccurate writing. I don't think Mark Twain was racist. I think he was just a helluva writer who stayed true to his characters and his setting. I tried to do the same thing with The Bodyrock.

Also, if Hot Five is a pride, Myza is the queen lioness, and she sees herself as the protector of all the girls in her crew, especially after the tumultuous year they experienced. She is smart enough to come up with an intricate revenge scheme, but still capable of being irrational and overly emotional and cruel when she feels like somebody is threatening her crew — she is a teenager, after all. Could she have come up with a less "homophobic" plan? Of course, but she's dealing with a teenaged boy and she wanted to strike him where he could be hurt the most. Myza knows very few things matter to teenagers more than what their peers think about them.

One other point on Myza — her telepathic abilities help put Hot Five on top. But if you are a teenaged girl, there is a psychic cost that comes with listening to the secret thoughts of horny, immature teenaged boys all day long. It does something to you. So I also think its safe to say that Myza enjoyed hurting Desmond, and she likes being able to turn the tables on the guys with her power and influence.

(I've always thought that if women really knew what men were thinking all day long, they'd run for the hills.)

Was Myza's plan morally right? Nope. Was what she said homophobic? Yes. But she sees Farrwood as a battlezone, and she's willing to throw out right and wrong in order to survive.

Last thing...If y'all wanna see the 'offensive' material, hit my website and check it out:

[link]

So that's THE BODYROCK...To get more of my thoughts on the reaction, hit the blog
@ typeillypress.com

Second thing:

TYPE ILLY PRESS has released WILDCHILD # 1 (aka THROW SOME BOWS), the
stupendous followup to the controversial preview issue called THE BODYROCK.

WILDCHILD # 1 is packed with [i][b]36 PAGES OF COMIC HEAT[/b][/i], all for just
three bucks when you order it from TYPEILLYPRESS.COM. (That's almost 30%
more comic for your dollar, compared Marvel and DC). In this issue, we get more
insight into the complex world of FARRWOOD ACADEMY, we meet more MEGALARGE
CLIQUES, and we get to see the heroine of the story in action. Jessica Tatum has
transferred from Eastside High in Metro, and is very much out of her element on
the tawny lawns of Farrwood. She just wants to be left alone. Instead, almost as
soon as she gets there, she has a run in with campus studs TATE ZANE and DARIUS
GENTRY - The Farrwood Topdogs!!

WILDCHILD # 1 also contains a short backup story that introduces another
MEGALARGE honcho- PROMETH... ]]> ~mtorez