As you may recall from previous posts, one of the important characters in the series is Rabbi Rotblatt. As one can tell from the preview pages, Rabbi Rotblatt is an Orthodox rabbi, the type of Jew who tries to observe all of the Jewish commandments to the best of his ability. He's the type of rabbi who would never think twice about violating the holy Sabbath unless doing so would help save a life. The type of rabbi who wouldn't, e.g. drive to a comic shop on a Saturday afternoon &/or purchase comics on a Saturday afternoon. But I digress.
Last month, El Paso Magazine published an article about the creation of the comic book series and its creators. The article may also be found online at http://epmediagroup.com/culture/408-an-el-paso-hero-is-born.
Here's an excerpt :
The idea came to me when I was at UTEP studying for my engineering degree,” says Perez. He tells of a fateful day four years ago, when he took a break during finals and went into a comic store for diversion. “I watched as a little kid asked the owner what it took to make a comic of his own and it sparked something in me that made me want to do it myself,” he recalls. Rattling off a very early version of the Spiralmind concept to Rothblatt, the partnership was sealed.
Rothblatt in turn called on Joaquin Silva, a co-worker at White Sands whom he knew had artistic experience. Turns out that experience was more valuable than was realized: Silva had formerly worked on animation for The Tick and lent that expertise to the nascent Spiralmind on everything from sequential art to character motion. The trio fleshed out every detail they could think of for their main character in great depth, covering who he was, who he was fighting, why he was fighting, what his background was, the weaponry he’d have at his disposal, and much more. Inspiration was taken from Batman, Spawn, and Daredevil combined with the styles of Frank Miller and H.P. Lovecraft to give Spiralmind a dark and mystical feel.
Both test engineers at White Sands, Perez and Rothblatt aren’t stereotypical comic book geeks. They represent the much broader audience for comics that exists and has been consistently (and successfully) tapped into via the adaptation of comic books into films. Spiralmind itself has the flare of more wide-ranging entertainment with appeal to anybody and everybody, both casual readers and big enthusiasts, with its combination of visual and verbal storytelling. As proven by Perez and Rothblatt’s gumption, the inspiration that birthed the character as well as the methods undertaken to produce a full-fledged comic are accessible to all.
The article also has 6 preview pages from the first issue as well as a color reproduction of its cover.
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