ghostwerks is da SQUAD!

The All New, All Different: Star Trek

2011-09-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

So, with my man J.J. finally committing to directing the next Star Trek, I thought I'd celebrate by dropping a review of his first effort that I wrote at the time:

art by Brock Rizy

Sowe can all agree that Star Trek was butter (well, not all of us, butI'll get to that), so I won't waste time trying to convince you tolike it. Instead, I'll try to lend some perspective to the franchisein light of what we have at this point. Just so we're on the samepage, let's go over what J.J. Abrams did right.

Oneof the things that strikes me most now, months later, is how focusedthe movie is. It knows what it wants to do and gets right to it.Kirk's an out of control cowboy, Spock's trying to find himself,Bones is a spaz (in a good way), and never are we in doubt aboutthese guys' personalities. The characters are established quickly, asis the plot. The story is speeding towards it's own resolution almostfrom the prologue. I mean, the prologue itself is a complete story:We establish the villain's goals; the destiny of our star; and theheroic nature of Starfleet itself. After that the Abrams seems to beusing the ABC method of story telling. Fate seems eminent and,clocking in at a lean 127 minutes, little time is wasted infulfilling it. Kirk's destined to be captain of the Enterprise, Spock& Kirk are destined to be friends, Sulu's destined to have maddskillz with a sword: By the time this movie is over, all is as itshould be.

Ofcourse, the vehicle of all this destiny is the U.S.S. Enterprise.She's a prime example of what pushes this movie to the next level forme; perhaps rivaling Star Wars if the merchandise is leveraged right.I speak, of course, about Stark Trek's mech design. We can start withthe Enterprise herself. Have you seen her? She's built like afreakin' muscle car! The redesign on the warp engines alone isrevolutionary. The bridge design is pretty much like the classicbridge, but streamlined so that it still feels futuristic, anddoesn't fall into that future-retro trap. The Narada is a monster ofa ship, which also works, visually, as a mining vessel. Even theKelvin with it's single warp engine was pretty cool looking.Everything down to the phasers and that foldaway sword Sulu had, thedesign is brilliant.

Anotherpositive facet of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek is the strongcharacterizations. This has been one of Abrams' strengths through hiscareer. I would suggest this was accomplished as much by casting asby writing. Zachary Quinto (Heroes, as if you didn't know) wasprobably the least controversial casting decision, and I must admit,he didn't disappoint. Zoe Saldana(Avatar) as Uhura was another easyone, though she didn't have much to do (then, Uhura's never had muchto do). Karl Urban was the most pleasant casting surprise of themovie. His Bone's was genius. He took what at first glance might havebeen considered an elaborate McCoy impression and brought us abrilliant, manic doctor; paranoid, but with good reason. Now, Urban'sa guy who's delivered a healthy dose of mediocrity in the past. I canonly attribute this energetic performance to handling by J.J. Abrams.Of course, the one everyone was worried about was Chris Pine's Kirk.Would it be an imitation; or a complete departure? In the end, theyexorcised Shatner from the role, while keeping the essence of Kirkhimself; the spirit of adventure, the cowboy recklessness, thegravitation to responsibility. This role is probably the one aspectthat creates a wormhole from Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek to J.J.Abrams' Star Trek.

Andso, I say that to say this: The movie's great. But there's more to itthan that. I think Star Trek made a bit of cinema history. It's anin-continuity reboot of a franchise. How many of those have we had inthe movie industry? Comics has them constantly, to it's detriment,but this is the first I've heard of a movie franchise rebooting whileretaining it's continuity. I would suggest that this is due to Abramshaving a comic book state of mind. And when I say “Abrams”, I'mreally referring to his entire writing team. They've shown this stateof mind in the past on Alias and Lost (I wouldn't know aboutFelicity, maybe someone out there can enlighten me) and I think itworks in their favor.

Andperhaps it's this state of mind that leads to some of the flaws thisfilm has. Yes, Star Trek had flaws, and they're worth mentioningbecause they speak to what the essence of the franchise was and whatit will be going forward. One of the most noticeable aspects ofAbrams' Star Trek is that, as a sci-fi epic, it's more fi than sci.Now, that can be taken a-lot of ways, so here's what I mean by that.Star Trek, since it's inception, has been about exploration anddiplomacy in space. J.J. Abrams' Star Trek has neither. No scientificdiscovery; no sociological anthropology; no nothin'! Even the badguy, while very three-dimensional and who's story was capable of thatsocial anthropology I mentioned, wasn't really gotten into because,in the end, Nero and his beef weren't the point. The point was thatKirk and Spock are great friends and great adventurers. Now, this wassimply Abrams playing to his own strengths: that's what he's supposedto do, it's quality control. But, having said that, is this what wecan expect from a J.J. Abrams Star Trek? And let's not forget theRomulan question. Trekkies have been complaining about themiss-characterization of the Romulans for years now, and while,granted, Nero isn't the modal Romulus native one would come across ina Trek story, this representation did nothing to allay suchgrumblings. And that's important. 'Cause here's the stakes:

StarTrek is a decades old, world famous sci-fi franchise; 2^nd,some would say, only to Star Wars. This latest movie has set itselfup not just as a narrative reboot, but a cultural reboot. It is nolonger Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek; it's J.J. Abrams' Star Trek: AndAbrams does, or seeks to do, what Bryan Singer couldn't do withSuperman; make it relevant to today's audience. But now that it'srelevant again, can it rest on just the adventurism and coolcharacters? Will the audience require more mature themes in thefuture? After all, this film brims with energy, but it's a sophomoricenergy, a trait Star Trek shares with MI:3, lest we forget. Can thatbe maintained as a sufficient status-quo through future movies as notonly the cast, but the audience ages?

Andwhat of television? Is this strictly a movie franchise now, or can weexpect another series. And what would it possibly be about? Certainlynot Kirk and Spock; that's the movie's territory. Perhaps this willforce the producers to give us a perspective that goes beyond acaptain and his crew on a Starfleet vessel. As much as I likedAbrams' Star Trek, it does leave questions about the franchise'sfuture. Great things are possible, but it requires someone with freshideas and a commitment to depth as an integral quality of the StarTrek universe. Can J.J. the take this thing beyond the first film ofa franchise reboot? We shall see.

God Body: Return of the Protege-full version

2011-09-18T15:06:00.000-07:00

Here it is! Enjoy!

Open publication - Free publishing - More comic

or

http://issuu.com/Corance/docs/rotp_wip

Mature Themes: The Ecstatic by Mos Def

2011-09-17T13:02:00.000-07:00

WhenI first read about the Hitchens incident, the article made it soundas if Christopher Hitchens humiliated Mos Def and made him look likean idiot. It then started making excuses for Mos, saying he wasplaying devil's advocate in defending the Taliban, etc. Of course,when I finally saw the exchange, I had a different perspective. In myview, Mos Def asked a simple question regarding the deeper motives ofthe Taliban, Al Qaeda, and those who support them. Hitchens reactedwith dismissive sarcasm, and none of the panel had the courage todelve into the issue any deeper than the “they're evil guys whowant to take over the world” scenario. Weather you agree with Mos'point of view or not, this incident was a good example of him assomeone with a unique perspective. He asks questions no one else isasking; and he's making music no one else is making.

cover to The Ecstatic by Mos Def

Onething that jumps out at me on The Ecstatic, is Mos' attitude towardsong structure. People like Souls of Mischief, Doom, along with MosDef are favorites of mine partially because of their willingness toeither play with, or abandon theverse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/breakdown structure of the averagepop song. One dalliance in this area is what I call the “oneverser” or the “perfect little song”. It's a technique I'd bewiling to bet he got from Doom. The best example of this might beRevelations: Using the “one verser” method, the rhymer will setthe beat moving, and spit one long verse; perhaps 32 to 48 bars.However, the verse will have physical breaks or changes in them,cadence or rhyme pattern which, taken as a whole, connote a chorusand verse, but wouldn't be apparent to the listener until the end ofthe song. Mos also perfects on this album a technique he's used withvarying results on the last 2 albums. I call it the “reprise verse”technique. This is where the rapper spits a short verse, maybe 8 barsor so, and then spits it again, but either with different subjectmatter or different words for the same rhyme scheme. For a greatexample of this, go to track #3, Auditorium feat. Slick Rick, or evenbetter, track #12, Worker's Comp. This may seem like a simple trick,but Mos Def uses this technique to lend great poignancy to verysimple rhymes.

Ofcourse, Mos Def's singularity doesn't end at the Rhymes. I don't knowif Mos actually made the beats on this album, but he's credited withproducing the whole thing, so I assume that means he at least choseand mixed the beats that are used. Whatever the case, there are beatson this album that can literally be heard no where else in hip-hop. Idon't know what he's been listening to in order to find theinstrumentation and samples used on The Ecstatic, but I will say thata-lot of it reflects his fascination with Islam. Auditorium isclearly sampled from some sort of middle-eastern pop music, and TheEmbassy on track #8 is a great example of him rapping over anold-school, stripped down Arabic beat.

BeforeI finish, can I just say: It's great to have an MC with a subjectand a predicate. One of the songs that made me a hip-hop head when Iwas young was My Philosophy by KRS-1. It showed me that there couldbe an entire class of MC out there whose claim to fame wasintelligence. Nowadays, even amongst the Underground, one might haveto search long and hard for rappers who use madd skillz to provokeintellectual curiosity. Thanks to Mos Def, we have an MC whounderstands black perspectives and issues, and takes them seriously;has mature and thoughtful ideas in his lyrics; and makes songs on awide range of subjects. I don't think he made one drug salesreference the entire album, and he even stays away from the trap ofharping on “the struggle” over and over again which a-lot of socalled positive rappers fall into. The Ecstatic is an all positivealbum of unlimited subject range.
So,since Mos Def didn't get an NAACP image award, I'll present him withthe Corance/GhettoManga Blackest Man In America award. Because hedoesn't shoot people or sell drugs in his rhymes; he doesn't runaround with his shirt off; he doesn't disrespect women. In fact, hebrings new respect to the black community by saying things no oneelse is saying through music no one else is making. Brilliant!

-Corance

God Body: Return of the Protege-page 12

2011-09-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Our newest story comes to an end. I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you thought, and stay tuned for more. Click here to start at the beginning and read it again!

by Corance Davis and Rasheed Hines

God Body: Return of the Protege-page 11

2011-08-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Check out page 11, or Click here to start at the beginning.. The finale is next Friday. Holla!

by Corance Davis and Rasheed Hines

God Body: Return of the Protege-page 10

2011-08-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

Aha! Now things get interesting. Enjoy page 10, or Click here to start at the beginning.

by Corance Davis and Rasheed Hines

God Body: Return of the Protege-page 9

2011-08-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

Page 9 of the newest God Body story: Return of the Protege. Click here to start at the beginning. Remember, a new page every Friday!


by Corance Davis and Rasheed Hines

God Body: Return of the Protege-page 8

2011-08-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Page 8 ( Click here to start at the beginning). For your life!

by Corance Davis and Rasheed Hines

God Body: Return of the Protege-page 7

2011-07-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Here's page 7. Enjoy ! Click here to start at the beginning.

by Corance Davis and Rasheed Hines

God Body: Return of the Protege-page 6

2011-07-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

And, another one! Peep page 6!

Click here to start at the beginning.

by Corance Davis and Rasheed Hines

God Body: Return of the Protege-page 5

2011-07-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

Here's page 5! Recognize! Click here to start at the beginning.

by Corance Davis and Rasheed Hines

God Body: Return of the Protege-page 4

2011-07-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Page four! Peep it! Click here to start at the beginning.

By Corance Davis and Rasheed Hines

God Body: Return of the Protege-page 3

2011-07-02T01:00:00.000-07:00

by Corance Davis and Rasheed Hines

Here's the 3rd page of the second God Body short story, Return of the Protege! Click here to start at the beginning.

God Body: Return of the Protege-page 2

2011-06-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

written by Corance Davis. Art by Rasheed Hines

Come back next Friday for page three!

Interview with Rasheed Hines, artist for God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery

2011-06-10T00:37:00.000-07:00

Here's a short interview I did with the talented Rasheed Hines. I thought it would be cool for the fans out there to learn a bit about him.

For those who don't know Rasheed Hines; Who are you, where are you from, and how'd you come up?

I'm a native of stamford CT, and I grew up on anime and other cartoons.

I see a lot of variety in the comics found on your web site. Do you have a favorite genre, character type or theme that you enjoy making comics about?

I like stories about martial arts the most, but that theme, like any other, is just a vehicle to teach a tale of morality.

Meteor Max
seems like space opera chaos. And it's in color! There appears to be a war between the Sun kingdom and the Jovian planets. How did the earthling Maia get involved, and where does Max himself fit in?
the story of meteor max takes place in the distant future and the girl Maia is a priestess who represents the earth, at this point in time, which is just another planet in the solar system with life. Meteor Max himself was born from a meteorite and is a former freelance space pirate.

Let's talk about Maya Zulu. With Maya Zulu you've got a great action-comedy going. Where are you going with this concept?
Maya Zulu has a distinct beginning and middle. I even know exactly how it's going to end, something I completed ten years ago.

What inspired Maya's character?
I used to draw sonic the hedgehog comics years ago and part of her design evolved from an oc sonic character, and the rest I saw in a dream.

When are we gonna find out what's in that space-ship on page 9?

unfortunately, probably not in this issue or the next, but it's definitely coming up.

Monster Hunter is easily the longest work work you have out right now. The star of the story, Tero, being the third act of human evolution, do his people consider themselves human, or nocturnan/monsters?

the majority consider themselves better than both, tho they stem from a common ancestor.

What kind of damage can Kalina do? She's one of the coolest villains I've seen.

thank you. she's a witch, so she uses magic.

Personally, Yukito Kishiro is a huge influence on how I write comics. Am I right that Akira Toriyama is a big influence on your art? What's your experience with his work?

I have all of Kishiro's original GUNNM (battle angel) and all of Toriyama's dragonball (original series). both their works as well as Rumiko Takahashi's have inspired me.

You fit in that exclusive category of writer/artist. There are those like Kyle Baker who are artists who can write, and those like Frank Miller who are writers who can draw; which, if either do you consider yourself and what are your ambitions in that direction?

Ah, the "Wartist" I just liked to tell stories when I was young, and comics is one of the cheapest ways to accomplish this, as well as being very generous to the audience. my aspirations have not changed since I was 6, where I drew my first comic about the Akari Warriors, from the old NES game.

To see more from Rasheed, visit his web page: Rasheed Hines

God Body: Return of the Protege-page 1

2011-06-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

written by Corance Davis. Art by Rasheed Hines

Who's that little nappy headed girl? Could it be-a 9 year old Pure?

Remember, a new page every Friday!

God Body: Vicious Acts of Savagery-The complete version.

2011-05-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the entire first story. Enjoy, and keep coming back for more!

Open publication - Free publishing - More giant robot

Dallas Comic Con 2011 was awesome!!!

2011-05-22T20:25:00.000-07:00

We here at Ghostwerks would like to thank the fans, our fellow artists, and especially Mark Walters and Ben Stevens for a great show!

Special shout to Eric Reeves, the coolest cat in comics, who has some of the best stories of misbehaving by a comics professional I've ever heard. And he's got dope lyrics!

By the way, the new God Body story is almost done and will start posting soon. Rasheed did a great job on this one, so keep checking back for it.

That's all for now.

Peace!!!

More God Body Coming Soon From Ghostwerks!!!

2011-05-11T17:58:00.000-07:00

I'd like to thank everyone for following our first God Body story. SAOS was a-lot of fun to produce, and I hope it was fun to read.

Oh, but it ain't over! We'll be starting a new God Body story in the coming weeks. I've dropped some preview pages below.

And, stay tuned for even more previews in the coming days. Until then...

Peace!!!

-Corance-

God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery Page 13

2011-05-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

Enjoy the final page. More to come, so keep coming back!

written by Corance Davis. Art by Rasheed Hines

click here to start at the beginning

Finally, Ghostwerks has come back to DCC!!!

2011-05-04T01:12:00.000-07:00

The Ghostwerks crew WILL be at the Irving Convention Center Saturday and Sunday, May 21-22 for the Dallas ComicCon. It's only two weeks away, and it's gonna be massive! We'll be breathing the same air as none other than Stan "The Man" Lee and Leonard Nemoy! Are you kidding me?

Go to the DCC home here.

God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery Page 12

2011-04-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

written by Corance Davis. Art by Rasheed Hines

click here to start at the beginning
[see you next week for page 13!]

God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery Page 11

2011-04-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

written by Corance Davis. art by Rasheed Hines

click here start at the beginning.

[see you next Friday for page 12!]

Get Free Shipping of either of these GhostWerks Books!

2011-04-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

If you need an excuse to buy my artbook Spontaneous or Khalid's artbook Off The Floor (I mean, other than the fact that they're awesome), this is your lucky day! The fine folks at Lulu.com are offering $4.99 off the shipping with the US Postal Service, so if you order one book, shipping is free. You don't need to strain yourself too much trying to decide; you still save money if you buy BOTH books! All you hafta do is click these pics to go to the book you wanna buy, add one (or both) to your cart, then enter coupon code APRILMAIL305 at checkout and it will discount your US Mail shipping $4.99! Sweet, right? So get a move on and order! Coupon expires April 30!

If you already have both books (thanks!) feel free to pass this on to a friend! And please leave a comment and let us know what you thought of the books!

Use coupon code APRILMAIL305 at checkout, select Mail Shipping and receive the single book shipping cost free. Maximum savings with this promotion is $4.99. Print and tax amounts are excluded. You can only use the code once per account, and you can't use this coupon in combination with other coupon codes. This great offer ends on April 30, 2011 at 11:59 PM so try not to procrastinate! While very unlikely we do reserve the right to change or revoke this offer at anytime, and of course we cannot offer this coupon where it is against the law to do so. Transaction must be in US dollars.

God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery Page 10

2011-04-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

written by Corance Davis. art by Rasheed Hines

click here start at the beginning.

[click here to continue to page 11!]

God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery Page 9

2011-04-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

written by Corance Davis. Art by Rasheed Hines

[click here to go to page 10!]

God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery Page 8

2011-04-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Here's page 8 of God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery:

written by Corance Davis. Art by Rasheed Hines

[continue to page 9]

God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery Page 7

2011-03-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Here's page 7 of God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery:


written by Corance Davis. Art by Rasheed Hines

[continue to page 7]

God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery Page 6

2011-03-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

Here's page 6 of God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery:


written by Corance Davis. Art by Rasheed Hines

[continue to page 7]

God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery Page 5

2011-03-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

written by Corance Davis. Art by Rasheed Hines

[continue to page 6]

God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery Page 4

2011-03-04T08:00:00.001-08:00

Here's page 4 of God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery:

[continue to page 5]

God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery Page 3

2011-02-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

Here's page 3 of God Body: Senseless Acts of Savegery:

written by Corance Davis. Art by Rasheed Hines

[continue to page 4]

Interview with the creator of Southside Nefertiti

2011-02-23T23:45:00.000-08:00

Here's a fascinating interview I found. Blacksuperherodoc.com speaking with Southside Nefertiti creator Michael Sales.

If you don't know about Southside Nefertiti, go here.

R.I.P Dwayne McDuffie

2011-02-22T17:21:00.000-08:00

I wake up today, get on Facebook and the first thing I see is a status update from an esteemed colleague, "R.I.P. Dwayne McDuffie".

My first thought was, "Maybe it's a different Dwayne McDuffie, or maybe it's a mistake." As I saw more news around the internet, I realized it was no mistake. We have lost a jewel of our industry. Mr. McDuffie was not only a champion of comics in general, but of comics that included black faces, among others.

Mr. McDuffie can't do what he's done anymore. And, I'm not saying we should try to be Dwayne McDuffie, or do what he did, but we've got to do

something. Dwayne McDuffie was 49. That ain't old, man! Whatever took him, could come for any of us. They haven't said how he died, and I won't pry. What matters is, he's gone, and we don't get him back. But, I'm still here, and so are you.

If you make comics, get to makin'em! If you read comics, read harder! If you love comics, keep loving them until they love you back. Don't waste time. Comics can save the world!

God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery Page 2

2011-02-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

written by Corance Davis. Art by Rasheed Hines

Here's page 2 of God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery.

[continue to page 3]

God Body: Senseless Acts of Savagery Page 1

2011-02-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

written by Corance Davis. art by Rasheed Hines

Great news!!! The first story from the God Body universe is done and I'll be posting it here, exclusively on GhettoManga.com. Drawn by the prolific Rasheed Hines, with mech & character designs by Gilbert Colomo, and created and written by the man himself, he is I and I am him, Corance Davis; it's called Senseless Acts of Savegery.

I'll be posting a page here every Friday.
[continue to page 2]

The God Hour #4

2011-01-10T22:06:00.000-08:00

Guess who's bizack! I know it's been a while, but here I am with another God Body update.

First thing's first: Around the beginning of February, we'll start posting the first story from the God Body universe right here on Ghostwerks.com. It will be drawn by the well known and well respected Rasheed Hines! For a sample of his work, go here. So keep your ear to the street on that one.

I'd also like to take this time to talk about the concepts behind God Body and my weltanschauung regarding the giant robot genre. I believe that giant robots are best when showing man's endeavor, through technology, to be God, and managing only to destroy himself in the effort.

God Body is a story about geniuses. A brother and sister who compete through their engineering prowes; mentors who live vicariously through the skills of their proteges; pilots who can make these powerful machines do what no one else can. It comes down to man vs. man; via machine. In a world where giant robots exist, those without them get stepped on. I hope to tackle these issues with a uniquely American sensibility in regard to character, storytelling, and especially design.

I love manga, but I don't want to just bite the Japanese. We can do better than this OEL stuff. God Body isn't a giant robot manga. It's a giant robot comic! And, I'm hoping to drop a jewel that proves to be singular on the comics landscape; both here and Japan. I believe the stories that will unfold from the God Body universe have the ability to illuminate something of human nature, and our relationship to our technology, our governments, and each other.

That, and they'll blow stuff up real good.

two fresh Champion of Children posters

2010-11-27T13:11:00.000-08:00

Hey! I just added a couple Champion of Children posters to the GhostWerks store so you can easily cop them. They're both 11x17 and available for $20 with free shipping, so click here to order them or any of the other fine stuff we have available!

Known as the Champ by samax amen
Madd Trainin' (champions) by samax.
to order click here

GhostWerks will be at STAPLE 2011

2010-11-10T12:16:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to report that Corance has secured a spot for us at my favorite show! STAPLE! The Independent Media Expo takes place every March in Casual City, aka Austin, TX. There's no better show for small press cats to get with the fans here in Texas, and this year, it's expanding to two days, so hopefully even more fans will be there... Last year, the show sold out before we could get a table, but this year we will be in full effect!
I have already got the Fall 2010 issue of GhettoManga Quarterly done (peep/purchase it here) and will have the Winter 2010 issue (the Luke Cage tribute) completed and available for fans as well. I'm working on all manner of other sweet junk to have ready for he show, so stay tuned! for more info about STAPLE! click here!
holla!
-samax
GhostWerks.com

God Hour #3

2010-11-09T22:58:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd introduce another character from God Body who will play a huge part in the story.

His name is Tyde Cantu. A veteran of the American military, he now works for Pure E.T. Inc. He joined the organization to, as he put it, "fight the good fight". Upon leaving the military, Cantu was offered lucrative professional positions in many organization, including the top military contractor in the world, AoG. However, though he wanted to be back on the field of combat, Cantu didn't want to simply fight to make money for rich people. He wanted to help people. He saw Pure E.T. Inc. as fulfilling that purpose.

Cantu pilots the Armada. This machine is heavily armored, and heavily armed, and was custom built for Cantu by Pure E.T. One of it's principle weapons is the shot-gun affectionately know as "God Bodier". Accurate within 3 cm from up to 12 miles, this gun fires bullets designed to pierce any body armor or force field known.

Both character and mech designed by Gilbert Colomo and Corance Davis. Above sketches by Gilbert Colomo.

The God Hour #2

2010-10-29T01:04:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another update on my forthcoming giant robot comic, God Body. In the previous installment, we met Pure Goode, the star of the book.

Pure Goode has a brother.

His name's Booker.

He believes in power. Booker came to Earth from Mars as a child when Mars was rendered uninhabitable by the Reptilian Wars. His sister and grandmother were his only surviving relatives.

Booker quickly became popular in his new neighborhood for his engineering and mechanical expertise. He would fix neighbors' cars, houses and even designed and built little household inventions. It felt so good to build cool stuff that he kept building bigger and bigger stuff.

Eventually he was noticed and recruited by a government program that was secretly working on weaponized robotics. Booker took to the program greatly, and upon graduation at age 17, he went on to build a battlefield security and technology development company called AoG(Armor of God) that is now one of the largest and most dynamic military contractors for the U.S.

We get a glimpse of his God Body in the above sketch, but we'll save a full viewing for later. Booker will be one of the main antagonists of the book. Hope you enjoyed the update.

More to come...

It's the God Hour

2010-10-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, but as promised, I have an update on the new giant robot comic I'm putting together. The working title is God Body, and I hope to have issues on this site in early 2011. Right now I'm in what you'd call pre-production mode. This includes mech and character designs, which I'm working on with Gilbert Colomo, a great artist from here in Dallas.

This first pick is of the principal God Body, code named Sparrow. At 300ft tall, it is equipped with a single ranged weapon (gun) which fires conventional ammo, and 2 short swords for close combat and is nuclear powered. It's luxurious design is due to it's being a showcase model, meant to attract investors to PureE.T., the company which produced it.

And now we meet the owner of Pure E.T. Inc. and pilot of God Body Sparrow:

Her name is Pure Goode (pronounced gude), and at 24, is the worlds foremost engineer in giant robot technology. She's also something of a bleeding heart liberal. Her company, PureE.T., while maintaining many military contracts, also does non profit(and some for profit) work to bring industrial and social robotics applications to under served parts of the world. This differentiates her significantly from her brother, but we'll get to him later.

I've got lots more to show you. I'll try to keep these updates

weekly. Lots more sketches, profiles, I'll even see if I can get some commentary from Gilbert Colomo on his thoughts on the creation of the different concepts.

If anyone has comments or questions, holla at me, and I'll holla back. Also, once the groundwork is done, I'll need an artist to draw the actual comic. Gilbert will probably stay on to provide further mech designs, covers, etc., but won't be able to do the comic itself. So if any artists are interested in drawing giant robots fighting each other, let me know!

Did I mention there's a New issue of GhettoManga?

2010-09-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

yeah, The printer should have copies of the brand new issue of GhettoManga Magazine to me by month's end. That's 52 pages of comics, hip hop, news, art and culture in full color! Featuring never-before-printed comics from Josh Boulet (Green Reefer, The Wrong Night in Texas) and Brock Rizy (Emily Edison, Catbear Traffic Control). PLUS the triumphant return of my insane action comic MANCHILD and much, much more... You can still get in your preorders and subscriptions if you act fast (free prints with paid subscription, for a limited time only!). To get your copy (or more information) click here.
-samax
GhostWerks.com

GhostWerks VS Lung Cancer ... FIGHT!

2010-08-27T14:12:00.000-07:00

In addition to doing Dallas Comicon, the mighty GhostWerks crew will be in full effect at the H4 (Hip Hop Helps Heal) Lung Cancer Benefit Show. We'll be doing some live art stuff and have some prints, comics and other stuff to sell, benefitting the American Lung Association, so come get down with some live hip hop and art for a good cause!

Dallas Comicon

2010-08-26T23:23:00.000-07:00

So, my computer couldn't handle the file sizes, so I don't have any updates from my giant robot series, other than it's now called "God Body" (thanks Samax). But, I will have a little somthin' somthin' at Dallas ComiCon this weekend. So come holla at me. My man Samax will be there, plus there might be some unexpected guests. This Saturday & Sunday, Richardson Civic Center. Recognize!

See you @ DWEX!!!

2010-08-19T22:49:00.000-07:00

Indeed, as well as thought, I shall be appearing at the Dallas Web Comix Convention this Saturday at the Southfork Hotel from 11am-6pm. And yes, Samax will be there too (actually, he's the featured guest, I'm just there to assist). Last year's DWEX was great fun, so I expect the same this year.

Here's the info:

So come holla!

Cordially Invited!!!

2010-08-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

So, as 1/5 of the mighty Ghostwerks crew, I was invited to start posting here. So I shall. And, one of the things I'll be doing here is production blogs for some of my upcoming projects, not the least of which is the new giant robot comic I'm putting together.

The working title of the giant robot comic is "Armor of God", but that might change. The dynamic Gilbert Colomo has been brought in for mech and character designs, and he's been killing it, so far (more on that next time)!

I'm also in talks with a couple of well-known DFW area artists to do some stories from the martial-arts based Sparrow universe.

A-lot of my fans, along w/my esteemed colleagues in the industry, have been asking when I would hit the street with that fire again. And so, I have returned, at the turn of the tide.

Look for more updates at the end of the week.

Corance Davis

"The guy who invented the first wheel was an idiot. The guy who invented the other three, he was a genius." ~Sid Caesar

And FINALLY, when you get a chance...

2010-08-01T23:41:00.000-07:00

Go check out my book!

It's full of sketches and fliers I did and should have done.

OFF THE FLOOR

You can also get a copy here:

WE ARE 1976.

A good place with a lot of nifty stuff!

Beats, Rhymes and Life

2010-08-01T23:40:00.001-07:00

SP?...What is that !?

2010-08-01T23:38:00.000-07:00

In the Lab

2010-08-01T23:34:00.000-07:00

So yeah, as my man Samax says: "It's been a long time...". We're finally starting to wipe the dust off and bring it back. New stuff is in production. Some you know, some you don't. In due time. Until then, check the designs and art and keep a look out!

Pardon the Dust...

2010-06-30T22:37:00.000-07:00

People keep asking for this, so here it is! A centralized headquarters for the mighty GhostWerks crew! Now we are open, but still under construction... so hopefully, we'll fill it up with STUFF! Corance and I definitely have some shows this summer, and books and other crap for you to buy if you're so inclined! Hopefully we can all get some stuff going!
At any rate, expect this space to get fixed up nice... til then, check the blog roll on the sidebar, where you can find us separately.
stay tuned...
-samax

To Leak, or not to Leak...

2010-06-30T19:47:00.000-07:00

People would probably buy my magazines and comics more if I didn't show them so much of it free on the internet, but I figure, if the knowledge that you can get never-before-printed comics from Josh Boulet (The Wrong Night in Texas, The Green Reefer) and Brock Rizy (Emily Edison, Catbear Traffic Control) PLUS an 8 page preview of Felipe Smith's ground-breaking culture clash manga Peepo Choo (printed in the back of the issue, so's you can read it right-to-left like he intended, of course) doesn't get you to buy the summer issue of GhettoManga Quarterly, then letting you peek at this page of Manchild: Birthday Boy I finished yesterday won't make much difference, either...