The Undergrounds season one ends (and is collected) — season two announced!

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Benjamin Glibert, Director of Publishing
(619) 206‑3563 – Ben@Semantink.com

The Undergrounds season one ends…

Semantink Publishing’s free weekly webcomic, The Undergrounds, chronicling the goings–
on of Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, Wolfman, The Mummy and Van Helsing at their day
job – a café – is coming to an end.  After a year long run that began on February 1, 2010, the
first season is ending with the final strip going live on February 21, 2011.

Benjamin Glibert, Semantink’s Director of Publishing, spoke to The Undergrounds success
in its inaugural year, “I could not be happier with with the way that THE UNDERGROUNDS
season 1 turned out. Right off the bat, I knew that the premise of the strip was a winner, but
seeing it come to fruition has been wonderful. Each writer was able to bring not only his own
voice to the project, but create a story that flowed together week to week. Of course I would
be remiss if I didn’t mention the amazing energy and continuity provided by Daniel’s art. I
am so proud of everyone involved, and I feel lucky to have been a part of the project.”

(And is collected)…

Semantink Publishing is excited to collect these strips in a trade to be released on May 2, 2011.
Containing all 52 released strips, and a few unreleased ones, The Undergrounds: Season One
will be loaded with extras, including extra art from artist Daniel Touchet, marketing pieces
from the first season, an introduction from Semantink Director of Publishing Benjamin
Glibert and more…
Pre-Orders will begin with the posting of the final strip on February 21, 2011, and will
continue until the books official release two months later.  The Undergrounds: Season One
will retail for $19.99 and be available exclusively at Semantink.com.  Pre-orders will save
$2.00 off of the cover price at $17.99.

Season two announced!

Also beginning May 2, 2011, Semantink Publishing is proud to begin the second season of
The Undergrounds!  With a new job, new characters and the fresh blood of a few new writers,
Semantink couldn’t be more excited!

Returning for the second season will be: artist, Daniel Touchet and writers, Marcel Losada,
Michael Fountain, Joe Pezzula and James Ninness. New to the webseries are writers: Ryan
Darrow, Eric Jennings and Shannon Forrey – each bringing with them a ghoul previously
unseen!

“As enamored as I am with our first season of THE UNDERGROUNDS, I am even more jazzed
about season two,” adds Benjamin Glibert, “By adding cast members and changing the
setting, I think that the story telling options have really been opened up. Of course, with
more characters comes more writers, and I am extremely excited about the new talent that
we have brought onboard. Shannon, Eric, and Ryan have all brought a host of new ideas to
the table, and people are really going to enjoy their additions to the cast. Having the bulk of
the creative talent back from season one has been a treat, I’m ecstatic that we were able to
keep so many creative individuals on board. Season two is really going to blow people out of
the water.”
Ryan Darrow was born and raised in Orange County, CA. To be exact, he was born at the
Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, CA, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy
seven. He was expelled from private school and attempted to smoke his way through college
art and film courses. He dropped out and did very little for very long. Ryan occasionally
writes things with little or no intention of finishing them, reading books in much the same
manner. He would also like you to know that he’s married so hands off, ladies. You may look
though.
Eric Jennings currently resides in Sherman Oaks, CA but was raised in sunny San Diego. He’s
living the dream in Los Angeles working in post-production, the most glamorous segment of
the film industry. Eric attended the Los Angeles Film School where he studied directing and
editing (with some writing thrown in). You may have seen (but probably not) Eric’s work on
screen through his thesis film (that he wrote and directed) called What’s All That Racket?
His true passion in life, however, is writing web comics.
The illegitimate love-child of business and creativity, Shannon Forrey spends most of her
time Art Directing and obsessing over advertising. Inspired by all things horror, nerdom as
well as the weird & strange, her writing and design reflects this quirky personality. She is
constantly reminded to travel more, never give up your passions and “Fail Harder”.
Viewers will find the new season of The Undergrounds at the same address:
http://www.the-undergrounds.com and, like before, it is entirely free and released every
Monday morning.

Semantink Publishing – www.Semantink.com
SEMANTINK PUBLISHING is first and foremost a company dedicated to quality, not quantity.
We believe that taking the time to read anything should be a rewarding experience, whether
it’s a comic book, a novel, a magazine or the back of a cereal box. A great story, like good
food, takes time to prepare and that means we won’t churn out twenty properties a week to
fill your shelves and take your money. Instead we’re going to take our time crafting stories
so that you can (we hope) spend your time enjoying them. We want you to stare at panels
of art for a few minutes, or maybe relax as you digest a line of text. It’d be nice if you looked
forward to your time with us, as we look forward to sharing with you. In short, Semantink
wants you to find the meaning of print, each time you read us.

Brian Soriano joins James Ninness on MYTHOI

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Benjamin Glibert, Director of Publishing

(619) 206‑3563 – Ben@Semantink.com

Brian Soriano joins James Ninness on MYTHOI

Artist Brian Soriano has joined James Ninness on Semantink Publishing’s inaugural title, MYTHOI.

San Francisco based artist Brian Soriano has signed to pencil and ink MYTHOI issues #4–6 from Semantink Publishing. Brian’s enthusiasm is infectious, “I’ve been wanting to get my hands on these amazing characters since I first laid eyes on them – they’re just as creative as they are mythical.”

Director of Publishing, Benjamin Glibert is equally thrilled, “I am very excited to have Brian onboard for MYTHOI. His artwork is energetic and superbly detailed. I truly believe that Brian is a comic-star in the making. It was sad to see Jed go, but with Brian onboard MYTHOI is in very good hands.”

“Brian and I have been going back and forth on Facebook for a while now,” adds series creator James Ninness, “the minute I saw his work I sent him a friend request and a message that said, ‘You don’t know me, but I like your work and want to work with you someday.’ I think I may also have said I watched him sleep through his windows or something… It probably creeped him out, but it worked out I guess, so who cares? Brian has an amazing eye for kinetic panels and I can’t wait to see what he does with MYTHOI. I think it’s going to take the book in a lot of directions, artistically, that people may not have seen coming.”

MYTHOI, from creator/writer James Ninness, tells the tale of five heroes, each from a different mythology, thrown together to defend the world from varying enemies, each the product of history’s many mythos. MYTHOI will run 60 issues – issues #1, 2, 3, as well as five free issues (the Birth series) have already been released. Brian Soriano’s art will be released in books beginning End-of-Winter 2011.

Semantink Publishing – www.Semantink.com

SEMANTINK PUBLISHING is first and foremost a company dedicated to quality, not quantity. We believe that taking the time to read anything should be a rewarding experience, whether it’s a comic book, a novel, a magazine or the back of a cereal box. A great story, like good food, takes time to prepare and that means we won’t churn out twenty properties a week to fill your shelves and take your money. Instead we’re going to take our time crafting stories so that you can (we hope) spend your time enjoying them. We want you to stare at panels of art for a few minutes, or maybe relax as you digest a line of text. It’d be nice if you looked forward to your time with us, as we look forward to sharing with you. In short, Semantink wants you to find the meaning of print, each time you read us.

Going back a bit further, I want to mention the end of day one for a moment.  Benjamin, Sgt. Angle, Ash, Street Fece and I wandered through the streets of SF ’til we found ourselves in the good company of the Dragatomi crew, drinking many beverages of alcoholic constitution.  I bring this up because at some point you may see some pictures of a pant-less Ash and I wanted you to understand that the evening, full of magical moments as it was, happened at the behest of our worser natures let free upon the world by beer and shots.

Now to WonderCon 2010, day two.

The day started off great when Ash, Sgt. Angle, Street Fece and myself surprised our fearless leader, Benjamin, with an iPad, fresh and steamy from the SF Apple Store.  It’s Benji’s birthday soon and we were able to get up a bit early and (without too much difficulty) procure said device for the good man.

At the convention, many shenanigans were afoot: The Losers panel featured a buffed-out Chris Evans who was not able to answer a single Cap America questions, which I understand since it was a Losers panel, but it’s still a bit disappointing.  Cage mumbled his way through another fan fest, promoting Kick Ass — I honestly believe that he’s ALWAYS high.  If you ask me, he’s a bum, but whatever.  There was a Nightmare on Elm Street panel with the great Haley available to all.  But the big surprise, the moment everybody seemed to get the most excited about, was the Nolan walkout where he spoke a bit about Inception and showed some clips.  Wow.  Just… Wow.

Disney was there as well, selling Tron (more virally than anything else), Prince of Persia and Toy Story 3.  I didn’t catch anything on those panels, but I haven’t heard anything exciting either, so let’s just say I probably didn’t miss much.  Equally underwhelming was Milla Jovovich’s two-day attendance to promote yet another romp through the bewildering world of Resident Evil.

The day ended with all of us at the Vinyl Addiction party where we enjoyed some amazing artwork and vinyl toy — free beer and booze didn’t hurt none either.  We got to see a couple episodes of the show and were unsuccessful at winning any of the many raffled off items from various sponsors.  It was great.

Today we will not be attending the Con, so I’m afraid Semantink’s report ends here.  But I’m sure some of the more seasoned bloggers will be writing about their personal moments and experiences throughout the next week, so stay tuned for more in-depth coverage coming over the next few days from Semantinl.com!

James Ninness

Just when you thought you were done reading my blogs, Ben asks me to report on Day One of WonderCon 2010!

On Thursday I drove up here with Benjamin, Sgt. Angle, Street Fece and Ash — the trip itself was fine.  Nothing exciting happened save the ramblings of five delusional and not-quite-matured men killing time with penis jokes and embellished stories of our youthful conquests.

We go to our hotel, the Marcone Marriott in San Francisco around 9:00ish and immediately made our way to the hotel bar where alcohol is expensive but desperately needed.  After a couple gin and tonics we decided to finish our prep for the weekend and continued working through the evening.

At around 6:00am this morning our room alarm clock went off with a fruious rigor that was answered by my fists.  Ben, Sgt. Angle and myself went to Starbucks in an attempt to restore our positive attitudes with coffee.  After the rest of the team was up it was onward to WonderCon!

This was Semantink’s first time at WonderCon and we were’nt too sure what to expect, but I’m pleased to say that it was, for the most part, awesome.

The Good

Panels had just enough star power and insight.  Whether you were going to hear Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter introduce their new Resident Evil trailer in 3D, wanted to hear Chiklas talk about his new comic, or just had the inkling to get some insight from one of your favorite comic producers — WonderCon had it all.

Layout was perfect.  We started at the end of the hall with the Artist’s Alley and Indie Publishers, then made our way across it all through the comic vendors, big-league booths and into vinyl toy-ville.  We got just enough of everything and spent little-to-know-time wondering where we were.  This may sound like a “meh” concern, but if you’ve ever been to San Diego Comic Con, then you know how detrimental poor planning can be during the larger conventions and how easy it is to get, literally, lost in the crowd.

The talent was spot on!  I saw some amazing up and coming artists, some soon-to-be-huge indie publishers, a few bigger names signing/sketching, just enough big-budget booths to satiate my palette and more than a few fantastic custom toy companies.  Sure, there were a few not-so-soon-to-be-famous folks as well, but it didn’t feel to heavily skewed in one direction or another.  There was success and there was hope for success and a good convention needs both ends of the spectrum.

The Bad

The staff was incredibly bad.  Upon our arrival we talked to three security guards who all told us that professional registration was at a different location.  In between talking to those three guards, we talked to four other guards who wouldn’t listen when we tried to ask where to go for professional registration.  When we finally got registered went downstairs where an incredibly rude guard told us that we couldn’t go in and told us that we had to wait in a special room — we said we’d just go back outside and were told that we’d “never get in.”  Snarky!

The organization was complete and utter shit.  Lines were formed haphazardly with tweens guiding us from one point to another (most of them texting while doing so), a writer/artist “speed dating” event that Sgt. Angle went to was very lopsided and he ended up talking to other writers most of the time, and none of the personnel seemed to know what was going on — I can’t remember how many times I received “I don’t know” as an answer to general queries…

Day One of WonderCon was, overall, a great time.  The entire Semantink team walked away exhausted, but satiated.  We got to see some old friends (Lord Mesa, Nathan Hamill and Dragatomy) and make a ton of new ones (Jackie Huang, John Giang, Westside Laserworks, Geek Chic and Lauren Venell).  We’re going to go through the TONS of cards/postcards we picked up today, check out everybody’s online resources and try to make even more new friends tomorrow!

I have to go now — Benjamin, Street Fece and I have a meeting, but stay tuned for some more from Ash and Sgt. Angle when they return from their TRON LEGACY shenanigans!!

James Ninness

First of all, know this: pesticide makes Kermit a transvestite.  Moving on…

Next I want to apologize to those of you who missed our time together last week because of The Undergrounds.  I know it was difficult, but trust me, it was worth it.  Benji’s been working with five writers and an artist to put that little web comic together and, well, writers and artists are about the most difficult people in the world to work with, so give the man some slack.  The comic itself is pretty damned funny, especially if you’ve ever spent time in customer service…

Now, to the topic at hand: The Academy Awards.  This Sunday Hollywood is going to blow some smoke up their asses, let it mingle for a while and then burp in our faces with the biggest sham ever, the Oscars.  A group of rich people swooning over one another, ranting about how great they are and how important their work is to the world… Please.  Anyways, these fascists elitists fleshy bags of hot air will, at the very least, entertain us; I’m sure someone will have a nipple slip, somebody will rant about the environment when they win, someone will end up saying something crazy like “midget-mayonnaise” for no reason, and hopefully, if we’re really lucky, somebody with some talent, not connection, will win an award they deserve.  But doubtful.

So, in lieu of the good Sgt. Angle’s picks, I’m here to give you my wishes-that-weren’t, not predictions, for this years Academy Awards in the following categories: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Director and Best Picture.  Shall we?

Best Actor:  Cung Le

I speak a language called FukYooUp!

Last year a little sci-fi gem called Pandorum came out and it was, without a doubt, one of the most fun films in the genre I had seen in a very, very long time.  Not only did the movie have some solid work in the writing, directing and production department, but it managed to surprise me at the end, something films rarely do effectively these days.  One of the actors, real life fighter Cung Le, portrayed Manh, a badass mofo with a huge spear and a foreign language.  Cung Le spent the whole movie flipping, slashing and fighting, something that keeps me interested and holds my attention (I know, weird, right?).  Pandorum itself was fantastic and if you haven’t seen it, you’re doing yourself a disservice.  Cung Le wins because he could fuck any of the Academy’s nominations up, without special effects.

Best Actress:  Sasha Grey

I’d take her serious…

I don’t need to introduce this beauty, but I will anyways.  Sasha Grey has been in some of the more timeless pieces of the last few years, including: Teenage Peach Fuzz 3, Spunk’d 8, The King of Coochie 4, and Soderbergh’s latest (and the film for which she wins this award), The Girlfriend Experience.  In the The Girlfriend Experience, the talented Miss Grey plays an escort, which is acting, because she is not an escort in real life, she is an adult film star — totally different!  The drama deals with the escort managing her clients and her personal life in the days of the 2008 election.  You see?  Politics = drama!  The film scored varying reviews, but I can’t see how anyone would oppose a movie where we follow this fine femme around for two hours, can you?

Best Cinematography:  M David Mullen

If she were a mute, she’d be perfect.

Most of you may not know who M David Mullen is, but you probably know his work as a cinematographer…  Love Pig?  Now Renting?  Lipstick Camera?  No?  Me neither.  But I do know his 2009 release: Jennifer’s Body.  Being a cinematographer is hard work. According to Wikipedia, “The title is generally equivalent to director of photography (DP), used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image.”  So, when you see something beautiful on the screen, don’t thank the director, thank the cinematographer!  In Jennifer’s Body we got two moments of beauté (that’s French for “beauty”): A make out scene with Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried and a topless Megan Fox — you, Mr. Mullen, are a master of your craft.  Now please understand, I still think Ms. Fox is a moronic piece of white-trash, but she is an extremely hot, moronic piece of white-trash, so there you go.

Best Director:  Zach Snyder

But, where’d he get the mask?

Fuck the haters.  I know he took out the squid and I know that Watchmen is still a better book than movie, but here’s the bottom line:  Zach Snyder took what was, for all intensive purposes, Hollywood’s wetdream/nightmare property and made a damned fine film.  It’s beautiful.  It’s as true as we can hope for any comic book ground through the Hollywood machine.  It gave us an awesome Rorschach.   And if you’ve seen the extended cut with the Curse of the Black Freighter woven throughout, it’s beautifully told cinema.  You can disagree with me (it wouldn’t be the first time), but Zach Snyder deserves a hearty bow-down from all you geeky bitches for pulling off one of the most difficult comic book franchises-to-film ever.  Even if you hate the film you must respect the doors he’s opened.

Best Film:  The Hangover

Really though, who hasn’t woken up with a tiger?

As Comedies go, I don’t ask for much — just make me laugh!  At some comedies I laugh a little, at others, I laugh a lot.  At The Hangover, I laughed my fucking ass off all three times I saw it!  The cast is perfect.  The humor is spot on.  It starts with funnies and never stops — I heard jokes for the first time on my third viewing because I had laughed through them the first two times.  Does this movie make me question what it is to be human?  No.  Am I a better person after seeing it?  Probably not in the existential sense.  But here’s why The Hangover is the BEST film of 2009: It was exactly what we needed — all of us.  2009 could’ve been better in a lot of ways.  I wanted escape.  I got a hilarious romp through the eyes of four not-all-too-smart guys in the land of hedonism and unadulterated pleasure.  I left the theater and I was genuinely happy, more than I can say for some animated/blue-people/depressing films I saw last year…  Oh yeah, and Mike Tyson was in it singing Phil Collins — automatic win.

That’s it kiddies.  Enjoy this Sunday (if you can).  Maybe next year we’ll see some actual talent get an award, like whoever stars in the Burton/Bekmambetov film coming out where President Lincoln fights vampires…

Until next time,

Mr. Wolff

Back to Semantink

Hello all!  I was fortunate enough to join the Semantink boys on another convention outing yesterday back to Long Beach, for the Long beach Comic Expo!  The Long Beach Comic Con kicked off its first year just a few months ago, and a second year is coming in October, but the good people behind the LBC’s comic craze decided to give us a one day sort of midpoint break in patience.  While yesterday’s event was only a miniscule sampling of the glory that is the Long Beach Comic Con proper, it hailed a haughty list of talent:

• Amanda Dawn Wolf
• Bernie Wrightson
• Beth Sotelo
• Brian Haberlin
• Cat Staggs
• Christian Beranek
• Christian Meesey
• Chris Moreno
• Dan Brereton
• Dan Wickline
• Dan Taylor
• David Wohl
• Drew Johnson
• Dustin Nguyen
• Eddie Nuñez
• Eric Basaldua
• Eric Canete
• Frank Mastromauro
• Gus Vazquez
• J.T. Krul
• Jim Daly
• JJ Kirby
• Joe Benitez
• Joe Rubinstein
• Jordan Raskin
• Josh Dysart
• Lauren Perry
• Joshua Hale Fialkov
• Livio Ramondelli
• Lou Ferrigno
• Mark Dos Santos
• Mark Roslan
• Michael Lopez
• Naomi Baker
• Norm Rapmund
• Peter Steigerwald
• Philip Tan
• Ray-Anthony Height
• Richard Starkings
• Rick Basaldua
• Rob Levin
• Scott Lobdell
• Stan Sakai
• Steve Niles
• Tim Bradstreet
• Tim Vigil
• Todd Nauck
• Tone Rodriguez
• Tony DeZuniga
• Tony Fleecs
• Trent Kaniuga
• Trevor Goring
• Vince Hernandez
• Whilce Portacio

Sgt. Angle and Benjamin Glibert give R2 the “what’s-what.”

Ben, Sgt. Angle, Ash, Admiral Eo and I made our way up to Long Beach in the wee hours of Saturday morning and pushed through minimal traffic-resistance, arriving at the Convention Center just after doors opened at 10am.  We were greeted by a few cars resembling entertainment icons and pushed past a group of Clone Wars veterans into the expo.  Now this event was not in the main hall, as the convention was, but in a smaller room to the side of the main entrance — but it worked.  There was enough space to get around and sample each of the vendors/artists/writers/publisher’s tables without feeling to cramped.

Admiral Eo and James Ninness don’t mind Huey Lewis, but hate the News.

Once we had our wristbands, we leisurely strolled through the hubbub and ran into Mike Mignola and Steve Niles (both incredibly personable) — not a bad start.  After a very lovely discussion with Tone Rodriguez (who told me that he was in DEXTER, something I did not know), we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping.  One of the booths was selling everything at 40% off, so between the five of us, a few hundred dollars was spent and everybody went home with goodies galore.

Admiral Eo, James Ninness and Ash think Anakin acts like a girl.

Cosplay was ensuing, with quite a good many fantastic costumes, and a few not so good ones…  But it was great to see fans out in force, enjoying each others geekery.  While I wish that there was more, I understand that this was a $10.00, one day event and I’m not complaining, I just wish there was more to see or do.  There were no panels (understandable), no contests (again, understandable) and no incentive to stay after doing a couple laps around the showroom floor.  It was, as one would think it to be, simple.  We went, talked to some amazing people, met some courageous fans, and bought some fantastically priced merch — a fine time.

ZBladeXX scares Sgt. Angle

I look forward to the Con-proper in October (assuming I’m invited again) and have to hand it to the Long Beach organizers, MAD Event Management and the Long Beach Comic Convention, they made a lot of people very happy on an otherwise plain February afternoon — so a very special thanks to them!

Talk to you guys soon!

James Ninness

PS:  The response to MYTHOI has been overwhelming — thank you all!  I hope you continue to enjoy it!

Greetings kiddos and welcome to another Hump Day Rant.  Today we’re going to do something a little different and depending on your tastes it’ll wither be a treat or a complete snooze.  I’ll let you decide, though if you opt for “snooze” you’re probably either a moron, a sorority girl, or burdened with some degree of mental incapacity.

28 years ago today a poor woman had her water violently bludgeoned open, and gave birth to one of the most talented (albeit unattractive) writers I’ve had the pleasure to know: James Michael Ninness.  James grew up in San Diego and after high school, spent a few years traveling through Europe and the Southwestern United States, ending up with a degree in English: Creative Writing from Cal State University Long Beach (additional alumni include: Steve Martin, Steven Spielberg, and X-Files Chris Carter).  Eventually he realized that travel doesn’t give you anything more than a confused worldview (and in some cases a proclivity for bisexuality) and moved back to San Diego with his better half, Kyleen.  The latest news in James’s life is the birth of his daughter: Natala James (what a fucking ego) Ninness.  So why are we interviewing this bum?  Well, he’s the creator/writer of MYTHOI, Semantink’s inaugural comic.

Mr. Wolff:  Hello James, good to see you again.  Happy early birthday.

James:  Yeah man, thanks.  Thanks for having me.

Mr. Wolff:  You look confused…

James:  [laughs] Yeah, well — you make me a bit nervous.  When Benji (Benjamin Glibert, Director of Publishing for Semantink) told me that you’d be doing the interview I thought for sure I’d done something to offend somebody.

Mr. Wolff:  Ah, don’t worry.  I’ll be gentle.

James:  Please!  I’d appreciatte it.

Mr. Wolff:  Well then, let’s get to it with my first question.  I’ve read MYTHOI Issue One and both of the completed issues in the  MYTHOI: Birth series and after careful contemplation I wanted to know: Did you perform any sexual favors to get this published, or was Benjamin just desperate?

James:  Wow!

Mr. Wolff:  This is me, nice.

James:  Okay.  Fair enough.  Um, no.  I didn’t have to perform any favors for Benji, we’d been sleeping together for some time.  I’d say he was sick of me to be honest.  He probably just wanted to give me something as a thank you.

Mr. Wolff:  Good answer.  Seriously though, what drugs were you on when you came up with MYTHOI?

James:  [laughs] Yeah, I guess it kinda reads that way.  I’ve always been a big mythology fan.  When Ben and I were in school we tossed around the idea for a comic book set in a world where every mythology, religion and folktale existed simultaneously.  Once I set out to do some research my five mythoi (protagonists: Vito, Yuki, Wiglaf, Touch and Taros) just jumped off the page.  The plot proper was the most time consuming part, you know?  Getting all of these guys to come together and then uniting them for one purpose, without the book becoming “superhero” or anything.

Mr. Wolff:  What do you have against superheroes?

James:  Nothing!  I love those books, but the ones I love are-  Well, let me choose my words carefully.  My favorite books are the ones that have existed for quite some time: Batman, Spiderman, the X-Men, you know?  It’s rare that I find a new book in the superhero genre that really jumps out at me.  For the most part they seem like rehashes of something somebody else did better.  I just don’t want to be another copycat.

Mr. Wolff:  So in order to be original, you stole from religions and mythologies from around the world?

James:  [laughs] Yeah, I guess I did.  I’m a hack.

Mr. Wolff:  Clearly.  Another interesting thing about MYTHOI is that it has an end…

James:  Yes!  I actually wrote that first.

Mr. Wolff:  The end?

James:  Yeah.  I knew where I wanted to go once I had the characters fleshed out.  The fun part is getting them there.  J.J. Abrams is a story teller I really respect–

Mr. Wolff:  He’s great.

James:  Man, that guy knows his shit.  Well, he said something in Wireless magazine about, and I’m not quoting because I don’t remember the quote verbatim, but he said he tries to emphasize journey over climax.  He was referencing the public’s need for spoilers and their desire to know the end of something so bad that they neglect to enjoy the experience getting from beginning to end.  Well, by writing the end first I was able to let my geek flag fly and really embellish in the story as it unfolds.  I knew where I was going and I knew where I was coming from, but the journey was a blast to ride.

Mr. Wolff:  How does it feel being the first book out of the Semantink stable?

James:  Terrifying.  [laughs] I don’t know what Ben was thinking!  You know, I just hope people have fun with the experience of MYTHOI.  I’m not trying to write the quintessential mythology book or anything.  As a writer, I just try to tell stories similar to the ones I enjoy reading.  Hopefully there are one or two people out there who have tastes akin to my own–

Mr. Wolff:  We’re gonna go bankrupt if we don’t have more than that.

James:  Yeah!  I guess so.  I try not to think about all that stuff.  It’s not my job.  Benji hired me for MYTHOI, not my business savvy.  If a few people enjoy MYTHOI, then I feel like I’ve done my job.

Mr. Wolff:  How’d you find Jed (artist for MYTHOI)?

James:  He’s awesome, isn’t he?

Mr. Wolff:  I don’t know about “awesome,” but he’s a damn fine artist.

James:  I met Jed through a mutual friend — we were both working on a music video; I was doing some writing and he was storyboarding.  We just chatted up and throughout our conversations I pitched him MYTHOI.

Mr. Wolff:  Was he a hard sell?

James:  Not at all!  Jed was the first artist I had spoken to who seemed to be as gung-ho about MYTHOI as I was.  It was awesome to feel the passion in his heart for the story.  We drafted some stuff up and that’s when Ben called me.  It all just fell into place.

Mr. Wolff:  I just want to clarify one thing.

James:  Yeah?

Mr. Wolff:  I’m quoting you here, “It was awesome to feel,” Jed’s, “passion?”

James:  [laughs]  Yeah.  All over me!

Mr. Wolff:  Well, we’re almost out of time–

James:  We’re being timed?

Mr. Wolff:  No, but I’m too busy for you — I have to get back to playing Dragon Age.

James: [laughs] Oh!  Got it.

Mr. Wolff:  Are their any other projects you’re working on right now?

James:  Yes!  I’m in negotiations with Ben and an artist named Turbo in Orange County for another book, which I hope to put out through Semantink and I’m also working on my first novel.

Mr. Wolff:  Did you steal those ideas as well?

James:  Umm, I don’t think so…

Mr. Wolff:  Thanks for speaking to me James.  You know I love your stuff.

James:  No problem Wolff — thanks again!

That was it!  If you have any questions for James that don’t suck, drop me an email at info@semantink.com and I’ll see if i can corner him for another few moments.  If you haven’t checked out MYTHOI yet, WHY NOT?  You can peruse the Birth series here for free, and purchase Issue one here for $0.99.

Until next time,

Mr. Wolff

Back to Semantink.com

Ben and I weren’t to sure what to expect at APE (the Alternative Press Expo) in San Francisco this weekend.  We packed our bags on Thursday night and hit the road bright and early Friday morning, leaving San Diego some time around 9.  We drove up to San Francisco with a few brief stops and arrived here while the evening was settling in across the bay.  We’d never been to APE before and while we knew it was meant for independent publishers, we didn’t know what that means — would there be anyone we were familiar with?  Was this the right place to try and sell MYTHOI?

We arrived at Ben’s brother’s place, who had been kind enough to offer up his couch for our resting, but upon arrival we realized that there were cats present, two of them.  As Ben and I both suffer from a disease called allergies that usually ends with us killing cats, we thanked his brother and found accommodations elsewhere — at 12:30am.  Most places were booked for either APE or the Treasure Island Music Festival and if they weren’t booked, the price was a mere $250.00 per night and nobody had rooms for both that night and Saturday night, just one or the other.  So right about the time we began discussing the legitimacy of sleeping in Ben’s car right outside of the Concourse (where APE is held) we got a hold of the greatest man in San Francisco: Gandhi.  Not that Gandhi.  Our Gandhi is the late-night concierge at a hotel without a name in an alley behind a bar in the Mission District.  And bless Gandhi for all time because he got us a room for both nights, under $100.00 per night, free valet and only 2 blocks from the Concourse.

SF Concourse: where red paint goes to die.

The only other thing we did that night warranting any recognition was to make a brief appearance at the ISOTOPE party (thanks Amir Malekpour) featuring Dean Haspiel, (THE QUITTER, OPPOSABLE THUMBS, AMERICAN SPLENDOR, and THE ALCOHOLIC).  Ben and I both agree that it is one of the coolest comic book shops we have ever seen and if you are ever in the San Francisco area, stop in and say hi to James Sime, the super-friendly owner.  The whole thing is 1-part comic book store, 1-part nightclub, and 1-part design — just go, trust me.

Isotope: The Geek’s Nightclub

Ben and I awoke on Saturday, trudged down to a coffee shop and made our way towards APE.  And what did we think?  It was awesome.  If San Diego Comic Con is meant to blow your mind with all the million-dollar bells and whistles, and Long Beach Comic Con is designed for the more intimate encounters with industry professionals, then APE is a secret fort where only fans congregate to go over their own good ideas and opinions on art, writing and everything mainstream.  Sure, people are there trying to sell their product, but at APE you can talk to them and find out why…  Writers grill each other on the presentation of information and misinformation, Artists trade work with each other and discuss their inspirations, while Publishers peruse through the aisles, taking it all in and maybe picking up some new talent…  It’s very neat — like the Swap Meet of Comic Cons.

APE from entrance: Left

APE from entrance: Center

APE from entrance: Right

Obviously, since it’s cheaper than some of the other cons, there are a lot of people presenting who, well, maybe shouldn’t.  But what’s great about APE is that they can!  One man’s Koontz is another man’s King!  Right?

Well Ben and I went through every single booth, one at a time, over five or six hours and met some great people, many of whom you will probably hear us mention in the future… or now.  Like John C. Narcomey Jr. from High Tower Comics, or Russ Kazmierczak Jr. and Brent Otey from K.O. Comix.  All good people, with good products, so check ‘em out when you get a chance…

High Tower makes death pretty.

Check out the blog — Nice guys!

After the convention Ben and I went back to the hotel, vegged out with some Dexter episodes and cleaned up before jumping into our favorite out-of-town-convention activity:  Drinking.  Luckily, the bar next to our hotel was fantastic:  Bloodhound.  This bar was perfect for us.  Good beer?  Check (and served in mason jars).  Nice people?  Yup.  Environment?  Got that too.  We moseyed down, caught the end of the Angels/Yankees game (and sighed when the Yankees won — damn them), had a few beers and talked to some, uh, interesting (?) people.  Then it was time for sleeps.

Drinks, Games and Entertainment!

We’re not going to APE today.  Instead we’re going to head home.  APE is a doable-in-one-day kind of event as it doesn’t have much change from one day to the next and is more for floor-walking than anything else.

We had fun and we’ll definitely be back next year…

James Ninness

Hello fans of fiction!

My name is James Ninness, writer of Mythoi, lover of the Bootie and closet fan of Heroes (don’t tell Mr. Wolff).  I’m flattered that Ben, Mr. Wolff, Ash, Street Fece and Akatzen have asked me to write a little something-something in preparation for our departure to Long Beach for the first annual Long Beach Comic Con this weekend!  Ben tells me that we’re getting t-shirts to wear with the Semantink logo, so if you see us meandering about please feel free to come up and say hi!

I’ve known Benji for a while and I knew that he’d been talking about starting/running a publishing house for some time, but I was honored, elated and nervous as hell when he asked MYTHOI to be Semantink’s premiere property!  I’ve published a few short stories and some poetry here and there, but writing comic books has always been a dream.  All I have to do now is make out with a midget and I can officially die a happy man.

I was born and raised in San Diego, California, but I got my degree in English: Creative Writing from Cal State University Long Beach.  I did a bit of traveling and-  Okay.  This is boring.  How’s this:  Once I hog tied a crazy, drunk girl and threw her in a trailer because she threatened to stab me in my sleep.  True story!  She wriggled her cell phone out of her pocket and called the cops, but didn’t know where she was.  When I checked on her an hour later she was still on the phone with them so I took it and found out that several cop cars and a helicopter had been scouring Irvine looking for the motor-home she was in!  I gave them my address and when they showed up they asked me to keep the girls phone so she didn’t bug them anymore.  What does that have to do with comic books?  Nothing.  But it’s more fun than knowing anything about my education, publishing history and/or travel experiences.

So, as you’ve hopefully heard, I’ve got this title coming out through Semantink called MYTHOI.  I actually wrote MYTHOI almost four years ago while I was in college.  The idea for the premise came out of my fascination with mythology, legends and all things supernatural.  So, I picked elements from my favorites and created my players…  Combining ghosts, Buddhism, dragons and yeti, I got Yuki (our only femme fatale).  Vampires, werewolves, mummies and zombies gave me Vito, the oldest 10-year-old-bodied vampire ever.  The Terminator movies, Universal Soldier (yeah, Lundgren and Van Damme), anything post-apocalyptic and ninjas helped to create Touch.  Wiglaf arose from ancients texts like the Bible, Beowulf and Norwegian texts.  And last but not least came Taros, birthed out of my love of Greek/Roman mythology.  Now take all of those parent-ideas and all of the concepts, ideas and beliefs about each of them, throw them in our world, right now and shake it up — that’s MYTHOI.  Actually, let me introduce you to one of the minor characters, Cat — This is a sketch from my amazing artist, Jed Soriano (ironically, Cat is a werewolf):

MYTHOI is 60 issues long.  That’s it.  After 60 issues the story is done.  And while I can’t give away too much of the plot, I can lead you with a few questions…  If all gods ever conceived actually existed in today’s world where they are forgotten and cast aside, don’t you think they’d be a little upset?  If so, who would protect us humans from the big, angry gods?  I should also tell you that there are no superheroes in MYTHOI.  That’s it.  I’m afraid I can’t say anymore.  If you want to know more you’ll have to pick up issue #1 here.

If you haven’t already bought you tickets for the Long Beach Comic Con then you should do so immediately.  Even though it’s their first year, they’ve rounded up a pretty kick-ass line up:  Stan Lee, Jim Lee, Thomas Jane, Berkeley Breathed, Seth Green, Tim Bradstreet, Jeph Loeb, Jon Bogdanove, George Lazenby and many, many more!  I’ve been poking around the people who set the whole thing up and I have to say, they seem like a good group to be throwing this shindig.  I’m sure Benji will do a write-up of the whole event when we return, but if you care at all for comics and are anywhere near the Long Beach area you should definitely roll out this weekend (10/2 — 10/4).

I think that’ll do for now.  I hope I’ve piqued some of your curiosities about the comic and haven’t bored you too much.  If you want to write me, feel free to at jamesninness@yahoo.com.  Otherwise, enjoy MYTHOI and I hope to meet you soon!

James Ninness