VoS: Who are you? Tell me a bit about yourself, name, where from, how old
are you?
SAJ: "My name is Scott, but on the Internets I go by Shade. I'm 35, was born in
Los Angeles but now I live in Lake Havasu, Arizona."
VoS: A bit about your background, your interests in fandom and your geek cred. How do you cope with being a geek in a "normal" world?
SAJ: "My geek rap sheet? Well, I'm a pretty big gamer(I don't have as much time
to play as I used to but still find time). I built a gaming/work PC a few years back and a massive catalogue of games on Steam. My favorite movies?
Far too many to list, but here's a few:
The Matrix, Star Wars(original trilogy), Blade Runner, Alien and Aliens,
Legend, Heat, The Godfather 1 and 2, Inception, Man of Steel, The Dark Knight Trilogy, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Metropolis, Heavy Metal, and a million others."
"I don't have a TV, but, through word of mouth I've found shows like Archer, Bob's Burgers, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. Those are pretty much the only TV shows I watch. Back in the day I used to watch Adult Swim religiously but I don't know what's become of it. All those old shows are probably canceled."
"I'm also a big mixed martial arts fan and watch the fights online whenever I can."
"Do I cope being a geek? I don't know. It's pretty normal to be a geek. Everyone seems to be a geek about something nowadays. Some people geek out on sports or music or movies or politics. I often wear comic/cartoon/gaming-related t-shirts out and about and get positive comments. I think because more and more people grew up with those characters. My generation really is the first of the home console/cartoon toys. We grew up with the NES and GI Joe/Transformers/He-Man, those cartoons that were made specifically to sell toys. lol"
VoS: Your background in comics? Is it mostly the big two for you? Are you into some indies as well? What characters or titles inspire you? Why?
SAJ: "I'll read anything. I grew up on DC and Marvel in the 80s. Had all the toys and watched all the cartoons. They left an indelible mark on me. Now I mostly still read DC and indie stuff. The occasional Marvel stuff. I actually follow artists more than titles. If a favorite artist of mine is
on a title I'll follow that book. If they move to another title then I go with them. I've been reading Justice League, Justice League of America, Invincible, Saga, and a few others. There's so many good indie books that it's hard to keep track."
"Superman still inspires me because the origin of the character is so mythic. Almost biblical. Batman and Wonder Woman for the same reasons. My fave character growing up was Hal Jordan because here was a guy whose power was a magic ring that allowed him to project his thoughts into constructs through willpower and imagination. That's every artist's dream, to be able to make your imagination literally real.
"Saga has been a really great story from what I've read. A very simplistic, gestural art style but extremely expressive. Very economical. The characters are great and really fleshed out. I LOVE Invincible because of the massive universe the comic has generated. Seemingly hundreds of
superhuman characters, a deep backstory, epic battles, etc."
VoS: Why did you decide to go indie? Do you ever want to create for the biggies or is indie the world you want to play in for your career?
SAJ: "I've never submitted to DC or Marvel. When I was 16 my uncle knew a guy who
worked for Marvel animation and I was supposed to get a mentorship through him but the guy was a flake and it never worked out. lol Years ago I submitted work to an talent agency that represents a bunch of Brazilian and Filipino artists(I'm half-Filipino) and, based on my samples, they said
they could get me work at DC, but I never followed up on it. Maybe if I tried again I could get professional work through those channels but I don't know."
"Working for the big two would definitely be more money, but you lose your freedom. You become just another cog. The 214th guy or girl to write/draw/ink/color Spiderman or Batman or Hulk. As an indie, even if you don't get as much attention for your comic, you're know for YOUR work. The
comic is really your art. You own it. The characters and everything are yours. It's like your unique signature."
VoS: Tell me about the Sinsationals? Who are they? What are they? Why do
they do what they do? Tell me about the individual characters. Who are they
and what motivates them?
SAJ: "The Sinsationals are a group of seven women from disparate backgrounds. In the beginning of the story they're just strangers in a strange world. They don't even know each other, but the first story arc finds them united under bizarre circumstances and they eventually become friends, allies and a team."
"As for the individual characters, there's M, a stoic, humorless Amazon
warrior whose fighting skills are unmatched..."
"Big Girl, a teenager who is unwittingly transformed into a giantess..."
"Allie, a girl from a race of feline humanoids thrust into the world of Infinity City..."
"Sasha Rain, an ex-dancer who is adopted by a cabal of trained killers and becomes a
dangerous assassin..."
"Gyna, an artificial intelligence that builds herself a robot body... Dollface, an amnesiac who is strangely proficient at killing and building wild contraptions..."
"Gamma Sex Bomb, a scientist who is transformed, via a lab accident, into a tower of muscle..."
"Each character has specific goals and an arc they grow through: M wants to show her Amazon sisters that she has what it takes to lead, Big Girl wants to be restored to normal size, Sasha wants a normal, loving relationship(she'd never admit this), Gyna wants to really know what it's
like to be human, Dollface wants to know who she really is, Allie wants to embrace her heritage and be accepted by her people, Gamma wants to understand what happened to her."
VoS: Tell me a bit about their world? What sort of place to they live in? What sort of situations can we expect to see them dealing with as they proceed in their careers and lives?
SAJ: "They live in a place called Infinity City which is one, massive, sprawling metropolis. The idea is that it's a cityscape that's so massive and has so many sub-locations that any conceivable story could be explored there. Infinity City is kind of like Metropolis, Gotham City, New York, LA, Chicago, Mega City One all rolled into one and more."
"The world is set up where it's Earth, but without the countries and continents we're familiar with. Infinity City is a place unto itself and then there are other "areas" that have a unique stylistic aesthetic to mimic real world places, but they'll be introduced later.In terms of situations, literally anything is possible. Their world is rife with robots, monsters, aliens, superheroes, elves, vampires, ghosts...
pretty much anything you can imagine."
"We'll see the ladies meet new allies, enemies, have love interests and get embroiled in stories that are epic and grand in scale and some that are smaller, character-oriented ones."
VoS: Why an all female super hero team? Are you trying to make some kind of statement, or is just how the muse has moved you on this front?
SAJ: "I am making a kind of statement. I started doing commissions full-time around 2002. My clients are mainly guys so most of the subject matter was women in fetishized situations. Now, I grew up on comics in the 80s and 90s, during the "bad girl" craze where one of every three comics was
borderline pornography with top-heavy women and super-strong spines with no personality and that was the culture. Things have changed drastically. There's been some people who have completely misunderstood the point of Sinsationals. Some guys have contacted me excited about the comic thinking it's a porn comic and I have to disappoint them by saying it's not. Then, some women have contacted me, angry because they think it's a porn comic and I have to explain it's not."
"The whole idea is that the women in the comic are misunderstood and not taken seriously(at first). The world just thinks that they're just pretty faces. They're underestimated and, ironically, some people here in the real world are doing the same thing the people in the comic are doing in regards
to the characters. They're judging them at face value and dismissing them. To me, beauty is not a reflection of weakness. Beauty can be strength. Beauty and strength are not mutually exclusive. One of the main themes of the comic is that the women use the ignorance of their detractors against
them, showing them that they're more than initially thought of. That's the struggle: they have to prove to the world that they're more than what people think of them. They want to prove everyone wrong.
I grew up on the Justice League comic and Super Friends cartoon where Wonder Woman was essentially the Hall of Justice's receptionist, taking calls and the like. None of the Sinsationals are taking anyone's calls. They're powerful, modern women who know what they want and are motivated to get it. "
"I think that women can be beautiful for a variety of reasons, from their personalities, sense of humor, confidence, intelligence and, yes, looks, but "looks" is a wide scale. If you notice, each character has a different body type. They're not Barbie dolls. This was by design. I want people to see the beauty in the characters and that doesn't mean just looks. Some of the characters are designed to look provocative, specifically to incite a response from the audience, but then it's my job to show people
that their knee-jerk reactions are unfounded. These characters are extremely multi-dimensional. I have to achieve this through the stories."
VoS: What is it like being an indie creator in the modern age, vs what you
believe it might have been like a couple decades ago?
SAJ: "Well, a few decades ago I could've never ever created Sinsationals. Well, I could have but no one would've ever seen it, except my friends and family. The internet has connected the world on a scale once though unimaginable. On the Kickstarter for Sinsationals #0 I had backers from literally all over the world, from Indonesia to Italy to Canada and France to Australia. Amazing."
"Back in the day you were relegated into either the Marvel or DC camp. Now, the spectrum is infinitely diversified. Literally anyone can create a comic and distribute it how they like. The "middle-man" of the big publishers are unnecessary and unneeded. The cost of digital distribution of
content(digital comics) is zero. The proliferation of mobile devices like phones and tablets has given
people the ability to access things like digital comics on the go via convenient and affordable delivery systems like Comixology. Being an indie creator now is like being on a crowded beach. Everyone is
talking and everyone has something to say but it'd difficult to be heard unless your message rings with something unique, either with an interesting art style or story hook or what have you. Back in the day, being a creator was like being in the executive bathroom. To get access you had to have the
code key and access was limited and exclusive. Now, the indie comic market is all inclusive. This is a double-edged sword: anyone can get in.. BUT anyone can get in. Getting noticed is the problem, not getting in."
VoS: How did you learn your craft, both as an artist and a writer? What are
your inspirations?
SAJ: "Just self-taught. Years of practice. Still learning everyday. So many holes in my work that I constantly strive to improve."
"Yeah, if we're going by movie ratings then I'd give it a soft(or maybe hard, actually) R-rating for graphic violence, language, some mature content and suggestive sexual content. There is already some implied nudity(not explicit) as well as other content that isn't for kids. In issue #1, for instance, Sasha Rain eviscerates a group of demons, turning them into piles of bullet-riddled meat. There are some suggestive shots of Sasha because she is a very sexually confident woman in the same way the classic femme fatales are. Other things, like that."
"In order to explore these characters personalities and the world they live in I can't be limited to trying to cater to kids. Can't do it, therefore, the R-rating. The comic will never EVER feature explicit sex but once some of the love interests are introduced there will be implicit, but respectful, attention made towards their sex lives."
VoS: On female physicality...
SAJ: "I'm a red-blooded heterosexual male so, yes, I agree that boobs rock. Hence, M's body shape. lol I'll never betray my admiration for the female
form. :)"
VoS: Now, the bonus round? Am I too old or does today's music for the most part kinda suck?
SAJ: "I'd say that music is art and art is subjective. Whether a song sucks is up to the listener. I'd also say that the old way of consuming music has been decentralized. Before it was a handful of record companies that owned, or highly influenced, radio stations and then forced them to play what they
wanted."
"With the advent of the Internet, again, that model has been destroyed. It's all been democratized. People can get satellite radio and listen to any of hundreds of stations or they can rip music and make their own playlists. You can watch music videos on YouTube instead of MTV(which is a punchline
now) and you can buy a record directly from an artist's personal website, giving them all the profits, instead of to a record company who gives a small percent to the artist.The "middleman" business model is slowly eroding. I don't listen to the radio often, except when I'm driving, and it's the same as before: a rotation of a limited number of songs played on a loop, ad nauseum. Thankfully, we have the Internet for our personal musical tastes."
VoS: Thank you, SAJ. I look forward to the Sinsationals! Here's the link to the Kickstarter...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/67830803/sinsationals-1-superhero-comic-book
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