SUPER REAL issues 6 and 7 back in print! (EXTENDED until Friday 12/21)

Help fund new printings of the final two issues of my first comic book series, Super Real, to keep the series in stock for its 15th anniversary!

I started my creative journey into comic books with a self-published series called Super Real, which I debuted with a preview book ash-can at San Diego Comic Con in 2003. The book was a send-up of reality TV and comic book superheroes that would officially see release to comic book shops beginning in November of 2005. Along the way it received great reviews and built a solid fan following. And then in 2010 it was released as a graphic novel, collecting all seven issues of the series, my passion project, in one self contained over-the-top epic story that completed the series. And while the first five single issues were mass produced, the last two single issues were not widely distributed, and my stock on those last two books (as well as the graphic novels) has since completely sold out and been unavailable for some time.

Since I still have plenty of stock on the early issues, and each of those had limited edition variants, I'm looking to raise some funds for new printings of those last two single issues, issues 6 and 7, the climax of the story (issue 6 was double-sized and 56 pages, while issue 7 was an extra long 28 pages of story). So I'm offering up new special limited edition versions of these new printings for those  issues to raise some money to print up inventory of the regular versions as well, and then have stock on the entire 7 issue series once more.

With your help I can keep the full story in print and available to all my new fans from books I currently work on like Vampblade, Danger Doll Squad, and PRINCE-S STARthief, etc.

I'm still really proud of what I did with Super Real (doing everything on 5 of the issues, and then collaborating with many talented artists on the two special issues) and don't want it to go out of print. Creating new printings of those last two out of print issues will allow me to offer the complete story again online and at shows, and keep my first comic work in circulation during it's 15th anniversary of creation!!

Please take a look at the special edition books below, and thanks for helping out!

There are new exclusive versions of the final two issues featuring new amazing cover artwork from a couple of my most recent comic book collaborators - Bill McKay (who I worked with on Night of the 80s Undead), and Celor (who was the artist of my PRINCE-S STARthief) - which are being offered as a pre-sale FOR 10 DAYS ONLY IN MY STORE (starting on Friday 12/7/18 at midnight and ending on 12/17/18) EXTENDED - will close on Friday 12/21:

ISSUE 6 - New special edition Bill McKay cover artwork

• COVER A regular $12.50 - limited to total quantity ordered during offering only
• COVER B limited $25- limited to only 25 total copies
• COVER C super limited $50 - limited to only 10 total copies!

ISSUE 7 - New special edition Celor cover artwork

• COVER A regular $10 - limited to total quantity ordered during offering only
• COVER B limited $25 - limited to only 25 total copies
• COVER C super limited $50 - limited to only 10 total copies!

YOU CAN VIEW AND PURCHASE THE NEW SPECIAL EDITION BOOKS AND MORE HERE IN MY STORE (click this text)

You can pick up the whole series by getting the issue 1-5 sets in addition to the new issues 6 and 7.

Or you can also pick up individual copies of issues 1-5 via my eBay listings HERE
(Or add them to orders from my store for the same pricing, just email me and I can get you a PayPal invoice for whatever items you'd like, or can help with any questions - jasinmartin@hotmail.com )

The special edition books will be printed once the 10 day pre-sale is over and begin shipping on or around January 7th 2019.

*The books are new printings of the original releases (with story and artwork by me).

As an extra 15th anniversary bonus, the first 20 people to order any special editions will also receive a free copy of the original 2003 San Diego Comic Con preview flip-book ash can! - copies have been allocated

2003 SDCC flip-book (front and back)

ABOUT SUPER REAL

It's X-Men meets The Real World in an over-the-top, genetically enhanced, nipple twisting, lethal middle finger flipping mash-up of comic book fiction, pop culture, politics, and ultra-violence!!!

Issue 1-7

Upstart extreme programming network X-TV want to create a reality show beyond anything that’s been done... bio-tech firm Geniburton want to slip their stem-cell based genetic enhancements out to the private market... Super Real is born! Casting five participants with the physique to rock nano-skin jumpsuits, and the desperation to participate in dangerous genetic manipulation, all for a million dollar paycheck and TV celebrity may not be a problem. However, keeping them alive and under control once they’re given superhuman abilities is another story!!!


Super Real follows five people who sign million dollar contracts to get genetically enhanced for a reality show based on comic book superheroes.  Created by Jason Martin (writer/artist) and recommended by Newsarama, Aint It Cool News, Comics Buyers Guide and many more. The series spans 7 issues telling one complete story, and features guest artwork from Jim Mahfood (Grrl Scouts), Dan Mendoza (Zombie Tramp), Josh Howard (Dead@17), The Boo (Vegan Cavegirl) and more.

Original (currently out of stock) issue 6 and 7

The final two issues, issues 6 and 7, which are being offered in new limited editions HERE feature new cover art and the original interiors by series creator Jason Martin, which conclude the first series.

I always envisioned Super Real as a trilogy of sorts, with each series a different concept in an overall connecting story. I even started work on the second series, Super Clone, after completing the first (there was a preview book at the 2010 San Diego Comic Con). And I'd still like to get back to that... lets just hope another 15 years don't go by before I get things going! :)

Thanks!
Jason

Night of the 80's Undead limited edition first issue round two

I'll be exhibiting at STUMPTOWN COMICS FEST next weekend, 4/28-4/29, as it's a local show to me (at the Oregon convention center in Portland), and since I sold out of the first limited edition run I did of my upcoming new book, NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD, I've created a new limited edition run.

The new run is limited to only 25 copies, and still features the pencil artwork by artist Bill McKay, and 3 different covers to choose from (with a different logo and trade dress from the first version). A regular cover for $4 (limited to 15 copies), a limited artwork only cover for $10 (limiited to just 5 copies), and a blank sketch cover for hand sketching for $15 (limited to only 5 copies). All books will be hand numbered.

If you can't make it to the show, I'm offering them now in an online presale. (Obviously if a bunch sell online, I'll have to increase the print run, but I doubt that will happen)

Pick them up in the SRG store HERE
Or in my JMart store HERE

Otherwise watch for more info on the con, and the book's official full neon color shop release!

NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD: Cover time 3 - limited edition #1 pre-order info!!

Just like the book - my brand new zombie comic, NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD - this blog update showing the creation of the cover art for the first issue, is told in 3 parts... so today, we get a look at the final installment, the finished art!

Take a peek below to see the cover from initial sketch, to finished pencil line art.

But now, here are the pencils by artist Bill McKay, all colored up by yours truly.

If I had my druthers, I'd have done this in painted style, similar to the Rambo: First Blood poster it's styled after, but alas I don't have the tools or practice at that, so I opted for a bit of a mixed approach. Generally I work in a cell shaded style, to varying degrees, and I incorporated that approach (hard shading against flat color) here initially on the main character, but then mixed in some airbrushing and other stylistic touches for affect. I also used some washes of color, another animation style approach, to give the whole thing varying degrees of unified color or tone (in this case red, to play off the background and ominous horror vibe). The background zombies were done more in painterly style, to an extent though, and then there's lots of computerized gradients etc at work also.

The colors here are at contrast to the approach I'm taking on the interiors, which is basically a modified grayscale with graphic accent colors of a limited 80's inspired palette. And while I also wanted to convey the horror aspect of the book, I kept things fairly bright and utilized those 80's colors throughout on the cover, to communicate that theme as well.

This was allot of fun, but also A LOT of work. Images like this, with multiple characters, and full backgrounds, when not done in a uniform color, are very time consuming. And then also, I generally spend much more time on covers, all around, then just about anything else.

Now, here we have a look at the final art, with the cover graphics added in.

Again, this is the final cover for the first issue, but also, it's being used for a modified version to sell at shows starting next week (while production on the first issue is finalized), a "pencil edition", that includes the entire first issue, but without any colors or inks to modify the artist's original pencil line art (so, it does have full, not finalized, lettering - and will read the same as the final version). I still hope to create some more hand crafted logos for the book, so the title graphics and similarly themed additional graphics may change completely for the official book.

 As far as this limited edition pencil version, you can pick it up as I said, starting next week at Wondercon Anaheim, where I'll be exhibiting in artist alley as usual. And then at subsequent shows, starting with Emerald City Comicon in Seattle at the end of the month. The book will be limited though, so once we have the print run set (at this point roughly 50 copies - so very limited), each will be hand numbered. Additionally, we'll be offering some further limited variations of the pencil edition, with both a pencil art cover variant, and a blank con sketch cover variant (each of which will be about 20% of the overall run - so even more scarcely limited). We may do another run of this addition, if we sell through copies before we have a final version of the book, but if we do, they will vary in some way, with an entirely new hand numbered run. So, this "pencil edition" will be truly unique and limited.

If you can't make it to the shows, we are now offering pre-orders for the book, in all 3 versions, so get your PayPal ready and pick your poison. Pre-sales will be closed next Friday, with the overall print number locked in. At that point, we will offer the book again online after Wondercon, if any copies remain.

PRE-ORDER HERE

For general information on the book itself, it's black and white since it includes only the pencil art, and is 24 interior pages, with 22 of those being the first issue story. Written and lettered by me, with art and cover by Bill McKay.

So, grab a copy and check out the Regan era madness inside... or hold out a bit longer for the standard full color version...

Please stay tuned for more info on the book, and the official release coming soon!

NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD: Cover time 2!

Monday I posted the first stage in the creation of cover art (see previous post) for my new book (with artist Bill McKay), NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD... and then yesterday I got busy and didn't update with the next stage, so here I am today to rectify that. You've got to see where we went from the rough pencils right??

So here you have it, the next step in the creation, Bill's full pencils for the cover!

In talking with him about the idea (a Rambo/First Blood poster homage), I brainstormed on how the background could use the original elements to translate to something related to our book and specifically, would include zombies (without just adding lame grabbing hands and arms in the foreground)... and then I thought that swapping out the fir trees in the original, for a lineup or horde of zombies behind our protaganist could work well. Then Bill went one better and shot me the rough which included our ground zero Hollywood mansion (and landscaping) between the zombies and the billowing smoke. Nice call Bill!

So there you have it, our would be hero, Sarah, in her tattered 80's style (geometric neon jewelry and accessories, Swatch watch, black leggings, etc), toting the massive M-60 heavy machine gun, with 80's styled coke zombies thirsting for more precious blow all around her.

Tomorrow, I'll post my colors for the art! (and details about our limited "pencil edition" of the first issue!!)

NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD: Cover time!

Did you know of my many comic book projects in development, I've been working on a new limited series to graphic novel format concept called NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD? My little story about how at the climax of the cold war, in the mid 1980's, Russia devised a last ditch subversive effort to strike at our capitalist way of life by contaminating the supply of high end Colombian cocaine with a deadly zombie-like virus?? And the story is centered around a group of young teens at a big Hollywood party that happens to be ground zero?!? If you've been following this blog, or any of my other activities, or seen me at shows over the last year, I'm sure you do do do, you da da da, as I've been teasing looks at the production since last year's San Diego Comic-Con (where we had a five page preview/teaser as part of a special flip book - pictured on the side here).

Then last October we had a special full preview of the first issue at ZomBcon (naturally), showcasing the first 14 pages of the book, along with a section showing my scripts and the artists thumbnails for the final 7 pages (along with some other extras). Which we still have a few copies remaining of the limited pressing.

If all of this is news to you, I suggest you click the first link above, or the Night of the 80's Undead tag below to catch up on everything I've posted, but aside from the concept I've outlined here, the other key component to the project is the artist I've teamed up with to bring it to life, Bill McKay. I'm not drawing this book myself, but I have found someone very talented, and well suited to the story to help me with the art chores on the book. And I think you'll agree, he's doing a (to keep things appropriately 80's here) like totally radical job man!!!!

On that note, with con season fast approaching, I wanted to do something special to continue to promote the book, so I'm just finishing the setup of a new limited edition version of the first issue, a special "pencil edition" of the first full book. As I said, Not80'sU is to be a story told in 3 parts, or a limited series if you will, in standard comic book form, and while that first issue is complete on Bill's part, there remains a bit more that I need to do with the coloring and lettering (as I'm managing every other aspect of the book but the pencils), and more again before we'll be ready to officially start releasing it (in this day and age, I'm not sure whether the 3 issues will be offered for full distribution, or just sold on a more direct basis, with full release of the collected book, I'm leaning towards full distribution for both though, we'll see). Which all leads me back to our special pencil edition that's being created to offer at shows, starting next week with Wondercon Anaheim.

The pencil edition, unlike the previous previews, is actually the first full/complete first issue of the book, with the only difference being in comparison to the finished version, is that it is 100% comprised of the amazing original pencil art created by Bill! Since I'm doing colors straight from his pencils, as I often like to skip inks, because I much prefer pencil art, but also because Bill just really does nice detailed pencils (and when you see the book, I think you'll agree).

So, with the show right around the corner, I thought I should drop by here and start showing off some of the book, starting with... the cover!

Over the next couple days, I'll be posting each step in the process of the cover creation, kicking off today, with Bill's roughs from my idea for a new cover (we'd previously toyed with a couple images I'd created focusing on more thematic elements of the concept, the two covers at the start of the post). This new idea, as you can see above, is more story centric, depicting our main character, Sarah, in a detailed action pose. If it looks a bit familiar, it should, as it's an homage to the original Rambo poster (it also somewhat resembles another 80's classic, the image of Ripley from the movie Aliens, bonus!)!

So there you have it, a kick ass girl, 80's style, coke zombies, carnage, and a giant M-60 machine gun. Just a taste of what lurks beneath the cover, all in one 80's action send up! ...well, at least that's what you'll see once we get further along in the cover process...

Tune in tomorrow for a look at Bill's finished pencils for the cover!

And stay tuned for details on the book, and how you can pick it up!!

Not80sU UPDATE quatro

I bring more manic 80's zombie production art from my upcoming NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD comic...

Bill (the fabulous Mr McKay) gets just the right amount of motion and detail jumping off in this partial glimpse of a double page sprawling panel!

Can we outdo ourselves with preview cinco?!?! Stay tuned!!!

Not80sU UPDATE 3

Time for another weekly glimpse at production art from my upcoming NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD zombie comic...

Since we've been peeking at the zombie action lately, I thought I'd show a panel from some down time.

Calm before the storm!

Looks like quite the party! At least there's a fair amount of 80's action going on there...
It's actually a shot of our protagonist, Jen, having not quite a great time (looks like she'd rather be squaring off with hordes of coke-zombies!).

Artwork by Bill McKay.

Not80sU UPDATE 2

Thought I'd show another glimpse at production art for my upcoming NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD zombie comic...

Here's another panel from the first issue's 17th page, with more feral coke zombie action!

"Nose candy!!!!!!!!!"

Artwork by Bill McKay.

Not80sU UPDATE

Just got some new artwork for my in production new book, NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD, so thought I'd share a small peek...

Coke zombies going gonzo for that foo-foo dust!

Artwork on the book is by Bill McKay.

We're nearing completion of pencils for the first issue.

NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD

Okay, so back at San Diego I had a bunch of new project announcements, both personal and on the publishing side, that I said I'd go into more detail about. So, since I just got done finalizing some script pages on one the projects, my NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD, I thought I'd go ahead and go into some details about that now...

As you might guess from the title, it's a zombie story. I love zombies, and survival horror, but with a never ending stream of zombie comics I'd resisted writing my own for quite a while. Until I came up with my CON OF THE DEAD graphic novel (which is still in limbo, in need of an artist) a couple years back. However, already having one zombie story in the works, I felt no need to muse on further zombie comic ideas, that is until last year's ZomBcon. Something about debuting (Dan's) Zombie Tramp, taking part in a first ever all zombie convention, and meeting George Romero got my zombie juices flowing. Aside from CotD, and Zombie Tramp, I really wanted to do more zombie comics. So after many months of not actively doing anything about it, inspiration struck again and I started thinking about new zombie concepts.

That's when this image hit me...

The simple stark silhouette of the iPod ads, converted to a zombie with a Walkman... a zombie story with an 80's theme. I didn't have a story, but damn if that image didn't work and perfectly capture and inform what could be a zombie story. One set in the 80's, like so many of the classic films (like one of my all time faves, Return of the Living Dead), but written with the fetishistic hindsight of 80's nostalgia and pop culture reverence that those films couldn't have. The story itself had to be quintessential 80's. And so that's when Night of the 80's Undead really took off.

What if it was a story about Regan era cold war, drugs, celebrities, and of course, zombies? Wouldn't that capture everything?

And what if aside from the 80's celebrities, the story touched on 80's youth, a la John Hughes?
Wouldn't that be even cooler?

So yeah. Walkmans, Swatch watches, coked-out zombies, mall-rats, and 80's icons, all mixing it up in a blast of VHS B-movie carnage. That's Night of the 80's Undead (aka Night of the Coke Heads)!!!

The plan is to include Not80'sU as part of a new zombie anthology, to start being released at this year's ZomBcon. But it may just be released all on it's own to start with, but definitely upon completion as it's own graphic novel. Production is already underway, with a teaser script (similar to a trailer) being completed in time for San Diego Comic-Con (with a limited amount of copies still available HERE), and the first full part already underway.

For this project I'm scripting, but working with another artist. Someone I'd considered for CotD, but knew instantly fit perfectly here... Bill McKay. Bill has been working quite a bit recently with 5finity on their Zombies VS Cheerleaders comics, and brings a great indie toonish horror vibe to his stuff, that's big on detail and great at illustrating offbeat zombies. With his attention to detail, and style to an extent, also great at conveying real world stories, like zombie comics, where things are all very rooted in reality. No, it's not photo-realistic by any stretch, it's very stylized, but still very much grounded in reality.

Take a look at some of his work, I'm lucky to have him!

And while Bill does great inks, at this point I'm leaning towards leaving the line work at his ultra-detailed pencil stage, and coloring straight from that. As, besides being a big time pencil honk (inks? bah!), I think the gritty linework serves the zombie story well...

I intend to color the artwork myself, and am considering a couple different options. Either using a limited neon color palette (in keeping with the 80's), or a subdued tonal wash style... We'll see!

Night of the 80's Undead will be a crazy fun time, and I can't wait to get you more of it as soon as possible!

Stay tuned for more coke-fueled, Aqua-Net soaked undead previews and info!