Cool Beans

Today is saturday which means its time for something completely different! Introducing…COOL BEANS!

Cool Beans is a side-project I started working on between the years of 1999 through 2003 that emphasized on the lives of the Ybarra family, but more specifically their youngest son “Beans”. I eventually submitted some samples to The Washington Post as part of their “America’s Next Great Cartoonist” contest held in 2010. Unfortunately the strip didn’t win…come to think of it I never found out who won that contest…But nevertheless, Cool Beans will more than likely remain on the back-burner for now, giving me more time to focus on EGN.

-Richard.

More of “CRY HAVOK!”

Here’s some more of the earlier pencilwork for “CRY HAVOK!” Richard was talking about:

 Richard also neglected to mention in the last post of the debut appearance of a brand-new Azteca character in the Independents one-shot: the Acolyte, demon hunter. There are plans for a spin-off series following this new heroe’s adventures as well as some talk of him teaming up with a certain paranormal detective you might recognize in the more “mainstream” comic books of today.

War of the Independents: “CRY HAVOK!” Update

For those who don’t know, New Jersey-based cartoonist and good friend of mine Dave Ryan has been working on a project for some time dubbed, “THE WAR OF THE INDEPENDENTS”. The original idea stemmed from the big crossover stories like DC’s Infinite Crisis and Civil War. Only in this instance, all the characters involved are of the privately-owned, self-published variety. A unique idea that hopefully will give some spotlight to the lesser known properties.

The premise starts out in Dave’s Penance series, in which the heroes of that book face two demonic foes by the names of Kain and Orcus. Their evil plot is to open a “reverse tower of Babel” and unleash hell on earth. Unable to stop the villains on their own, the heroes of the Penance seek out help from others throughout space and time. (For a complete scorecard of those characters, head over to http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/w/warindep.htm)

“CRY HAVOK!” is one of six particular tie-in issues in which Gato Negro will team up with Ray Ramos’ EL VALIENTE and J. Morgan Neal’s AYM GERONIMO.  Both Ray and J. Morgan get the writing credits while I take car of the pencils which will be inked by David Olivarez and colored by 656 Comics in Juarez, Mexico. The book should (hopefully) hit shelves sometime early next year. Here is some of the more recently penciled artwork waiting to be inked by El Paso native David Olivarez:

“CRY HAVOK!” will take place in the ancient ruins of Teotihuacan located near Mexico and will include a brief flashback of the “silver-age” 1960s incarnations of EGN and El Valiente in a wrestling match. Its sort of a throwback to the old Santo movies that so greatly influenced the creation of EGN. I plan on throwing some of the earlier pencil work up on the new Gato-Blog as well, but at this moment I’m having trouble finding the files on my computer! Please stay tuned for the inked versions.

-Richard.

EDIT: Credit on the above WOTI promo art goes to Dave Ryan. -staff

My Interview at Mishes.com

A "No-Prize" to anyone who can name all these Latino icons.

It was quite an honor to stumble upon an article dating back August 15 of this year, to find out El Gato Negro made the cut in the top ten list of superheroes in Latinamerica. EGN is listed amongst the great ones like el Santo (whose “fotonovelas” I used to collect growing up) and Zorro, who inspired the Walt Disney television series I would watch right after school as a kid.

I immediately got in contact with the article’s author, Mishës, who was kind enough to offer me the chance to give a telephone interview. Not one to shy away from free publicity, I humbly accepted.* You can check out the article by clicking this link here. If the link isn’t working you can type in the URL:

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2F3ZRZ/www.mishes.com/articles/interview-richard-dominguez-gato-negro

-Richard.

*I wouldn’t want anyone to think that statement was meant in a derogatory or egotistical sense. The thing about self-publishing is that it is entirely on YOU to get your product out there and the internet provides a great resource.

Relampago No More: Azteca Productions relinquishes rights to Garza estate

A brief statement on Relampago from Richard Dominguez:

Relampago© is copyright to the Judge M. Garza estate.

Attention Gato-Fans,

Now, I will admit that I seldom write in this blog, but when I do, I write of the positive things and milestones involving the ‘nocturnal warrior’ in recent months. But I’m sad to write of something that I feel that needs to be share with all of you. I don’t know if this is good or bad news, but it is news…nonetheless.

Recent occurrences demand that I, Richard Dominguez, publisher of Azteca Productions relinquish all rights of Relampago, The Invincible Man created by Judge Maragarito Garza, back to the Garza Family due to creative differences.  The plans were to publish a “one-shot” of Judge Garza’s creation in retelling the origin of Relampago. The story would’ve remained the same with some minor alterations (particularly the spoken dialogue of the characters) to keep it up with the times and I would’ve provided the pencils and inks. Disagreement of goals and certain creative differences had hindered any progress and eventually negated the ability of Azteca Productions in furthering those goals.

Relampago had been a part of my life ever since I first discovered a copy of Relampago #3 from a ‘quarter bin’ at a Half-Price Bookstore in Dallas way back in 1983. I later got in contact with Margarito in 1993 through his Collector’s Bookstore comic shop in Corpus Christi and became good friends ever since. He invited my wife and I to do a book signing at his bookstore, and even discussed resurrecting the Relampago character to crossover with El Gato Negro. Our agreement was that he would start writing the plot after his retirement. Unfortunately it was not to be. Judge Garza passed away from a fatal heart attack in 1995 after a lifetime of public service to his community.

The news of his death came to me when I was attending a comic book convention in San Antonio. It was like losing a father, a friend and a man after my own heart.  Call it obligation, but I felt it in my heart to help keep the legacy alive by wanting to enter Relampago in the Azteca Productions’ universe and to do this “one-shot”.  This was not to be a money-making venture by any means- any profits derived from these books would have gone to the surviving Garza family. I simply wanted to pay tribute to my friend and didn’t want this character to fade into obscurity.

Unfortunately the Garza family and I could not come to an agreement. It seems they do not have the desire to ressurrect the character at this time and have asked that I not pursue the matter any further. I will respect their decision. Admittedly, I will miss the challenge and adventure that could’ve been, as well as the many people with whom I would’ve had the opportunity to work with. I wish the Garza family well in their future endeavors.

-Richard Dominguez

EDIT: This was posted at our original (now defunct) blog address. We thought it best to repost it here as well.

First!!!

Welcome to Gato-Blog, the official blog of superhero El Gato Negro! This is our first true super-secret post at our new(ish) wordpress site. As of right now, things are a bit bare-bones and we’re still in the “construction” phase, so we’re gonna keep it brief. We know it’s been a bit confusing, since we’ve been bounced around a few different url addresses in the past. Fortunately we’ve regained ownership of our domain name here at gatoblog.com and plan to keep it that way for some time. Please stay tuned.

Currently Under Construction