Titan Art. Now in glorious color!

Here is the Cyclops piece colored by Bryan Arfel Magnaye. Drawn by me and inked by Jeff Austin. We hope you dig it!

Thanks for looking!

Joe

As always, check out www.themightytitan.com for updates and such!

Why do I do what I do and why I am nice when I do it

I get this question a lot...

Why do you create comics?

The answer isn't as easy to answer as you would think. I've been creating comics in one way or another since before I can remember. I love to create, I love to write, I love to draw. I love the idea of leaving something that I created after I am gone. A legacy.

Sadly, I have little time for it.

I work a full time job doing IT. I love what I do. It is challenging and I am always learning new things. I work with great people and we have a great culture of mutual respect. But, it isn't my dream. It isn't what I planned for myself when I was young. The 10 year old me wanted to draw for a living. He wanted to create and share and be a comic book artist. But, alas, kids have to eat. Rent needs to be paid and my passion for creating has to take a second seat. Since, no joke, I still to this day haven't made any real money doing comics.

In my "real" life, I have a great family. I have 2 kids, a girlfriend named Jasmin, a new bundle on the way. People would call them responsibilities.

Scream - By Joe Martino and Rusty Gilligan

I call them life. They are also my legacy. They are the reason I wake up every day.

Now, I am not a comic book professional, nor do I claim to be. I am just a guy who loves creating comics so much that I decided to make some of my own. I wrote that 17 years ago for the letters page of my first Shadowflame self-published comic. I've met a lot of great people through the years. I've also met a lot of assholes. Fortunately, they all know who they are so I don't need to list them here. I have been told I suck so bad that I should quit. And in the same week, been told by a fan that I was one of their favorite writers.

Life is about bringing new things to the world, even if they are a bit derivative. Life is about helping others to do things for themselves. That is why Twitter and Facebook and Google+ are so good for people like me. We can share our knowledge, learn new things, help people grow and promote their work and in return you hope they will do the same. At no time would I EVER tell someone that they were so bad that they should quit. Never quit! Never give up what you love because someone else can't appreciate what you do.

A change is coming. The clique is eroding and you can't even see it. Remember, the buggy whip maker had no idea his career was over when Ford started mass producing Model T's. The guy you blow off now may just well be the ass you need to kiss later. Be nice. Be respectful.

Watch the heads that you step on when you rise up, they will be attached to the asses that you need to kiss on the way down.

Today, try and help one of your fellow creators. Share or retweet their work, buy his digital comic, help fund or share her Kickstarter campaign, help out a struggling Indy band. But, do it because you want to do good for your fellow creators. Not because they did it for you. We are all in this together, even if we are doing it alone.

Thanks for reading this rant. I know I went off the reservation a bit but it all ties together if you really read what I am saying.

Stay strong and always follow your dreams, even if people can't understand them.

Thanks!

Joe

If you have the time and the want to support some good people, check out the following links. And yes... some of them point to stuff I've worked on some of them are people I've met that do great work.

http://www.comixtribe.com
http://www.macandtrouble.com/
http://www.ripfaceinvasion.com
http://jgmcomics.ecrater.com
http://www.themightytitan.com

And join this group on Facebook if you are looking for a really supportive group of guys and gals who are working on a RESURGENCE!!!
http://www.facebook.com/groups/236968296395429/

Inspiration... and where it comes from.

Back in 2009, I read an article about a 7 year old boy that had gotten cancer. He was going through the treatments and his mom created a hero "The Dominator" to help him get through this.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,562240,00.html

Dominic passed away in 2009 from brain cancer.

http://www.goldcoastchronicle.com/feature/hero-of-the-week-dominic-osorio/

Inspiring. A boy having cancer at such a young age disgusts me. To be 5 years old and having to go through all of those treatments is just heart breaking. I am glad that his mom came up with a positive way to cope with his treatments. I think that not telling him that he had cancer was smart. I was diagnosed with kidney cancer at at 33 and and again at 36, it really messed me up. I realize that was a little young to understand the scope of what cancer means. But does a child of 5 or even 7 years old have to know?

In my opinion, no.

This isn't about me, but a part of me wishes that my doctor told me I had some other kidney issue that required surgery. I would have coped much better. Cancer is a death sentence to so many people that just the word sent me into a freefall of terror that I still experience every 12 months when I go for my scans to see if there is a reoccurance. Cancer was a big motivator(Along with family and friends) for me finishing my comics and getting them out. The first Ripperman actually came out on October 20th 2004, the day of my first cancer surgery and the first issue of Shadowflame came out February 2007, the month of my second cancer surgery. Maybe I should have just let Shadowflame or Ripperman get the cancer and I could have stayed clean. But even that way of thinking bothers me and shows the negative stigma of cancer. I have been "clean" of cancer since 2007. Like I was dirty before.

Now, after a few years and a few scars, I am working on a new story. This scares me more than you could know. Each time I put a book out, It was tied into cancer. This time, I am bringing the cancer to the book! Titan is a character that I created back in 2004 when I was recovering from my first cancer surgery.  Don't worry. There is still plenty of Superhero action, Giant Mechas, Mythologocal creatures and vile villains to whet even the most fanatical comic reader's appetite.

I have to say that I was and am really proud of this little guy and the struggle that he went through. I am not a praying man but I sent my hopes to this boy that he made a full recovery and he didn't have to deal with this type of thing again for the rest of his hopefully long life. Unfortunelty, he didn't win the fight. He wasn't able to defeat this enemy and the world is a little less bright without his light in it.

I am sure if there is a heaven, that Domenic is up there and he is fighting with the Dominator against the evil villany of the Megazoid!

Check out my new creation The Mighty Titan that takes my cancer(and other) experiences and wraps them in a superhero shell.

http://www.facebook.com/themightytitan

Joe

So, now I have a blog. I will be telling you stuff you want to hear about and stuff you don't. Please enjoy it and don't be so frigging uptight! :-)

Some of you know me, most of you don't. I write comics, work in IT, have tattoos, kids, a girlfriend. I am a geek, a punk, a metalhead and artist. I am labled and mislabled. Through all of it, I am me.

I will be posting art and writing and funky stuff. Read it, don't read it. I am good either way.

Actually, I would rather you read it. :)

http://www.jgmcomics.com

Oh, I drew this and Jeff Austin, Bryan Magnaye and Adam O, Pruett!