While attending Mizuumi-Con 3 at Our Lady of the Lake University, I was attracted to the First Storm Manga table to ogle at their art and comic samples on display. Attending the con with an eight-year-old doesn’t leave a lot of time for jawboning so I had unanswered questions about FSM…questions I knew Missions Unknown readers would share. I dialed up these manga maniacs and FSM writer and organizer Eduardo Soliz answered the call.
We’ll let him handle the introductions: By day, Eduardo “Randomizer9“ Soliz is another code monkey banging away at a computer for a living. Once night falls, though, his creative side wakes up from the monotony and wants to have some fun, so he blogs, podcasts, writes short fiction and poetry, plays drums for The Loliholix, is currently taking voice-over lessons, and admins FirstStormManga.com.
Eduardo Soliz, as drawn by "My Cage" artist Melissa DeJesus
What is First Storm Manga, a publishing company or an artist/writer collective or some of both?
First Storm Manga is what I like to call an “artist’s group.” While we do put things in print, we have no intention of ever becoming a full-time publisher. Our main focus is getting creative people together so that they can collaborate and learn from each other to create new original manga. We also promote our members by distributing printed copies of member works and posting them up at firststormmanga.com
Being a Trekkie, I do like your use of the word “collective!” We are anything but, though; most of our members are fiercely independent.
How many members are in the group?
We have a total of 31 members spread across three branches in San Antonio (the “home office”), Houston and Austin. We do not focus simply on numbers; we would rather have a small number of dedicated people than a lot of people that never participate. In line with that philosophy, we do occasionally prune inactive members from the group.
Continue on after the jump for more…including the super secret (until now) origin of First Storm Manga!
A staple of many comic books is the secret origin story. Can you share with us the FSM origin tale?
“First Storms” by Eduardo “Randomizer9” Soliz
It was a dark and stormy night, and The Council was preparing to meet. The meeting promised to be different, as The Council had let it be known that they were seeking artists and writers. The Grand Hall echoed with the excited chatter of those who had responded to their call. They came from far and wide, seeking audiences for their work. Silence quickly filled the hall as The Overseer walked up to the podium and began to speak.
“The Council thanks you for coming to hear our proposal!” he started. “We seek artists and writers to create manga for us. Join us, and your works will be seen by hundreds, nay, thousands of people across the land!” The Overseer said, prompting a cheer from his audience.
The Overseer continued: “In exchange, we will take ownership of your work. You will receive no compensation for your efforts save for the pleasure of being a member of The Council.”
As a hush fell over the audience, a bespectacled gentleman stood up and said, “I do not wish to give up my creations to you!” His friend, who was wearing a jaunty cap, also stood up and said “Why should The Council alone reap the benefits of our work?” A third artist, a burly man who worked for a local merchant, stood and asked: “What good reason is there for us to join The Council?”
The Overseer smiled a condescending smile and said: “You should join us because we are the largest Council in the land, and you have no chance of success without our blessing!”
“You may be large, ‘tis true, but what feats has The Council actually accomplished?” asked a fourth artist; a rather large fellow who sported a red beard.
The Overseer briefly struggled to find an answer for his accusers, and soon became furious: “BEGONE FROM OUR MIDST, TROUBLEMAKERS!” he angrily bellowed. The four were already making their way to the exit as disgruntled murmurs began spreading among those who remained.
As the Great Hall’s heavy wooden doors locked behind them, the four stood facing each other in the rain.
“How churlish of them, demanding we surrender our work,” the burly one said.
“We should form our own council, one where people can work freely and share ideas amongst one another!” the bespectacled one replied.
“A grand idea, but first, we should seek shelter and a warm drink.“ the third one said as he removed his jaunty cap, shook the rain from it, and placed it in his coat.
“Aye, let us take our leave of this horrid place,” added the red bearded one as he began walking away from The Grand Hall.
The four soon found an inn. As they entered, a stout gentleman wearing a large ring on his right hand beckoned them. “You are here much earlier than I anticipated, friend,” he said to the burly one. “Did the gathering not go as you had planned?” he asked as everyone sat down around a table.
“The Council is corrupt and not worth our effort, so we have decided to band together and proceed on our own,” came the reply. As they shook hands, the bespectacled one said, “You are more than welcome to join us if you wish.”
“I would be honored to, sir. Does your newfound venture have a name?” the stout one said. “Not as of yet, that should be our first order of business,” the red-bearded one answered.
“A good idea, and we have time to think. The first storm of the season is fierce, and will keep us here for some time,” the stout one said as he looked through a nearby window.
As he placed it back onto his head, the gentleman with the jaunty cap smiled and said: “First Storm…interesting…”
And thus, our story begins…
Image by Man on a Commission from the Crux Project
Why Manga as opposed to traditional American or European style comics?
There are two reasons: the first is that the manga style is something we all enjoy reading and creating. I think it would be fair to say that everyone at F.S.M. enjoys comics, regardless of where they happen to come from. The second is that there are not very many places for creatives interested in creating manga to find like-minded individuals. Our goal is to be that place.
What kind of publications (print or online) do you have coming up?
We recently distributed about 350 copies of our second compilation, Manga Madness 2.0, at Anime Matsuri and O-Conn, and plan on debuting our third compilation at San Japan 3. I’m hoping we can have a new mini-manga ready for Realms Con in Corpus Christi later this year.
As for online: Naki is currently working on his Crux Project which is a series of intertwining stories featuring a variety of characters. I am currently developing a comic myself called Just Another Day At The Office which I would like to put online. The “origin story” for it was published in our second compilation.
Are meetings held in person or online? Where do most of the collaborations happen?
Meetings are held both online and in person. To get all of the benefits of being a member, we do require a small amount of in-person attendance. That said, it is possible to be considered an “active” member by only attending online meetings. Collaborations are usually done at our Saturday meetups, though we do have a members-only forum where folks can put up works in-progress if they are looking for feedback.
Who likes toast?
Seeing as I put together Toast Vol. 1, that certainly makes me a fan and then there’s Angela Zavala over in Houston who drew the first two Toast comics. Austin Rogers hates it with the fire of a thousand suns, and Chris Holm had Toast ‘guest star’ in a recent comic…and blew him up, so I’m not sure what side of the fence he’s on.
FSM has a presence at many of the area cons including San Japan, Mizuumi-Con, Anime Matsuri and more. What do you get from participating in these events? What do you think of the area conventions? Which are the best ones to attend?
Conventions give us an opportunity to distribute our works, promote ourselves and recruit. It also gives our members a chance to network and seek opportunities. As an example: it was recently announced that Austin Rogers is going to be collaborating with MegaRan on a project for his next album, I believe they first discussed it at last year’s San Japan.
My convention experience is fairly limited, as I have only been attending them for just over a year. That said, I think our local cons (Mizuumi-Con, O-Conn, ChimaeraCon and San Japan) are doing a great job. The best local one that I have been to so far would have to be San Japan, followed by Mizuumi-Con.
What con is First Storm going to be at next?
Our next con is San Japan 3, and we can’t wait, because their new location should make it even better than it was before! Realms Con in Corpus Christi is next stop; we are looking forward to their new and improved location as well.
You are a writer with the group and function as a team leader for some of the projects. What sort of challenges do you face in working with this sort of ad-hoc group?
The biggest challenge, in my opinion, is making sure that I give the artist(s) more than enough story to work with. It is always easier to leave things out than to add things in that might not work. At one point while working on San Japanic, an artist told me after I gave him an outline: “You know this isn’t going to all fit on one page, right?” I replied by saying that was okay, because my goal was for him to get the gist of what I wanted to happen. The artists also greatly add to the story by thinking of different visual ways to tell it that may not be apparent to me as a writer.
The second challenge is in juggling everyone, because each artist has their own style, their own opinion on how to tell the story, and work at their own paces. I would best describe it as herding cats. Luckily, I like cats.
Who has the harder job: the artists or the writers?
I would say the artists, because let’s be honest, anyone can write. Not everyone can write well, mind you, but anyone can write words with a pen or keyboard and they will still be recognizable as words. If I were to draw something, on the other hand, people would probably look at it and think it’s a Rorschach test.
We always ask for a top five list or two. Wanna give us your top 5 manga or comic titles?
Here are some Top 5 comics/manga lists from some of our organizers:
Writer/San Antonio Organizer Eduardo “Randomizer9” Soliz
- Maus
- Watchmen
- Ghost In The Shell
- Sky Doll
- Death of Superman
Artist/Founding Member Chris Holm
- Law Dog (Epic Comics)
- The Jaguar (Impact Comics)
- The Real Ghostbusters (Now Comics)
- Gold Digger (Antarctic Press)
- Cherry (Last Gasp/Cherry Comics)
Artist/Austin Organizer Chelsea “Illuminesce” Hostetter
- MPD Psycho by Sho-u Tajima
- DMZ by Brian Wood and Ricardo Burchielli
- Angel Sanctuary by Kaori Yuki
- Maus by Art Spiegelman
- Saiyuki series by Minekura Kazuya
Artist/San Antonio Organizer Austin “Redbeard” Rogers
- Watchmen
- The Walking Dead
- Batman: Year 100
- Akira
- Lone Wolf and Cub
Artist/Houston Organizer Angela “Coffeebeat” Zavala
- Video Girl Ai by Masakazu Katsura
- Dragon Half by Mita Ryuusuke
- Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs by Yukiya Sakuragi
- Battle Angel Alita by Yukito Kishiro
- Bastard! by Kazushi Hagiwara
Finally, something useful and fun on here!
I mean, great to see this, I hope this introduces the group to new audiences and let people know that there is a lot going on in their town.
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Finally? Ouch!
Great article and awesome content…really enjoyed the story of how FSM came to be. It is something I would love to draw into a few manga pages.