1. Who got you on Facebook?
A buddy of mine; Stephen Pantoja, an independent comic writer. He commissioned some pages from me and mentioned he had an FB page. I had a page myself, since 2006, but never used it. I had you (Aris) and one other friend and that’s it. I went into the page to dress it up and add Stephen to keep in touch during the project and one thing led to another. I started adding comic pros and found old college friends and high school friends found me and now I’m one of the Hive.
2. Pete Hernandez in a sentence?
An honest, creative, moody, sarcastically funny, driven artist who still loves cartoons, comics, video games, his family, and his new found love for Buddhism.
3. What do you do for a living?
Freelance graphic artist and illustration whore.
4. Who are your 3 favorite comic creators?
Frank Miller, Joss Whedon, Robert Kirkman.
5. Favorite comic?
Right now, Invincible. At one; time Daredevil (during the Miller days). More recently; 100 Bullets, Walking Dead, Ultimate Spider-Man.
6. Which character would you do any thing to write?
Well it ain’t Wolverine. What the fuck else can you do with him at this point aside form launching him into the sun? I think Sandman.
7. What do you think of the price of comics?
Ridiculous. I stopped buying a lot of titles and will only spend money on stuff that really holds my attention. The price hike has stopped me from experimenting with certain titles and companies. I love comics but am not gonna choose buying them over food.
8. Do you think digital comics will ever catch on?
I think so as the cost of handheld devices drops and screens and computers become lighter and more flexible, digital comics will catch on. It’s inevitable as change always is. I’m not a purist when it comes to the “paper in my hands” argument. I just want to read and enjoy them any way I can and if they all go digital because of printing costs being so high then so be it. Fuck the wannabe net elitists and their nonsense about “keeping it real and on paper.” How pure can you be if you’re bitching online via digital means about how much you love and prefer the printed product? Get over yourself and STFU.
9. Do you think the internet has been good for comics?
Yes. I think its given fans a way to reach across oceans and interact, for good and ill. It allows us to be in touch with creators and get advance notice on what’s being created and I think helps creators keep their finger on the pulse of what people want. Then there’s the other side where obese, smelly cyber trolls, and skinny, emo, pretentious talent-less, Wanna Be-British Super Queens bitch endlessly about products not even completed or launched. So you get the good and bad but I think it’s been more of a benefit than not.
10. When you were young did you want to work for Marvel or DC?
Marvel.
11. Why do you love Frank Miller so much?
LOL. He just wrote and drew the types of comic stories I love to read. Dark, brooding, tortured characters who, regardless of their many flaws, always manage to find a way to rise to the occasion and find within them what it means to truly be a hero. His stories are pulpy, iconic, romantic, violent, funny, and poignant. Most of them. Every now and then he’s entitled to crank out a clunker like Dark Knight 2 but the same goes for any creator really trying to push comics to the limit.
12. Would you marry him?
Only in Massachusetts.
13. What is Black Neon?
Black Neon Memoirs is a comic series I’ve been working on for years about a world class assassin and the head of a mega-corporation on a collision course and the device that “connects” them, called Black Neon. It’s a deconstruction of an assassin character named Vendetta I created over 20 years ago.
14. Is Vendetta you?
He started out as the worst aspects of me. I looked into myself during my mid-20’s and wrote down what I didn’t like about myself in an effort to change and used most of the list to re-vamp Vendetta from the ground up. Originally he was a vigilante, not unlike the Punisher, but much like Frank Castle he started to bore me rather quickly and needed more depth. So I used some of my old self.
15. What is Paladin?
Paladin is a comic series written by Stephen Pantoja (see my friend list) about a supernatural hero, something like the character Elric, who is fighting an eternal battle against supernatural forces like vampires and werewolves and the like. The Paladin’s face is never seen and he appears as a man in white carrying a massive enchanted sword which he uses to lop the heads off baddies. Each issue introduces the reader to another aspect of the supernatural through the eyes of a human caught up in things he / she has no business getting caught up in. Vampiric power struggles, warring werewolf tribes, shadowy doppelgangers trying to pierce the veil between worlds and enters ours. The usual.
16. Are you working on any other art or creative projects right now?
I’m writing a few things on the side between freelance gigs. Some superhero stuff in the vein of Invincible with a little Firefly, Buffy tongue n cheek stuff mixed in.
17. Word of advice for fledgling artists out there dreaming to work in comics?
You better want it bad enough to do it for next to know money, otherwise get a 9 to 5 and call it a day. This game ain’t for pussies.
18. What does the term “cold as Ice” mean to you?
Inside joke. But for those not with you and I outside of the Complete Strategist that day it refers to the intense cold shoulder I gave someone I used to be friends with back in the days of Art and Design high school.
19. Do you have a website?
Doesn’t everyone?
Mine is http://www.goofeesnax.com/
20. What ever happened to Golm: Universal Darkness?
Jason McAlpin and I are still working on wrapping up the last friggin chapter, The Game Master section. Other than that, the role-playing game’s done. Good game too. I still believe in it.
21. Why do you love BSG?
Too many reasons to mention but its one of the best science fiction shows ever made along with Babylon 5. It was science fiction that knew from the start the show had to be about people or it wouldn’t work. All the best science fiction ever made has been about people from 2001 to Star Wars to Blade Runner to BSG.
22. Are you a geek?
Ghetto geek one hundred percent. In fact, ghetto all the way except during business hours. I love me some comics, video games, and cartoons, but I know when to tone it down and just chill as well. I’m not a self hating geek like Warren Ellis.
23. Favorite video game?
The Metal Gear and Resident Evil series.
24. Political question....who would win in a fight Obama or George W. Bush?
Really? Obama. He’s a lean mean fighting machine. Bush is an old decrepit failure who ruined this country from its toes to the top of its red, white, and blue head.
Check out more of Pete's art @ http://www.goofeesnax.com/
I wish the artwork were bigger.
ReplyDeleteNice interview people!
Sarah did you try the link to his site. I am struggling with how big to make the art. Its a great suggestion.
ReplyDeleteThis was such a fun interview. You covered a wide range of subjects and Pete knows what to say.
ReplyDelete