#futuredude

[kushystarlinglurve-blog]

Dreaming about hawaii... hey italian cat, see you in our future. we maybe messed up today... but our future is sooooo bright..it'll b, it should be.

[popwrapped]

Jeffrey Morris Talks Comics, Movies, And The Beauty of Science Fiction

Jeffrey Morris Talks Comics, Movies, And The Beauty of Science Fiction

Courtesy of lakeminnetonkamag.com

Jeffrey Morris is the founder of Future Dude Entertainment, a company created back in 2010 in an effort to bring the wonders of science fiction back into the worlds we love to read. 

I got the chance to speak with Jeffrey at his booth at ComiCon about his recently finished film, Oceanus: Part One, and his hopes for his comic, Parallel Man. 

PopWrapped: So what…

View On WordPress

[scifigeneration]

Oceanus: Act One – Sneak Peak

A look at FutureDude Entertainment's upcoming project! In theaters this May. On comic shop shelves this August.

[kenihewa]

Art Appreciation Day Has Ended...

Christopher Jones Art Appreciation Day posting has come to a close.

I hope you had as much fun as I did! Can't wait to see what other terrific artwork Jones brings to us in the future. . If you are not a follower of Jones or FutureDude, take a minute to check out their blogs and follow now:

FurtureDude Entertainment: http://futuredudeentertainment.tumblr.com/

Christopher Jones: http://christopherjonesart.tumblr.com/

If u picked up some great artwork and/or other items, congrats on your great taste! Share the love and artwork this holiday season, too.

Lastly, To my regular followers, thanks for making this day a blast; to my new followers, welcome and happy to meet you; to visitors, thanks for stopping by. You are terrific and make my day, every day!

Until November's Art Appreciation Day...

Stay Whelmed

[kenihewa]

Christopher Jones talks Parallel Man and Young Justice

October 1, 2014- Examiner Interview

Christopher Jones is a comic book artist based in Minneapolis, MN who has worked on DC Comics' Young Justice, The Batman Strikes!, Justice League Adventures, Young Heroes in Love, Marvel's Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Superhero Squad, Eternity Comics' Re-Animator, Dork Storm Press' Dr. Blink: Superhero Shrink, Batman '66 and currently  both penciling and inking the new title, Parallel Man: Invasion America, a 7-issue sci-fi miniseries from the new publisher FutureDude Entertainment & lots more.   I had the privilege of interviewing Chris on his very interesting career.

Michael Garone: Hey Chris!  Who or what inspired you to become an artist?

Christopher Jones: I've always loved to draw and love to tell stories, so comic books seemed a natural fit. I've loved comics ever since I can remember. Wanting to draw comics seemed like the most natural thing in the world. I literally have the job I wanted when I was five years old, and I'm well aware of how unusual that is and how lucky that makes me.

MG: First job as a comic book artist?

CJ: My first published work was a full-page superhero comic called Mister Muscle I wrote and drew for my local newspaper when I was ten. My first PAID work came a few years later when I drew a sci-fi series about police in a world where people have super powers, but not one where there's a history of costumed heroes and villains. It was called Street Heroes 2005, because that's the year when it was set and that title sounded a lot cooler when 2005 was still the near future.

MG: Who is the one character you have drawn about that you connected with the most?

CJ: I created a mascot character for CONvergence, a science fiction convention I helped start back in 1999. Connie is a female robot with a limitless enthusiasm for all things sci-fi and fandom. If those qualities come from anywhere they must be from me. Except for the female robot part. (More information on Connie here: http://www.convergence-con.org/at-a-glance/convergence-lore/)

MG: Who of all the characters you have ever drawn is your favorite and why?

CJ: Batman. Batman is my all-time favorite superhero, so he's probably still the most fun to draw even after all the chances I've had to do it. He's such an iconic character and between the costume, the gadgets, and the settings there are so many great visuals to play with.

MG: Favorite regeneration of the Doctor and why?

CJ: I'm old enough that Tom Baker was still the current Doctor when I started watching Doctor Who as a kid, and I saw all his episodes multiple times before I ever got a chance to see any of the other Doctors, so for a long time I felt that Tom Baker was THE Doctor and there were also other Doctors. But these days it's hard to pick a favorite, as I like different Doctors for different qualities. I can't wait to see what Peter Capaldi's Doctor is like!

MG: Onto Young Justice!  Season one was just phenomenal in so many ways.  As much as I liked season 2 and the invasion storyline, season one juggled everyone's storyline's so well.  My only dislike was the jump of 5 years into the future.  What were your likes and dislikes for seasons one and two?

CJ: I understand people's frustration with the 5-year gap. It was a shock, and there was a sense of having missed something. But, not only did both the TV show and the comic fill in key bits from that 5-year gap as they went, but jumping forward like that allowed for so much. Aside from giving us Dick Grayson as Nightwing and Tim Drake as Robin it created the opportunity to bring in a number of other new characters, like Batgirl, Blue Beetle and Wonder Girl. Most importantly, for a series that at its heart was a coming-of-age story it allowed you to see the teenagers of Season 1 becoming young adults, taking on more responsibilities, including stepping up to mentor the *next* generation of young heroes coming in. It's hard for me to pick a favorite between the two seasons. I don't think you could have had Season 2 without Season 1 to build on, but I honestly feel like Season 2 was the most satisfying place the series could have gone. I'd rather see the characters grow than have the series deliver more of the same.

MG: Which character did u think stood out of the group?  At first I thought they were moving towards Superboy but then they pretty much did a great job mixing everyone's stories beautifully.  Did you think another character should've had better treatment in seasons one and two?

CJ: I'm not sure anyone stood more than everyone else on the show OR in the comic. It was such a well-balanced ensemble. I think it's just a question of which character and which storyline resonated most for an individual fan. I think the surprise of the show has to be Aqualad, given how multi-layered and badass he proved to be on the show. Who would have expected that from Aqualad?  I'd have loved to see more development for some of the characters we met in Season 2, especially Batgirl, Wonder Girl, and Bumblebee. I'm sure they'd have gotten more attention of Season 2 had as many episodes as Season 1, or had continued to Season 3 and beyond.

MG: Were there any synopsis' written as to how season 3 would have turned out?  And is there a possibility to revive the comic series?

CJ: I know that Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti had a number of plans for Season 3. I don't know exactly how far developed those plans were. A few details have been made public (we were going to get both Supergirl and Donna Troy as Troia), but I don't know much that hasn't already been put out there.

Getting another season of the TV show produced is a multi-million dollar proposal. But there's no reason DC Comics couldn't decide to continue the Young Justice continuity in comic book form. Greg Weisman and I pitched that when the show was ending and DC Comics passed on it. If they changed their minds, they could greenlight that book tomorrow. What would change their mind? If they perceived enough demand for it. If they saw the potential sales and the potential money to be made.  It's one of the reasons Greg and I keep doing Young Justice meet-ups at conventions and keep pimping the DVDs, soundtracks, games, and other merchandise as it comes out. If the Young Justice fandom persists, at some point an executive could see that and think "Let's give this Young Justice thing another shot."

MG: Do you have any current or future projects you can talk about?

CJ: I'm currently penciling and inking a new sci-fi title called Parallel Man: Invasion America for a publisher called FutureDude Entertainment.

Parallel Man: Invasion America is a 7-issue mini-series about parallel worlds with a cast of great characters, lots of action and adventure, and a ton of cool gadgets and vehicles. The basic idea is that instead of a breakthrough that led to atomic weapons and power, another America breached the dimension barrier, gaining the ability to travel to parallel Earths. General Cartwright was the man in charge of the dimension program, and in a very Eisenhower-like fashion he went on to become President.

President Cartwright's America didn't just win World War II but went on to dominate the globe and took an imperialistic turn. By 2014, Cartwright's America is now known as the Ascendency and controls an empire of 11 parallel Earths. The Ascendency enjoys technology and resources harvested from the dozens of parallel worlds they've explored/conquered, but have had no significant cultural change at home since just after World War II. They're stuck in the 50s, never having had the civil rights movement, women’s' liberation or the other social advances our world has seen.

Without term limits, Cartwight remained president long enough to establish a dynasty, and all the presidents since then have been of his family line after a career of military service. The current president Cartwright has no sons, so his only daughter, Mackenzie Cartwright, is serving in an otherwise all-male military, a white woman put in charge of an all-black company of commandos called the Hellfighters.

Mackenzie is sent after Nick Morgan, and Ascendency intelligence operative who has gone rogue in the days before the Ascendency has plans to annex yet another Earth - ours.

In just the first issue of Parallel Man we see Mackenzie's pursuit of Nick Morgan take them from the over-industrialized China-America to a world where the asteroid never wiped out the dinosaurs, to a world where the only life is a toxic fungus, and finally to our world, where we find Nicholas Morgan (our Earth's version of Nick). Nicholas Morgan is for from a super-spy; he's a gamer geek who lives with his Grandfather - who may just be the key to everything that is happening.

In future issues we'll visit still more worlds and meet the Futurists - a group of scientists trying to take the dimension-travelling technology back from those who are abusing it, led by their world's Carl Sagan.

I think it's all very cool and smart and exciting. The story is by Jeffrey Morris and Fredrick Haugen. Character designs are by myself with concept art by Eric Chu who worked on the new BattleStar Galactica. The color is by Zac Atkinson who I worked with on Young Justice, and Carl Sagan's son Dorian Sagan is acting as our scientific consultant.

In addition to the 7-issue comic, we've got games in development and are in production on a 12-minute pilot for an animated version which should be available on line later in October. John Cho (Star Trek) is voicing Nick Morgan. Ming-Na Wen (Agents of Shield) is voicing Mackenzie Cartwright, and Lance Reddick (Fringe) is voicing Atlas, an AI assistant to Nick Morgan who becomes an interesting character in its own right. It all starts when issue 1 of Parallel Man launches October 8. It's available for pre-order through Diamond now at your local comic book retailer, and will be available digitally on Comixology.

MG: Thanks Chris!

[kenihewa]

Today is Christopher Jones Art Appreciation Day!!!

October's featured Christopher Jones Art Appreciation has officially begun!

Among my regular posts I will include up to 25 works which will include sketches, cover art, samples of art for sale on his official Etsy site as well as FutureDude Entertainment artwork. Click through links provided to purchase artwork, comics, posters and other available items as well as to learn more about Jones and Morris.

Investment in any of Jones' high quality artwork is one of the best decisions you'll ever make. Supporting Jones and FutureDude Entertainment means we all win.

I hope you are as excited as I am as I have enjoyed selecting a few of my favorites. I'd like to thank both Christopher Jones and FutureDude/Jeffrey Morris for choosing to follow me as anyone who follows me knows I am a loyal fan.

So join me this Columbus Day and venture into the world of Christopher Jones Art and the new world of Parallel Man/Brainstorm Comics by Jeffrey Morris. 

Stay Whelmed!

[christopherjoneswebminion]

Yeah, totes a boys' story. Writer convinced it has to be for Hollywood/toy manufacturers to look at it seriously. He's not exactly wrong. :-/  Mackenzie is cool though. Definitely one of those cases where she's a good character but definitely not a good person... but not totally evil either. In a lot of ways she's kind of a spoiled princess which is what allows her to break gender rules of her culture. EH. I don't want to spoil the story. Parallel Man DOES deal with race issues and colonialism as its underlying themes. The short film (which will hopefully get optioned into a feature film) that FutureDude is working on right now stars a black man and an asian woman - both scientists and an interracial couple in a submarine. So that's kind of cool. And their other book Brainstorm has a gay protagonist. I've seen their whole IP catalog and it's actually crazy diverse.

So, I don't know. It's like they're trying to balance representation with what they can realistically get Hollywood $$ to look at. So it's all baby steps. Frustrating as hell though.

[futuredudeentertainment-blog]