When I went to the New York Comic Con last month, I was slowly perusing through Artist Ally. Throngs of artist and writers, both famous and new comers, were selling their illustrated wares. One artist – Ejay Russell – caught my attention. One, because he was an African-American brother, but even more because of the edgy in-your-face title of his comic – A$$HOLE (‘xcuse the french). I took a look at the comic and his other art prints. Ejay’s pencil work was very clear and dynamic, and his line art had a crisp style to it, his art was on point. I didn’t buy his comic immediately, because I wanted to look around some more (and I didn’t hit the ATM yet), but I promised that I would be back. After getting a gander at the rest of the con, I came back to Mr. Russell’s table and bought a copy of A$$HOLE (thanks for signing it Ejay).
I just want to make it clear, I am always inclined to support Black people in their efforts to grow in business or whatever. But I won’t just buy something from you just because you’re black. That defeats the purpose to me. Ejay’s comic was obviously well drawn, and the first couple panels I read were interesting and got me curious.
After I got home and read A$$HOLE, I was glad my intuition paid off. I really enjoyed the characters, the ambiguous plot setup, and the dialog (which as you can guess was for the mature reader).
The main character, that has been so eloquently dubbed, is a fella by the name of Emmitt Joseph Russell (slight autobiography thing going on). Emmitt is a regular, subway hopping, working stiff in the tech dept., with coworkers and crazy bosses. But he has something that others don’t – super powers. And he is working to keep them hidden. But that’s something that he ends up not being very good at. The story is being retold, flashback style, by Emmitt himself, who seems to be a captive of aliens looking for the secret to his abilities.
It sounds like a straight forward story, but I didn’t want to tell you too much, in case you get a chance to read it. Russell (the artist) gives his characters personality and a real flavor of how people talk (as I said, mature). This is a first issue in an overall story arch, so it sets up some interesting questions for the reader, including a good cliff hanger for Emmitt.
Ejay stated on his blog that he is working on the rest of the story, and that it should be ready by the 2012 con season as a hard cover trade. I am looking forward to how it all comes out. For more info visit Ejay’s page at ejayrussell.com.
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Al Nigel Mayo
November 22, 2011 at 9:15 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
really to the expendables poster did you not see the last one
Geek Soul Brother
November 23, 2011 at 12:29 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Confession: I just saw it. And it was an Awesome cheese-fest salute to the oldhead kings of the Action Flix that we love. To see all these guys in one movie is a dream come true (not that kind of dream).
Ejay Russell
November 25, 2011 at 10:29 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Sorry it took me so long to reply, been busy on the 2nd issue. Really great write up, I definitely appreciate it. I’m still new to writing so I’m glad you dug the writing, its a learning process I hope to get better at. And If you enjoyed the first issue, you’ll really like the 2nd issue as I’m looking to really push the envelope of what comics could/should be.
Geek Soul Brother
November 26, 2011 at 12:39 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Hey Ejay, I’m glad you liked the post. Looking forward to the rest of the stories/issues. And you’re right, we all get better at our craft in time. Can’t wait to see what you come up with.
twotoolscooking
November 26, 2011 at 1:03 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
looking forward to it