How, Mr. Mail Man and Woman. You Givum Me Nice Native American Catalogue.....

Wilma Mankiller would be proud...

The Tale of a Late Life Starter....

I was a late starter in nearly everything I do well, EXCEPT FLAT OUT SKETCHING IN A SKETCHBOOK and journaling. I was doing that since the first grade. And I've been keeping a journal since age 16. Everything else I didn't start excelling at until I was in my late 20s, including comics and animation cartooning, screenwriting, and short and long fiction writing.

It's okay to start late. I didn't get the hang of what I was doing until my late 20s, and in some cases my early 30s (like comics and manga)

Branching Out, Across Oceans

I have numerous Asian and European (Eurasian) animation friends and business connections now.

Yus! That was kind of my dream. To be friends with people in Japan, France, Europe, and China. It's good luck to befriend people from that region, that's why it's a big deal to me on a personal level.

"Paperwork" - Panel design and illustration

Top 2 Reasons Why I Hate C.A., my adoptive father

1) As far as he's concerned, he refuses to prepare his own family or think of a contingency plan in reaction to his own death. Like a lot of Baby Boomer 60 year olds, he has horrible health, at least 4-5 chronic and potentially deadly ailments, yet he refuses to plan for his potential death. It's obvious as far as he's concerned in his opinion, even though he's 64 years old, he thinks if he dies, so should me and everyone else (me being his 31 year old unemployed son).

2) He doesn't think any existence outside of his little Florida life exists, and has an incredibly arrogant "Screw The Liberals and the World" kind of attitude.

Imitators and Money - Thoughts on Privacy

There's never any money to be made from the career fields I start, when I first start them.

But then people start imitating what I do and getting paid for basically doing the same thing I do, and they leave me wondering, "Why are we doing the same thing and they're getting paid for it and I'm not?" I wonder why that is.

Q & A W/ JM

Q: Who or what are your biggest literary influences at the moment?

A / JM: Hammid's Black and White "Cards" on Adult Swim, online social media paragraph centric things like Twitter and Blogger, internet literature, particularly columns and postings on sites like Anime News Network and the Adult Swim Message Boards, where I used to post as Spindack, but now post as ActionFistBullet, and the lyrics of Dethklok, the fictional band on Metalocalypse on Adult Swim. Seth MacFarlane's novel, A Million Ways to Die in The West. Not so much because it's incredibly well written as because I can relate to what he's doing, a fellow animation auteur who wants to be taken seriously as a writer and author. I can appreciate that balance. The novel is actually pretty good, and separate from the context of his animated shenanigans. 

So yeah, lots of internet and [adult swim culture] in my writing...

America Loves Lists: The Discrimination List

Industries Where Top Players Conspire to Go Out of Their Way to Make Sure I Earn No $$$ (not naming individuals. Why I'm sparing their "good names"... I have no clue why I'm choosing to do this. That's probably better than they deserve...Seeing as they would NOT extend the same courtesy to me.

The Guilty

TV Anime
TV Animation
OEL/World/Japanese Manga
99% of Japanese Manga
Most of the Comedy TV World
Rogue TV and Internet Journalists (you know! The one that shouts and GLARES at you)
Rogue Otaku
Hired Trolls
Rogue Talking Heads

Industries/Creative Talent That Don't Conspire:

The Innocent

Silicon Valley
Amazon
Pixar
70% of Walt Disney Theatrical and Television Animation
Dreamworks
Internet and Online Streaming Video (you know! The industry I fucking CREATED.)
Technology Industry
Literature and Book Publishing
Self-Publishing (Lulu Kindle)
Patenting
Williams Street
Titmouse
LucasFilm
Satelight Anime Studio
Otomo
Savin Yeatman Eiffel
Thomas Romain
LeSean Thomas
Steve Blum
John Lasseter
Todd McFarline
Dave Sim
George Lucas
Marvel
Jhonen
Spielberg
Tara Strong
SLG
Apps
American-Centric Book Publishing and Distribution
French Pop Culture

If you don't want to be discriminated against for selfish, greedy, anti-progressive, psychotic reasons by egomaniacal sharks, work in the industries that DON'T conspire against aspiring professionals. Not the ones that DO.

The Future of the Real Culture to Internet Culture Transition

Cyber crime and cyber justice will evolve and continue to reform until they stabilize there will be more punishment for stalking, cyber-bullying, illegal pornography, and harrasment, and crime rates will lower themselves accordingly upon the acknowledgement and realization law enforcement does take the web 2.0 seriously.

Business will come to acknowledge social media, websites, and apps as a legitimate business platform. The majority of marketing, interaction, business transactions and sales will relocate to online.

Social culture worldwide will probably end up revolving around 70% digital 30% human interaction

Communication will become even more ubiquitous and lighting fast. The common people will demand access to EVERYTHING, regardless of whether their "entitlement" is earned or not. That too will need privacy and regulation.

Books, CDs, DVDs, Magazines, TV Shows, Movies, Commercials, Films, animation, art, literature, and comic books will all scan themselves and relocate to cloud storage and streaming or digitized media online.

HALT! Present Hall Pass! Who Goes There, in JM's Bookshelf Library!

I don't know what it is with the women in my life...

So I've been in one way correspondence with my long-lost girlfriend from art school, who moved from Florida (her temporary residence away from New Jersey where her parents lived) to Portland, Oregon, who from 2003 to until 2010 I wasn't granted the opportunity to correspond with or so. And to this day it's a one way communication, as I can't officially tell if she recognizes or remembers me. I send her messages to her email through her photography website profile, but even to this day she doesn't have a phone number I know of. The relationship, as it always was, was not mutual, as I've always felt a lot more affection towards her than she has me. But still, other than one female childhood friend named Amanda, Nicole is all I have. She may be unable or unwilling to communicate openly online and not in private, but she's one of the only remaining links I have to my past, outside of my regular male middle school chums.

AUTHOR COMMENTARY REPRINT: MONO ANTHOLOGY MEGAMIX (AVAILABLE THROUGH LULU)

FOREWARD

by J.M. Matthews

What's in 10 years? What exactly is in a decade? Well, to me (2004-2014), that decade was 10 years of a labor of love, a year of unprecedented ups and downs.

When I first created the concept of Mono Jubei and his crazy, darkly imaginative post-apocalypse world of New-Earth, I was not aware of how much my style and vision would  become emulated worldwide in comic book literature, Japanese animation, and Hollywood. I thought my idea was great. I knew it was good, a good conceptual idea and package.  But I didn't know I'd be designing the model sheets of a new Action Hero Fantasy Archetype that would shape many action and fantasy projects to follow its example. A lot can happen in 10 years. While I never officially sold my script or premise to a studio, I was smart enough to know when the mainstream and indie scene alike were both openly taking pages out of my action-fantasy movie archetype playbook. From trenchcoat dual wielding, to fiery kick-ass redhead female "sidekicks", to dystopian visual utopias and paramilitary bureau agencies, to secret agents well versed in the kinetics of wuxia. A lot's been used from this Action Movie Bible and Blueprints I consciously designed to be so. The Following book includes a New-Earth Timeline history, short fiction outlines and a script I wrote, conceptual sketchbooks and illustrations, and a series of comic book pages. What started off as an animation pitch evolved into the large scale presentation book project you see before you today.

Been a wild ride indeed.

Here's to 10 to 30+ More.

Onward and Upward,

-J.M. Matthews

9/11/2014

NOW AVAILABLE TO ORDER THROUGH LULU

Chi Art Energy

I generate so much raw power and Chi in my surroundings whenever I draw art and get into that sort of inventive mentality. For an American level of Creative Psychic Energy and Chi, mine's pretty high. Other people can literally sense it if I'm having an active period.

Having Tiger Eye Gems in my pocket keeps to help me focused, and my willpower high, so instead of not having Tiger Eye Gems in a bag in my pocket, I keep a stash of Tiger Eye stones to keep my eye on the prize.

Submissions Rejections List - You Only Live Once

The following are places I've submitted my various main projects to. I was  rejected by all of them, but I was proud of myself, as I'm finally submitting my work to studios, companies and publishers now....

Places I've submitted to (but that said "No thanks")

·        New York Nonfiction Mainstream Literary agencies

·        SLG Publishing

·        Titmouse Inc.

·        Microsoft

It's never easy finding active literary and cinematic publishers and studios that match up with my personal style (including ones I don't work with but might like to), but I still make the effort to be on the lookout for new opportunities. 

"Popular" Artist?

"As popular artists, we get too many individual messages to respond to everyone"?

Checks inbox: 0 emails from people wanting to be my friends.

That's funny, that article almost gave me the impression a lot of people are approaching ME to be my artist friends. 

Oh please. No one does that. The only artist who are even CLOSE to that level of popularity and busy-ness are the artists and animators who work full time at a studio. Or who you notice attend cons, or whose webcomics actually have more than 2 readers. (All of which I am none of the above. I've ALWAYS hoped other artists will approach me for friendship. I'm not famous or popular enough to say otherwise). If I was getting approached by a lot of people wanting to befriend me online, I'd have mentioned it in my blog a long time ago. Such is not the case. Not with me anyway. Sometimes I wish more people would figure out it's okay to talk to me directly and become my art buddies.

I get zero comments on my tweets and blog BECAUSE no one is approaching me to become their mentor and friend. I don't know why some artists are so touchy and temperamental about being approached for friendship online. I'm certainly not above being approached, and neither are a lot of artists. Well, not the ones that are unemployed anyway. 

Say. Why HAVE you been avoiding me all these years anyway..................

.......NICOLE.

Ahhhhh yyyyyeeeeeaaaahhhhh

Jay's Brain: Ahhhhhh yyyyyeeeaaahhhhh.

That's the goooooood stuuuuuuufffff

The knowledge of my  book library. It FEEDS ME.

Don't Call It A Comeback...

So it's the 3rd of November, on a Monday, when I had my first productive drawing session in a whole 2 to 3 weeks since I quit comics art lessons. But I recovered, and now I'm back and badder than ever. Busted out a good 20 whole pages  of art sketches today. I have to recover from the blow to my ego from learning, in terms of art, though there's always someone worse off, I'm nowhere close to being as good as I thought I am. That was a blow to my ego and self confidence. That realization, weakened and depressed me. Like any time things get really difficult in my life, I once again considered quitting and retiring from comics ("They don't need me...") but I'm starting to get back on my feet to stand and walk.

I did some push-ups, drew one character sketch, then the next day my recovery accelerated and I drew 20 pages of rough abstract sketches.

The strength of Ten Grinches, Plus Two.

The Sad Tale of My Birth Mother

My birth mother, Mary Gaynor, died only a week or two after she got to speak with me for the first time in her life. I heard some of her last dying words on the phone before she passed away a week or so later.