Conquering comics

October 15, 2009 by Jorge Labrador 

UNLV alum making successful splash into comic creation, publishing

One Rebel is leaping from the newsstand to the spinner rack, making a name for himself in the indie comics biz.

Pj Perez, UNLV alumnus and former editor-in-chief of The Rebel Yell, will release the deluxe print edition of his ongoing Webcomic, “The Utopian,” just in time for the Las Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival.

The series, a dramedy in “serialized graphic novel form,” is updated every Wednesday and Friday and tells the tale of high school senior James Douglas – The Utopian. The series has been running since April.

“’The Utopian’ is for anyone who endured, but didn’t enjoy, high school, and who loves old-school comic books,” said Perez.

“It’s angsty but mocks that angst at every turn. It lulls you with predictability and then slaps you in the face with unexpected turns.”

Perez said he has a master plan for the comic’s plot and a definitive ending in mind, which he expects to write in about six months. However, the world of “The Utopian” is not all set in stone.

“The nifty thing with The Utopian is that it’s an organic creature,” Perez said. “The details change for me all the time. I don’t want to give a lot away because most everything is going to be surprising, if not shocking, to readers.”

Although the comic’s plot will be preserved when it makes the transition from the computer screen to the printed page in November, he said there will also be a few extras for the fans. “The Utopian” will come in both standard and deluxe editions, which feature covers by local artists Mark Zeilman or Hernan Valencia, respectively.

“I’m doing new splash pages for the print editions,” Perez said. “I have exclusive pin-ups from various artists [and] the first issue reproduces the never-before-seen, four-page story I wrote and drew when I was 15 that influenced “The Utopian.”

Perez said there will also a letters section and a preview of the next issue’s cover. He expects to have “freebies such as pins and postcards, plus copies of ‘The Utopian’ for sale and a limited-edition mini-poster by Hernan Valencia” at November’s festival.

It doesn’t end at “The Utopian” for Perez. The series is just one of the things coming out of his Pop! Goes the Icon comic label. Perez, who had studied journalism at UNLV and had been the managing editor of Racket magazine, draws from these experiences in his work.

According to Aaron Thompson, a fellow editor at The Rebel Yell during Perez’s tenure, Perez has always been dedicated to any project he is at the helm of.

“Back in the day, he’d make little zines and leave them at places like Roma, Enigma Cafe, Big B’s Records and so on. So he’s always doing something to keep his Perezian footprint in the world. He’s one of the most versatile people in the Vegas arts community,” Thompson said.

“He’s also literally worked for every single damn magazine in the city.”

Thompson added that Perez is always working on a few projects. In fact, Perez’s label shares its name with another project of his.

“Pop! Goes the Icon was actually the name of a series of digital art pieces I started a few years ago, merging images of cultural icons with popular song titles. I still have yet to finish that,” Perez said.

“But I started to get back into comic books a short time after that and launched a new blog exclusively dedicated to talking about geeky stuff, and used the same name… Naturally, Pop! Goes the Icon just morphed into that.”

His passion for comics extends further back than his experience at UNLV.

Perez, a fan of the medium for as far back as he can remember, said his earliest memories are of action figures and comic spinner racks.

“Oh, hell yes,” said Perez of reading comics, citing “Fantastic Four,” “Savage Dragon” and “X-Factor” as being among his favorites.

“I don’t know what started that – I’m sure it was just my parents buying me that stuff before I even knew what it was and I was hooked. The first comic I actively remember reading was an issue of ‘DC Comics Presents’… I honestly owe my writing career to the vocabulary and comprehension skills I developed reading comics.”

Perez remained a comic collector until his teens, “[when] things like girls became interesting.” He felt that at that time, the early 1990s, mainstream comics had become gimmicky and of poor quality.

But the lure of comics would later prove to be irresistible.

“After covering San Diego Comic-Con for Racket magazine in 2007, I got bit by the bug again and discovered comics all over again,” Perez said.

Although much of Perez’s influence lies in comics themselves, he draws inspiration from other media as well.

“To be honest, I’m more inspired by films, music and TV when I write or draw,” he said.

“I conceive of scenes in cinematic terms and notice when I pace a story more like a well-written TV drama. It works better.”

At the moment, Perez is hard at work bringing that inspiration into other upcoming works.
“I’m crafting a pitch for Zuda, DC’s online comics Web site and competition – it’s something akin to “Harry Potter”-meets-“Shoot ‘Em Up,” he said.

“I’m doing the art for a secret superhero project a few friends from the other side of the country are writing. There’s a TV series pilot I recently got in front of an agent, but it needs more work before I re-pitch it.”

As with his life’s story so far, it would seem that Perez’s is a comic book-esque “to be continued…”

“The Utopian” #1 launches at the Las Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival on Nov. 7 in both standard and deluxe editions.

ON THE WEB:
Pop! Goes the Icon: popgoestheicon.com