Blog Move! We've got a new website!

Guess what?! This blog is being discontinued. We've loved our 2+ years on here but now we have our own integrated blog on the new website that just launched!

http://shop.bookofmormoncomic.com/blogs/news

Subscribe to us over there using the links below! Thanks for being so loyal to this blog. We know you're going to love the new look.

http://shop.bookofmormoncomic.com/blogs/news

Fan Friday Winner!

Justin Thomas won a copy of From the Dust #1 this week! Congratulations Justin!

To claim your prize, just message the From the Dust Facebook page with your mailing address and we'll get it sent out to you!

Contest Rules >> http://bit.ly/16UoJac

Why I'm Creating From the Dust and Who It Serves

Let Latter-day Saints Decide If They Want High-Quality Family Media

A couple of weeks ago I launched the From the Dust Kickstarter Crowdfunding Campaign. The campaign is all-or-nothing. If I do not reach $14,000 by Christmas Day I will get none of the money that has been pledged and From the Dust may not be able to accomplish its ambitious goals.

For a broad view of what I am trying to accomplish, please read this interview by Ben Crowder of MormonArtist.net. The nutshell of the interview says that the LDS industry doesn’t create family media, but rather creates targeted media for independent demographics (teen books for teens, Mom books for mom, dad books for dad, kids books for kids, virtually nothing that we can share together like a Disney film.) It also states that I am capable of providing that family media and that it is needed now more than ever - especially internationally. My work is different, it’s innovative, and it requires the opening of the minds of Latter-day Saints to a new medium for family media besides TV series and movies. This “new” medium is the comic book series, reinvented for the next generation of Latter-day Saints. 

Why Comic Books are the Answer

The comic book allows me to provide Disney-quality entertainment at a fraction of the cost. In addition, unlike TV and movies, this entertainment can be translated inexpensively and distributed to families all over the world via the Internet. Comics are the most effective medium to accomplish this. I already have my first issue in Spanish and Portuguese, which covers 85% of LDS Church membership. It will be published for free online in January as a service to the 8.5 million Latter-day Saints that don’t speak English and the over 18,000 international fans of my Facebook page.

From the Dust is Self-Sustaining and Financially Viable

Aside from the artwork, the project is founded upon sound and sustainable business practices, but I do not have the funds in its early stages to get it off the ground. Ultimately, I will need about 4-6 issues published before it become self-sustaining. Until then, I have to get creative to make the project a reality.

International Latter-day Saints Need Media in their Own Language

In the words of Monalisa Cavalcante Buarque of Brazil, who has opened this impressive LDS retail store (the second one in Brazil) just last month:

"We needed LDS media in our own language yesterday. Not in two years. Not in one year. We need it NOW! We're starving out here for quality material and America isn't producing anything that we can use!"

The From the Dust #2 Kickstarter is LIVE!!! Donate! Share!

If you haven't heard, I'm KICKSTARTING #2!

Kickstarter helps me out a ton because if we can raise enough funds I can publish issue #2! I'm working on finishing it now.

I've promised my fans I would have it for them by Christmas and I'm working very hard to make that happen.

CLICK THIS LINK TO WATCH THE VIDEO!

In this panel of From the Dust #2, Jeremiah blesses baby Nephi. Their faith calls down the powers of heaven.

Fan Friday Winner!

We had our first winner - Taylor Dracorex Shields! She won a First Fan Kit. Only about 30 left.

How to claim your prize: message the From the Dust page directly on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/bookofmormoncomic) and provide us your shipping address. Congratulations! 

New Fan Friday! Easier, Better, Fannier, Friday-ier!

Why the old Fan Friday didn't work so well...

Sorry guys but the old Fan Friday system where we chose a winner from an email list wasn't working as well as I'd hoped. It wasn't personal enough. There was no back and forth between us, I just had an email and we'd pick randomly from the email list. It wasn't any fun. And who wants a contest that is impersonal and not fun? NOBODY! So...introducing the 

NEW FAN FRIDAY GIVEAWAY!

From the Dust Fan Friday Rules

In a Nutshell:

It's no longer based on email subscription, but rather participation on our Facebook page.

One winner is chosen each Friday from fans that have Liked AND Commented ANY From the Dust Facebook post that week. Each Liked AND Commented post represents one entry in the contest. Multiple entries during a week are possible and encouraged. 

Go here for official rules. (yeah we have that now! Another thing that we found was important).

Bad Juggler, Poor Circus Training

Alright folks. I dropped a few balls while trying to juggle this crazy "Salt Lake Comic Con" and "From the Dust #2" and Inktober sketches and client work and more. Sorry about that. Here's what's up:

The Good

I like starting with good news, don't you?

• I've got interns now at BYU helping me out. They're all trained. That took some time. They help with inking and painting my drawings. I will introduce them if they stick around, which I hope they do!
• I'm starting to get the business financials in order. That may not be a big deal to you, but it is if I want to survive my first year! 90% of small businesses fail in their first year. I'm not going to be one of them! If I make it to February 1, 2014 (and I WILL!) then I'll officially have gotten through my first year! Feb 1 is when I published From the Dust #1. At that time From the Dust had just 250 likes on Facebook! Now she has over 18,000!!
• I'm hard at work on #2 and it's looking great! See?

Don't worry it will be full-color! These are just the pencils/inks.

The Bad

• I failed on Fan Friday. We haven't had a winner in weeks! But I'm fixing it with the next post!
• I failed on Inktober. I have about 5 more sketches to do and others to scan and post. Will do so soon! I finish what I start! Just late sometimes.

The Ugly

There is no ugly! Except this guy.

Next post: FAN FRIDAY!!

Inktober has arrived!

I'm celebrating Inktober with Jake Parker, Anthony Holden, and a lot of my other friends!

Check out the new From the Dust Tumblr to see the artwork!

NEW!!! Unique Seal Just for Salt Lake Comic Con!

To celebrate From the Dust's debut into official professional comic book life, I've redesigned all the art prints to include this rad seal:

The Paleo-Hebrew ring reads "Property of Baruch ben Neriah"

Who was Baruch ben Neriah?

For those that don't know, From the Dust uses seals inspired by a real artifact found in Israel - the Seal of Baruch ben Neriah, the scribe of Jeremiah the prophet.

Baruch (BAH-rook, rhymes with Luke) is one of the many unsung heroes of the scriptures. It was his faith and determination that helped Jeremiah's prophecies be heard in the temple, in the throne room, and elsewhere in Jerusalem at the time of Lehi.  I would not be surprised if, when the full story is told (after this life when we die), he contributed much to the writing of the Book of Jeremiah as well as other books of the Old Testament.

In an Old Testament chapter strikingly similar to many sections of the modern Doctrine & Covenants, Baruch is both chastised and promised special blessings by Jeremiah, who is clearly the mouthpiece of the Lord to all the true believers of that time.

Comic Con Booth Update

I have over 50 fine art prints that I have never offered before. All of these will have the special Seal of Baruch on them. To accommodate this multiplication of artwork, I've had to custom-design towers and furniture that can be transported in your average vehicle but assembled to look very professional.

Right now it's a mess.

This is my living room:

I promise to have everything in order by Thursday!!

See you then!

It's ALMOST HERE! The first ever Salt Lake Comic Con Sept 5-7! NEXT WEEK!

We're Booth #514 - From the Dust - The Book of Mormon Comic

Join 20,000+ of your nerdy friends for three days of bodacity!

SEE YOU THERE!

Also, we will be at the Provo Farmer's Market  this Saturday from 9am -2pm. Come by and see all the new Fine Art Prints I'll be selling at Comic Con! New art every week!

--Mike

Why Spider Comics? Spiders are gross!! Part 2 of 2

SEE ALSO PART ONE OF THIS POST.

My best friend, Matt, studies spiders. He specializes in a common but unique spider called the jumping spider (genus salticidae for you science nerds). He's taught me a lot about this cute little oddball of the arachnid world.

They have style.

When I say cute, I mean it. They're adorable.

Yes those big black things are its real eyes. It sports 6 additional, smaller eyes as well. Their vision is unusually keen for arachnids, and I'm pretty sure it makes them better artists. Just look at their fashion sense:

You don't see that kind of pizazz pulled off very often.

They have honor.

Rather than being gutless sissies that set traps (typical spiders) the jumping spider is a noble warrior that hunts down his prey honorably, and then -- you guessed it -- jumps on them! A dual to the death commences, just like a lion and its prey.

They have strength.

One of the chief characteristics of the jumping spider is his tiny size -barely the size of your fingernail (and that's the big ones). And yet packed in him is remarkable speed, agility, and strength. They set a high standard for their counterparts to compete with.

To sum it up:

In a world full of trap-setting, blood-sucking assassins, jumping spiders are the little guys that fight fair and pack a lot of punch.

As a new addition to the comic book industry, we kind of identified with that.

You see? Not all spiders are gross. 

Why Spider Comics? Spiders are Gross!! Part 1 of 2

Our company mascot is a destructive, easily-agitated jumping spider. In our current logo you can only see his glowing eyes, but here's an older version.

Our mascot's story is innocent enough. He was once quite cute, until an unfortunate series of events occurred. Here's the story:

Gob Frank Mank Na-Na

A young, struggling alchemist sneaks into his Master's laboratory in an attempt to redeem his pathetic grades, but things go terribly wrong.

Lehi Portrait

I like drawing portraits. In fact, that's how I started my art career. My first buck in the art world was doing portraits.

Lehi had problems with holding still. I don't think he models very often.

New Website! Finally got it right.

New Website!

I know it must seem like I keep redoing the website rather than finish the Multi-Touch and make issue #2...but...as it turns out I have links in the Multi-Touch to the website. After realizing this, it made sense to just redo the website and then finish the Multi-Touch (which is, by the way, very very close!)

Multi-Touch has just one week left of work!

My guess is the Multi-Touch of #1 is about a week's worth of work from being finished. Unfortunately, I have to finish a client job this week. :\

Preview of new www.BookofMormonComic.com

The good news is I finally got the website "right." It loads and looks beautiful on desktops and mobile devices and is really easy to read and use on both as well. I think it is a step in the right direction!

Please note you can get the first 10 pages of From the Dust #1 as a free PDF download on the website, too!

Visit the website >>

Website might be a little slow loading

Please note that I'm hosting locally so the download may take a second. I still have to optimize everything so just be patient with it! Hopefully it won't take too long!

Getting antsy for Issue #2

I've had a lot of time to ponder From the Dust #2 and it's going to get a little more story added to it. I know fans have been dying for more than 2 minutes of comics to read (believe me, I am too!). Just remember From the Dust is designed to have a whole team of people creating an issue per month and right now it's just little old me...and I have to run everything else, too! Yuck.

To this end, however, I'm toying with the idea of using all of issue #2 for story and having just one or two pages of educational features in it. Anyway, we'll see! It's just an idea...

Radio Interviews on KTALK AM630!

A wonderful and short 15-minute radio interview giving the overview of From the Dust. 

February 2013.

A longer 45-minute radio interview that provides a lot of peripheral information on the creation and history of From the Dust.

April 2013.

From the Dust @ Salt Lake City Comic Con Sep 5-7!

It's True! This year is the FIRST EVER Salt Lake City Comic Convention!

It's very timely for me for sure! I'm taking From the Dust there and hopefully we'll have a grand time!

Get your tickets and more info here.

Like it on Facebook here (also get entered to win free tickets).

Go to http://saltlakecomiccon.com for more info!

AND PLAN ON BEING THERE! It's only $30 for a three day pass! That's crazy!

I will post more info on my location once I have it and definitely plan on me having some cool new stuff for From the Dust!

Why the biggest story in all of scripture has never been told.

Jerusalem was tragically destroyed as recorded in the Book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament.

A fascinating "hidden" goldmine of scripture.

One of the facts I bring to light in From the Dust #1 is that a huge portion of our scriptures were written during about a 40-year time period immediately prior to and after the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC.

The prophets during this time period were so prolific that their combined writings are as long as the entire New Testament - doubled.

A forgotten tale forgotten no more.

And yet this important part of history is often neglected by the Christian world. When I conducted polls I found about one in ten Christians could tell me a line or two about the prophet Jeremiah. (He was in Jerusalem when it was destroyed, FYI.)

Now, I’m not one to claim that this story is more important than the stories we Christians do focus on - the stories of Christ - but I am here to claim that from the Latter-day Saint perspective, this story is a vital prelude to His coming. Indeed, for Latter-day Saints the story of the destruction of Jerusalem - one of the most heart-wrenching and tragic stories in all of history - is no tragedy at all, but a triumph of human perseverance and the Divine’s inspiring loyalty to the Covenant People.

Why hasn't it been told before? The Bible is the world's most-published book!

The reason why no one has told the story of Jerusalem’s destruction is, in my opinion, because most people see this story as only a tragedy. The Book of Mormon, however, dispels many of the mysteries surrounding Jerusalem’s destruction (but not all, of course) and anyone would be wise to understand how it illuminates the story of the destruction of Jerusalem. Combining the Old Testament and Book of Mormon accounts reveals a dying culture with strong motivations that “make sense.” Without the Book of Mormon, it is not as clear what exactly was happening in Jerusalem immediately prior to its destruction.

Why is Nephi so Young in From the Dust?

I recorded some FAQ videos awhile back. In this short video you can learn why Nephi begins the story  of From the Dust as a 12-year-old!

From the Dust Girl's Camp Fundraiser

From the Dust raises funds for girl's camp in Lincoln, Nebraska!

My younger sister, Maria, was put in charge of raising funds for her ward's girl's camp. With only 10 days advance notice she put together a spaghetti dinner auction that had over 100 attendees! Now that's cool. She had numerous items that she was able to get donated for the auction. Of those items were some issues of From the Dust! From the Dust raised over 10% of the auction's total, raising well over $100.

If your ward has fund-raising needs I can make a deal that will provide ample profits for your ward. Just email me at michael@spidercomics.com!

Fan Friday Winners announced on Twitter @MormonComic!

Don't forget Fan Friday has moved to Twitter! https://twitter.com/mormoncomic or @MormonComic!

Had 2 winners this week because I missed last week (I was on vacation...)

See you next week!