We Said We Were Only Doing This Once A Month…AND WE MEANT IT
Seriously, though — marketing ourselves and our work is the thing we suck at the most. (We rock at creating awesome new IPs for animated shows and at making webcomics.) You will never know the act of will it takes to do stuff like this.
But this is important! You guys are among our most loyal fans and we want to keep you abreast of what we’re doing so you can engage with any and everything we create…and on that note, we’ll share (as much as we can) a little peek at one of our projects in development so you know we’re not just messing around!
But first, why don’t you guys get to know one of the Massive Chaos partners a little better…
CREATIVE PARTNER SPOTLIGHT: AXEL ORTIZ
Massive Chaos: First, the question that everyone would ask first — What made you want to get into animation…and how DID you get into animation?
Axel Ortiz: What made me want to get into the animation industry…was back in college while attending Art Center College of Design back in the late 1990’s. We had a Art Center alum come visit and give a lecture about working in the animation field…mainly in Pixar where this Alum worked. He gave us a sneak peek on what he was working on…which was the film, A Bug’s Life.
At that point in my young life…I always liked watching cartoons on TV and feature animation…I just wasn’t sure if it would be a path to a career. I had an instructor in my freshman year show my work to Dreamworks Animation.
How ‘DID’ I get into animation? Three months after I have graduated from Art Center…I got a call from a friend working at Sony Pictures TV animation asking what I was doing.
I said, “Drawing, at the moment.” She responded, “That’s great! Would you like to come into office and show your work this afternoon?”
I replied, “Sure.”
I went into the office where the Sony had their TV productions and met with the director. He looked over my work and pretty much hired me to work on the show, Big Guy and Rusty, my first animation gig!
MC: Who sits on your animation Mount Rushmore? Who are the three or four most important people in animation history, as far as you’re concerned?
AO: Oh [REDACTED]…this is a tough one….there’s a lot of awesome talent from the past to current times that I totally dig…that are inspiring. The three I’m listing here are SOME of the many that inspire me…
Marc Davis…one of Disney’s Nine Old Men…was a talented designer, animator and story teller that worked in many classic animated films. He even worked on theme park projects for Disneyland as well.
Chris Sanders, a great draftsmen when it came to his character designs. He also directed some great animated projects like Lilo & Stitch, The Croods, and How to Train Your Dragon.
Genndy Tartakovsky, an amazing animator and director who has created some great animated series…from Samurai Jack to Dexter’s Laboratory. His latest projects, Primal and Unicorn: Warriors Eternal are totally [REDACTED] awesome!
MC: Let’s say you’re trapped in your house, but you only have five animated films and five animated series to watch. What are they?
AO: This list is in no particular order…
Animated Films: Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse, Pinocchio (1940), Tekkonkinkreet, Blood: The Last Vampire, and The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Animated Series: Primal, Motorcity, Rick & Morty, Star Wars: Rebels and Superman (Fleischer Studios)
MC: What would be your dream IP to work on in animation? (It can be an old cartoon or a book or a movie -- whatever.)
AO: I would like convert Animal Farm (book) into a creepy animated film. (Fun fact: Animal Farm was adapted into an animated film in 1954…a film that was funded in part by the CIA, who also performed some story editing! How’s that for creepy? — JP)
Also, the French film City of Lost Children, I think would make a nice stylized animated movie.
Bonus…would love to do a season four of the cancelled Syfy series of Dark Matter.
MC: If you had to pick one Massive Chaos partner (including yourself) to rep us on Dancing With The Stars, who would it be?
AO: Justin Peniston would totally rock it with them sexy rhythmic moves on that dance floor! (He’s not wrong. — JP)
SO WHAT IS…
…WORKING ON RIGHT NOW?
The sad truth is, we can’t share too much about what we’re working on these days, because so much is still under discussion or is involved in a contract or is still in development. It would irresponsible to just come out and tell you guys what we currently have in the works.
But it would also be totally lame if we didn’t show you SOMETHING…
…remember when we used to tease projects by giving them codenames? Let’s do that again! Let’s start by showing you something from PROJECT TEARDROP.
Next, we have you an image from PROJECT CLEAR! (And yes, the exclamation point is part of the codename!)
This fancy fellow comes straight from PROJECT GREAT FLOOD.
Aw. This cute little guy is supposed to feature prominently in PROJECT ASCENSION.
That weirdo will hopefully one day appear in PROJECT CANARY.
I have decided, as I type this, that the bunny girl is a part of PROJECT BLOCK PARTY.
Lastly, we have an example of what we’ll be doing with PROJECT TEENAGED SLACKER. (Sure, that one’s a little cliché, but that’s why I picked it — and it’s not like we’ll use these names anywhere but in this newsletter!)
It would a lot of fun for me if I could tell you more about these things, but I just can’t. I can tell you that a lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into everything you see here — especially the stuff that has completely changed since this point. Also, whenever you hear one of us talking about our animation development team and so on and so forth, now you know that we’re not just talking out of our hats. We’re making shows and comics.
We’re having the time of our lives…but it’s WORK.
Oh, I forgot something…
I know we mentioned this last month, but we’re that much closer to Hunter Black Volume Two: Five of Thirteen being a reality! We drove to the printer and saw the physical proof — Will even took it home with him. There some changes that we needed to make, problems that were entirely from our end, and the follow up digital proof fixed everything. Now we’re just waiting for the actual printing to be done and we’ll have a bunch of gorgeous trade paperbacks!
We will be selling these bad boys at San Diego Comic Con in a few weeks and sending copies to our top tier Patrons…and after that, we’re looking to run a Kickstarter to do a wider print run. Given the successes of the first trade, we’re looking for new ways to torment me that people will pay to see!
That, of course, makes me think of the next (and final) section of the newsletter.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO SUPPORT…?
Honestly, the thing that Massive Chaos needs more than anything is PAYING WORK. We’re meeting and pitching with some frequency and we have a pretty awesome partnership on a project with a major animation studio — but none of that is paying bills.
So if anyone reading this is looking to hire a team to develop their IP into an animated series, hit us up. THAT IS WHAT WE DO.
However, if you want to support Hunter Black, that’s a little bit easier.
You can always support Hunter Black by becoming a Patron. Your support helps us continue to pay Jacob for his lettering and design work, and it helps us to pay our bills so we can keep making comics.
- For $2/month, you'll get every page a day early
- For $5/month, you'll get every week's pages on the Sunday before, along with commentary from me (Justin)
- For $10/month, you'll get all of the above plus print comics mailed to you as soon as you hit each book's price point, which means TWO trade paperbacks in the first year.
It’s not a bag deal at all and it supports INDEPENDENT CREATORS. In the days of Writers’ Strikes and #ComicsBrokeMe, sending ten bucks a month to support your favorite hardboiled fantasy adventure comic definitely qualifies as a good deed!
THANKS FOR READING — WE’LL SEE YOU IN JULY!
IF YOU’D LIKE TO BE ADDED TO THE MAILING LIST, PLEASE ENTER YOUR EMAIL BELOW
The Hunter Black Mailer Is Changing!
IT USED TO BE THE…
…BUT FROM NOW ON, IT’S…
(I made that myself so maybe this is a good time to reassure you that I am NOT the graphic designer of the team!)
Things are changing. We have news to share. Let’s get into it.
First off, if you’re getting this newsletter, you’re either a reader of Hunter Black who was already subscribed OR you’re an acquaintance of one of the five of us (Tony Chavira, Ang Chen, William Orr, Axel Ortiz, or Justin Peniston) with an interest in animation or comics.
(Second, if you want off of this mailing list — and we promise you’ll only get one of these once a month or so — just scroll down to the bottom and hit UNSUBSCRIBE. We love you, so we’ll set you free.)
Big & Tall Tales, the company that Will and Justin founded to control all of our independent creations, is no more. It has served its purpose…and more than that, it’s not big enough (despite the name), to contain all that we’ve become.
You might recall that, a few years back, we joined a creative collective to work on animation development…a collective called MASSIVE CHAOS. At the time, it was just something for animation development, but as we’ve grown closer and formalized our relationship, we’ve come to realize it’s the perfect home for whatever we do creatively. That includes Hunter Black.
So we’re not gonna call this the “Hunter Black Mailer” or “Hunter Black Bounty Bulletin” anymore…because we’re gonna be featuring more stuff than just Hunter Black stuff. (Well…it might still be MOSTLY Hunter Black for a while.) Going forward, we’ll be leaning into the Massive Chaos bomb motif and…BLOWING UP YOUR INBOX!
We will use this newsletter to keep you abreast of all things Massive Chaos, which means all things Hunter Black…but also all things Justin, Will, Ang, Axel, and Tony! All of us are working professionals with stuff in the works…and stuff you can currently check out, so we should have plenty to fill you in on as time goes by.
But for all you Hunter Black fans — your favorite hard-boiled fantasy webcomic is still the only project we have that is coming out currently and regularly. We’ll ALWAYS be talking about Hunter Black!
SO, WHO IS…?
Ang Chen
Ang is a visual dreamer who currently designs characters for games and TV. She is on an eternal hunt for the thickest of noodles and loves doing nothing at the park.
Tony Chavira
Tony is a builder of ideas working as a writer and creative consultant. He likes leaning into a strong breeze on a warm day, and has probably spent a total of 3 years of his life playing video games. (For research, obviously.)
William Orr
Will is a freelance artist and co-creator of Hunter Black. He is a big fan of Dungeons and Dragons, miniature gaming, and he loves fostering puppies — feel free to ask about them so he can bombard you with photos!
Justin Peniston
I am a writer that focuses especially on world-building, character development, and exploring theme. (Which is kinda the whole enchilada, I guess.) These [RECACTED] cats need to stop sleeping on my [REDACTED] pillow!
Axel Ortiz
Axel was born and raised in the Golden State. A creative daydreamer that did his schooling (time) at the Art Center College of Design in the pleasant town of Pasadena…to work on perfecting his design work (doodling). Axel has worked professionally in the entertainment industry for more than 20 years, on projects from animation to live action. He and his little nephew are on a quest to visit all the comic books stores in and around Los Angeles County.
SO, WHAT DOES…
…HAVE COMING UP?
Sonic Prime is on its way back!
You may recall that I (Justin) wrote for Sonic Prime, the first eight episodes of which dropped on Netflix last December. Well, The next batch of episodes, probably another eight, will be released this summer, on July 13th, 2023.
The only episode that I personally wrote of the first batch just happened to be the cliffhanger end to the “season,” so this means I get to make up for any distress I may have caused anyone who watched!
Axel has been laying down the backgrounds on several shows for Fox, shows that you need either to watch or to plan for.
First up, there’s a new show coming down the pike (WGA strike permitting, that is) in the fall — GRIMSBURG. Not much has been released about it; according to Wikipedia, “The series takes place in the fictional town of Grimsburg, where detective Marvin Flute may be the greatest detective, but can't figure out his own family.” Judging from the characters in the promo image above, it’s not your typical family drama! It’s already been picked up for a second season, so you know it’s gonna be good.
Next…or rather, currently, Axel’s the background guy on HouseBroken, now airing its second season on Fox and Hulu! Make sure you’re tuning in so it gets picked up for a third season. (We need the money!)
New episodes come out every Sunday!
Remember this? Hunter Black Volume Two: Five of Thirteen is done! It’s so done that Will and I are gonna be able to hold the proof in our hands in just a few days! (We might actually have already done it by the time I send this — hard to tell at the moment.)
We are now at the very earliest stages of planning a Kickstarter, so we can print enough copies to meet the demand. We’re going to do a very short printing run funded out of our pockets, because we owe these books to some of our Patrons (hint-hint), not to mention the awesome artists who contributed original Hunter Black art to the book.
Volume Two is by far the biggest story in the series — and it introduces many of our favorite characters: Jasoom Badrali, Tzetzem’Tze’Tzemoze, and of course, Zezem the Cruel. (Will has an annoying fascination with the letter Z.) This book will be a must-buy for any fan of the webcomic.
That has been a long time coming — and it’s finally here!
Shelved Books Podcast
I (Justin) appeared on the April 20th and April 27th episodes of this uniquely fun podcast, talking about the projects that I just haven’t been able to get off the ground (for whatever reason).
POPSKL!
I (still Justin) remain a partner in POPSKL, a podcasting group dedicated to having Big Conversations about Big Stories! Most recently, we did a one-shot episode about The Diplomat, the latest awesomeness from Netflix!
This is definitely worth a listen!
Look, if you ask me to come on to your YouTube channel to rank the Star Wars movies…I’m gonna do that. William-Patrick Coleman, the Filmbuff, and I (yes, it’s Justin — I get around) talk Star Wars…both quality and trivia for almost two very entertaining hours — and there’s an excellent chance if you’re reading this, you’re into Star Wars. Let me offend you with my opinions on The Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker!
IS THIS ALL THAT…
…DOES?
Pitching Is HARD
So…like, the ultimate expression of what we do at Massive Chaos, at least at the moment, is presenting pitches for new shows and new IP.
Of late, we’ve been putting a lot of energy into developing and delivering great pitches. We’re fortunate to have great representation that helps to get us opportunities to pitch to some BIG companies…and we’ve been doing our best to make the most of those opportunities. Whatever one might think of our ideas, our pitches are professional as hell.
The bad news is, as of this writing, no one has yet offered us a deal, although there are still studios that haven’t passed — that are still reading over our materials…and even asking for more stuff. The GOOD news is, our swings have been creating more opportunities for us. Our pitches might be acting as specs that get us jobs on Work For Hire gigs.
This is our year. Keep your ear to the ground for more stuff coming from Massive Chaos! (And keep reading Hunter Black!)