El Paso isn’t renowned for its comic book scene, but there is a passionate posse of fans of this art form, plus a few artists and collectives that produce comics out of the Sun City, including Project IV Publishing and, most recently, Jaime Portillo’s acclaimed graphic novel Gabriel. With this in mind, Spiralmind creators Ben Perez and Matt Rothblatt knew that if they wanted their hero’s story to come to life they’d have to call upon all their do-it-yourself powers—even if neither had ever written or drawn a comic book in their lives.

“The idea came to me when I was at UTEP studying for my engineering degree,” says Perez. He tells of a fateful day four years ago, when he took a break during finals and went into a comic store for diversion. “I watched as a little kid asked the owner what it took to make a comic of his own and it sparked something in me that made me want to do it myself,” he recalls. Rattling off a very early version of the Spiralmind concept to Rothblatt, the partnership was sealed.

Rothblatt in turn called on Joaquin Silva, a co-worker at White Sands whom he knew had artistic experience. Turns out that experience was more valuable than was realized: Silva had formerly worked on animation for The Tick and lent that expertise to the nascent Spiralmind on everything from sequential art to character motion. The trio fleshed out every detail they could think of for their main character in great depth, covering who he was, who he was fighting, why he was fighting, what his background was, the weaponry he’d have at his disposal, and much more. Inspiration was taken from Batman, Spawn, and Daredevil combined with the styles of Frank Miller and H.P. Lovecraft to give Spiralmind a dark and mystical feel.

Both test engineers at White Sands, Perez and Rothblatt aren’t stereotypical comic book geeks. They represent the much broader audience for comics that exists and has been consistently (and successfully) tapped into via the adaptation of comic books into films. Spiralmind itself has the flare of more wide-ranging entertainment with appeal to anybody and everybody, both casual readers and big enthusiasts, with its combination of visual and verbal storytelling. As proven by Perez and Rothblatt’s gumption, the inspiration that birthed the character as well as the methods undertaken to produce a full-fledged comic are accessible to all.

“When I was a kid, my mom took me to see a lot of horror movies with monsters that scared me to death,” Perez recalls. “I always fantasized about a superhero who could beat the crap out of those villains.” This desire stuck in his head over the years and fed into the idea of Spiralmind—a hero whose job is to face the occult. For the setting of the story, both Perez and Rothblatt felt they shouldn’t be bound by stereotypes or expectations of the El Paso region where they came from, but instead keep Spiralmind as an every man’s kind of hero and have him based in a fictional city that suited him rather than having the location dictating his story. “The character is a melting pot, just like America,” says Rothblatt. There are nods to the creators’ hometown with mentions of a smelter town similar to ASARCO and characters named after individuals who were influential in their own lives, including legendary Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry. The two drew upon their experiences not only as engineers but also service in the U.S. Army as well as locales in which they’d resided throughout their years, like Boston, where Rothblatt went to school.

And from the start, Perez and Rothblatt were thinking big, focusing on marketability and promotion from the very start when they needed artistic help to turn their written narrative into a real comic. At Free Comic Book Day in 2004—a nationwide event offering anybody the chance to pick up a free comic book at participating stores to promote the genre and its products—the guys showed up at All Star Comics & Games in Northeast El Paso with Spiralmind t-shirts and paraphernalia in advance of the final product, immediately piquing the interest of fans and potential collaborators. Over the years, Spiralmind has become something of legend among the comic community in El Paso, with many waiting on pins and needles for its debut—none more so than the creators themselves, who went through huge ups and downs to realize the dream of bringing Spiralmind to life.

Although inexperienced, Perez and Rothblatt took a very methodical and thorough approach to their creation. They asked around at various comic stores and online communities for help with everything from artistry to publishing. In addition, they took art classes at local colleges and solicited innumerable artists via the Internet. Through this process, they inevitably learned about the whole history of comics from the aficionados they spoke with, grounding them in a strong foundation for their own series. “We wanted to do things ‘the Stan Lee way’,” says Rothblatt, referring to how the comic visionary handled production of his Spiderman books during the very busy and lucrative 60’s and 70’s—he’d write the stories, then hand them over to the artists to draw, organize into panels, ink and letter.

While Spiralmind is a very El Paso project, collaborators around the country helped to bring it to fruition over the four years it took to create the debut issue. In addition to Silva, modern technology and the Internet allowed for artist Brian Robinson to render much of the book’s interior art while living in Alabama, while Bill D. Fountain—founder of Level Ground Productions, purveyor of successful graphic renditions of literary classics—drew the Spiralmind cover from Dallas. “Collaborating with a few artists rather than just one gave us a greater appreciation for what artists go through and how credit is rarely granted them for the hard work they do,” says Rothblatt.

Due to their belief in the talent and capabilities of El Paso, Perez and Rothblatt wanted desperately to give the job of printing Spiralmind to a local printer, but after much research and haggling, no printer possessed the proper capabilities to produce a comic book. So the creators resorted again to the advantages of the Internet and decided upon Comixpress. Not having any capitol to pay for the printing other than what they had left over after paying bills, Perez and Rothblatt were moved to discover that many local business owners were willing to pay for advertising placement within the book in order to help cover costs of printing and distribution. It this kind of faith that makes these guys proud of where they come from and eager to spread the word about the great people and businesses in El Paso, helping to shed light on it all via their very unique way of creating this comic book.

Aside from its DIY beginnings, Spiralmind is an ambitious and intriguing mix of fact and fantasy, where ancient religious texts and traditions are entwined with supernatural phenomena to give the reader a history lesson as much as a thrill. The hero has been raised by a Jewish rabbi and a Catholic priest, both of whom helped cultivate his powers and instill a sense of responsibility for the rest of humanity and its vulnerability to nefarious, devilish forces. Each issue includes an essay addressing the historical theme of that edition, while another page is dedicated to the front page of the fictional setting’s newspaper, tipping readers off on plot points to come. It’s a crazy yet compelling combination of dogma, occult and the striking eye candy one expects from a comic.

Wanna know more about this enigmatic superhero? Get your own copy of Spiralmind during the all-day launch celebration on January 10. From 12 noon to 4:00 pm, Perez and Rothblatt will be signing copies and answering questions about their work at All Star Comics (4406 Dyer). Then, from 7–10:00 pm, there will be a party open to the public at downtown’s Percolator Café (217 N. Stanton), featuring performances by Mano Sol and Aztec Zodiac, along with free screenings of legendary comic hero movies like Superman. The Spiralmind team hopes to make it a night to remember for the city that inspired and helped them; it will certainly be a very well deserved culmination for the hard-working innovators behind this creative endeavor.

If you can’t make it out to either event, you can order a copy of Spiralmind at Comixpress.com. Updates about the series and its creative umbrella, Phi3 Comics, can be found at http://www.myspace.com/phi3comics. More on Spiralmind will be forthcoming over the next year, including a Spanish translation and donation program to get issues over to American soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Over the gestation of Spiralmind, a vast spectrum of life changes took place for its creators—marriages, divorces, births, deaths, home ownership, other entrepreneurial ventures and more. The entire process of creating a comic book—from layout to narrative to printing to assembly—and telling stories through the unique, skillful and kinetic way of comics was gleaned out of the audacious naïveté and intense passion. “There were obstacles that should’ve made us quit a long time ago,” says Perez. “But through it all we’ve learned a lot,” adds Rothblatt, quipping, “Including some we never knew we even wanted to know.”

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