Greetings Dieselfunkateers!I was always a HUGE fan of Bande Dessinée, the name for Franco-Belgian comics.When Heavy Metal magazine hit, it completely changed my life. Stories like ‘The Airtight Garage,’ ‘The Long Tomorrow,’ and ‘Exterminator 17’ completely altered my life. It wouldn’t be for a few years till I became aware that Heavy Metal was merely the american offshoot of Metal Hurlant. This European publication was started by a group of hotshot fantasy illustrators and cartoonists.
Now take the fact that I lived in the middle of a Cotton Field reading this stuff was amazing…particularly for the fact that they didn’t sell comics in Clarksdale MS beyond 1978. At the very least, it definitely made me unpopular in school:-)
I always wanted to see people of color depicted in such fantasy and science fiction scenarios. In fact, there was one obscure Heavy Metal installment done by a man of color, Ed Davis’ ‘A World Apart: The Golden City.’
I LOVED…
Jean Giraud’s ‘ARZACH’
Enki Bilal’s, ‘THE WOMAN TRAP’
Phillipe Druillet’s ‘LONE SLOANE: DELIRIUS’,
and Richard Corben’s ‘Den’
Even still, I wanted to see more. Which was about the time I realized I’d have to do it myself. More on that later.
IF you always wanted to see Afrocentric and afrofuturistic comics done with the level of craft and adventure present in fully painted bande dessinée…
Greetings Dieselfunkateers! Tim Fielder here. It is my distinct pleasure, and the pleasure of the Dieselfunk Studios team to present MATTY’S ROCKET BOOK ONE.
This book has been a labor of love that I have wanted to do for many decades. Each panel has been painstakingly painted and composed. Each line of dialogue and concept design has been lovingly attended to. This book collects the stories of Matty’s Rocket 1-3 with a few narrative surprises, tons of extra content, and guest contributors.I gave it everything I had. I hope you feel the heart and love that went into it as well. For the individual issues and the Graphic Novel go to: www.dieselfunkstore.com
Greetings Dieselfunkateers!Decades ago I embarked on the mission to produce a character that would embody the spirit of adventure, fun, and drama.Well actually, I’ve always tried to do that with every character I do.I grew up looking at Superman, Batman, Buck Rogers, Star Wars.As a child of the 60s-70s I had my heroes that allowed me to wonder.But I oftentimes wondered what those of my parents generation and earlier had as lighthouses of valor?Did they have a Flash Gordon or a Rocketman?Sadly, the answer was NO.Representation of people of color was systemically depicted in the most stereotypical fashion; if at all.When it came to genre’s such as Science Fiction and Action Adventure, there was literally no representation at all; with only obscure exceptions.Black and Brown boys and girls, let alone men and women, could not see themselves in outer space.Upon the arrival of the 1960-70s things would begin to slowly change.There was Lt. Uhura and Lando Calrissian.But they often seemed alone…literally the only black people in space.In the remote chance they were present, they would die at the hands of the alien or monster…just before the credits rolled or our comic came to an end.More regressive was the depiction of female characters in an over-sexualized state. This is and still remains rampant in comics. In a crazed yet equal way, the mysogyny of female characters are not bound by color or ethnicity. Nothing more sobering and insidious than seeing our earth mother heroine wearing a thong.There would be no escape for us.
Matty’s Rocket is designed to go beyond such limitations while acknowledging our past history.No doubt this story is designed specifically for women of color but the universality of the themes aspire to connect with everyone.
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