After touring the country, Dominion Publishing brings the show home. We’re doin’ New York y’all! The brand-new New York Comicon at the Jacob Javitts Center is this February and we’ll be there in full force. After flying to every show, it’ll be great to take the 1 train to a convention center. Look for our brand new Valkk posters, a new Fusion: Anthology ashcan and new info and images for our 2006 projects, now in progress. Come by are booth and say hi! And our now-classic I-pod Raffle is not to be missed.
Posted on: March 1st, 2009 Another Fang!
Hello again from the Dominion. I’ve spoken a lot about the past and present in my previous columns. It was important to me to show where we’ve come from to demonstrate why we have arrived to where we are now. But now, let’s take a look at something different: The Future and how it’s unfurling today.
This ever-changing canvass is one of the most beloved tools of fiction. People have been writing about the future since the dawn of civilization, going back to Plato’s Republic, a futurist Utopia envisioned in ancient times. It is as popular if not more so than writing about fantasy realms and impossible dream lands that have also dotted the literary landscape since Time Immemorial.
How does this relate to the vision that is Dominion? We are lovers of sequential storytelling, word balloons, panels and sound effects. But for the most part, this means tales of superheroes. Present day, also. The most basic and utilitarian of fantasies. Now we love ‘em. But there are some fine people writing and drawing about that subject. So we decided to do something different. We will focus on the Future that you’re more likely to find in your favorite set of paperbacks or the DVD you just rented from Netflix. There is a real divergence from our Respected Competition.
The last thing that was desired when Dominion began publishing was for someone to think “ah, it’s like what everyone else is doing, but maybe a bit better looking and a heck of a package.” Alright, the second part would be nice. But definitely it has to be something different. Not just because it makes us competitive but why seek to step out of the role of being a fan and into the role of providing the entertainment unless you had something different to say?
Now about the future. I have always loved the future and science fiction since I was a kid. From reading Heinlein to cheesy movies like Runaway, stories of what may happen in the decades and centuries to come have always fascinated me. So I supplement my daily reading with the occasional checkup on websites like Space.com to see what’s happening. And some very neat stuff is coming.
A development that occurred was truly compelling hit the news a bit before I wrote my first column. The first spaceport is being built in New Mexico. Richard Branson, the UK’s answer to Bill Gates, Donald Trump and Admiral Byrd all rolled into one, has founded Virgin Galactic. The name is a bit much as no plans have been made to leave orbit, let alone our star system. He is assembling a fleet of ships based off of SpaceShipOne, the space plane that won a large money award for being the first non-government vessel to reach the lower orbit of outer space.
As early as 2009, civilians will be able to experience weightlessness, see the earth like in all those cool pictures our NASA boys brought back and check out natural vacuum. Basically, you’ll be in outer space for about seven minutes. The price is a bit high, about 200K, for my taste, even if I had that kind of disposable income. But if this system matures, it’ll probably drop to a tenth of that price, which isn’t much more than a first class plane ticket to Hong Kong. So we are experiencing the true birth of the commercial space industry. You can check it out at the Virgin Galactic website.
More of a long shot, but an even cooler development is the ongoing saga of the Space Elevator. The idea here is that a thick strand of special wires is shot into space to a distant of about 140,000 kilometers. At that length, it is stable and we can literally have elevator cars going straight into orbit. No more expensive rocket lifts and you could have stations connected to it at several points on the cable. One company is committed to having one up by 2015 or so. They have developed a material that can handle the stress and changes in atmosphere and are figuring that they’ll shoot out one string and have climbers bring up the others to make it stronger. If they pull it off, it’ll drop the price per pound of objects being transported into space by several orders of magnitude.
I’m rooting for ‘em.
Posted on: June 26th, 2008 Juda joins.
Dominion adds a visionary artist to its roster. Juda Tverski’s 3-D virtual painting technique makes good art into great art and great art into masterpieces. He will add a new dimension to Hassan Godwin’s creation Valkk. “Valkk: Children of a Metal God Poster”.
Dominion hooks up with a hot talent! Dominion, ever in search of the best work around, has added a visionary artist to our ever-expanding roster. Juda Tverski, an illustrator capable of working in a myriad of mediums, has agreed to work with Dominion creator Hassan Godwin in developing the final look of the characters of Valkk: Children of a Metal God. Juda brings a unique technique to the table. Using Photoshop, he takes flat inks (or even straight pencils) and “dimensionalizes” them, providing a powerful 3-D feel to Hassan’s already intricate pencils. You will soon see Juda’s work on covers, posters and screen wallpapers soon. Check out his first piece here. Juda has worked both in and out of the comic industry since he graduated from the School for Visual Arts in New York . He’s done illustration for DC, Marvel and even the food industry. You can check out his website at www.judatverski.com
