OYE!

Today we’ve got with us one of the amazing artists from the “Family Bones” comic book series, Mannie Abeleda. He was born in 1975 in the Philippines where he still lives with his family.  Mannie is an artist with a flair for the classic style.  His work has been compared to some great comic book artists such as Tony De Zuniga, Bart Sears, and Joe Quesada. 

OYE!: Mannie, it’s nice to get a chance to talk to you.  We’ve been a big fan of yours for a long time.  I think it was on Shawn Granger’s “Innocent” books that we first saw your work.  “Innocent and the Call Girl” I think it was.  [Full Disclosure – King Tractor Press also publishes Innocent.]

Mannie: That was me.  It was a lot of fun.
 
OYE!: Great stuff.  That was a wild story, I think you’re realistic style really helped pull it off.  The Zebramen looks especially great. 
Mannie: Thanks. 

OYE!:  So how long have you been working in comics? 

Mannie: My brother and I published our first comics way back in 1997.  I started working for a US comic book in 2001 called Trailer Park of Terror at Imperium Comics. 
 
OYE!: “Family Bones” is a pretty dark subject.  Not that Trailer Park is much lighter, but at least it was fiction.  The gothic comic book series is based on the story of Ray and Faye Copeland, the elderly serial killers from Missouri.  They did some pretty nasty stuff.  Shawn Granger, the writer, is their actual nephew and tells a gruesome tale.  Did you have any reservations about working on a recent true crime book such as “Family Bones”? 
Mannie: I actually loved the idea of working on a true crime comic book.  And most of my friends think it’s pretty cool. 

OYE!: You don’t seem put off by gore.  Have you done other books in this genre? 

Mannie:  There’s Trailer Park of Terror that I’m a regular artist on and then Granger’s book “Innocent”.   On top of that I worked on an independent book called “No Gods”.  I’ve done a lot of Indy work and am hoping it will get me noticed.  I’d love to do some horror books for Dark Horse, Marvel, DC, or any of the larger publishers.   

OYE!: Who would you say your biggest influences were? 
Mannie: I trained under Whilce Portacio, so he’s a huge influence.  Also Joe Quesada, Todd McFarlane, Will Eisner, Ian Medina were big influences.  I could keep going; there are a lot of great artists out there. 

OYE!: If fans want to reach you, where should they go? 

Mannie: www.mannieboy.deviantart.com  I’m always there. 

Thanks go out to Mannie Abeleda for allowing us to interview him.  Check out Mannie’s work in
Family Bones Volume 1 or Innocent Volume 1 in stores now.  Family Bones Volume 2 with his art in Chapter 7 will soon be available, scheduled for fall 2009.