Joel Zain Rivers

Along The Canadian won a 2003 Xeric Grant, and threw me into the process of writing, drawing and publishing my first comic book series.

The Western genre presented itself to me as a challanging choice, no monsters or robots or alien beings. Just horses and buildings and the landscape of Oklahoma (Indian Territory as it was then known). I had other reasons for picking the subject matter. My father's family has deep roots in Texas and Oklahoma, and several Lawmen, even a Judge dot the family tree. The moral ambiguity of ATC, the Outlaws as sometimes heros, is also important, as a grandfather on my mother's side made his living breaking the law as a moonshiner in Kentucky. One of the reasons I don't take sides in this story, is that maybe I can't.

The book was picked up by Diamond Comic Distributors and ran for roughly a year and a half as a bi-monthly "rag". As I'm still trying to "make it" in an industry that name recognition is a big factor in selling comics and getting noticed, I've teamed up with WOWIO to re-introduce this series on-line for FREE.

It was a journey making these books, and definately a learning experience. These aren't the mature artistic triumph every artist dreams of, but hopefully, they make good reading and show a progression from green to less green.

So, friends, if you're game, and want to support my foray into comicsdom, (I get a small chunk of change when you download these books for the first time!) follow the links below and download all 6. If you like what you see and read, please spread the word!

A quick update. WOWIO is now letting people read comics on-line for free, as opposed to having to download the PDF. You can still download PDFs (the image is higher quality in the downloaded version of my books, at least, I think because of the fine-lined art), and either accept an advertiser's gift or pay .99, which considering the books was originally $2.95, and I've seen them on e-bay for a lot more than that, is a pretty good price. And, hey, I get some o' that change. Every little bit helps!

Cheers,

Joel

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