Turra Gun Angel the movie!

Contact Information:
Lys Fulda
Lys@sphinxgroup.com 

 

SHOOTING LIKE A GIRL HAS NEVER BEEN SO DEADLYTurra:Gun Angel Indieagogo campaign is LIVE

(Memphis, Tennessee-April 1, 2013)

Marshal Pictures and Maw Productions announced a joint effort to bring indy comic book heroine Turra to life. The character originated withinthe pages of Maw Productions Jetta Tales of the Toshigawa graphic novel series and carried her own in her book Turra: Bombs and Betrayal. With an established cult following and a film company who excels in genre movies as an art form, the obvious next step was to bring Turra to the big screen. Budding ingénue, Rachel Alig has been cast in the lead role and a plethora of rewards make this a crowdsourcing drive to watch. Getting in at the ground level of a kick ass action movie has never been easier! Donate to the campaign at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/turra-gun-angel-feature-opening-scene

About Turra: Gun Angel:
Turra has been raised as a ninja assassin and is burnt out on the endless training and constant killing. She leaves Japan to become a bounty hunter in America. After the particularly brazen extraction of a target from a night club, Turra is visited by an elder member of the Japanese Mafia who offers her a job she can’t refuse. Being Turra, however, she does refuse and she soon lands in the middle of Yakuza Civil War! 

Renown artist, Jamal Y Igle (Supergirl, Nightwing) also gave his support, "Martheus [Turra's Creator] is a fantastic talent and taking such a huge leap like this, bringing Turra to life is a bold, worthy endeavor. We have to do what we can to help this project get the funding it needs, and add to the diversity of voices in the film industry."

Want to find out more visit www.turragunangel.comLike Marshal Pictures at https://www.facebook.com/marshal.picturesFollow Marshal Pictures on twitter at https://twitter.com/@MarshalPicturesLike MAW Productions at https://www.facebook.com/groups/157217357709159/Follow MAW Productions at  https://twitter.com/MartheusAW

About Marshal Pictures:The folks at Marshal Pictures love making movies. No matter how big or small the budget, their goals are always the same: produce movies that entertain people, give donors a great experience for their generous support and provide the best possible ROI for investors.

About MAW productions:
MAW productions is a small indy graphic novel publisher who punches well above their weight.  Headed by Martheus Wade (Oxygen Network's Bad Girls Club, Jetta: Takes of the Toshigawa) MAW productions has mastered a heady blend of Asian cultural lore, strong female role models, and modern high speed action. Their titles include Turra: Gun Angel and Jetta: Tales of the Toshigawa.

INDEPENDENT COMIC CREATOR PUTS A COMIC BOOK SPIN ON ART CLASSES

OFFICIAL COMIC STUDIO PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact Persons for The Comic Studio:
Martheus A. Wade
martheus@toshigawa.com
www.mawpro.com

INDEPENDENT COMIC CREATOR PUTS A COMIC BOOK SPIN ON ART CLASSES

Indy comic book creator, Martheus Wade, creator of the hit graphic novel series Jetta: Tales of the Toshigawa and Turra: Gun Angel and art director for MAW Productions Studios, is proud to announce the formation of The Comic Studio, a series of classes that specialize in the art of comic book and graphic novel creation.

The Comic Studio will be art classes with a comic book twist. The classes take an innovative approach to creative design that combines fine art, writing and graphic design skills and team them with goal setting techniques that will empower students to see projects through to completion. Courses will cover everything from photoshop techniques, to illustration techniques, to writing all from the perspective of comic book and graphic novel creation. "I've always wanted to give back to the Memphis area," Martheus said. "The idea for the Comic Studio began when I taught comic illustration in the penitentiary system. There were some extremely talented individuals there that could have contributed so much to the art world if someone would have reached them early and helped develop their talent. I want to find that child before it's too late." Thanks to fellow artist and prolific painter, Adam Shaw, classes will start at his studio in November at 2547 Broad Ave, Memphis TN. "The revitalization of Broad Avenue as an arts district fits The Comic Studio perfectly," said Martheus. "It's the perfect place to open minds to the arts and the power of the graphic medium."

Classes start in November and will meet Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings. More information on times will be available in the coming weeks. Anyone interested in enrollment should contact Martheus Wade at martheus@toshigawa.com or join our facebook page, keyword: The Comic Studio. Free art tutorials are also available online at www.mawpro.com.

Optioned for motion picture, Jetta: Tales of the Toshigawa was created in 1985 by Martheus Antone Wade, a graduate of the University of Memphis. Martheus’ love for martial arts, along with his talent as a graphic artist, was a natural fit for creating exciting characters and imaginative storylines. He then began his carrier as an intern at Signature Advertising. After completing his internship, Martheus worked as graphic designer. After two years, Martheus struck out on his own as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator working with companies such as the Radison Hotel, Trust Marketing, Senior Services, The YWCA, The Girl Scouts Council of the Mid-South, and Special Olympics.

He has illustrated for Maximum CNG, Bloodstream for Image Comics, Shooting Star Comics, Chaos Campus for Approbation Comics and Andrew Dabb’s Slices just to name a few. Recently, he has worked on such titles as Action Man and Nanovor for IDW, Bad Girls Club for the Oxygen Network, and illustrated, written, and produced a comic book crossover with his title character, Jetta, and William Tucci’s, Shi. His work has been used for the movie Role Models from Universal Pictures as well as the instructional DVD and book, Hi-Fi Digital Color for Comics available from IMPACT Publishing.

Visit www.mawpro.com to see more of his work and artistic process .

[Link] It All Ended in San Diego

by Martheus Wade

There I was, sitting at our booth on Sunday at San Diego Comic Con 2009, my hands clasped over my face. Our booth was put on a horrible lane with no traffic. Sells of our books were dismal. My quest to land some full time comic work failed. My portfolio was over looked by both DC and Marvel. A major production company was debuting a new t.v. show that looked a lot like Jetta: Tales of the Toshigawa. And my wife was back at home and pregnant. What’s worse, I told her that I would come home with something concrete. I looked at my last sketch for the convention and knew I would not be coming back. And, just maybe, comics may not be in the cards as a means to take care of my new family.

It was a hard pill to swallow. After all, I put in my time. Submitted my portfolio to the powers that be. Smoozed with editors. Worked on my craft. I should have been there by now. But, for some reason, I wasn’t. I saw friends and colleagues’ careers sail past me, while I stood still. When I was single, I had time to wait on that one break that SHOULD'VE happened. But with a wife and newborn, it was getting harder to justify the wait. I kept thinking, “Why am I doing this?”

Continue reading: http://mawproductions.blogspot.com/2012/08/it-all-ended-in-san-diego.html

My Interview with Maw Productions

Kevin Williams of Maw Productions (for whom I'm writing the upcoming Turra: Gun Angel comic book series) pulled me aside to talk turkey with me about what it's like writing bad-ass ninja chicks, working for Gene Simmons, and writing in my favorite genre -- the blender concoction of pulp, action-adventure, and literature.

Read the interview: http://toshigawa.com/?p=2292

[Link] Maw Productions Tutorial on Inking

by Martheus Wade, Janet Stone Wade, and Kevin Williams

This tutorial will be a slightly complicated one. There are a lot of different techniques that inkers apply to get the job done. So, I split this one up into three different point of views. The first part will be inking for cartoons and strips with Kevin Williams. The second will be inking for comic book pages by myself. The third will be inking for the pin up with Janet Wade. Some of the techniques and tools will overlap and some will be drastically different. However, the overall goal is the same. The inks should add more clarity, weight and definition to the pencils. As with any tutorial, this is meant for you to take what we are presenting and use it as a basis to create your own technique for tackling your personal or professional project. Here we go!

Continue reading:  http://www.mawproductions.blogspot.com/2012/03/tutorial-2-inking.html

Martheus Wade's Jetta Gets Collected by Action Lab Comics

Shianndrea Toshigawa is “The Chosen One” of the Toshigawa Ninja Clan.

She is the only warrior powerful enough to save the world from the wrath of the Knave, a demonic samurai army led by her father, Terminus.  Although Shianndrea longs for a normal life away from the weight of her destiny, she is hunted at every turn.

Taki Sato, one of the most deadly warriors in all of Japan wants Shianndrea dead and the monstrous tracker known as Desai would like nothing more than to restore his honor by breaking Shianndrea and returning her to Terminus.

Now this reluctant warrior must cope with the fear of her destiny, a battle to the death and a rumor that another clan member is traitor.

Action Lab Entertainment is proud to present Jetta: Tales of the Toshigawa as a digital exclusive comic, available in Nook, iOS, Android, Kobo, Kindle, Graphicly and additional formats in Mid-May.

Created by Martheus Wade and optioned for a motion picture, “Beginnings” will be the first in a series of Jetta: Tales of the Toshigawa digital omnibus collections to be released over the next two years. “Beginnings” collects Jetta – Last Chances (first published in 2003) and Jetta – Crucible (first published in 2009) into one 120 page full color graphic novel.

With all new story additions, art and ending commentary, Beginnings brings an entirely new reading experience to these exciting books and provides an excellent jumping on point for new readers who have always wanted to check out one of the most popular female characters in independent comics.

Additional previews to come soon. Get ready for Jetta!

[Link] Generating Ideas

By Kevin Williams and Martheus Wade

One of the questions we get asked from time-to-time is, "Where do you get your ideas?"

Kevin:
Well, sometimes from reading.  It can be a book about creating ideas, like "The Cartoonist's Muse"; or, it can happen while you're reading a novel.  Sometimes, reading other comic strips will send my brain reeling down another path and then I have to stop and go write a few comic strips.

Martheus:

I'm a big fan of movies. I find a lot of inspiration in going to a great movie (and some of the not so great ones) and falling into the story. Sometimes an idea for a comic story can come to me from something as simple as a camera angle. I remember going to see 300 and being moved so much by the fight scenes that I was determined to achieve that feeling of camera angles and movement in a Jetta comic page.

 

Janet:

I get a lot of ideas from movies and animation as well.  If there's a good storyline going, you can't help but become inspired. Good stories are timeless and transcend boundaries, so you'll see recurring themes in different books and movies.  Music can also put you in a certain mood to create.   

Continue reading: http://www.mawproductions.blogspot.com/2012/03/tutorial-1-generating-ideas.html

An early sneak peek at Turra: Gun Angel

Here's the teaser layout sketch for page of the new, ongoing Turra: Gun Angel book from Maw Productions. Written by me and art by series creator Martheus Wade.

Ain't she purty? (And yes, I do mean the page.)

Don't forget tonight's live chat at Maw Productions!

Join me tonight for the live chat session Friday night at 9:00pm Central time at Maw Productions (www.toshigawa.com, http://www.facebook.com/groups/157217357709159/). 

 Martheus and I will spill the goods about our upcoming book together, Turra: Gun Angel, and we'll hit the "back in time" button to talk about working with the Oxygen Network and NBC on the Bad Girls Club: An Illustrated Adventure comic book as well. 

Also, as time permits, feel free to discuss any of our past projects. 

It's sure to be a fun time. Can't wait to see you there.

Chat me up. I'm easy.

 Join me on this Friday for the live chat session Friday night at 9:00pm Central time at Maw Productions (www.toshigawa.com). I'll be the special guest and we'll talk with that turkey Martheus Wade... I mean, we'll talk turkey with  Martheus Wade and me about the new Turra: Gun Angel series that will be hitting in 2012 and even the Bad Girls Club, along with any of my projects for the past few years.

Be there or we send Turra after you (and not in a good way).

Coming in 2012 -- Turra: Gun Angel

It'll be an action-packed combination of guns, martial arts, babes, dudes, romance, and -- most of all -- butt-kicking when Martheus Wade (Jetta: Tales of the Toshigawa, Bad Girls Club) and Sean Taylor (Gene Simmons Dominatrix, Fishnet Angel: Jane Doe, Bad Girls Club) team up to tell the all-new adventures of Jetta's (don't call her a) sidekick -- Turra.

Coming in 2012 from Maw Productions!