Who is your favorite comic book character? Spider-man? Batman? Groo the Wanderer? Darren Davis publisher of Bluewater Productions would like it to be Jon Bon Jovi, Freddy Mercury, or Kurt Cobain as his company has published biographical comics of each of these rock stars this month.
"In 2008, we noticed even with every big movie being based on a comic book character, comic book sales were going down." Davis told the New Times from his Portland, OR, office. "We needed to do something different to bring in readers."
It was an election year, and seeing all the attention Antarctic Press was getting for their comic books about Barack Obama and John McCain, he decided to publish comics about Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. "We tried to focus less on politics and more about female empowerment. Those books took off and we continue to do them today." Including one coming later this year, Floridians can look forward to or dread, about Senator Marco Rubio.
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Davis grew up in Southern California around the entertainment industry. He saw the Dukes of Hazzard car driving around as a kid. So naturally, he gravitated toward making comics about entertainers. His Fame series has featured comic book bios of actors and comedians, but mostly feature singers and musicians like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, One Direction, and this month's addition, Jon Bon Jovi.
"I was on the fence about doing one about Bon Jovi when (writer/artist) Jayfri Hashim pitched it to me. But there's been a huge demand for it. Bon Jovi has a bigger cult following than I thought." This month they also released comics about Kurt Cobain and Freddy Mercury in their Tribute line which focuses on departed celebrities. Past issues have featured Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. The comics are available to download on iTunes with print copies available at ComicFleaMarket.com.
Future plans for Bluewater Productions include comics about David Bowie and Jerry Garcia, but Davis is ambitious about stretching out the genre of musician-focused comics. "You know how those old Duran Duran videos like Rio would use the video to tell a story about a song? We want to do the same thing except have the comics be what tells the visual story about a song."
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