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OTHER WORKS
AIR-RIDER: High School Hero
AIR-RIDER: High School Hero
AIR-RIDER KICKSTARTER Trailer!
The SON of a SCHOOL SHOOTER becomes a HERO to right the wrongs of his father’s bloody past.
A 90s/Early 2000s-Style Comic book for those who miss those lazy Saturday mornings watching your favorite cartoons and anime!
A remix of all your old favorites…
Teen Titans, Danny Phantom, and Codename KND, FLCL etc.
TAKE FLIGHT with AIR-RIDER today!
NEWSLETTER
SUPERCHARGE YOUR STORYTELLING!
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Find out EXACTLY what makes Manga, Comics, and Animation the most IMPACTFUL way to tell LOW-COST BLOCKBUSTERS in the DIGITAL AGE.
Follow along as I go from broke Kubert School graduate to INDIE SUCCESS!
And if you love 90s/Y2K vibes, be notified when the ComiKen Newsletter posts, and when any future Air-Rider physical products launch!
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Just a matter of personal taste, but…
80s, 90s and 00s Storytelling = GOLD. We’ve been coasting ever since.
DIVERGE FROM THE MAINSTREAM
In the age of social media, we barely make time to consume a funny video even ONCE.
It takes a CAREFULLY CRAFTED work to keep you coming back again and again.
I see you rewatching those clips of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
I see you revisiting your favorite moments from ONE PIECE.
I see you rereading Batman: The Dark Knight Returns for the 50th time.
There’s something magic about all of those works that touches people’s hearts DECADES on!
Have you found any modern day content you’ll remember in the next 5 minutes?
I once asked my friend and comic professional, Nick Pitarra, “Have you read any comics in the last 5 years you would consider a modern classic?”
After some thought, he said, “NO.”
In disbelief, I said, “There has to be something, right?”
But the reply was the same.
Are these works out there? PROBABLY.
Have we heard about them? NOT YET.
Could YOU create the next HIT…?
Think back:
- What was the last comic book that made you put down a video game and READ instead?
- When was the last time you were truly moved to tears… by a comic book?
- Do you remember the last time a comic book that made you CHEER?
- Do you remember the last comic book villain you hated with a passion?
- Do you remember the last time you were filled with existential dread by a COMIC BOOK?
Well I do.
But most of those feelings were evoked…by MANGA.
I believe we can do better in comics. But the big companies are too slow to change. It’s gonna be up to INDEPENDENT COMIC CREATORS to bring back that spark of creativity missing in today’s industry.
ABOUT KEN
ABOUT KEN
This might sound dumb, but hear me out.
I’ve always wanted to make a great living from my comics. I wanted to master storytelling, get an animation, movie, TV show, or video game made from my work so I could GET RICH and ride off into the sunset with my friends and have the adventure of a lifetime, drawing when I wanted, how I wanted.
As a teen, I did anything and everything to make it happen.
- I drew everyday
- Studied all the fundamentals of Art
- I studied writing and storytelling
- Compiled hundreds of books and tutorials
- Read about my favorite manga authors, comic creators and animators’ lives
- Ignored the ladies
- Ignored my hygiene!
I was gonna become the BEST or die trying!
I went so far as to study Japanese in order to one day work as a Mangaka in Japan and get my anime made.
That idea…didn’t pan out. But at least I don’t need subtitles in anime!
At some point, I realized I was trapped between competing for scraps in a dying comic book industry, or dying in the ultra-competitive Japanese manga industry. I was too inconsistent for webcomics or Webtoons uploads, but I still wanted to create everything myself!
It wasn’t until now, that I realized I had all the tools right in front of my face.
I’ll admit I have a survivorship bias.
I’d seen success story after success story of even my own friends making good returns on their crowdfunding campaigns. Stories of online animated shows fully funded by passionate fans and I wondered…
…Do I still need to be published by big companies in order to “make it”?
…why couldn’t I be one of the survivors?
And why couldn’t YOU be too?
After understanding the reasons behind most successes and the causes for most failures, I finally understood,
GOING MAINSTREAM IS NO LONGER NECESSARY TO MAKE A GREAT LIVING AS A COMIC CREATOR.
All I had to do was make a simple mindset shift from comic artist, to comic entrepreneur.
So I’ve made this page to address and SOLVE the pains I had as a growing comic creator and to bring others up with me.
I’ve made my comic, Air-Rider as a vehicle to express my love for the 80s, 90s, & Y2K-style storytelling I grew up on and want to create more of. As a visionary type of artist, even I can’t wait to see what I produce next!
If you’ve ever felt stuck as a creator and never believed you could make a great living in your chosen profession, just know this:
SOMEONE already NEEDS your idea to exist.
FIND those someones, and you can get up everyday creating what you want, when you want, and how you want.
Stick around, and we’ll find out how together!