EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SUPERSTAR ARTIST MARIO GULLY!!

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SUPERSTAR ARTIST MARIO GULLY!!

Recently I had just reported Mario Gully had been arrested due to Robbery over in Vegas. There were many lingering questions out there as to why he had been arrested, and what had become of Mario himself. On Sunday, September 2, 2012 at 1.26 pm I was contacted by Mario himself for an exclusive interview to clear the air as to what happened, and he told me he now went by the name O.M.G.

My feelings over the entire matter are heartfelt. I consider O.M.G a great artist, and I can feel his plight. He is not just some common criminal, and people should read his story before they make any rash judgement. 

Below is the interview, enjoy!

Super Star Artist O.M.G The Artist Formerly known as Mario Gully.  

Jake: Okay the first question is exactly what happened?  

Furthermore, what is up with the name change from Mario to just straight up O.M.G?

O.M.G: Well, it's a very long story to here. Jake, Ive tried to be a friend to everybody and a person that helped people. To make a very long story short.. the first hit was my separation from my wife of 14 years. We just grew apart and we have 4 beautiful kids together. No cheating or any of that shit. Hell, I was in Baptist College on my way to be a pastor when it happened. It was one of those relationships where I tried to make her happy. I pursued comics as a means to take care of her and my family. A lot of people don't know this but, Ant was originally a whole different concept before I finally met Sean O'Reilly and it was going to be published. So, I decided to make the protagonist after my daughter Mercedez. That way if anything happens.. at least I could leave her something of value. But it was very hard work.I was a novice artist and an bad writer in most respects. Most of my friends and family didn't believe I could do it or help me. I had to learn by trial and error. Then once I was ready for the big stage.. I had inherited a lot of bad habits and expectations. I drew my books fast and wrote most of them in a few days.  I mean bad habits like not plotting out my books and just drawing what I felt like drawing. I was working full time and trying to take care of my wife and 2 kids at the time. Shit was difficult. Well..fast forward a bit now I'm at Image Comics! My dream company! I've loved Image since it's conception. It was hard. It just wasn't what I thought. I'll keep it at that. Then towards the end of my Ant run.. I got help from people that were more unexperienced then I was. They promised me all kinds of stuff like, Action figures, Video games and shit like that. I had no choice but to bite because I couldn't figure out how to draw, write, ink and color edit my book and keep funds flowing in. They gave me a little bit of money and I thought things were gonna be ok. It wasn't ok. Image had problems with my people and rightly so. They were just using me for my success. I was put on opposite sides of one of my mentors Erik Larsen and I just lost it. I mean, honestly all that was left is me being "black listed" from comics all together. People was talking for me because Mario allowed that shit. Thats when I decided to pester Marvel for work. It was because shit was so fucked up that I wanted a break. Marvel treated me good but I honestly was very disappointed with the titles they put me on. Either I wasn't " great" enough or I drew too fast because I thought making deadlines were the most important thing. So I made sure I turned in my penciled pages a week early most of the time. I may have fucked that up. I don't know. 

     

After that I drew some books for more independents. Then I wanted to relaunch Ant and divorce my wife finally. On top of that after my wife and I separated. I got back with what I thought was my " True Love". Well, that lasted a year and I was fucked up again.One heart break after another. I was at fault that time. I lied to her about something serious. It seems like no matter how hard I tried my life was turning to shit. So I borrowed some money from a friend. My plan was to get a place, get my kids, Get a car and relaunch Ant. Plan failed. I helped out my family and my ex wife with money because she was really doing bad. Hey boyfriend is that kid of jerk that hits her and shit so I thought she would take the money I gave her and move. That didn't happen. I did fuck up some money partying and stuff. Im just keeping it real. Myself and my nephew with his pregnant girl and two kids was planning to move to Colorado. We drove with plans to relocate. Well, it was cold and I knew this chic in Vegas I was talking to. We were kinda serious so we figured we would move there for a while. Bad move! On the way there it was snowing. I brought my car in Miami and I had low profile tires on it. I tried to pass a semi truck in the slushy snow and I hit "black ice" i'm told and spun and rolled the car a couple times. That was the beginning of the worst. I was in bad shape and financially I was helping my nephew and I had to get my kids. I made a deal and sold Ant. Yes I sold Ant to get my kids to Vegas. myself and that girl didn't work out and we winded up almost homeless after I dropped a lot of cash on our place and her kids. Things were working but they were working slow. Plus my "baby momma" was calling me for help bothering me. Crying and shit. My nephew and I was doing what we could to take care of our kids. It was 9 of us and shit was hard. I was asking my friends and family for help and most people either didn't have it or didn't care. I felt they didn't care because over the years I've made some of them friends some good money. They know who they are. We were getting evicted one day. Myself and my kids and all we needed was a few hundred bucks. I didn't think too much of it because Ive given my family thousands of bucks. Well, I guess I didn't realize my people were that shady. I don't want to talk too much about my crime because I got to court in January. Yes I plead guilty. Yes I did it. Im a real dude. I'll tell you. I was in a tight so I decided to do something dumb. I left my kids over a chic's house I met and I went to make some fast loot for rent. Yes. It was that simple.I was frustrated and after all the shit I been though. Bad marriage, Bad religion.. Loosing all my shit. Crashing my Benz. Thoughts of killing myself. finding out my close family members wasn't there when I needed them the most. It really fucked me up. I had my kids with me and I just wanted them to have a place to sleep. I'm not making any excuses for my behavior. I'm just keeping it real. I had a very bad year. A bad few years actually.

The people that had my back are people I didn't expect or people I just didn't talk to anymore for whatever reason. That fucks you up when a person realizes that he made almost all the wrong choices in life. Friends..money..women. the whole nine. 

So the cops came to me a day later. I told the truth. Yeah, I did it. "Promise you all take care of my kids bra". "Then I will tell you what's up". He gave me his word. And he took me in and they flew my ex to Vegas and flew my kids back with her to Florida. They are still waiting for me. That's all I wanted. Social services hooked us up and that's all I wanted. I haven't been locked up in over 12 years. People was saying I may be going to prison because I had a class B felony. I was telling them niggas that I was just passing through. I knew I was getting out. I just didn't know how. I had no money. No phone and no way of talking to anybody. So I started focusing again. Drawing Marvel characters for cookies and shit just like I did years earlier. I became popular and my mentally was moving in a positive direction. I made some friends and I concentrated on what I wanted the rest of my life to look like. I wrote my kids and told them I would never fuck them up like that again. Long story short the D.A was told by my public defender that I was a comic book creator and it just so happened that the D.A was a comic book fan. I speak the truth. I got a sweet deal and here I am.

I changed my name because Mario Gully lost his mind. That's the only way I can explain it to somebody. All his friends..his family...all his shit is gone. Even ANT. Gone!  So in my mind Mario Gully is dead. I'm a new person. I think different. I talk different and I don't pretend and bite my tongue for nobody.Mario did a ton of that. He wanted to be liked. I feel like I'm now the person I was meant to be. My MIND is free and I feel alive. So I'm now O.M.G! That stands for " The Original Mario Gully". I've been through hell and I made it trough it. Im still here and I'm not scared of nothing! Every time something happens to me like that D.A knowing who I am.. I say " Yeah, that's some O.M.G shit"! Because I believe who I am. I now believe in me when Mario believed in everyone else. I know I control my destiny and no man or God can tell me different. It's just that simple. People can say what they want. I kick the truth. Most people lie. If I want to be known for anything..I want to be known for being " REAL"!

Jake: Wow that is really crazy dude. Okay O.M.G I must really say that is really an incredible story and a blessing in disguise that you got out of jail that way. I’m happy to hear that you used this to move forward and to remake yourself into the real person you were meant to be.

So seeing that you sold ANT, which by the way is staggering to say the least. I will say this what are your future plans in making any new comic books? I only ask because you do have thousands of fans out there that love your art including myself?

O.M.G: Well, I got a few books I want to do. Ant is in good hands, I hope. I got one book left to do that we are planning out. I’m brainstorming really about the future. I have a lot of fans, and I still have some friends in the industry. I’m either gonna look for investors or partners in creating a comic book studio. I know most people fail at that, and I do have precautions. Plus, after the last book Ant hits, my new book is kinda like Ultimate Ant for lack of better words. Ant fans will be pleased. Maybe Kickstarter will fund it. Since I got a following, it may help. I’m really looking to create buzz. I honestly feel like I’ve been done wrong by some of the right people.

Mario Gully's ANT

Jake: Yeah I feel you there man, about feeling like you’ve been done wrong. I hope those relationships can be repaired later or if not, at least you can get past this.

So seeing that you have other projects in the pipeline and I know it is hard to say where you are going, because you want to keep a lid over how the storyline is going to play out. You say you are going to be using Kickstarter for your next project. I think that is cool seeing that quite a few major names and studios have recently used kickstarter to fund their projects.

Are you planning on hitting the cons again?

Plus do you have any promo art of any of your latest projects? (If not don’t worry)

I am just trying to make sure everyone knows where you’re heading and how you are rising up above this sea of darkness.

Plus if anyone wishes to hire you how do they get a hold of you? They either email you, call you?

O.M.G: I don’t have any promo art yet, but I will be working on it. I'll keep you in the loop. I promise. My daughter actually found your page and told me about you. I know it's easy to jump on the "Hate Mario" bandwagon, and some people treat any creator bad once bad news hits. I’m happy to know I still have good guys out there.

For now, they can contact me by email. My phone is being shipped to me, and I'll give you that number once it gets here.

Is that cool?

Jake:You are human, and were only doing what you could to help your family, and anyone would do anything they can to help their family even if they have to do bad.  Thankfully, your kids are okay and you are trying to do a positive thing with yourself and your career and I do look forward seeing where you go in the very near future. You got my props and I will continue to have you in my prayers.

I do look forward to your future promo art, and to getting your number.

O.M.G: Oh. ok..cool

Jake: Thanks. 

O.M.G :Thanks Jake.

 :)

You can contact O.M.G@ mario.gully@facebook.com for any work, or future interviews. 

Jake Estrada

Email me at estradajake@yahoo.com for any suggestions or questions.

Jake Estrada is a published author who holds degrees in Multimedia Design and Criminal Justice. He is a father to three wonderful children and married to his beautiful wife, Beth.

He is the author and artist of his latest project the Human Virus at: http://www.facebook.com/TheHumanVirus or http://www.facebook.com/BridgetonNights

You can find his comics at http://graphicly.com/estrada-media and at other fine online sites. You can also purchase his print titles at http://www.facebook.com/RBCDistribution