Aztec of the City Press Release

‎''Since writing Your Brain on Latino Comics in 2008, I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of more of Fernando Rodriguez’s trademark incredibly immersive and culturally aware comic book series, Aztec of the City--a series he inaugurated in 1993. He’s done it again, bringing his influences from the Avengers to the X-Men to pre-Columbian history into the making of the kinetic, modern-day Cuauhtémoc incarnation in ex-boxer, construction worker Tony Avalos as Aztec of the City. He fights all variety of evil-doers, including street thugs, high-tech gunslingers, and la llorona. Rodriguez continues to thrill and educate his readers with his volume 3, issue 1 of Aztec of the City, introducing the cousin of Avalos, Tony Torres as the Super Chicano. Rodriguez’s sharp writing and artist and collaborator Ernie Polo’s crafted images create a compelling visual rhythm and allow us to move through layers of historical time--the conquest, death of Moctezuma, and then reign of Cuauhtemoc, for instance--as well as learn about today’s struggles of Latinos in the U.S.: struggles for employment and keeping the familia intact. I couldn’t put it down. Bravo, Fernando. You’ve done it again.''

Dr. Frederick Luis Aldama, Your Brain on Latino Comics

http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/aldyou.html

 

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http://www.sjpl.org/ebookclub/2012-06

 

 

   San Jose's very own comic book writer, publisher, & creator, Fernando Rodriguez returns after a 6 year absence, featuring the new volume 3 version of Aztec of the City, which made it's first appearance on Cinco de Mayo, 1993 under the self-publishing imprint of El Salto Comics. In the premier issue, the Aztec of the City's alter ego Tony Avalos was a mild-mannered, hard working construction worker and the Aztec was flying around fighting bad guys, while the newest version, now presents young Avalos as a 19 year old college freshman and the Aztec hero no longer flying about like Superman, but continuing the brown crusade against crime as the unprecedented Aztec warrior supreme.
    Says Rodriguez: "I'm extremely honored and humbled to have been invited to participate in the library's book of the month club. It's been a very eclectic and ardeous journey in getting this new Aztec of the City back into the comic book industry and local market. The book, its heroes and characters, have all undergone extreme changes in what is now a college-level reading series dedicated to Mexican-American, Chicano, Latino super heroes in a world where they haven't existed before."
   "The stories convey and pass along a culture of the many generations of Mexican-Americans who are now an integral part of the American fabric. Response to the new volume 3 version of the Aztec of the City comic book has been outstanding  and we anticipate an even greater legion of comic book fans and followers as we work hard to prepare and present the continuing saga of the two Hispanic cousins who become Chicano super heroes in Aztec of the City # 2."
   "Artist Ernie Polo of Mountain View, CA has done a tremendous job on both the new cover and story. Aztec of the City is now a college level reading story whose focus is to share with everyone the culture and histories of the Mexican-American heroes they depict. We also introduce in this new comic book version, the story of the Super Chicano. A struggling out of work Latino who dons the Mexican flag as a cape in his crime-fighting adventures.''

KKUP 91.5 RADIO Interview   http://www.siliconvalleydebug.org/articles/2012/02/10/aztec-city#.Tza-idC2DBA.facebook

 

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  "You'd be hard-pressed to find someone as passionate about storytelling as Fernando Rodriguez. His love of history, mythology and comic book lore blend together in a way that not only entertains, but educates the reader. I've had the good fortune of having enjoyed the Golden, Silver and Bronze Ages of comic books. Now, with Fernando's Aztec of the City, I have the privilege to experience the beginnings of what I like to call, the 'Latino Age of Comics'."
 ~ Lee Villatoro

Fernando Balderas Rodriguez speaks about his character and copyright infringement case..

Can you give me a little background about yourself?

I grew up in San Jose, CA. When I was 12, I was hired by Frank Scadina to work at his downtown Collector’s Corner comic book shop as a cashier/clerk. One time, we had Bob Wilkins of Creature Features TV show at our store, and it was jam packed the whole day. From my two years working there, I built my $29,000 comic book collection of Silver Age Marvel. In 8th grade, I made the honor roll. At San Jose high school, I was the school's newspaper editor and qualified for state as the San Francisco Bay Area's mile and two-mile track champion. I ran Cross Country and track at San Jose City College, where I obtained my A.A. in Art. I also ran for the San Jose State track club before moving on to coach at my alma mater SJHS, where we were back to back Bay area Division IV state qualifying champions in 1990-1991. One day in 1992, while I happened to be buying some Marvel and independent titles at Brian’s Books comic book store in Santa Clara, CA, I noticed there were no Latino heroes, then I grew frustrated as to why I hadn't noticed that at 12 years old, in high school, or college and went home and created Aztec of the City, which made it's debut Cinco de Mayo, 1993 

What is your artistic background?

 I used to draw here and there as a kid; tracing Marvel heroes until I got good enough to draw them from memory. It was mostly Spider-Man and some Bruce Lee.

In junior high, they used to put one page stories I had written on the wall of the principal's/attendance office. I was editor-in-chief with the high school bi-monthly paper; sometimes I drew editorial cartoons. I have always excelled as a creative writer. Getting creative or factual things down on paper is my strong suit.

I see that you worked with your brother on the first few issues of Aztec of the City, so was he a co-creator, or were you the sole creator of the book?

 I thought it would look good in the media if it were two brothers doing the book and invited him to help me draw the other half of the book. I was influenced by the three Simms brothers in Texas, who produced their very own 32-page black and white independent series, Brotherman. I have been the sole proprietor since April 1993 and have worked with artists Kasey Quevedo, Gene Poonyo, Ernie Polo and most recently, Jaime Nava Pastrana in self-publishing, the independent, small press, and Aztec of the City.

Seeing as you’ve been in the industry for over 20 years, and knowing your influence in the marketplace as being a Latino creator, my question is was it hard to get where you are today?

As soon as I saw the void, I worked fast to create Aztec of the City, drawing 50% of it myself, then hiring the few passionately true artists that were willing to work for next to nothing in making it happen. When I met Jeff Smith  at a 1993 summer Santa Cruz comic book workshop sponsored by Joe Ferrera at his spacious, Atlantis Fantasy World comic book shop, he showed me his Bone characters when he was on issue # 4 and pointed out he had no advertisers, no bar code, and his books were distributed nationwide. Jeff really educated me about the business end of the industry that day. In that first year, I drove to Oakland, Gilroy, Watsonville, Salinas, San Francisco, Newark, Fremont, Berkeley, West Hollywood, East LA, Bellflower, and South Gate getting the word out and selling them direct. It was tough, but the positive local support was tremendous. Being interviewed by Aldama for his book was an honor to be recognized second or third among the 11 Latino comic book pioneers like Ivan Velez, Dominguez, Navarro, Saldaña, Hernandez...etc.

  

Did you deal with any discrimination from other artistic peers? How has the landscape of comics changed during your time?

At the very first 1994 APE Con in San Jose, I met LA's Carlos Saldaña of El Burrito fame and Lalo Alcaraz with his La Cucaracha strip when we were all just starting out. In 1995 at Comic Con, we all had tables together, side by side in the small press area, and were calling it Chicano Row. LA's Rafael Ravarro (Sonambulo), Carlos Saldaña (Burrito) Jose Martinez (The Chosen) and Javier Hernandez (El Muerto) were there. Richard Dominguez of Texas (El Gato Negro) was directly next to us. It was at that time when DC approached me about their cautionary concerns over Aztek, which I had no qualms with because they were two totally separate entities.

   

Afterwards at a Mexican Restaurant across the street from Comic Con, we all created a fraternity, a brotherhood, called The Professional Amigos of Comic Art Society (PACAS). The changes I've seen are that most of the DC, Marvel, Image, material is somewhat stagnant, and the industry could use something fresh and interesting from the pool of independent titles. Big indie favorites of mine that garnered major success were The Crow and Kick Ass.

Look at the two illustrations. Both heroes are thinking
of their Aztec hero coming to life? The poses are similar
aren't they? What do you think?

 Let’s cover your feelings over this whole ordeal with the people that have infringed on your copyright and continue to ignore your claims. What are you going to do? 

You know, when I first heard about it and saw for myself what was going on and what they were doing, I got in immediate contact with four friends and sought their advice on how to proceed. They each said to send them a friendly message explaining what my concerns were of the severe copyright infringement of my Aztec of the City intellectual property, but after viewing their YouTube video, I decided to counter punch hard and hope when the dust settled, they would cease and desist. My friend in the bay area, reminded me that where he's from, ''We don't run from a fight, we run to the fight.'' So, I'm taking that approach.

You see someone already put them on notice
that the character existed? Mmm!
What do you think?

Under their YouTube video trailer, which has 8,254 views, there are not 6,000 comments or even 60 for that matter, there are 12. A simple dozen. And the very first comment--of only the 12 mind you--that they have ever received after uploading their video, is by ''someguy988''; who states very simply but clearly, ''that character already exist''.  They have been very diligent on their social media sites to delete every comment regarding this matter, but thank the good Lord, they can't delete any comment on youtube; especially the damage sign warning from ''someguy988'' telling them 5 years ago that Aztec of the City already existed.

It would be easy for me, as it was for a certain commissioner of Gotham City, to walk over to the red phone hotline and contact the business attorney who helped register my copyright in 1993 and decide on a unique, distinct, one-of a-kind business name like El Salto Comics, to put on her cape and commence to ''lawyering'' (as the Clampetts would say). They have yet to print one comic book and if they proceed with this one, they fall into the copyright infringement realm that completely favors all the evidence on record of my intellectual property that is Aztec of the City.

 The DC Superman vs. Shazam is the precedent they fall under, when one reads the disclaimer at the bottom inside page of every comic book since time eternal, ''All characters featured in this magazine and the distinct likeness thereof are trademarks, copyright Fernando B. Rodriguez.” How DC has not sounded the alarm on their Lobo thing is beyond me. The fact I'm a small independent publisher isn't going to make a bit of a difference to a civil court judge and jury that will see and weigh a verdict on the preponderance of the evidence.

 In a civil case, the plaintiff has the burden of proving facts and claims asserted in the complaint, and believe me, we'll present enough testimony and exhibits dating back to 1993. I mean, where have these guys been? They certainly are not mentioned in Professor Aldama's book. Whatever excuses or song and dance they make about not contacting me may be their ultimate undoing because we're all grown men and I'm willing to bend, but not break. They can clean this up and make changes accordingly. Some of us create and others copy. I mean, don't get me wrong, one of my great influences is the Sub-Mariner; but my hero doesn't live underwater and look exactly like Namor, Prince of Atlantis.

Jake Estrada

estradajake@yahoo.com

About the writer:

Jake Estrada has been publishing his own comics since 2005. His first comic, Bocas, centered on a Hispanic character, and there are six books in that series. His other books include Estrada Media Serials 1, Estrada Media Serials 2, Bridgeton Nights, You Cannot Silence Me: The Unauthorized Pedro Albizu Campos Story, Tainos, Motorist vs. Bocas 1, Motorist vs. Bocas 2, The Human Virus, and Screw Phillips. Other books are currently in the production stage and are scheduled to be released in 2013.

Aztec of the City vs. The Legend of El Lobo: Copyright infringement or not? You decide!

Welcome fellow Broken’ers! It’s your friendly big Jake writing. On Sunday April 28, I came across an act of plagiarism and copyright infringement of the highest order with the comic called The Legend of El Lobo. The Lobo comic had taken several major plotline points from Aztec of the City.

The major scene that had been completely lifted was where the hero of the comic learns that his comic hero is coming to life and detectives question him about his involvement with the Aztec Warrior’s appearance.

Fernando Balderas Rodriguez had been working on creating his comic book since the early 1990s. Rodriguez and his brother created the first volume in 1993. He created a second volume that was picked up by Diamond Comics Distribution, which gave Aztec of the City national distribution and Rodriguez made

appearances at local cons in the California area.

Furthermore, Aztec of the City was the first Mexican-American comic book hero in California when it made its debut on May 5, 1993. (Cinco de Mayo). Rodriguez has been featured in Frederick Luis Aldama’s book, Your Brain on Latino Comics. Aztec of the City has a good healthy 20 year history in the marketplace and has had a major impact in the industry.

Rodriguez has even shared that in 1994 he was approached by DC Comics about their own upcoming Aztek comic series to assure there wasn’t going to be any type of copyright infringement. Once Rodriguez examined the character, he saw that there were no similarities with the two projects and gave his blessing for DC to proceed.

On the other hand, Rodriguez has stated that both Richard Soto and Bruce Logan are in full copyright infringement with Legend of El Lobo whose entire premise has been lifted.

Rodriguez also has his story registered with the WGA since June 13, 2010 which is based exactly off of his Aztec of the City comic book series that has been copyrighted since 1993.

Trying to contact the Legend of El Lobo creators has been a difficult task for Rodriguez. He has made several attempts to contact them and send them cease and desist orders to stop their attempts to continue with their project, which is financially damaging to Rodriguez’s property Aztec of the City. He posted and emailed them several times through their social media outlets because they have no other contact information available.

The Lobo creators finally did get in contact with me, and they were claiming that Rodriguez was defaming their names and being libelous with his accusations, which was why they were not going to engage in conversation with Rodriguez. When I tried to reason with the Lobo creators, they were acting rather fast and loose, tap dancing around the issues, and asking me what was Rodriguez’s issue with their property to begin with, and what the similarities were. Seeing as it has been clearly stated how the premise was exactly the same, it seemed like they were back peddling, and they claimed that they had trademarks and copyrights to their story that went further than Rodriguez’s own copyrights. When asked to produce said copyrights and information, they did not produce such documents to prove they were within their rights. In addition, their refusal to give any further information for Mr. Rodriguez to get in contact with the proper claims person to engage in conversation leads one to wonder what sort of game they are playing.

I don’t really know what they are trying to do here since they have been rather curt and sparse on their conversations and are very quick to claim that they have only received threatening posts and emails from Rodriguez. That doesn’t answer any questions. I would love if they gave me an interview as well, so I could talk with them more freely than these hit and run tactics they are using right now.

Here is a cover to Aztec of the City:

 Here is a cover to the Legend of El Lobo:

Do you see how the Lobo cover is almost a direct rip off? Makes one wonder, right?

What do you think?

Please come back as I will be directly interviewing Fernando Balderas Rodriguez in the next few days.

Jake Estrada

estradajake@yahoo.com

About the writer:

Jake Estrada has been publishing his own comics since 2005. His first comic, Bocas, centered on a Hispanic character, and there are six books in that series. His other books include Estrada Media Serials 1, Estrada Media Serials 2, Bridgeton Nights, You Cannot Silence Me: The Unauthorized Pedro Albizu Campos Story, Tainos, Motorist vs. Bocas 1, Motorist vs. Bocas 2, The Human Virus, and Screw Phillips. Other books are currently in the production stage and are scheduled to be released in 2013.

AZTEC OF THE CITY vs. THE LEGEND OF EL LOBO. Is this a rip-off or what?

AZTEC OF THE CITY

IS THIS A RIP-OFF OR WHAT?

Okay I have recently come across some very interesting information about a possible rip-off scenario about a possible Aztec superhero, that has a very similar concept with Fernando Balderas Rodriguez’s comic book called Aztec of the City.

The people that appear to be in direction conflict are a Richard Soto and Bruce Logan whose credits include 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and Tron and from my preliminary research I would say that Both Soto and Logan’s story for THE LEGEND OF EL LOBO was completely lifted from AZTEC OF THE CITY.

Rodriguez came across a indiegogo.com campaign to get money to fund their film and comic book series they wish to release. I am

Richard Soto co-creator of
The Legend of El Lobo.

quite perplexed and left stumped wonder why would these two people rip off Rodriguez’s concept that predates their attempt, and why would they steal and entire concept or were they that oblivious that they were not aware another property already existed or they thought the other property was that small and could push around the little guy? Mmmm?

This is what Rodriguez had to say; “...''A young Latino comic book artist draws a ferocious shape-shifting Aztec “superhero” for the kids of the barrio. The superhero metes out bloody justice on the neighborhood...The young artist is shocked to discover that his superhero has become a reality, and that the comic book mirrors events in the real world...”

Fernando Balderas Rodriguez, creator of AZTEC
 OF THE CITY.

The Legend of El Lobo artwork,
created by Richard Soto and Bruce Logan.

Rodriguez said, .”..is a concept that first appeared in an Aztec of the City script/screenplay registered w writers guild west, June 2010, based on Aztec of the City comic books, copyright DeLilia Images/El Salto Comics, Fernando B. Rodriguez, 1993-2013. all rights reserved...”

Here is Rodriguez's facebook page: AZTEC OF THE CITY

You can go to Soto and Logan's Facebook page: THE LEGEND OF EL LOBO

I don’t know The Legend of El Lobo has to say about this, but I will look forward to hear their side. I do however, question did they do their research?

Bruce Logan co-creator
of The Legend of El Lobo.

 Seeing as Soto is a school Teacher in the LA area, and Rodriguez having done things with the schools over the years, interviews in the LA area it makes you wonder..Mmm? I would like further clarification this matter now?

What do you people out there think? Do you think Aztec and Lobo are similar? Is the fact that the story elements having already been created by Rodriguez and now Soto and Logan reusing these elements in their own comic/movie to similar our am I stretching? You decide. Thanks.

Jake Estrada

estradajake@yahoo.com