Matamoros: Comic Details the US Military's Fight Against Radical Islamists

John Cox, of Cox & Forkum, is the Artist



Early last month, in case you missed it, a new kind of comic was released.

Matamoros.

As the publisher put it, Matamoros is the first comic set in the battle between the U.S. military and radical Islamists.

The comic is written by a pair of brothers, Sleet and Darius LaMonica. It is drawn by John Cox, of Cox & Forkum fame.

For collectors, the released its first issue on January 1 of this year. See the links at the end of the article for information on ordering a copy of Matamoros.



Yesterday, DBKP interviewed Bosch Fawstin on his upcoming graphic novel "The Infidel", starring anti-Jihad hero, Pigman. [DBKP Interview: Bosch Fawstin]

Fawstin chronicles the fight against Jihad through the eyes of Pigman and his comic creator.

The LaMonicas and Cox show the battle against terror through the eyes of Chuck Sobietti, formerly of the U.S. armed forces.

According to the MySpace page on Charles Sobietti, "Matamoros, the comic book":

Charles Sobietti is a seventeen year veteran of the United States armed forces. Chuck enlisted at the age of twenty and moved up the ranks as he became a highly decorated NCO. His career took him to Kuwait and Iraq in the Gulf War, to Somalia and Bosnia during the 1990s, and most recently to Afghanistan and again to Iraq.

Chuck is the subject of the new comic book, Matamoros, available now through www.MatamorosComic.com. Written by Sleet and Darius LaMonica, and illustrated by John Cox of Cox & Forkum cartoons (see www.CoxAndForkum.com and www.JohnCoxArt.com), Matamoros is the first comic book to address our military's role in the War on Terror and the return of one of our soldiers to the United States.

According to a post at the Matamoros discussion forum, the next issue is scheduled for April and the creative team hopes to put out an issue quarterly in 2008.



To give a little look into the creative process of the book, John Cox had a sketch of the first idea for the cover of Matamoros. If you compare the drawing on the left above with the finished product, you'll see quite a difference in the final rendering.

The drawing on the left is the first sketch for the Matamoros cover. I was trying to involve a taped up image that would feature a likeness of Sobietti, the main character. The writers and I decided it would be more dramatic if he were actually in the scene.

I'm sure the "taped up drawing" motif can work. Gotta find the right project.

John Cox is highly enthusiastic about his foray into comics, as the following post from his website demonstrates.

It's a tale of GOOD vs EVIL and how a U.S. soldier makes his way through it. I'm in the midst of creating this 30 page story and a publishing date is imminant. STAY TUNED for all the glorious tidbits forthcoming. If you were ever curious about what a John Cox book would look like....here ya go.

According to the blurb at Indy Planet, which offers the book for sale:

Written by Sleet and Darius LaMonica
Illustrated by John Cox of the Cox & Forkum political cartoon team (www.CoxAndForkum.com)

"Matamoros" is the first comic set in the U.S. military's fight against radical Islamists.

Chuck Sobietti was a seventeen-year veteran of the U.S. military. He'd seen it all - Gulf War I, Somalia, Bosnia, Afghanistan - but nothing in his experience could prepare him for one fateful day in Iraq and its aftermath. Part political thriller and part war story, "Matamoros" follows one of America's heroes in the "Long War" - an ordinary guy who discovers that only extraordinary situations exist when the enemy is a protean entity which refuses to adhere to the laws of war.

* Order Matamoros at Indy Planet

* Order Matamoros from the Matamoros website



* Buy Matamoros T-shirts and merchandise

* Matamoros Discussion forum

So, there you go.

Matamoros, a comic that details the fight against Jihad and the War on Terror.

Check it out.

Anti-Jihad lovers never had it so good: first, "The Infidel" and now, "Matamoros".

For the price of a couple Sunday editions of the New York Times, you can have yourself a keepsake and some good reading.

And besides, you can bet Matamoros will be more "pro-American military" than a year of the NY Times.

by Mondoreb
images:
* matamoros.com
* John Cox.com
Sources:
* Sketch book
* Page 19 of matamoros
* Page 4 of Matamoros
* Matamoros, the Comic
* Matomoros.com



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Grupero Murders: Gang Execution or Part of a Border War?

Murdered singer shot, execution-style
Another grupero singer has been murdered in Mexico. Twenty eight-year-old Zayda Pena was shot dead in the back, gangland style in the emergency room of a Matamoros, Mexico, hospital. This after she had been treated for a gunshot wound to the back from an altercation the day before.

Pena was one of several grupero singers and band members who have been recently gunned down in gangland slayings in Mexico.

Peña — the front woman in a band named Zayda y los Culpables, or "Zayda and the Guilty Ones" — enjoyed a following on both sides of the border playing music known as grupero, which features basses, electric guitar, drums, accordions and synthesizers.

Grupero lyrics focus on love, unrequited or not, and on the exploits of narcotics gangsters and other borderlands themes. The genre's bands are popular draws in dance halls across provincial Mexico. Gangsters are said to be among the bands' many fans. [1]

A year earlier another singer, Valentin Elizaide, was shot after performing a concert in the border town of Reynosa, 60 miles north of Matamoras, the site of Pena's death.

In February, four members of another grupero band were shot to death after playing a hall in central Michoacan state, where much of this year's gangland violence has occurred.

Another popular grupero singer was gunned down in a Michoacan park last December.

Mexican newspapers last weekend reported that the lead singer of yet another band went missing Saturday, along with two businessmen, following a performance in Morelia, the Michoacan state capital. [1]

The rampant violence along the Texas-Mexico border is due to the presence of a drug cartel known as the Gulf Cartel. President Calderon ordered hundreds of troops over the weekend to Reynosa.

Pena was another of the nearly 2500 victims who have murdered in gangland violence this year.

by LBG
[image:islamusicals]
Source - Houston Chronicle - Singer Shot To Death after surgery in Matamoros




Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.