Ishmaiah Dado

My project acts as a response to myself and a specific community I am part of--namely, the so-called “nerd” or “geek” community.  As an artist who has spent most of his time making “fan art,” artworks that depict content whose intellectual properties are owned by someone else (mostly from established mainstream franchises), consuming and regurgitating media plays a significant part in my art-making.  It is my art-making.  My anime-esque style is a product of years of emulating without offering anything new or inventive.  This phenomenon of repetition is not exclusive to myself, but perhaps true with pop culture as a whole.  This is especially evident from the current influx of superhero movies over the past decade. Despite their repetitive nature, I and many of their fans continue to consume them, whether it be the “inspirational” narratives, their ideals, or simply because they look “cool,” mostly because they look cool.  

Every week in my younger years, I anticipated with great suspense how Voltron would surprisingly defeat the Robeast of the week when he sliced them with his Blazing Sword.  Similarly, I was on the edge of my seat when Ultraman fought the kaiju of the week and astonishingly killed them with his Specium Ray.  But nothing can compare to how Voltes V defeats the beast of the week by slicing them into bloody bits yet again with his Laser Sword.  I want to convey the same excitement in my comics with my own heroes. I want my readers to pick up a copy and feel excitement as the narrative leads to an unfulfilling “fight” scene.  I want to inspire them with characters without clear aspirations, ideals, or any sort of stance for anything whatsoever. But most importantly, I want them to have enjoyed a good story they would throw back into the pile of other copies.  Overall, I want to give people, mostly “nerds,” what they want, or at least what they think they want, or at least what I think they think they want.