Someone over at Drunk Duck recently asked me about inspirations for my comics. Where did I get them? What inspired me to write them? Here was my answer:

The Temple of a Thousand Tears is based on a number of influences, including but not limited to: 1) the events of 9-11, specifically the mistreatment and outrage of Americans towards the Muslim community, 2) my observations about religion and religious people throughout the years, 3) inner frustrations over events in my life at the time, such as the death of family members and substance abuse problems among memebers of my family, 4) and the song "Image" from the video game Xenosaga 2.

Essentially, I needed a forum through which to vent my frustrations and feelings through, and characters to preach my view but also to counter-point my view, so people who disagreed could see both sides of the arguement. Thus, when dividing up my feelings on certain matters, patterns started to reoccur - and those view points turned into characters, personalities, and beliefs. Essentially, the swordsman is the character through which most of my frustrations are vented through - in the form of a murdered family. He's the black sheep of the group, fighting against the machine not because he hates it, but because of what it's done to him. The other characters are achieving enlightenment throughout the events of the story, realizing that there may be more than one way to go in life. A way different from their own.

@$$hole! was inspired by me wanting to rant about current events, pop culture references, and wanting to put someone who looked like myself into a comic (a tall, skinny, bald guy). I didn't know what the heck to do beyond that, until I watched Ringu and The Ring 2 back to back and said, "These movies are nothing alike, and the American one sucked. What if that character was in my comic? What if she was my roommate? The ultimate bad roommate!" And the modern story of @$$hole! was forged from there.

Basically, both of my comics were birthed from my need / desire to rant and vent. ;)

How about you?

T