KIM&KIM, ORLANDO…And Gun Control

Is it an artist’s place to talk about guns? Especially when said artist, me, is just an “alien” in the country he chose to live in. Let’s be clear. I will not address Gun Control in America. I have no part in this debate.
I just can tell how I feel, from a World Citizen, a Human being point of view.

Timing is everything, right? I’ve been working on a fan-art piece for Mags Visaggio’s book Kim&Kim for a while now. May be a couple of months, if not more. Many factors prevented me from finishing it before (let’s not get into that).
I’ve been excited by the K&K project from the start.

First, it’s a Black Mask Studio series and I’ve made no mystery how much I love the comics these folks put on the market. Intelligent. Well made. Diverse. Respectful of creators. BMS is the kind of publisher I’ve been dreaming of working with.

Second, I met Mags Visaggio. Well, if you don’t know her story, Mags wasn’t always called that way. She transitioned. When I met her, she was called and look different. It’s funny because I still have her previous business card and when she surfaced as Mags, it took me a moment to realize it was the same person I met a few months before.

Anyhow… I’ve started following Mags’ feed. And I admit I liked the way she put herself on the map. Here we have a young comic book creator. Talking about herself. Talking about her upcoming comic book series. About what it is to go from a gender to another. The trials. The tribulations. The challenges. Mags is real. She’s a real person. I don’t know her very very well, we only chatted a couple of times. But I respect her. And, after reading the preview of her book, I know she’s going to be a great addition to our big twisted comic book family. I loved the Kim&Kim universe so much that I did something I’ve never done before: a fan art! (that was before the Red Hook thing I did too).

The idea came quickly after I discovered a rifle gun shaped hookah on the web. I wanted to make a funny poster with it. Then I was called to other projects and couldn’t complete it.
Last week end, the Orlando tragedy happened.

I felt the need to do something about it. Because I’m not exactly a gun lover, quite the opposite, and I can’t stand what’s going on with LGBTQ hate. I can’t stand people rising against each other. Shooting at each other. Those who think guns are a solution to problems can stop reading. We’re not going to be friends.

What can an artist do? Write about it. Draw about it. Make people think about it. I immediately thought about that unfinished Kim&Kim piece. I added a couple of things, changed the tagline to reflect what I feel guns should ONLY be used for (smoking ^^). I ran it by Mags before posting. She asked me to change a small thing and here we are.

Kim&Kim#1 will be available in July. And I strongly recommend we all buy a copy or two.
Oh, and by the way… I don’t smoke hookah or anything for that matter. Not my style. 😉

To be continued…

F.

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