Artist wins global comics contest

Artist Dominic Vivona's been taking a lot of calls lately.
"I'm not always sure who I'm talking to," the Lancaster resident said. "But it's a lot of dot-com people. It's kind of hard to keep track."

The interviews usually start out with congratulations, since Vivona and writer Jorge Vega won the Platinum Studios 2007 Comic Book Challenge for their entry, "Gunplay."
"It's surreal," Vivona said. "I'm not even sure the reality of all this has hit me yet."
For the uninitiated, winning the Platinum Studios Comic Book Challenge is a big deal — comparable to a performer winning "American Idol."
Both Vivona and Vega won some nifty prizes, but, most importantly, they will have their work published and possibly developed for multiple forms of media, including film and television.
"The first 'Gunplay' should be released in March," Vivona said. "We're aiming for the comic to make its first appearance at the Wizard World convention in Los Angeles, where we hope to make a splash."

"Gunplay" is a supernatural Western set in 1870, focusing on the character Abner Meeks, a Buffalo soldier in possession of a cursed gun.
Whoever carries the gun must use it to take a life every day or be subjected to agonizing pain. Meeks roams the West, grappling with this harrowing burden, eventually saddling up with a young orphan who Vivona once described as Meeks' "moral compass."
Vega's dark tale (with its "Tales From the Darkside" meets "High Plains Drifter" kind of feel) had a definite edge against the competition, who tended to focus on the more traditional masked avengers, both satirical and serious.
For Vivona's part, the sepia-toned art is rustic and strangely romantic, vividly evoking the gritty American West of the 1800s.

The Comic Book Challenge began in May when submissions opened and entries from 22 countries flooded in. The competition was whittled down to 50 entries, then 10.
After making the Top 10 in the contest, Vega flew to San Diego to pitch the comic to a contest panel that included "Shrek" producer John H. Williams, "Scrubs" actor Donald Faison and Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, chairman of Platinum Studios.

According to Vivona, the pitch session may have been the easy part.
"Well, we want the first 'Gunplay' to be great, and I'm a little nervous about it, of course," the 30-year-old said. "But I'm keeping to a work schedule and hoping to produce 22 pages a month. Jeff McComsey will also be part of the team as the colorist for the comic."
Vega once referred to Vivona in an interview as "one of the best-kept secrets in comics right now." But maybe he won't be a secret for long.

On Friday, he was on his way to a comic convention in Baltimore, but said he didn't expect to be flooded with attention.
"Once 'Gunplay' is out, that'll be great," Vivona said. "To have that under my belt will make a difference, I think."
Vivona met Vega in April at the Pittsburgh Comic Con through a mutual friend and collaborator, L. Jamal Walton.
The two kept in touch and began working together in a long-distance partnership, with Vivona here in Lancaster and Vega in Brockton, Mass., where he also works as an IT manager and teacher.

The comic book challenge unfolded on AT&T's Blue Room (http://www.attblueroom.com/), an online entertainment hub, where fans were asked to vote for their favorite writer/artist team, casting online ballots during two separate rounds.
Several million votes were cast.

Despite the impressive victory, Vivona, a self-taught artist who is originally from upstate New York, said he hasn't officially celebrated yet.
"No, I haven't gotten around to it yet, with all this work to do," he said. "But I'm thinking of making some kind of impulse purchase — that could be fun, too."