About a.k.a. Comics & Jonnie Allan (Publisher/Creator)
Independent
Comics creator and self-taught artist Jonnie Allan founded
a.k.a Comics as a vehicle to introduce his debut creation
The Miscellaneous Adventures of STYKMAN™ to
the comic book world.
Born November 19th, 1968 Jonnie Allan grew up in Irvine, California spending most of his time playing with his closest friend Tom Dumont. Dynamic drawings of stages and fancy costumes of a yet future fantasy band would be littered across the floor of both bedrooms. Countless hours were spent pouring over their fanciful designs in hopes to one day usurp the title of Hottest Band In the Land from the fantastically clad members of the rock group KISS. Never mind neither Jonnie nor his friend Tom played an instrument at the time, the stages & costumes would be sweet. Eventually, they knew they had to get serious. Tom took up the guitar; Jonnie the drums.
Fast forward several years, although drum playing was a passion, Jonnie became more & more consumed with the drawing & design side of expressing himself. While in his teens, Jonnie acquired the first Marvel Try-Out Book (This was a type of how-to manual with actual pages of art to work on & mail into Marvel Comics for review.). Comic Books became the order of the day and a new passion overtook Jonnie and drove him to one day draw like the artists whose work graced the pages of the comics he fell in love with. With a drum stick in one hand & graphite in the other, Jonnie set out to pursue that dream (Tom Dumont continued his pursuit of playing his guitar in front tens of thousands of fans. He eventually became the lead guitarist for a band you may have heard of... NO DOUBT!)
Pressing the fast forward button again, we find ourselves in the early 1990's. After a 4 year term of serving his country in the United States Navy where he helped design "cruise books," T-shirts & the "Underway Replenishment Flag" for the aircraft carrier USS ENTERPRISE & VAW-117, Jonnie attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA in hopes to learn the skills necessary to follow his dream. Unfortunately, after his first semester, financial reasons cut short his time in Pasadena. Undaunted, Jonnie began consuming every art book he could get his hands on in hopes to glean what he could from their pages.
In 1994 Jonnie partnered up with Parks Stevens to bring the comic book adaptation of THE MYSTIC WARRIOR to life. While attending the San Diego Comicon, Jonnie was introduced to Mike Carlin of DC Comics. After an unscheduled review of the work in progress, Mr. Carlin made 2 relatively small suggestions in regards to Jonnie's artwork. Those suggestions opened up Jonnie's work to an whole other level the countless books he raad through could not. Although the comic of THE MYSTIC WARRIOR was never released, the experience proved valuable in regards to his growing as an artist.
Time moved forward, life got in the way of life, & "real" jobs
had to be worked. While working in 
the
field of insurance in 1996, Jonnie was contacted by QUEST
COMICS & was
asked to draw their title SOLDIER OF GOD published
through BONEYARD
PRESS.
"An interesting experience, & we'll leave it at that," muses Jonnie. "But experience none the least."
(Sadly, to this day, the work done on MYSTIC WARRIOR & SOLDIER OF GOD has yet to see print. You can however see some of the pages in the PORTFOLIO section of this site.)
It was during this time in the mid 1990's an idea for a new character came about – as unlikely a character as any had seen. Drawings began, ideas hatched, stories began to unfold and The Miscellaneous Adventures of STYKMAN™ was born.
Several Comics Projects came about over the years, as well as many different Non-Comics related projects; Murals, logos, tattoos, posters, window painting, etc. Jonnie also began a short, "unintentional" career as a model and actor appearing on several television shows. But the love of comics never left.
In 2001 Jonnie was offered the role of Producer for the cartoon property THE BOOGE. Character design, storyboards, as well as overseeing the entire production were the hats Jonnie wore throughout that year. Unfortunately, due to money squabbles between the powers that be, the project, while in the middle of production, was suspended indefinitely. Having danced within the arena of animation, it was time to return to comics.
in
the latter part of 2001, Jonnie began creating a storyline
around angels and demons and the war human beings are caught
in the middle of. The project was to be called THE
INVISIBLE WAR – a look into the continual battle in the heavenly
realms over our very souls (This title is currently under
development and will be released in 2009.).
After studying and researching the topic for nearly a year, Jonnie made a startling discovery. He realized there was just too much evidence in favor of Christianity. Only God, Jesus and the Holy Bible could be intellectually proven to be true. The last thing Jonnie ever wanted to do was become a Christian. Often he will quote C.S. Lewis, author of the timeless classic The Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe...
"God had to drag me kicking & screaming into the kingdom of God."
On March 24, 2002 something truly amazing happened to the utter amazement of his family and friends, Jonnie Allan committed his life to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior & was baptized.
Now that God was on his side, life really began to get fun. Although The Invisible War was close to completetion, Jonnie felt drawn towards the comedic side of things. It was time to open the portfolio and pull out the one silly idea that hatched so many years prior.. STYKMAN!
In July of 2002, Jonnie attended the San Diego Comic-Con for the first time as an exhibitor. Although friends and family (And a few industry insiders) thought his ideas for The Miscellaneous Adventures of STYKMAN™ were fantastic, it was the rabid, un-forgiving fan base that needed to provide the necessary feedback and demand for the character. A PREVIEW POSTER and character sheets were handed out to fans. What was their response ? They Loved it!!! The response was phenomenal! So much more so than could have ever been expected. It was time to get serious. The fans liked the character, the plot, the story lines, and most especially… the art.
While fine tuning his debut creation, something incredible happened that would put things on the back burner for a little while longer. In September 2003, Jonnie heard the most amazing laugh at a church service. He has to meet that laugh and sought it's owner. 5 months later, on February 28, 2004, Jonnie Allan married Dawn Shirrell at a sweet little service in front of God, family and friends
The last thing Jonnie wanted to do was spend their first year of marriage behind the drawing board.
The TIMELINE of a TWIG
July 2005, 3 years after it's initial appearance, The Miscellaneous Adventures of STYKMAN™ issue 1 debuted at San Diego Comicon. Once again, the response was phenomenal. Over 500 copies were sold – an incredible accomplishment for ay Independent comic, especially one by an unknown cretor.
It wasn't long before reviews began appearing in every corner of the industry:
- WIZARD Magazine - "A lavishly absurd symphony of wantan madness."
- COMIC BUYER"S GUIDE- "A Bizarre, little comedy. A Superhero comic that works!"
- COMIC WORLD NEWS - " Silly and fun without ever becoming rediculous and stupid!"
- BROKENFRONTIER - "A breath of fresh, silly air in a time dominated by Crises, Decimations, and Civil Wars"
- SilverBulletComicBooks.com (4 out of 5 Bullets) - "If humor is the measure, STYKMAN does indeed live up to the earlier traditions and recalls The TICK, AMBUSH BUG, GROO the WANDERER, etc.."
As well as many others.
In February 2006 a.k.a. Comics began distributing The Miscellaneous Adventures of STYKMAN™ direct to fans and retailers selling out at almost every convention appearance. Through a "grass-roots" approach to marketing a.k.a. Comics was able to catch the attention of Diamond Comics Distributors, Inc. by gaining critical acclaim for the comics and selling out at most conventions.
In February of 2007 Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. began distributing STYKMAN. Due to the fact that most retailers opted not to deal directly with a.k.a. Comics and carry STYKMAN, something we completely understand, Diamond will begin distributing with issue #1. The comics will distributed every other month until 2008 where it is the goal of a.k.a. Comics to bring you The Miscellaneous Adventures of STYKMAN™ on a 4-6 week basis.
Present day. The gloves are off, the pencil is flying, and The Miscellaneous Adventures of STYKMAN™ is available ina comics shop near you.
