Femme Fatale tries to entice.
Posted: Tuesday, March 23, 2004
By: Darren Schroeder
The folks at Femme Fatale Studios have something they want you to know about: Cintara.
A 2015 New York cop killed in the line of duty, Cindy Tara is cryogenically frozen for future preservation as per her own request-but due to the nature of her fatal wounds, she must remain "mentally aware" for one-thousand years-alone with the memories of her past and tormented by the unknown future that churns with change outside her containment shell. When the process is complete, she physically awakens to discover the world in an ice age and that she has somehow been transformed into a Cybertronic Bioborg-human on the outside and machine on the inside-and now living in Antarctica, one of the seven continents of Earth now ruled by a dictatorial robotic society formed by another cryogenic freezing experiment that used robot shells to implant human genes, as opposed to flesh -and they DON'T like flesh humans!
This is the premise for "Cintara," a 6-issue mini series scheduled for release in May 2004, featuring painted covers by French artist Denis LaPierre courtesy of Makma.com.
The road to this series has been a long and crazy one indeed, says series creator, writer and letterer, JAYMES. The idea of Cintara was actually developed 'slightly' by another artist almost 10 years ago, but he had no story, no outline, no nothing. Well, except for a drawing and the name Cintara. I asked if I could have her. His reply was 'CINTARA IS YOURS' emblazoned across the front of the envelope. Since then, I've spent a lot of time refining the character with a fresh story and a suitable world in which to put her. I originally planned this as a submission to Heavy Metal magazine, but since they can't seem to decide if they are sci-fi or "too adult-oriented", I chose to take this route. I like "too adult-oriented". I just don't do "too adult-oriented" in comics (okay, or nudity/porn. Whatever we shall call it).
JAYMES is the founder of Femme Fatale Studios, which is hard at work readying their two character projects, "Krystal" and "Haley," for publisher shopping, though self-publishing hasn't been ruled out yet.
We have something most other startups don't have-an eight to nine issue head start on two projects, explains JAYMES. So many small publishers have drowned in the floods of books that are on time every month. If the product is ready to go a year in advance, then we only stand to win or lose based on the merit of our work as opposed to our timeliness. If sales are bad, we lose. Not the consumer.
Working with JAYMES in his snowball sandbox are former Antarctic Press' Ninja High School Benn Dunn fill-in-artist, Steven Henry and colorist, Joel Chua, who resides in the Philippines.
We had another artist slated for the series who had a 1950's pulp style. I really liked it, but negotiations broke down, so I sought a replacement. Along came Steven Henry, who once covered for Benn Dunn on several issues of Ninja High School for Antarctic Press, as well as his own cartoon, "Clarence The Cat," and a self-published mini series called "Human Heart." His almost realistic/Manga style totally blew my s**t away! I knew he was the right choice when I saw his renderings of Cintara -those huge, beautiful, white eyes. I love them!
According to JAYMES Joel Chua has done a fantastic job as colorist for Cintara #1 He is bringing life to this once planned-to-be black and white book where Steven already had it breathing. He's one of those colorists you feel very lucky to have.
Taking on the coloring chores for issues #2-6 will be Winona Nelson, a newcomer to the business. Just wait and see, promises JAYMES. She'll impress you, too.
JAYMES concludes: This mini series has been a long time coming and a lot of time and talent has gone into it's production and still will in completing it. With it's mix of science fiction, drama, tragedy, and flat out bitchiness, we hope to draw a diversity of fans, male and female alike, from all walks of fandom.
Cintara is a 6-issue full color bi-monthly mini series from Femme Fatale Studios. The book arrives in comic stores in May 2004 with a cover price of $3.50US for issue #1, with following issues priced at $2.99 each.
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