So 100 percent only thought to put this here because of the Sweet Sixteen Comic Contest. Let's talk "High School Knife Club."

I wrote/drew this story a little less than a 7 years ago.* I originally made my production company to publish comics. I basically only shifted because I was getting work as an animator/video editor and then shifted my company to independent film releases. The obvious here is how stylized and not drawn by someone trained classically in illustration (me) this comic is.

My degree is in animation with a focus in stop motion. So I can sculpt like no one's business (translates well to 3d as well) but my drawing was weak. When I was graduated, my professor urged me to draw more; btw I was drawing a lot but I knew what he meant. I had to be doing it every day, days on end. I was falling behind the people who were interested in drawing and then got into animation (my situation was the other way around: I liked movie editing and then was forced to draw because of animation. It was obvious to my peers my ability to sculpt was a crutch to cover up my drawing skills).

There was a catch however. When I started drawing this comic, I was gaining a reputation for my style. So I decided to use this chance to not just learn to draw but learn to draw like Mike Fallek (me). This hampered my progress for sure but I knew there would be 0 interest in anything inbetween a distinctly "me styled" thing and conventional comic style.

My company, when I started, was focused on recruiting people to draw the comics. This time I was drawing something and I had no idea what the quality would be. The project was also an extension of my desire to see what medium I liked in illustration. You'll see hand drawn with ink and water color, Adobe Illustrator, and photoshop in that order.

When I drew this, Amazon Video had a program where indie studios could upload films directly to prime video. At one time I was making ok money from this service. BUT like all things indie, Amazon started to exclude indie filmmakers. 2 bad reviews would lead Amazon to say, "We've gotten bad feedback on your content." This is all to say I didn't know what to do next with my production company next. My plans before the annoyance of Prime Video was to publish more.

THIS IS ALL ACTUALLY TO SAY this is the world premiere of this Comic! I created a book version that was never really available to purchase from Amazon Books in order to test if other Amazon service were lucrative (e.g. self publishing books or voice work. I actually did end up doing some erotic voice on Amazon that still pays to this day). I got several copies of this comic more as art samples than anything else. Maybe I would show it as a curiosity next time I had an exhibition.

For all intents and purposes, no one has ever read this piece until today. I would have never published it if not for this contest, Newgrounds, and the amazing game creation tool for comics.

Let's talk inspiration. ANNOYINGLY while I had shy-ly hidden my designs aways, I have recently seen other animations and movies employee a character who deploys a bunch of guns from behind his back. This doesn't really bother me because if I continue this comic (which I will because there are pages drawn and more written) I have a very strong lore and superpower mechanic that I am confident will make it stand out. Furthermore, I had based the "1000 gun" look on existing anime shots and spider characters like Doc Oc and most specifically blue beetle and Richie from Static Shock (back when liking static and blue beetle was still obscure to non- comic fans). I feel confident my silent cowboy assassin version will stand out as unique, but I promise you this was conceived in a vacuum. Of more interest to me combat wise are the Gauntlets; a group of super soldiers using high powered shields to fight. I have lots to say about gauntlets as an idea and my character but that idea is also pretty unique.

RE; Troma. This comic helped me establish a lot about my style. Skin tone: characters are only a human skin tone if I specifically have something to say about race relations and not even then if I am being honest. Hair: I wanted to find a way to mix anime hair, my ideal hair for me, and spawn capes. You can see the inklings of this here. My color pallet: saturated and pastel, nothing in between. These choices are DEEP in the Poultrygeist Video Game coming out soon. AND let's be totally clear: it is that style choice that allows this comic to hold up even as my drawing skills have improved massively since then.

I guess before I finish typing I should summarize the plot in this episode and ones to come:

"From a remote martial arts-based monkhood, comes the best kitchen tools available. The monks of the mountain only do 2 things: make kitchen knives and practice martial arts. One of their expensive knife models has a flaw, a deadly flaw that puts the whole world in danger. The monks recalled and recovered every one of these knives safely...all except one.

Meanwhile an assassin known as 1000 gun man has been sent to recover that knife for the nefarious desires of a mega corporation. He's not the only one on the case. The head of the secret super soldiers called the Gauntlets sees the seriousness of this knife and has taken out on her own to recover the knife. Where is the knife? Well at the fabulous High School Knife Club of course! Run by the infamous Chef Dad, this after school club meets annually to deliver deep discounts on kitchen wares to the students of Akirinos High. Who will get to the knife first?"

Please enjoy this comic found ONLY here on Newgrounds.

*move that year stat around a year or two in either direction. I have an issue remember time in terms of years. I'd have to ask people in my life when it happened.