A Little About Me
Hey all. My name's Wilfredo S. "Fred" Duran (although I like to be credited as "W. Sergio Duran"), and I'm writer/creator/letterer (still learning the ropes on that last one) trying to break into the comics industry - and stay in afterward.
I was published in December of 2007 in Dimestore Productions' Mysterious Visions Anthology #4 (click link for online ordering), the story being a ten-page sci-fi comic called Ruin, in which an average guy is met with his new role of savior, only to find out that it's much deeper than that. Ruin written by W. Sergio Duran (credited as "Fred Duran"), with pencils by Sean Patella-Buckley, inks by Tomm Gabbard, and colors and letters by Adam Chowles, with a special dedication to Joe Pruitt.
Ruin will be published again in Ronin Studios' upcoming anthology, Ronin Illustrated V. 2 #4, which should have been out in April of 2008, but for some reason has been delayed. I'll update this when I have information regarding that.
Back with Dimestore Productions, I participated in the 2007 Small Press Idol competition and came in 41st out of 112 entries from all over the world, making it to the second round of competition before being eliminated. Once the artist (who is amazing), Teddy Riawan, is able to remedy his computer problems, our entry, the Manifestant (click here for the redone, alien-free premise and revised bios), will be published in an issue of Mysterious Visions Anthology, and if I'm really lucky, will go on from there.
In addition to those projects, I have another comic project that I wrote in the works, called Project E , which is currently on hiatus for financial reasons. Check out the link if you're interested; the website contains character bios and a quick summary of the plot, as well as background info on two of the creators involved (myself and the penciler, Giuseppe D'Elia. Bios for the inker, Chuck "THE HUNN" Zsolnai and the letterer, Richard Nelson, will come soon).
In addition to those, I have a four-page humorous story called Epic Heroes! (yes, with the "!") about a two-year-old boy named Manny fighting a chocolate cake (it gets pretty intense). Epic Heroes! will hopefully be coming out in Dimestore Productions' Mysterious Visions Anthology after the current wave of Small Press Idol '08 Round 4 stories are out to the masses. I'm actually going to be lettering this one as well (it'll be the first time I've lettered anything), so I'm really excited. Epic Heroes! written and lettered by W. Sergio Duran, and penciled, inked and graytoned by C.A. Haidusek.
In addition to that, I've been working on a miniseries with fabulous artist German Curti (who was pointed in my direction by the similarly fabulous artist Juan Pablo Milito) called No Tomorrow, wherein the rapidly-approaching apocalypse makes people re-examine their lives and in an ironically cruel twist of fate makes them atone for the things they've done. The first five pages have been penciled, the first two have been inked (at this time), and I've started lettering the inked pages. I'll be looking for a colorist once all the pages have been inked, so if you're interested, shoot me an email (contact information is on the sidebar to the left or at the bottom of this page). No Tomorrow written and lettered by W. Sergio Duran, penciled and inked by German Curti, and will be colored by someone amazingly talented, no doubt, as through sheer luck, so far I've managed to work with some awesome artists who are also pretty awesome people.
Lastly (whew), I've got a serialized graphic novel that I've been working on that's got me quite excited, tentatively called The Phoenix Initiative, the early plot of which has been described to me by a friend as "Paul Greenglass directing one of those 'on-the-run' movies, but with some crazy extra material on the side." Paul Greenglass did a great job on the last two Bourne movies, so I'll take that as a huge compliment. This won't see the light of day most likely until late next year or early 2010, because of all the other stuff I'm doing (including starting college at St. John's University in Queens this coming August).
Now for a little more about me personally.
Next month, I'll be going to St. John's University, as I said above, most likely majoring in Psychology with a minor in Creative Writing. I've been writing since I could hold a pencil, and I've been given praise for my writing by a published professional (Richard Nelson, of Warmageddon and Digital Webbing Presents fame) on Digital Webbing's Forums, where I've been writing under the username "cupil711" for the past 7 years or so.
As for style and genre, I'm partial to conveying messages and description through visual means rather than through dialogue; after all, a comic is a visual medium, so it seems appropriate to make the comics as visually expressive as possible. When it comes to developing characters, I tend to live by the phrase "actions speak louder than words," meaning that I will have the characters perform actions and make choices that describe their personality and their beliefs, and supplement these actions and choices with dialogue. My favorite genre to write is science fiction, but I'll write anything that interests me regardless of genre.
I've been working hard on my writing and I've gotten to a level where I guess I can say that I'm generally content - but I definitely know there's room to improve and I'm not going to rest on my laurels here. I'm going to keep writing, and I'll stop trying to get better when I stop breathing.
So that's me. If you have any questions, or a proposal, email me at fduran2@gmail.com , with "writing" in the subject line.
Fred Duran
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