CONTRABAND - SOCIAL MEDIA OR BUST

Are you fed up with cancel culture, sponsored spam, and content censorship? And wondering if there’s a better place to go in order to avoid these social media shenanigans? Somewhere like, the dark web, for instance! Well, if so, then please allow me to introduce you to the following graphic novel. It's called 'Contraband', and it was written by Thomas Behe, illustrated by Phil Elliott, and comes with a captivating cover designed by...

1) What are your own origins?   My name is Iván Salazar (although my friends call me Taka), and I’m an illustrator from Buenos Aires, Argentina, who has spent many years as an art director and a freelance artist. As an art director, I’ve worked for a variety of companies associated with advertising and commerce, and as an artist, I’ve drawn a number of different covers, webcomics, and children's books. Nowadays, I mainly work on my own stuff or design covers for other people's projects, including books, albums, or video games, some of which I am very proud of because it’s the first thing we see whenever we decide to pick up one of these items.

2) What inspired you to work on 'Contraband'?   I've been working with Thomas (the writer) for about three years now, and during that time, we've created several really wonderful comic books together. Last year, for instance, we created a parody, entitled, 'Orca and the Octopus in the Identity Crisis', which was about every single 'social media monster' around, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and even WeChat. So, given the subject matter, the two of us working again on 'Contraband' seemed like a no-brainer.

3) In your own words, how would you describe this story?   Now, without giving too much away, 'Contraband' is set during a time before YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram ever existed, circa 2004, and chronicles what happens when a proto-social network suddenly emerges and corrupts everyone it comes into contact with.

4) What song would you say best represents this adventure and why?   The only song that comes to mind would have to be the one sung by Pearl Jam, 'Do the Evolution', because it tells a story about how technology can make some people become really horrible.

5) If you could get a celebrity – either living or dead – to promote 'Contraband', who would you choose, and why would you want to choose this particular person?   To answer this question, I'd like to select the fabulous writer, Alan Moore, because I have a feeling that we both think along similar lines.

6) What have you learned about yourself through this endeavor?   Well, as this is the first time I’ve only designed the cover for a published graphic novel (rather than create the whole graphic novel), I'd say that I really enjoyed knowing that I was going to be the person to give each reader their first impression of what 'Contraband' is all about. Normally, I try to only work on my own projects, but I did enjoy creating the cover for this one and am especially proud of my choice of colors.

And on that note, I'd like to thank Taka for telling us about the graphic novel, 'Contraband', before encouraging you to check out the official Website, Facebook, and Instagram pages.