“Iron Sirens” Comic Book Update

We caught up with J.M. Manion who has been working on a dream project for the past four years. The comic is now available in comic book stores and if your local comic shop doesn’t have it, be sure to ask for it.We asked him to give us a little more insight on how “Iron Sirens” came to be and this is what he shared. Enjoy…

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This is the fruition of a 4 year project. In a nutshell I was in contact with comic book writer Ian Ascher from Columbus, OH. I told him of my idea to have a comic book featuring real IFBB Pro’s in it. They would not have “super-hero” names but we’d use their own & trade off of that. Initially the trio consisted of 4-time Fitness Olympia/Fitness International winner Susie Curry, now 2-time Fitness Olympia/Fitness International winner Adela Garcia & Fitness International winner Jenny Worth. All 3 were going to be involved with their characters as Ian was going to write in some of their personalities & things from their real lives. The next step was getting an artist committed. Long story short, after going through about 3 artists that flaked out & did initial drawings of the girls we finally got to the rough draft phase of pages actually being drawn. It was then that Jenny Worth decided to drop out. Production was halted. So that we wouldn’t have to totally re-do the script I asked 3-time Figure International & Figure Olympia winner Jenny Lynn if she would be interested since she originally started out as a fitness competitor & got her pro card winning the NPC USA Fitness overall. She agreed & we were back on track with a new character likeness of Jenn Lynn replacing Jenny Worth. The comic was going to have a color cover & be black & white on the inside due to finances. The comic premiered at the Arnold Classic in 2005. The original name was “Project Diva: Trinity”. It was an instant success & we were planning the 2nd & 3rd books when we hit another few roadblocks.

Note: this was never intended to be a 1-shot book but a continuing series. Book 1 ends in a cliff-hanger.

Another artist flaked out but for a good reason. He was hired to work for Marvel Comics & had his own book too. Can’t blame him. Also, Susie Curry eventually retired.

Now another 2 years later the book is renamed “Iron Sirens” & is fully colored. Some of the dialog has been changed but it still features Adela, Jenny & Susie plus a cameo by a dorky photographer in the vein of Jimmy Olsen. Hmm? The book will be available towards the end of October so if everybody can go to their local comic book store & request it so the publisher sees interest, then this can continue. It is very important to get this new Issue # 1 bought.

We have book # 2 planned where Susie Curry will be phased out, (note: she will not be killed off), to be replaced by a new Iron Siren. If all goes well, book # 2 will be ready for the 2008 Arnold Classic. Book #3 would wrap up the story arc. The book #4 would start a new adventure for the Iron Sirens. Hopefully there will be 4 issue’s in 2008 & again, if it sells well enough it can go to 6 issue’s in 2009 & eventually a monthly. That’s why I want to stress the importance of getting Issue #1 bought to show that our sport can & will support a comic book based on real athletes.

As things go, the artist was signed to an exclusive deal for a major comic book publisher so we will have a new artist for the next book but that’s not uncommon in the comic book world.

The goal is to feature more real IFBB fitness & figure athlete’s as both heroes & villians in future installments. I’d also like to feature some of the IFBB pro men too if they’d be willing.

Another thing to note is that all of this was dreamed up by me long before the t.v. series “Heroes” was ever heard of. Using real life characters & their super-powers. About the only nod we have to other super-heroes is that the girls do wear outfits when doing battle with their enemies.

I see my role as more of an Executive Producer as I have financed all of this on my own. Trust me, it’s not cheap, but I believe in the product. I also oversee Ian’s scripts; he & I share ideas. Ian is in charge of the writing as I said but he has also been the one trying to get us the best comic book artists to work for us. Again – not cheap. He is also the liaison with the publisher.

Below are a few samples of pages 2 & 4 in their drawing stages & then colorized. The dialog has not been added in yet.

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Thanks J.M. for the update. We hope the venture is a success for everyone involved.