JFH: Justice For Hire
JFH: Justice For Hire | |
---|---|
Freedom Tower | |
Agent(s) | Ebony, Ivory, Louisa Mendez, Original Ebony, Original Ivory, Anita Bennett, Utada Otomo, Sharique Chandra, Jacques |
JFH: Justice For Hire | |
JFH: Justice For Hire Season 1 Collected Edition Graphic Novel (July 2011). Cover art by Tariq Raheem. | |
Series publication information | |
Schedule | Bi-monthly (issues 1-4), Semi-monthly (issue 0) |
Format | Ongoing series |
Genre | Martial Arts, Action/Adventure, Crime/Thriller |
Publication date | (Vol. 1) Dec. 2007 – Dec. 2009 (Vol. 2) Apr. 2012 – present |
Number of issues | (Vol. 1): 4 (plus special editions) (Vol. 2): 1 (ongoing) |
Creative team | |
Writer(s) | (Vol. 1) Jan C. Childress, Jan Lucanus, Mercer Boffey, Banyan Williamson-Masuda (Vol. 2) Jan Lucanus, Jan C. Childress |
Artist(s) | Antonio Rojo, PUSTE, Sivakami Mohan, Chadwick Coleman, Tariq Raheem |
Penciller(s) | (Vol. 1) Antonio Rojo |
Inker(s) | (Vol. 1) Rick Bonilla, Antonio Garovillo
(Vol. 2) |
Colorist(s) | (Vol. 1) Veronica Rosado, Mike Toolan, Sivakami Mohan (Vol. 2) Sivakami Mohan |
Creator(s) | Jan Lucanus Jan C. Childress |
JFH: Justice For Hire (also known as JFH, Justice For Hire, and JFH: Justice-For-Hire) is a mixed martial arts themed entertainment property that encompasses a series of comic books,[1] films,[2] videos,[3] music,[4] and animations.[5] The JFH story follows two sons of a duo of vigilante fathers who get their family's hero-for-hire business legalized, spawning a worldwide industry of heroes, villains, and mercenaries for hire dubbed the Retribution Industry. Produced and published by Creative Impulse Entertainment, JFH remains one of the first examples of transmedia storytelling in the comic book industry.[6]
JFH was created by real-life father/son martial arts champions and comic book writers Jan C. Childress and Jan Lucanus. Lucanus appears as a regular cast member in the live action content.[7]
Comic Book History
As explained in an interview with Kodak's "In Camera" magazine,[8] what started as a series of student films Jan Lucanus was directing from his high school and college days at the New York Film Academy and New York University grew into expanded short films and an award winning "Justice-For-Hire" 47-minute Featurette[9] that doubled as both Jan's company Creative Impulse Entertainment's[10] second narrative production and his NYU senior thesis film. The same footage from the featurette was recut into shorter episodic content, placed on four DVDs, and bundled with issues 1-4 of the "JFH: Justice-For-Hire" comic book series, marking the first time in the history of the comic book industry in which a physical comic book and DVD combination package was sold for an entire series run.[11]
Launch
In 2007, JFH co-creator Jan Lucanus took an independent approach to spreading the word about his new comic series, doing a pre-release print run that debuted at the
Print Distribution & Reviews
A year of independent promotions and the non-traditional packaging of comics & DVD's landed Jan's small, newly formed publishing subsidiary, Creative Impulse Publishing, a vendor deal with Diamond Comics Distributors, the worldwide monopoly for printed comics distribution. Creative Impulse Publishing officially released of the first issue of the printed "JFH" comic book/DVD bundles to comic shops internationally on December 26, 2007.,[27] and ran a bi-monthly release schedule into June 2008 to critical acclaim.[6] The "JFH" comic book received 4 out of 4 stars from Newsarama.com, which reviewed the book as "cinematic genius on the printed page...some of the most realistic kung-fu sequences ever drawn for a comic book". The live action DVD content received positive reviews from several media outlets including TheComicBookPage.com podcast, which is quoted, "the [live action] content was excellent. The basic premise for the series...absolutely brilliant"[28] However, the concept of "JFH"'s Retribution Industry has also been criticized by several media outlets including Comics Forge, "Overall because of the moral ambiguity in the story lines, I am going to rate this 4 of 5, technically excellent, but morally questionable",[29] and Geeksmash.com, "When all you need is money to get rid of a problem, the team could easily degrade into hit-men to the highest bidder. I don’t know if the creators are as concerned with these thematic messages as much as they simply want to put out a cool, tough fighting book".[30]
Digital Comics
After the initial "JFH" print release, Creative Impulse Entertainment was approached by comiXology to produce a "JFH" iPhone app that carried both the comic and the live action video. ComiXology was concurrently developing a new digital comics service and was seeking indie publishers to release their comics digitally and prove the viability of the digital comics business to larger publishers. ComiXology launched the Comics App [31] in July 2009 with "JFH: Justice-For-Hire" as one of the launch titles. The "JFH" digital comic books spent nine consecutive weeks on the Top 25 Action/Adventure Downloads List[32] and twelve consecutive weeks as the number one ranked Martial Arts Genre Download on comiXology's Top 25 List. "JFH", along with all of Creative Impulse Publishing's first wave of titles, remained on the Top 25 Martial Arts Downloads List until comiXology updated the platform's user interface in 2012, removing the Top 25 listings by genre completely.[33] ComiXology remains the leading digital comic service in the industry.[34] With digital distribution on all mobile and desktop devices via partnerships with comiXology, Graphic.ly, iVerse Media,[35] and other digital distributors, "JFH" is one of the most downloaded martial arts comic book series on any digital comics platform.[36]
Motion comic animations
Creative Impulse Entertainment partnered with Willow Road Animation
In 2013, the JFH motion comic pilot episode began its official film festival and industry competition run, winning the 34th Annual Silver Telly Awards highest honor for Best Use of Animation Online,[44] a 2013 Silver Davey Award,[45] and the Award of Merit at the 2014 Accolade Competition.[46]
Films
Announced at the 2012
In 2013, the JFH creative team launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to shoot a short film to establish the cinematic tone for the JFH feature, as well as test out a martial arts camera system designed for the film, called "Weapon Camera Movement". The short, entitled JFH: Justice For Hire - Retribution Task Force, brought together several characters across the JFH Universe for a common goal - stopping acts of violence against women committed by the Raskol gangs of Papua New Guinea.[51] The film premiered at the 2014 Comic Con Superhero Kung Fu Extravaganza,[52] and was a featured screening at the HBO/Cinemax Urban Action Showcase[53] and Bent-Con[54] in the same year.
References
- ^ "JFH Comics on comiXology". ComiXology. Archived from the original on February 22, 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ "JFH original short film excerpt". Youtube. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ "JFH Brawl webisode". Creative Impulse Films. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ "Killa Icons - Ivory featuring Ebony (song)". Soundcloud. Creative Impulse Music. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
- ^ "JFH Motion Comic Pilot Episode". Creative Impulse Films. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ a b "The Comic Book Page Podcast on JFH #1". Retrieved 20 May 2013.
- ^ "JFH: Justice For Hire - The Web Series Episode #0". YouTube. Creative Impulse Films. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
- ^ - In Camera Magazine "Focus on Film: Justice-for-Hire". Retrieved 23 August 2016.
{{cite web}}
: Check|url=
value (help) - ^ "JFH Father/Son Duo Honored at '05 Budo International Hall of Fame". Budo International. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ a b "Official Creative Impulse Ent. Website". Creative Impulse Entertainment. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ Lucanus, Jan (2008). JFH: Justice-For-Hire #4. Creative Impulse Publishing. p. 32. Archived from the original on 2013-10-21. Retrieved 2013-10-21.
- ^ "Niche Comic Market". The Comic Book Manifesto. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
- ^ "JFH Contest - Inside Kung Fu Magazine". Inside Kung Fu Magazine. September 2007. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ "Bob Johnson bio".
- ^ "Planet Illogica designs". Mark Murphy. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ "Hinton Wells vs. Jan Lucanus - San Da demo". YouTube. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ "Ian Morgan vs Gabe Dorado Muay Thai- JFH/Von Dutch event". YouTube. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ "Maximillion Chen vs. Mercer Boffey - JFH/Von Dutch event". YouTube. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ "Jesse Abrescy IMDB". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ "John Machado BJJ demo JFH/Von Dutch". YouTube. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ "Tai Chi Demo with Beatbox - JFH/Von Dutch event". YouTube. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ "JFH/Von Dutch Fight Night - A Bloggers Recap" (PDF). Darion Lowenstein. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
- ^ "REALIS profile". GigSalad. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ "Alacer Corp. website". Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ "Tim Stell - IKF promoter". Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ "JFH/Von Dutch Fight Night Poster". Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
- ^ Lucanus, Jan (2007). JFH: Justice-For-Hire #1. Creative Impulse Publishing. p. 32.
- ^ "Creative Impulse Spotlight on TheComicBookPage.com". The Comic Book Page Podcast. September 20, 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ Morril, Dan (31 January 2012). "Justice for Hire". Comics Forge. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
- ^ Burrows, Jon (August 13, 2012). "Review: Justice For Hire #0". Geeksmash. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
- ^ "Comics App". comiXology. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
- ^ "JFH #1 on ComiXology August 24, 2009". comiXology. Archived from the original on 17 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ "Last Top 25 List for Martial Arts Genre - ComiXology". comiXology. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ "comiXology website". comiXology. Archived from the original on August 25, 2007. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ "iVerse Media website". iVerse Media. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ "CNet JFH Download". cnet. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ "Willow Road Animation website".
- ^ "JFH Free For All Event Announcement". Archived from the original on 2013-07-09. Retrieved 2013-10-21.
- ^ "Graphicly website".
- ^ "Graphicly's JFH Free For All Event". Archived from the original on 2013-09-10. Retrieved 2013-10-21.
- ^ "San Diego Comic Con 2012: 15th Annual Kung Fu Extravaganza". Archived from the original on 2013-04-14. Retrieved 2013-10-21.
- ^ "Ric Meyers website".
- ^ a b "Spillwall Productions website". Archived from the original on 2013-10-22.
- ^ "JFH Wins 2013 Silver Telly Awards". Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ "JFH Animated Pilot wins 2013 Davey Award". Retrieved 17 May 2014.
- ^ "2014 Accolade Competition Winners". Accolade Competition. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
- ^ Montegomery, Paul (June 8, 2012). "Graphicly JFH Free For All Winner Will Roberts". Graphicly. Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
- ^ "ComiXology - "JFH: Justice-For-Hire" Comics". ComiXology. Archived from the original on February 22, 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
- ^ "Aurore Barry IMDB". IMDB. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
- ^ "Sifu Jan C. Childress Official Website". Jan C. Childress. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ "JFH Kickstarter". Kickstarter. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ Meyers, Ric. "San Diego Comic Con Kung Fu Extravaganza 2014 Playlist!". RicMeyers.com. Ric Meyers. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
- ^ "JFH at HBO Cinemax Urban Action Showcase". Instagram. Archived from the original on 2021-12-26. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
- ^ "JFH at Bent-Con". Bent-Con. Retrieved 11 April 2016.