Meet Team Flashback!

Pierre Villeneuve
Artist/Colorist/Inker/Co-creator

In his own words:
My name is Pierre Villeneuve. I am 36 years old and have studied Graphic Design Arts at Salette College.

I have worked in animation for various studios such as CINAR, Cactus Animation and Cine-Groupe, since 1996. I have worked on a wide variety of projects ranging from the television series Arthur, Ultimate Spider-man licensing/merchandizing, Marsupilami to the movie Heavy Metal 2000.

My work is constantly evolving, and I am always on the lookout for new experiences that will help me improve myself and my work. I hope you enjoy the Flashback Universe as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Check out Pierre's Online Portfolio

Jim Shelley
Writer/Editor/Graphic Designer/Co-creator

I'm one of the most passionate advocates of Digital Comics you'll every meet! Pierre and I started this site 5 years ago to promote digital comics. Since then what was once a reviled term used in hypothetical messageboard rhetoric has actually become an honest to god industry. Because of our foresight and perserverance, Flashback Universe comics can be found on iPods, Android devices and Archos Tablets.

Caine Dorr
Blogger/Writer

Known as BlaqueSaber all over the internet Caine blogs about digital comics here on Flashback Universe, and can be found tweeting about pop culture when ever he's not working in retail management or spending time with his beautiful wife & daughter. In addition to his work here at the FBU, Caine writes action adventure stories with a superheroic slant to them with any spare time he might accumulate along the way.

Check out Caine's BlaqueSaber blog.

Clayton Neal
Publisher of Popbox Comics

I am one who has never known life without comics. When I was about 7 I really thought I wanted to be a writer of comics. But by the time I was 10 he knew what I really wanted was my very own "Super Universe" to play with. I let real life distract me for many years, but now my goal is just beginning to become a reality for me with Popbox Entertainment!

Matt Linkous
Artist/Writer

My name is Matt Linkous (aka MattComix). I write, I draw, and I dream of heroes. I'm a contributor to FBU and moderator at Henshin Justice Unlimited. ..and who disguised as a mild-mannered bookseller for a major retailer fights a never ending battle for truth, justice, and other cool stuff! I live in Virginia with my wife Alicia (aka Lynxara). When it comes to superheroes whether they are classic American heroes or from other shores like the dynamic henshin-heroes of Japan, my adventures within these wild and colorful fantasy worlds always remind me to do one thing in real life: look up in the sky.

What is the Flashback Universe?

The Flashback Universe is really two things: a tip of the hat to old comic books and an exciting glimpse into the future of comics.

A Flashback to an age of discovery

This project began, as many such projects do, as a discussion among friends about how much fun it was to pick up an old Marvel or DC comic book when we were kids and just be bombarded by a vast array of images and characters we'd never seen before.

For me, it was the Fantastic Four Wedding Issue. Picking up that comic and seeing panel after panel of heroes and villains just popping in really captured my imagination. I used to pour over the issue trying to figure out who was who and what their deal was. As I continued to collect Marvel comics, I would eventually put all the pieces together. Later, I would discover DC Legion of Super-heroes and the whole process would start again.

This grand sense of first time discovery is something I wanted to recapture with this project. In our comics, you are going to see many different heroes and villains, some for just a flashback panel. Some will seem familiar, being based on age old archetypes. Others will be completely alien to you. Hopefully, you will enjoy all of them.

A Flash to the age that is coming

But that's just half of what the Flashback Universe is all about. While our stories may be reminiscent of ones long past, our delivery system is bleeding edge by current industry standards.

I have watched as the vast, ever growing numbers of comic book downloaders has grown from 700 to over 12,000 in the space of 2 years. Every Thursday and Friday, the comics that you buy at your local shop are torrented all across the globe where eager readers download them to read on demand.

Is this legal? Is it right? Those are questions I can't answer.

What I can say is here is a PROVEN delivery system, using FREELY available software that the users have said they prefer. Not Macromedia Flash. Not Adobe Acrobat. CDisplay and CBRs.

Let's face it - cbr is to comics what mp3s are to music - the way of the future.

Wired Magazine said it best - http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.05/start.html?pg=3

[quote] Most piracy doesn't spring from the desire to get free content. It comes from a desire to get it in a specific way. Successes like Apple's music business have shown that consumers will pay for content if it's offered at a fair price without unreasonable restrictions. Right now, comics publishers could enjoy a win-win situation - they could reach out to new fans and increase revenue - if they would just decide to take advantage of it. And if they don't? Worst. Decision. Ever. [/quote]

The comics industry needs an iTunes Level distribution model to survive into the future.

Sadly, no such application exist currently, so we have decided to put our fate in the hands of those who would control this future - you.

You control the future

So there you go - we have created the FIRST comic book designed specifically for the cbr format to take full advantage of todays technology and user preferences. What happens next is up to you. You can donate or you can just download and send us a nice e-mail. Either way, your voice counts. Let's prove to the industry that YES! We want downloadable comics in cbr format!

Thank you for your time!

- Jim

The Flashback Universe: Download - Donate - Enjoy!