Hey all, I'm Wilfredo S. Duran, but you can call me Fred. I'm a nineteen-year-old writer out of Southern Connecticut, USA - now at college at St. John's University in Queens, NY - trying to break in and stay in. I came in the top ten of the Global Comic Jam Script Jam in 2005 at the age of 15, and made it to the second round of the 2007 Small Press Idol, and in December of 2007 I had a ten-page sci-fi/fantasy anthology piece called Ruin published by Dimestore Productions in Mysterious Visions Anthology #4 (Script- Wilfredo S. Duran [credited as "Fred Duran"], Pencils- Sean Patella-Buckley, Inks- Tomm Gabbard, Colors and Letters- Adam Chowles), with a special dedication to Joe Pruitt. You can buy that online here. The anthology also includes a futuristic take on Jack London's classic, To Build a Fire, by Troy Boyle, Gary Francis, and Tomm Gabbard; Beyond Human by Hal Jones (better grab this up, it's the last production of Beyond Human before it gets its own title!); and a Possum at Large story by Chad Lambert.

Ruin will make another appearance in the upcoming Ronin Illustrated #4 from the awesome people at Ronin Studios, which should've been out in April 2008, but due to circumstances beyond my control has been delayed. I'll let you know when it's slated to come out as soon as the great people at Ronin pencil in a date.

I'll have another showing in a Dimestore Productions book, this time in Mysterious Visions Anthology #13, the story being a four-page humorous story called EPIC HEROES! (I seem to have a thing for exclamation points), about a two-year-old Epic Hero named Manny and his battle with a giant chocolate cake. You can order that online here, for a scheduled June 2009 release. EPIC HEROES! written and lettered (yup, I've started failing at lettering as WELL as writing now) by Wilfredo S. "Fred" Duran, penciled, inked and grayed by C.A. Haidusek.

In addition to that, I wrote a nine-page story for a series of webcomics based off of Skipper Martin's Bizarre New World concept, which he had published through Ape Entertainment. My story is called "Liftoff Takedown" and follows the story of an assassin going after a hard-to-hit target in a world where 99% of humanity has discovered the power of self-sustained flight. Skip is a really cool guy and helped me a TON during the creation of this, and is in the process of finding an art team for me. Can't wait to see this!

I have a four-issue miniseries on the back burner currently (due to school and other projects) called No Tomorrow, about a near-future apocalypse and how people react to the knowledge that they'll be dead soon, with a cruelly ironic ending. I'll be pitching that first to Image Shadowline (and hopefully ONLY to Image Shadowline). I'm back from school now, so the hiatus on this has been lifted and work has started up again! No Tomorrow written by Wilfredo S. Duran, penciled and inked by German Curti, lettered by James Reddington, and colored by Luciana Lara.

Over at Digital Webbing's Forums an anthology has started up, consisting of futuristic takes on classic fairy tales such as Pinocchio, the Billy Goats Gruff, and the Boy Who Cried Wolf, as well as some not-so-well-known stories such as the Steadfast Tin Soldier and Red Shoes. I've got a 12-page showing in this anthology, my fairy tale being Alice in Wonderland. I'm still in the process of tweaking the script so it's "just right", and story editor Chris Stevens and his compadres have been great with edits and general encouragement. I've learned a lot, both about the craft and myself (as cornballish as that sounds), and I can't wait to see the art come through. The anthology is to my knowledge called "The Digital Webbing Project" (I'm sure there's a more official name that I just haven't heard yet), and is run by Chris Stevens, L. Jamal Walton, and Jason Rodriguez. I'm super excited to be a part of this.

In addition to all that, I've been working on and off on a dark, noir/sci-fi story with a bit of Greek mythology thrown in for good measure, called Cruciblanca, about a private investigator in Cruciblanca - a dark and dangerous city - hired to find a man for a shadowy brotherhood that dates back to Ancient Greece and has enough skeletons in its closet to fill a cemetery . . . twice. Cruciblanca written and lettered by Wilfredo S. Duran, with art by somebody or somebodies amazing, because that's the only type of artist with whom I've worked so far in my short career, and I'm looking to keep the trend going.

I also have what's been classified as a "serialized graphic novel" in the early planning stages called The Phoenix Initiative, wherein an elite intelligence agent has to go on the run to expose a government conspiracy that is only the prelude to something far more sinister that can and will affect the entire world. I also plan to use other mediums in conjunction with the print comic (should it be made, of course), which will (hopefully) flesh out the experience and answer a few questions - while posing a few more. When I roughly outlined the plot of this to a friend of mine, he described it as "Paul Greengrass directing one of those 'on-the-run' movies, with a WHOLE LOT of extra material." Paul Greengrass did an amazing job on the final two Bourne movies, so if I can do half as well I'll be satisfied. All I have credit-wise at this point is that I'm writing and probably lettering it. It's too early in development to start looking for artists (I've got five pages of script that will probably change fifty times before I'm satisfied), but when and if I do, you'll be the first to know!

Lastly (sheesh!), I have a blog that I update regularly that's called Legally Blind Observations, wherein I make observations about things that catch my legally blind eyes. That's an R-rated blog, too, people. Just warning you.

For my writing samples (comic, prose, and poetry), go here. If you like what you see, drop me a line and we'll talk.
Hoping to see some fellow Digital Webbing-ers and Penciljack-ers around here, and I'm looking forward to making some good connections here that will be mutually beneficial.

-Fred