By Greg Pak

My graphic novel "Vision Machine," pencilled by the brilliant RB Silva, was funded by the Ford Foundation and is distributed for FREE under a Creative Commons license that allows anyone to reuse and remix it non-commercially, as long as they credit Pak Man Productions.

Now we're making it much easier for any would-be remixers out there by releasing the unlettered colored pages of "Vision Machine" for download!

Click here to download the pdf of the unlettered "Vision Machine" graphic novel.

Click here to download the lettered "Vision Machine" graphic novel.

And be sure to ping me via Twitter if you create a remix or derivative work!

Enjoy!

Check it out! (The review begins around the 30:00 mark.)

Click here to download your own FREE copy of "Vision Machine.".

Wednesday, October 12 - Pak will sit on the Kyopo Project Panel and give away "Vision Machine" books at the signing afterwards.

Friday-Sunday, October 14-16 - Pak will be at the New York Comicon and will give away books at his table in Artists Alley, N3.

Saturday, October 15 - Pak will participate in the Upright Citizens Brigade Comic Book Show and may have some copies of "Vision Machine" to give away.

Click here to read "Ps[iEye]ch."

Now create your own "Vision Machine" inspired work and get a free copy of the "Vision Machine" trade!

Click here for the full details.

Orlando Bagwell of the Ford Foundation, which funded the "Vision Machine" project, will also speak on the panel.

For the full scoop, visit the official SXSW website.

Want a "Vision Machine" trade paperback but can't make one of the public events where we're giving them away?

We'll send free "Vision Machine" trade paperbacks to the first 50 folks who post remixes of the comic or other work inspired by the story or characters!

The first free "Vision Machine" trade goes to Stephen Morrow, who just posted the amazing image of Jane that you see above.

So draw a "Vision Machine" related picture, write a story or poem, remix the actual book, or create any other derivative work inspired by the book or characters... then ping @gregpak on Twitter with the link.

"Vision Machine" is released under a Creative Commons license allowing noncommerical derivative work of this kind - for the full scoop, click here. Your remixes/derivative work should credit Pak Man Productions be released under the same Creative Commons license.

So have fun! We're looking forward to seeing the links!

Please note: You must be 18 or older for us to send you the book.

Writer Greg Pak will give away FREE copies of the "Vision Machine" trade paperback at a signing on Wednesday, February 16, at Jim Hanley's Universe in New York City.

The first issue of Pak's "Silver Surfer" also comes out on the 16th and will be available for purchase. And artist Chris Cross will also be in attendance, signing copies of "Superman/Batman" #81.

The signing takes place from 6 to 8 pm at 4 West 33rd Street, New York, NY.

For more information, visit the Jim Hanley's Universe website.

If you're going to be in Park City this weekend, please come to the "Vision Machine" panel on Saturday at the Slamdance Filmmaker Summit, pick up a free copy of the trade paperback, and hear Greg Pak and Orlando Bagwell discuss the project with New York Times film writer John Anderson.

Read on for more details from the official Slamdance press release:

Today, Tomorrow and the Next 50 Years

Saturday, January 22nd
Treasure Mountain Inn
Technicolor Gallery
Free with registration: http://x.co/Ljfr

Last year at the first Slamdance's Filmmaker Summit – produced with the WorkBook Project, Open Video Alliance together with the support of the good folks at IndieFlix – we started a discus- sion that centered around how we, as a film community, could help support and encourage the release of independent film. Since then, Slamdance and its partners have made big strides in this endeavor, teaming up with independent curators and micro-cinemas to support and in some cases instigate distribution. These organizations have remained firmly committed to helping filmmakers survive economically, brokering partnerships with big distributors both in theatres and on alternate platforms such as video game consoles and online. But, the truth nonetheless remains: Most people in the independent film community are having a hard time just sustaining a living and livelihood, much less thriving.

With this in mind, this year’s Filmmaker Summit will take a long hard look at the realities behind the buzzwords, as well as focusing on an examination of the future of storytelling. Crowdsourc- ing, transmedia, branded content, social media... What do these things really mean for the inde- pendent filmmaker? Do we just need to learn how to better use our new internet-era tools? Can they help us create a realistic model for a self-sustaining independent community? Or are we lost in buzz?
Slamdance, the Ford Foundation, IndieFlix and Banyan Branch are teaming up to present a day of real conversation with innovative leaders, discussing the current state of our community, next steps and how each and every independent filmmaker can take better control of their creative destiny.

1:30 to 3 > Banyan Branch & IndieFlix present the panel:
Plz Retweet: How Social Media Is Changing The Way We Make And Market Movies.
Panelists Include: Scilla Andreen (IndieFlix), Tiffany Shlain (Dir. Connected, Yelp), Brian Newman (subgenre media), Jenny Samppala (Banyan Branch), John Anderson (journalist), Lance Weiler (Pandemic 1.0)

3 to 4:30 > The Ford Foundation presents a discussion moderated by journalist John Anderson with Orlando Bagwell of the Ford Foundation and comic book scribe and filmmaker Greg Pak, whose Vision Machine graphic novel imagines the social, political, and technological changes that will transform media creation and distribution over the next fifty years.

Copies of the Vision Machine trade paperback will be given to attendees. Vision Machine can also be downloaded for free at http://visionmachine.net.

4:30 to 7 > Join us for the Ford Foundation Happy Hour reception, where our summit partners will be having one-on-one discussions with filmmakers over sponsored drinks courtesy of Dos Equis and ONE BAR.

This comic warns of so much for so many and does so brilliantly, it’s a haunting vision of hope."

By far the coolest thing I have read this week has to be Greg Pak’s Vision Machine. If as well as being a comics geek, you happen to be a techno-geek as well, then this offering is a treat.

By Greg Pak

I had a total blast doing this "Vision Machine" behind-the-scenes interview with Chris Sims for ComicsAlliance.com. Check out my true confessions about learning how to talk to colorists, adding an extra page to introduce characters better, and how we almost populated Texas with space aliens -- all with exclusive work-in-progress art.

An excerpt:

CA: You also said there were some last-minute changes to the opening sequence.

GP: If you compare the original art for the opening sequence to the opening sequence in the finished comic, you can see we added a page and tweaked the art here and there to introduce our characters better.

CA: It looks like you wanted to spend a little more time with Liz Evers.

GP: Yes, and to get a better introduction of our trio of film grad heroes. RB did glorious work throughout. But as we were nearing completion of issue #1, I realized that my script had crammed things just a bit too tight in the opening pages.

In one of her books, Maxine Hong Kingston talks about the idea that if you stare at anyone's face in closeup long enough on the silver screen, you'll eventually fall in love. I think the principle can apply to comics as well. Giving the readers a moment to really absorb a character is pretty key. Particularly when you've got three talky, wisecracking characters as your leads. I realized after reading and re-reading the intro that I never gave readers the chance to gaze into our character's faces and kind of get to know them. We were just off to the races with hijinks and jokes, mostly in medium shot.

Again, all my fault. The original script just didn't give enough room. So I made the big crazy decision to add a page and have RB redraw some panels.

And download the entire "Vision Machine" graphic novel for FREE from www.visionmachine.net!

Grab it today and see what's up with the book that Newsarama calls "entertaining and thrilling."

And here's an excerpt from the latest rave review from Brandon Schatz at Comics! The Blog:

The story by Pak is absolutely phenomenal, but it would all be for naught if his efforts were combined with an artist that didn’t match his ambition. Thank goodness RB Silva is on board, matching Pak’s crazy brain step for step, showing this world and its various realities in crystal clarity. We here at Comics! The Blog were already quite impressed with his work on the Jimmy Olsen back ups in Action Comics, and his skill here sticks to that same level. Very expressive, kinetic when it needs to be, and just perfectly framed. This guy is going to be absolutely huge one day.

Anyone who has any interest in comics, especially creator-owned ventures, needs to download Vision Machine and give it a read. It’s more than just an interesting experiment. It is an in depth look at the future of communication and creativity with a great script and beautiful art. And, it’s free! Download it. Read it. Tell others about it. Vision Machine is something special.

"Vision Machine" comes primed with an exceptional high concept that is only surpassed by the execution on the book. Writer/creator Greg Pak gives us career best work here, giving readers payoff from the previous two issues that is both logical and surprising. Meanwhile, RB Silva continues to prove that he is a star in the making.

In the meantime, check out these advance rave reviews:

"... Vision Machine is an excellent ride, a superbly crafter hi-tech thriller that gushes with Pak’s love of dialog and sense of humor."
-- Iann Robinson, CraveOnline.com

"More than just a cautionary tale, Pak writes an entertaining and thrilling story as three friends face this new digital frontier together."
-- Scott Cederlund, Newsarama

"This is top-notch comics, and I can't recommend the entire project enough."
-- Gary M. Miller, Delusional Honesty

"... a good piece of speculative fiction.... Throughout the series, the writing has been engaging and slick, and that doesn’t stop."
-- Andrea Speed, cxPulp

"The artwork of the book is top notch, and the writing is great. It’s the kind of story that speaks to what every conspiracy theorist has discussed including government monitoring and tracking. But it’s done so in an entertaining way with a quality story, and great artwork."
-- ComicBooksBoard.com