Comics - Mind of an Underground Comic

Jesus (hay zoos') Riddle Morales is an underground comic illustrator, Internet author, evolutionary activist, and graffiti artist. He has joined our staff to bring the continuing sagas of all his imagination can muster. You wanted imagination, speculation, and the very unlikely? Look no more. Welcome to the Future According to Jesus Riddle Morales!

"Jem" Riddle is an evolutionary activists and old school graffiti artist from Chicago. Born Jesus Eladio Morales, his graffiti-tag name-Riddle-had gotten intertwined in his art; thus to keep his art legally in his possession-he adopted the name J.e.m Riddle; the name signed on all his paintings. The first name Jem being the initials of his real name, and Riddle the well-known pen name.

Riddle grew up in a tough part of the ghetto that bordered the main territories to Black and Hispanic gangs. However, he was lucky that his father was the caretaker of a small three-flat house, which had a fair-sized yard. It was in this backyard that he first got a glimpse of the glorious tempest of life that would haunt his ambitions forever. I recall him telling me of that first encounter with life as he replied, " I looked toward the grass in my father's garden and at first saw nothing, but as I drew closer, I saw hundreds of living things just below our feet!"

His interest in evolution came early on in life. Unlike the many scientists, anthropologists and paleontologists that write books on the esteemed subject of evolution, Riddle is quite the opposite. For a person with absolutely no schooling in these matters, I find Riddle miraculously knowledgeable, although he stubbornly contends, "I'm not a scientist, and I'm a nobody!"

As a bit of an upstart, he was kicked out of Farragut high school-at the time among the worst schools in the entire country-nonetheless, he never lost his intense interest in bio-diversity. In an environment where illicit drugs, rampant sex and alcohol-induced debauchery ruled, Riddle excelled at keeping his senses aimed at the intricacies of the earth's life forms.

As a teenager, his heroes were people with extraordinary visions and his room was filled with an assortment of books from Peter Ward, Dougal Dixon, Stephan Jay Gould, Richard Attenborough, Colin Patterson and many others that dreamed of life in the past, present, and future. Being very poor and not able to purchase books, Riddle was always on the look out for those rare intellectual jewels of science and imagination. Many times he had traded booze and liquor for what regular residents of the ghetto found strange and worthless.

In one incident, he traded a bottle of vodka for a fine edition of H.G Well's the Time Machine. It was this book that inspired him to delve deeper into the machinations of science, receive his GED and move toward higher education. Other novels by Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clark and Isaac Asimov have inspired Riddle's art and ideals. Unlike many writers, artists were also on Riddle's list of inspirational talent. Wonderful works by Charles R. Knight, Alex Rockman, William Stout and others have compelled Riddle to keep his aim at merging art and science in reality. In fact, Riddle used his graffiti art talents to create gigantic murals depicting some of Dougal Dixon's work on many neighborhood walls. However, many people could not understand the meaning of these futuristic visions; thus religious fanatics eventually made the city paint over these controversial murals.

In the late 1980's Riddle began experimenting with art and created Hypergothics; an advanced system of art techniques-this led him to test his art theories in small competitions and exhibitions within Chicago's underground art world. Though never gaining big fame or money for his efforts, his exhibitions were always well known and to this day he is still a popular artist in Chicago.

Over the years, his articles on the relationship of scientific evidence concerning Jesus Christ and organized religions has landed him in some community controversies, but Riddle is adamant in protecting his views, yet wise enough to pull out of any unsavory incidents. However, his art-both eerie and blatantly uncensored-often portrays his convictions on science and religion as he briskly showcases surreal attributes regarding faith and evolution.

But art had brought him back to his first love-science, and thus he merged his talent for art and his interest in the sciences together, while posting up various Internet articles about many subjects centering on evolutionary concepts.

He is also the creator to an Internet comic book series called Knight Syndrome, which is beautifully illustrated by him. His Knight Syndrome Novel was also one of the most downloaded free E-books on many science fiction web sites. Knight Syndrome is clearly a story that merges all his interests in science, evolution and religion-although strictly fiction, it is a must read for fans of future prophecy.

However, Riddle strains hard to separate science fiction from science fact. In this E-book, there are many articles, but they all pertain to science fact. Though many predictions regarding future evolution and new theories on how evolution may work are presented as credible possibilities, he readily admits that these possibilities are based on what the evolutionary record of the past has already shown us.

Living with his wife Belinda, Riddle, still mildly impoverished- is a struggling graphic artist and writer. Unfortunately, he has been victimized by a condition that causes great pain and discomfort when in fast speed and motion. This makes it almost impossible for him to travel-especially long distances-and embracing his love for the world's natural environments will have to wait until he attains some type of controlled treatment. Nonetheless, he still travels locally-mainly by bicycle-exploring the regions of the city's Lake Michigan beaches and studying the micro-faunas in city ponds.

Currently, Riddle is working on several projects concerning evolution, as well as some new science fiction E-books. He sells and rents science-oriented art and still paints magnificent graffiti murals. Though many of the graffiti murals are fantastic renditions of comic style characters and letters, some are completely nature based. His work as a graffiti artist could be seen on the Chicago line of the world's biggest Internet collection of graffiti murals called Art Crimes under the moniker "Riddle". His popularity as a graffiti artist has helped him knowledge many teens and young adults about the wonders of nature and evolution in a cool and artful manner.

A constant observer, Riddle is a wild consumer of data and searches TV, books and the Internet for the most recent fossil finds and comparative theories. His own theories are original and may seem unorthodox at first, but soon a credible line of traits always leads to his ominous conclusions. Now, at the age of thirty-three, he continues his quest for truth and still aims to merge art and science in a way that he hopes will shed more light about the wonderful aspects of evolution and ultimatelylife itself.