"You don’t have to reach out more than an inch to grasp how writer Matteo Pizzolo’s [work] fits
into today’s political discourse… and there is nothing wrong with that.
It’s only fair and right that art in all its forms would strike back with unmitigated force.”
— Salon
MATTEO PIZZOLO
. writer . director . producer . publisher .
. comics . film . tv . games. animation .
. agitprop street politics .
“Pizzolo is determined to not only tell important, all-inclusive stories but also to make sure that translates into important, real-world work.”
-LA Weekly
”The concepts Matt is presenting here are so familiar they should be terrifying.”
-Chuck D (Public Enemy)
ROGUE STATE
WHAT IF MILITIAS WERE THE LAW OF THE LAND?
Political violence plunges America into turmoil. Militia groups rise into roving gangs of vigilantes.
In a strict interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, an embattled Supreme Court overturns two centuries of settled law by recognizing militias as Constitutionally protected. Lockdowns set in. Fear spreads… and whispers of revolution.
“Politically charged... Rogue State explores a worst-case scenario for a politically divided nation: an alternate version of the U.S. that has splintered into a series of paramilitary militia groups, and where a new freedom fighter named Vya Of Brightstars emerges to rally a terrified nation.” —IGN
“A new triptych [Chuck D] illustrated for the cover of the first issue of comic book Rogue State depicts gun-toting MAGA supporters, pregnant women suffering after the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, and gun-toting fundamentalists executing homeless people while getting marketed to.
’My art isn’t always revolutionary nor is it evolutionary,’ Chuck says. ‘It just is what it is and sometimes I don’t have any words for it.”
—ROLLING STONE
“It's a genre known as 'speculative fiction,' except it doesn't feel as speculative anymore.” —THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
“Matteo Pizzolo returns to dystopian political thrillers with a new series set in a revolutionary future America... a hyper-extrapolated, sideways glance at some very real-world anxieties.” —io9
“A new comic about a near future army of young vigilantes resisting a paramilitary police state after the Supreme Court rules that militias are Constitutionally protected.”
—DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD
”CALEXIT’s main comic is a high-octane war story…
spinoff EMMIE-X focuses on characters who aren’t
shooting their way through urban street warfare but
instead are peacefully resisting and inspiring their
neighbors to stand beside them against tyranny.”
-Entertainment Weekly
EMMIE-X
Teenage skaterat Emmie runs a punk record shop in an abandoned strip mall during the CALEXIT military occupation.
When Homeland Security turns the strip mall into a detention center, Emmie realizes she must fight.
“Dropkicking fascism”
“Pizzolo ran a voter registration drive on the convention floor of San Diego Comic Con and debuted EMMIE-X, about a young woman fighting DHS internment camps through pirate radio.”
“Startlingly realistic”
“When Emmie’s makeshift record store gets seized by government agents who need more facilities to hold detained immigrants (not too different from real-life immigrants being detained at former Walmart stores), she pivots to pirate radio, broadcasting newly outlawed music instead of government-mandated right wing radio. In doing so, she befriends a Homeland Security troop with good taste in music — but wonders if she can convince him to actually rebel against his fascist government masters.”
“The comic is, indeed, a form of political activism”
“Each issue includes interviews with progressive candidates and community organizers.”
Wired Magazine:
World’s Most Wired Comics Creator
“EVIL GENIUS PLOTS TO BLOW UP THE COMICS UNIVERSE
Who knew we had to kill comics in order to save them? Matteo Pizzolo, that’s who… a publisher and filmmaker who has been busy engineering the transmedia spine that will take comics into the future.”
"It's not wish fulfillment: it's warning -- and a scarily imminent and salient warning at that.
But that's not all: it's superb."
—Cory Doctorow, BOING BOING
CALEXIT
io9 Best of the Year list
"Calexit is both an excellent comic and a striking thought experiment. 'What if,' the comic asks, 'in response to Donald Trump’s draconian presidency, California simply decided to secede from the rest of the US?'
It’s an idea that floated around in the immediate aftermath of the election with many envisioning an idyllic scenario in which Californians proved to the rest of the country that they wouldn’t tolerate the White House’s commitment to disenfranchise and materially hurt marginalized people.
But Calexit takes the fantasy of that scenario and actually delves into what all kinds of very real-world repercussions such a turn of events would have both for California residents and the rest of the U.S. The economic entanglements, conflicts, and general uneasiness that define Calexit’s narrative speak to the complexity of the ideas at work. There are no clear, easy answers, but that’s not quite what the series is going for. It’s a story about the journey."
8 reprints (and counting…)
“CALEXIT launched last week with a print run of 25,000... But within 24 hours, the book had sold out at the distribution level and at most major comic book retailers.” —CNN
Photographed at NPR’s KCRW in Santa Monica.
Listen to the interview here.
Billionaire Killers - coming 2024
“A brutal take on the children of a corrupt generation refusing to accept their tainted legacy.”
-Newsweek
GODKILLER returns in 2023.
“Hot on the heels of Godkiller: Spiderland’s massive success (and sold-out status in just 24 hours), Black Mask’s popular series has already been renewed for a fifth installment to release next year. The new volume will be called Godkiller: For Those I Love I Will Sacrifice. Scheduled for Winter 2023, the book looks set to continue Godkiller’s streak as Black Mask’s all-time longest-running and bestselling series.” -Comics Beat
"Continuing the legacy of DMZ and THE INVISIBLES, this sci-fi thriller captures the true rage, injustice and emotions behind a rebellion on every panel and provides a brutal and sometimes violent social commentary on the current state of affairs.
YOUNG TERRORISTS fearlessly attacks politics in a completely savage way."
-Amy Giardiniere, CBR
YOUNG TERRORISTS
“High-octane anger, violence, gore, sex, and rebellion...
A well-done terrorist tale for those with a taste for
in-your-face, rage-fueled, vicious carnage."
-Kirkus Reviews
#1 Amazon Bestseller
“This is an angry book.
YOUNG TERRORISTS is violent, bloody, and profoundly misanthropic.
It is, in other words, the logical extension of our current political moment…
It’s a frightful thing, but so’s the news these days.”
-The Comics Journal
Bestselling Indie Graphic Novel of the Year (Publishers Weekly)
#1 in Mature Readers, #2 Marketwide
"There's political intrigue, violence, sex, a female protagonist, strong characters, a punk aesthetic, mystery, and dystopian societal commentary... capturing both pain and hurt and the beauty of rebellion."
-Julia Walchuk, Comics Bulletin
“Wonderfully bizarre... GODKILLER is deftly unorthodox and wickedly delectable.”
Best Books Of The Year List
—Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
“Recently the BLACK series published by Black Mask Studios got orders north of 40,000, which was at that point the publisher's best-selling comic book to date. But if evidence was needed that the direct comic book market is booming again, it might be that GODKILLER: TOMORROW’S ASHES #1 out today (July 6, 2021) is now Black Mask's most-ordered comic book yet.”
-Rich Johnston, BLEEDING COOL
(painting by Nen Chang)
“Black Mask Studios’ GODKILLER series by Matteo Pizzolo and Anna Muckcracker is set to become the publisher’s longest-running book this September with the debut of GODKILLER: SPIDERLAND #1. To celebrate, fans have three gorgeous special covers to choose from. First up is a beautiful handpainted wraparound cover by Nen Chang, whose cover for GODKILLER: TOMORROW’S ASHES #1 was Black Mask’s all-time bestseller and sold out on its release day.”
-Deanna Destito, COMICS BEAT
(painting by Nen Chang)
"GODKILLER: TOMORROW'S ASHES #1 gets a fourth printing cover...
"GODKILLER: TOMORROW'S ASHES #2 gets a third printing cover...
"And GODKILLER: TOMORROW'S ASHES #3 gets a second printing cover, all by Karen S Darboe... GODKILLER seems to show no sign of slowing down, almost as if it were somewhat divinely inspired." -BLEEDING COOL
GODKILLER
“GODKILLER is that early display of genius.
A nascent voice ready to make a lot of fucking noise.
It showed Pizzolo’s skills, his tastes, his balls, and it set the stage for what would come from Black Mask and Pizzolo.”
-Tim Seeley (Batman Eternal, Hack/Slash)
“I really am at a loss for words.
The GODKILLER animated film essentially stabbed me in the gut and has left me quite speechless.
Built from the ground up, inventing as they go… it challenges cinema, both live-action and animated. It will push your limits. Watch at your own risk.”
—Multiversity
GODKILLER teaser
“Intriguing…
Mixes dark visuals, graphic violence, profanity and a speed metal soundtrack into an oddly alluring post-nuclear holocaust.” -SF Signal
GODKILLER:
The Illustrated Film
“Once in a while an underground niche will burst to the surface and lay down a title that has the power to reach a wider audience. That's exactly the kind of film Godkiller is.
I simply swooned.”
-Twitch Film
Over 3 Million Copies Served
“Post-nuclear punk odyssey Godkiller is making the jump from indie comic book to ‘illustrated film’ with engaging animation that merges sequential art, 3-D CGI and motion graphics.” -Wired
community
godkiller cosplay and tattoos
RAGE
[Atari Teenage Riot feat D-Stroy]
While these days images of raging street protests flood our news and social media, back in 99 it was much more difficult to spread visuals of what was happening on the streets.
In 2000, Pizzolo appeared at the 2600 Hackers On Planet Earth conference where he contrasted the largely censored news footage of the WTO protests against uncensored, on-the-street video shot by activists. (miniDV was new at the time so activists were documenting more and more, but most video was still being shared on VHS tapes!)
Off that presentation, Atari Teenage Riot partnered with Pizzolo for a music video to help the activist-shot footage reach a wider audience.
"Like a raw blast of visceral anger, THREAT explodes off the screen eliciting comparisons to early Martin Scorsese,
Abel Ferrara and Larry Clark's nihilistic masterpiece KIDS. Pretty heady company and it's to Pizzolo's credit that when
THREAT works, it's more than worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as those films...
Undeniably compelling, THREAT grabs you by the throat and holds tight for 90 minutes." -Alternative Press
THREAT
“Makes KIDS look like an after-school special.”
-Urb Magazine
THREAT hi-definition remastered edition in production now.
Written by Pizzolo at age 19 and produced with filmmaking partner Katie Nisa throughout the mid-to-late 90s in NYC, Pizzolo’s directorial debut hit festivals in 1999, toured the US and Europe through the early 2000s, and finally hit theaters and DVD in 2006. Now, 20 years later, the 16mm film is being remastered for a definitive HD release.
THREAT trailer [SD]
“A defiant and confrontational movie about class war and unbridled youth violence, THREAT is not exactly the type of film you might expect to earn its writer-director a multi-picture deal with Sony, but that's exactly what Pizzolo managed to accomplish along with his filmmaking partner Katie Nisa and their Kings Mob multimedia militia. With THREAT tearing it up in theaters, I decided to catch up with Pizzolo and figure out what he's so angry about.”
-Suicide Girls
"THREAT is different.
Genuinely unsettling, thrillingly chaotic, a tale of a cross-cultural riot that takes in philosophy, polemic and politics without taking a breath.
S’like you hired private dicks to follow your kids around at night and they hired Abel Ferrara to do surveillance.
Put together by an utterly untutored group of kids on 16mm cameras with discarded film stock, it’s a morally complex, beautifully acted, occasionally sickeningly violent portrayal of the underground NYC hip hop and hardcore scenes without a moment of false patronisation or sociological merit.
The story skewers you precisely because it’s left so open-ended and realistically without closure.
A genuinely independent feeling film – seemingly creating a new cinematic aesthetic from the noise that is its soundtrack and spur, and if nothing else it contains voices and thoughts (particularly about politics and 9/11) that you’re not likely to hear anywhere else.
The soundtrack’s a doozie too, pitting Alec Empire and a host of tech-terror merchants (The Tyrant / Edgey / Holocaust) against a slew of hardcore genii (Agnostic Front / Glassjaw / Killswitch Engage / Minor Threat) with frequently devastating results (the Defragmentation re-rub of Gorilla Biscuits is worth the price of admission in itself).
Hear, see, never set foot in a multiplex ever again."
-Terrorizer Magazine
THREAT: Music That Inspired The Movie
To commemorate THREAT’s wide release, a set of hardcore bands and breakcore artists created remix mashups in line with the film’s culture clash.
Listen here for: Minor Threat vs Holocaust, Glassjaw vs Enduser, Most Precious Blood vs Atari Teenage Riot, Gorilla Biscuits vs Defrag, and more.
”A beast that becomes a beauty, this musical creation carries substance, maintaining continuity with the film's concept of hope - to join diametrically opposed elements in harmony. Of the 15 mixes, some are truly wonders of electronic possibility. Enduser's retooling of Terror's ‘Overcome’ retains genuine brutality, and Killswitch Engage's ‘World Ablaze’ is put into surreal industrial disco beats by Edgey. " -Outburn Magazine
VENTURES
become the government.
“Pizzolo hopes to encourage people to take more active roles in their local communities. He's using royalties earned from Calexit to start a super PAC called ‘Become The Government.‘ The overall goal is to support first-time candidates from non-partisan backgrounds in the 2018 midterm elections.”
-CNN
In 2017, Pizzolo utilized the success of Calexit to effect real-world change. He hosted Indivisible to run voter registration at his booth on the showfloor of San Diego Comic Con, profiled first-time political candidates and grassroots organizers in the non-fiction section of the Calexit comics, and documented the process of using his Calexit profits to form a super PAC for the 2018 midterm elections.
black mask studios.
“Black Mask made its bones by being progressive, albeit in a way that’s much more brash.
The firm has always aimed to afflict the comfortable… and diversity is a top priority.”
-Vulture
In 2013, off the success of Godkiller, Pizzolo partnered with Brett Gurewitz and Steve Niles to found Black Mask Studios, a launchpad and amplifier for transgressive art, new creators from diverse backgrounds, and unique points of view.
halo-8 films.
“Filmmaker Matt Pizzolo, in true punk rock fashion, started his own distribution company… releasing a slew of other folks’ horror flicks, documentaries and even punk influenced exercise and cooking videos.”
-Underground Film Journal
In 2006, rather than selling THREAT to a film distributor, Pizzolo and producing partner Brian Giberson made a distribution deal with Sony-BMG to distribute THREAT as the flagship of a new film label called Halo-8, devoted to launching new film voices, supporting political documentaries, and even making yoga videos with better music.
While releasing the debut films of Adam Wingard (The Guest), E.L. Katz (Cheap Thrills), Joanna Angel (Burning Angel), Frank Pavich & Stephen Scarlata (Jodorowsky’s Dune), Pizzolo also found time to fight DC lobbyists when they tried to block the release of animal rights documentary Your Mommy Kills Animals.
diy-fest.
“Tomorrow morning, Matt Pizzolo climbs into an old Subaru Outback and prepares to visit 30 cities with his posse, building a caravan of artists along the way. This is the launch of DiY-Fest.”
-Indiewire
“A collective of musicians and other assorted media masterminds, working under the banner of DiY-Fest, has formed a mad circus of widely divergent multimedia events with band performances, hip hop crews, poetry readings, and political speeches. In addition to the tour, DiY-Fest aims to maintain a high profile in NYC with a weekly show series at the legendary CBGB club.”
-Billboard
In 2001, Pizzolo expanded THREAT’s indie film tour into a “mad circus of indie media,” eventually reaching more than 500,000 attendees, where he presented new voices such as Mystic, Heartworm, and Black Grrrl Revolution alongside legends including Jello Biafra, Ani Difranco, Howard Zinn, Jim Jarmusch… and then there was that one show at Wetlands where Lloyd Kaufman hugged Ian MacKaye on stage.
mobstance.
“A group of young filmmakers, the Kings Mob, hoped to sell their first self-financed feature film at Robert Redford’s Sundance film festival in Utah. But ‘Threat,’ a gritty meditation on growing up in New York, wasn’t invited and their only option was to gatecrash the festival.”
-London Daily Telegraph, Saturday Magazine
In 1999, Pizzolo, Katie, and Kings Mob finally finished THREAT but didn’t know what to do with it. So they piled into a van, drove to Park City Utah (stopping along the way to play the film at skateparks, hip hop clubs, and kids’ basements), found a Doc Marten’s shoe store across the street from Sundance’s flagship theater, and convinced the shop owners to let them play the movie there. Then they used WalMart’s 30-days-no-questions-asked returns policy to build a video installation in the shoe store, calling the makeshift film festival “Mobstance”… and sold out all four shows, laying the groundwork for everything to come.
kings mob.
“Formed in 1996 as a production company by Matt Pizzolo and Katie Nisa, Kings Mob Productions has grown into an army of young people.”
-Style Magazine
“Shot on over 50 locations around New York with a cast and crew of mostly non-professionals in their teens and early 20s, THREAT is a US independent movie with ambition and attitude. Rooted in the hip hop and hardcore punk scenes, THREAT traces the lives of six lead characters whose interaction ends in a full-scale riot on the streets of Manhattan. It aspires to the visual impact of a Hollywood event movie but was totally self-financed by its makers.
”Rather than being co-opted into the system, the Kings Mob are looking to effect change and share the knowledge they have gained from making THREAT with others. Pizzolo and Nisa have been touring indie music festivals in the US, running workshops on DiY media in the hope that the kids attending them will go out and start something themselves.
’When we were thinking of starting a DiY production company,’ says Pizzolo, ‘there were no models on how to do it in independent film. So we looked to musical role-models like the Wu-Tang Clan, the punk Epitaph label, and the hardcore Dischord label. Now we want Kings Mob to be the role model we couldn’t find.’”
-Style Magazine (1998)
CREDITS
Headline Images Art
Calexit (main header): Soo Lee
Rogue State: Ramon Villalobos
Emmie-X: Soo Lee
Calexit: Amancay Nahuelpan
Young Terrorists: Ben Templesmith
Godkiller: Nen Chang
Threat (movie poster): actors Keith ‘Wild Child’ Middleton, Carlos Puga; photos Jason Rose, James Dimaculangan; design Robert Anthony Jr.
Threat (album cover): Robert Anthony Jr
Assorted Art
Rogue State cover: C. Granda
Rogue State Second Printing: Jasmin Darnell
Emmie-X cover: Maria Llovet
Billionaire Killers cover: Alexis Ziritt
Godkiller: For Those I Love I Will Sacrifice art: Nen Chang & Liz Tecca
The Long Knives cover: Ludeshka
Young Terrorists cover: Amancay Nahuelpan
Godkiller hardcover: Alexis Ziritt
Photo Credits
Matteo Pizzolo & Chuck D: Michael Dubin
KCRW photo: Amy Ta
NY Times photo: Emily Berl
Godkiller shirt: Sylva Welch, photo Jonathan Weiner, design Aubrie Davis
Arm tattoo: Connor Usher (actual tattoo, photo included with permission)
Halfpipe cosplay: Samantha Lubrano, photo Justin M Brooks. (homemade, photo included with permission)
Halfpipe & Soledad cosplay: Heather Adamson (Heather Darling Artistry), Kt Sides (Kryptic Art & Cosplay), photo Ruffshots Photography. (homemade, photo included with permission)
Chest tattoo: Lee Glover (actual tattoo, photo included with permission)
NY Times photo: Emily Berl
DiY-Fest photo: Aaron Farley
Films That Kill photos: Stephen Loh
Sundance photo (Daily Telegraph): Raechel M. Running
Threat photos (Style Magazine): Jelle Wagenaar