Las Vegas ComicsFest
By Ben Tinsley, Publisher, Wham Bang Comics
So there I was at the ComicFest comics convention at Sahara West Library in Las Vegas. Sitting next to my 13-year-old son Jake. Selling copies of our comic book, Two-Fisted Adventures #1, and meeting many new people.
In walks Steven Grant.
You remember him, I’m sure. Grant wrote tons of comic book stories over the years but my personal favorite is his work on The Punisher mini-series in the mid-80s, which pretty much defined the character. (No slight to Garth Ennis intended.)
Up until Grant’s story, writers had hemmed and hawed on how to portray the character. He was a killer, but was firing non-lethal “mercy bullets” at criminals. Pretty much the cause-and-effect equivalent of The X-Men being buried in a rockslide yet no one getting as much as a bruise.
Steven Grant changed all of that.
The first panels of the series saw Frank Castle in prison. This story changed what had been a lollipop version of The Punisher into someone hard-core enough to be a character on the old HBO series “Oz.”
Frank Castle’s cellmate did not immediately recognize him. So, thinking Castle was just some guy proceeded to give him the usual litany of threats – you know the “stay off my bunk or I’ll kill you” speech?
Homey didn’t play that.
“You’re my dog, see?” Castle growls as his kicks his cellmate to the floor and proceeds to pound the crap out of him. And tell him what’s what.
I was only a teenager when I read this, but I knew I was seeing something amazing and inspirational taking place in a comic book. It was the same reaction I remember having when Frank Miller took over Daredevil.
So anyway, this guy – this amazing, hard-boiled writer – walks into the room at ComicsFest in Las Vegas. I had no idea who he was. He had longish hair, glasses and could have been a college professor. I really, truly had expected Steven Grant to resemble the Punisher. Or some boxer from the Bronx. Because that’s how he writes.
I fawned over Grant at his comics table for awhile, then became self-conscious about my hero worship and walked back to the Wham Bang Comics table to help Jake sell more comic books. Then I quickly darted back to Grant’s booth to hand him a free copy of Two-Fisted Adventures #1.
The entire experience was a bit of a self-revelation. It reminded me of the time I made a fool out of myself as a reporter interviewing former Batman writer and editor Denny O’Neal back in 1995. I was working for the Sheridan, Wyoming Press at the time and the Batman Forever movie had just come out.
O’Neal is a great guy. He gave me great quotes during that interview. But instead of just taking the notes and saying the occasional “uh huh,” I instead degraded into this bumbling, fumbling compliment-blurting fan boy with Tourette syndrome.
All my questions ended up as thinly disguised adorations of his writing. All I could think of the entire time is how so many of his stories got me through the hard times of my life. Not the most objective reporting I’ve ever done. I spent so much time asking fan boy questions I hardly took any coherent notes.
This is why I walked way from Grant’s table at Vegas ComicFest. I felt the same reaction coming on and I didn’t want to seem like a stalker.
But I can’t help myself when I act this way around creators like O’Neal or Steven Grant. They touch so many people with the things they write.
Seriously, the only reason I think I’ve made it this far is because of the mind-boggling, uplifting ideas from comic books. O’Neal’s Batman or The Question. Marv Wolfman’s Teen Titans or The Vigilante. Roy Thomas’ entire run of the Avengers. Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, Ann Nocenti’s Daredevil. Let’s not forget my son’s and my favorite --the magnificent Stan Lee and anything he ever wrote.
Their work is so very inspiring. All I can say is: free your mind, share your honest thoughts with others, and you can change the world.
There is no way I’m ever going to be able to act like a grownup when I’m around these people. As far as I’m concerned, they deserve nothing but reverence for the fantastic things they’ve put into print.
It is because of them that I am inspired to try to continue this tradition of elevating people’s lives and feeding their imagination to give them the strength to make it through the hard times.
That’s a comic book writer’s job, I think.
Here are some other tidbits about what’s been happening with Wham Bang Comics:
During the Las Vegas convention, Jake (with me sitting next to him as backup) was a panelist during a "comics for kids" discussion. He sat at the head table with Jimmy Gownley, creator of Amelia Rules; and Josh Elder, creator of Mail Order Ninja.
During the convention, we sold comic books at a table sitting alongside graphic novel expert Michele Gorman. Jimmy Gownley himself bought the first copy of Two-Fisted and gave Jake a free copy of Amelia Rules. We nearly met Greg Rucka, but he had to head into a panel session just as Jake and I were leaving ours.
At one point that day Jake and I had to slip away from the convention and get over to the Las Vegas gallery ART ENCOUNTER. We had to sign and authenticate enlarged copies of Night Owl art that is going to be sold as part of a six-month display starting later this month. We're working on that project with gallery representative Jonelle Wilson. It's been a great experience working with Jonelle.
The VERY early morning after the convention – 6 a.m. Sunday early – Jake and I were in the NBC affiliate studio in Las Vegas to discuss Two-Fisted Adventures 1 with a reporter. I didn't realize I was going to be on camera with Jake and personally think I looked like a really-tired homeless person. But Jake was his usual, adorable, charming self. The interview lasted nearly five minutes.
In another venture, we partnered with the beautiful and talented international model Loulou von Brochwitz to use her name and likeness in both a comic strip and a cartoon portrait on display at ART ENCOUNTER, located by the way at 3979 Spring Mountain Road in Las Vegas.
LouLou, who already has the cartoon up on her MySpace site, said she's coming to Vegas fairly soon. While she's in town, she plans to help us promote it! Another collaboration with her is also in the works.
Meanwhile, Jake and I have started planning the first Night Owl hard-cover children's book, which we hope to release in time for the shopping rush next Christmas. The team will be the same – art by the magnificent Jason Dube and colors by Kristoffer Condes.
But just because it's a children's book doesn't mean it's going to be simplistic. Jake and I have come up with an engaging plot with twists and turns that we hope kids of all ages will like. We're hoping to make this a series of books and also to find a good distributor for this project.
By the by, I may already have mentioned before that ROK Comics has picked us up for syndication over cell phones, but since then we have learned we will be distributed to readers in both China and Pakistan as well as America. Jason Dube just finished grafting the Chinese lettering for "Night Owl" to about 20 images from our comic strip and comic book. They look wonderful. Thanks to JOHN FREEMAN and ROK COMICS for their continued support of struggling creators.
It's been slow going, but we at Wham Bang Comics are dedicated and committed to telling our stories and perhaps in the process, helping change the world. We're going to get there.
Thanks for reading.
Wham Bang Comics visits Las Vegas ComicsFest
January 31st - Jake Tinsley, senior writer for Wham Bang Comics, took part in his first comic convention this past weekend. Attending the Las Vegas ComicsFest, Jake took part in a panel of creators focused on "Comics for All Ages: Comics May Not Just Be For Kids, But Some of Them Are".
He and father Ben Tinsley slipped away at one point to visit a local art gallery which is going to display excerpts from Wham Bang Comics series Two-Fisted Adventures. Signing each poster, Jake authenticated them as original.
Ben Tinsley is putting together a full convention report which will be posted here at Comic Related in the days ahead, but I through it would be fun to share a photographic look back on the event. Ben and photographer Mike Stotts sent us a total of twenty-three photos from the event. Rather than pick and choose what to share, I thought it would be fun to simply post them all...
All photos by Mike Stotts
