View the actual reviews

So, recently I wrote a post about writing two reviews for a hopefully reopening online magazine. Sadly, I’ve not heard back (took them over a month to get back to me the first time).

In that case, I thought I’d share my two reviews with my wonderful geekoptometrists (little inside joke from the PDN days).

Without further adieu, before I pass out, here are my reviews of Rogue Planet and King of Nowhere, both issue ones, both hella promising.

Rogue Planet #1: This space thriller is stellar

Dad jokes aside, the first issue of this ongoing series from Oni Press is an interesting take on the classic space saga. Written by Cullen Bunn (Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, X-Men Blue), drawn by Andy MacDonald (Wolverine Infinity Watch, 2020 Machine Man), colored by Nick Filardi (The Umbrella Academy, Cave Carson) and lettered by Crank! (Rick and Morty, Hack/Slash), the issue begins Biblically.

A hitherto unnamed Grey Alien-like humanoid discusses the stars and gods with his son Padwa. 

They talk of the gods using the ever-changing stars as a map, and Padwa asks his parent how the gods can find them and answer their offerings, as the parent says a greater offering is needed before Abrahaming the Isaac out of the kid in front of a fleshy pillar of body parts that Lovecraft would have swooned over.

Cut to a salvage crew coming out of hypersleep. There’s talk of the environmental systems having gone haywire since it is snowing inside the ship — the Cortez, we soon learn. A landing party is prepared as the crew sees they’re near a planet that has lost its solar system — a rogue planet — to which the ship has tracked a distress signal. They make ready to investigate the distress signal, because every gorham scavenging party thinks distress signals are the shiny promised land. It’s the space equivalent of “DON’T GO INTO THE DARK BASEMENT, YOU IDIOT!”

A landing party disembarks when the ship lands on presumably the same planet unnamed Greyperson merced their offspring on, and the most genius line of the issue is uttered by the ship’s captain, “Remember when people used to think space was beautiful? Before interstellar travel, every scientist with a ‘scope might as well have been a love-struck poet…”

The crew goes on to find the distress signal had led them to a ship graveyard, which they wade into just like Simba, but not before one engineer sees ghosties in semi-sentient crystals and spies a shadowy figure following. They then decide to bounce, but it may be too late, they’ve already been Eldritch’d.

This book has some real promise. It leaves you in that blissful spot where you’re on page 24 before you realize you’ve been reading. That’s what comics should be, in my opinion.

The writing is foreboding and witty, the rich colors convey the moods of each scene and the art as a whole is smooth and communicates movement very well, even in action — and tentacle — packed moments.

I’m looking forward to where this goes. I can’t wait to connect the dots between the Greys and the Cortez’s crew, or see what the tentacle muppets have up their space sleeves.

King of Nowhere #1: This book is going Nowhere. Fast. And that’s a good thing.

Denis is sure he’s dreaming when he sees a deer-man driving a Jeep, or when he meets the fish-man Jed in a bar down the road but isn’t so sure he’s sleeping when the six-armed Cullen punch, punch, punches his face into the dusty ground.

Denis seems to have a habit of finding himself in places he shouldn’t be, due – by his own admission – to his imbibing of substances he might ought have not imbibed. This time, he finds himself wandering around Nowhere, a place the deer-man says will eat him alive, the fish-man is praying is a figment, and Sheriff Tucker says he’ll fit in just fine. Well, after Denis helps Tucker and his daughter run off some giant lizards.

If you’re a fan of gonzo absurdism, you’ll be right at home in Nowhere with Denis. Boom! Studios King of Nowhere is off to a gritty start that had me at golden-hearted thug main characters, but kept me with existential questioning.

Writer W. Maxwell Prince (Ice Cream Man, One Night in the Library), illustrator Tyler Jenkins (Peter Panzerfaust, Snow Blind) colorist Hilary Jenkins (Black Badge, Grass Kings) — with lettering by Andworld Design — evoke the grit and surrealism of Wristcutters: A Love Story with a side of Beetlejucian whimsy.

The writing is surreal and lightly rambling, yet tightly self-aware. The color feels bright and slightly washed out, giving us the feeling we should be squinting in the Arizona noon the whole time and pairs perfectly with the loosely flowing but vividly detailed illustration.

I’m eager to see if Nowhere is really somewhere, if I’m right about where and if the sheriff will ever get dinner.

Reviews and revisions

So, I submitted two comic book reviews for the consideration of an online magazine that is trying to start itself back up. This publication has launched careers of writers at IGN, Google, Ubisoft and more. I had already sent writing samples and they asked for more.

As with many things in These Uncertain Times™, this will be a volunteer position to help this publication pull back up from the shadows, and I’m hecka excited.

The writing is coming along, fictionwise, and I find myself writing a little each day. Sometimes I crank out a thousand or more words, some days a fraction of that. I am, though, making progress with each revolution around the sun. Those who’ve looked at this story have said one common thing: They want to see where it goes. Me, too, honestly.

See, I’m trying the Stephen King Method©®™, that is, I haven’t hammered out an outline, I am letting the story live and breathe as it goes. I realise this will make revision a nightmare, but it helps me not get caught in a sinewy web of my own construction. It seems that it allows avenues of creation to blossom in a moment. It feels a lot like acting, like improv.

That leads to mental health, of course. I have discussed imposter syndrome before, and boy-o-boy does this method of writing cause it to kick into high gear. I feel like I’m just chronicling the lives of the characters, not crafting them. It’s new, terrifying and wholly exhilarating.

That’s where I find myself, in the now. Check out Rogue Planet and King of Nowhere if you want something different in your comic life. If you’re local to Fort Smith, swing by Hoghead Comics and ask Mike to get those for you. You won’t regret it.

Cody Banning is an actor and writer from the Fort Smith, Arkansas River Valley and spends his time working, writing, playing board games and loving on his amazing family. You can contact him at codybanningactor@gmail.com anytime.

Goodbye PDN, hello world

So, I never properly said goodbye to the Poteau Daily News. I kind of wanted to cool off as “Chicago” — as we not-so-fondly referred to our corporate overlords — had me feeling some type of way, and I try to stay professional.

To my coworkers at the PDN: Most of you were the absolute bee’s knees. There were a couple “weasels”, to borrow a treasured colleague’s word, but by and large it was an amazing experience that helped me grow as a writer and person.

The people of LeFlore County were wonderful and made me feel like a rockstar. The gifts and praise I received — especially for my mental health columns — were nothing short of lifesavers. The red ones.

Eso es, as they say, and that’s all I’ll say about that.

So, I’ve moved on to working as a management trainee at Enterprise Rent-a-Car, and it is very different from the world of journalism. The public is still difficult and being an essential worker during this pandemic is something I’ll definitely tell the grandkids about.

People do not know how to social distance, including myself. As southerners, we are such touchy-feely people. I never knew I’d miss handshakes. It feels odd to say.

Wearing masks is hot, my breath never smells good enough and I’ve become a mouth-breather. I feign to think.

Quarantine has definitely affected my household as the seven-year-old doesn’t care for homework at the best of times and really doesn’t like only homework. Focus is something of a rarity and there are much better things to do. Anything else is better to do, in his eyes.

I have been writing steadily on a novel, making progress and pushing myself to write everyday, even when I don’t want to. So many times in the past I have used the crutch of creativity having a time that it has actually crippled progress. I suppose all of these professional authors really do know what they’re talking about. Forcing yourself into your world really does do some amazing things for writing.

As for the good ol’ mental health, it’s a real struggle ladies, gents and everyone in between. Going to the grocery store is a mask-clad journey into Anxietyville. Making more money than I have in years yet not being able to buy pork chops – because there are none on the shelf – is great for dredging up childhood poverty trauma. Germaphobia mixes with my existing xenophobia to make one heckuva molotov of nope. Not being able to go to the cinema or theatre — or even buy new comics — makes the Depression Monster slap it’s thighs and groan, “What’s the point, man?”

As Eminem once said, “no matter how many fish in the see, it feels so empty without me.” Mainly for me. So I’m back. How’re you guys holding up?

Cody Banning is an actor and writer from the Fort Smith, Arkansas River Valley and spends his time working, writing, playing board games and loving on his amazing family. You can contact him at codybanningactor@gmail.com anytime.

I Already Have a WordPress, Earl!

I was discussing, with my good friend, podcaster and author Earl Green, about ways to begin promoting my first book, a collection of serial short stories, before it came out. I mentioned that I would need a website to aggregate everything, and he suggested a WordPress. Well, hoodly-doodly, it would happen that I have one. I’ve already written some flash-fiction on here and it’s an all around writerly thingamajig, so, that’s that.

I posted the first video on my new YouTube channel, Chasing Wonder with Words, talking some about the Mall and the universe(s) it exists in, also my writing process a teensy bit. I’ll try to stay pretty active on there, beyond that primer, to keep you guys updated. Also, keep an eye out for me on Facebook, as I’ll go live on there, too, from time to time.

All that said, I will be getting around to putting up a new “author page” on Facebook sos youse guys can all follow that. I might throw up a Patreon, too, if you guys don’t find that too pretentious. Some feedback on that would be nice!

So, stay tuned to this page and Facebook for further updates, pre-orders, and release dates of the book. Love you guys, Happy Holidays and such!

Cody

The G.I. Joe vs Barbie Rule

There is this age old stigma that I have always hated. I came to hate it as a child, because I liked Barbies, dolls, and cuddly, stuffed toys. My uncle came over one day, saw my collection of stuffed animals and characters, and told my mother she was going to “turn me funny” if she let me continue having “this girly stuff”. Well, I grew up, I like to think I am quite funny sometimes, but I am not gay. It isn’t for lack of being exposed to the gay community, either. My home away from home in Fort Smith, Arkansas is a “gay” bar. It’s one of my favourite places to be (Kinkead’s, 1004 1/2 Garrison Avenue, should you be curious). The owner Rick Eubank and many of the staff and patrons have fed, clothed, and helped keep a roof over the heads of me and mine for a long time, when the going gets rough. I remain straight. That’s a story for another time, but it brings to bear this stigma. Gender roles and what genders are “allowed” to like, do, and what hobbies they can have.

Gender roles, as defined by Amy M. Blackstone in her 2003 contribution to the text Human Ecology: An Encyclopedia of Children, Families, Communities, and Environments, are:  “based on the different expectations that individuals, groups, and societies have of individuals based on their sex and based on each society’s values and beliefs about gender.”  I like to call it the G.I. Joe versus Barbie Rule.

Boys are allowed to play with the masculine, chisel-jawed, muscular war heroes, while girls play with the feminine, makeup’d, perfect-bodied party girls. That’s just how it is, right? I mean, them’s the rules. Not in my playbook, kids!

This whole thing is brought up because of a Facebook post a friend of mine from college posted. I’m going to add it here, her name blocked out to protect her anonymity.

Should we still wonder why, “There are never girls in the comic/gaming/card/video game store?” Not really.

As I write this, my wife sits on our bed, furiously battling something in Fallout 4 as a few soft curses float out of our bedroom area. She loves shooters and RPGs. She likes RPGs that let you shoot stuff best. If you asked her, and she can correct me here if I am wrong, she’d say her favourite games are the Dead Island series, and that, she IS buying the Dead Island Definitive Collection when it comes out, and she IS going to beat both games for the 437928364th time. Because they are remastered, they are good, and you discover something new every time you play. I don’t really replay games, unless those games are Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, the Pokémon franchise, the Legend of Zelda franchise, or Red Dead Redemption… Okay, so I do replay games, Brooke. I lied. Also, gender stereotypes PISS ME OFF. No, G.I. Joes are not “boy toys”! No, Barbies are not “girls toys”. No, tabletop gaming, Magic: The Gathering, and First Person Shooters aren’t just for guys! AM I LIVING IN THE NINE! TEEN! SIXTIES!!!! It makes me feel like I am going to have an aneurism, guys. It really frakking does. My wife is a gamer, I have a TON of female friends that are just as into tabletop games, TCGs, and comics as you are! This is not some elite club that only the boys can belong to, and I’m sick to death of hearing about this.

So, I am going to speak to a stereotype right now. This will likely cause me to lose all credibility, but, since I belong to this group, I think I’m allowed to address it. It’s like using a racial slur, it’s perfectly acceptable if you do it to your own group, right? WRONG!!!!!! This is a conundroquaglimma, and I probably shouldn’t point this at one group, but, it seems to ALWAYS be this group that is at fault in these situations. Howver it reflects on me, I am now going to address males between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five. Usually heterosexual. Usually uncaring about how a woman feels when walking into one of our geeked-out “man dens”:

Look, guys. MOST of you like girls. By “like girls”, I mean, sexually. As someone with which you wish to woo, court, and ultimately copulate (HOPEFULLY after mutual consent is given!!!!). If you would treat them as equals, not better or worse, but as true equals, THEY WILL COME AROUND MORE! If you talk to them, I guarantee they are more than the sum of their boobies and badonkadonks. They are actual living, breathing, sentient creatures that might like the same things you like, and, if you are decent and play your cards right, might share those things with you for a long time to come. Yes, and they might even make out with you sometimes, if that’s what you both want, but NEVER during good movies or television shows. Making out is for a time when Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, and Marvel/Star Wars/Kevin Smith movies are not on. Also, be quiet about it if you’re gonna do it in the movie theatre. Nothing ruins The Hateful Eight like the sound of someone sucking face two rows back… Maybe that was The Martian… No, that one was people scoffing at my group laughing so hard at the science jokes… I digress.

Ladies and gents, please just stop putting labels, especially gender labels, on everything. If your son wants to play with baby dolls, let him, it could teach him to be a better dad. If your daughter wants to play with Tonka Toys in the dirt, let her, she could learn that women are as viable as labourers as men! If a young woman wants to play Magic: The Gathering, let her, Card Shop Dude. That’s money in your pocket you just sexism’d your way out of, ya idjit!

It’s like we wanna slap these little guys on everything and put existence into a neat little box…

Existence doesn’t fit into a neat little box, folks. It is terrible, wonderful, scary, beautiful, chaos. Every human being, regardless of race, gender, education, creed, origin, subset, label, or hair color, is different. That is beautiful. So let it be, and stop trying to make others fit YOUR expectations of the world, mmmkay?

Featured photo credit goes to Emerald-Stock from deviantart.com (http://emerald-stock.deviantart.com/)

Correct citation for Amy M. Blackstone’s work:
Blackstone, Amy. 2003. “Gender Roles and Society.” Pp 335-338 in Human Ecology: An             Encyclopedia of Children, Families, Communities, and Environments, edited by Julia R.       Miller, Richard M. Lerner, and Lawrence B. Schiamberg. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.         ISBN I-57607-852-3

Of Humans and Gorillas

There has been a lot of talk. People have become overnight zoologists. Actual experts and zoologists have been ignored. Then, there is the question of why we have zoos anyway. That’s what I want to talk more about than anything else, in this post. Welcome back to my brain, guys. Been a while.

So, everyone is on one side or the other since the news broke that  Isiah Dickerson decided he’d go for a swim-n-cuddle with the Western Lowland Gorillas at the Cincinnati Zoo. The one side, staunch animal lovers and activists that blame the zoo, its administration, the mother, God, Zeus, the Eleventh Doctor, and Trump for the death of Harambe. The other side blame animal activists, the zoo, its administration, children (In general, any child…), Tommy Pickles, atheists, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, and Obama. I may have exaggerated a bit here, but now you know the two sides we’re dealing with.

As per usual, I fall somewhere in the confused middle. In a place occupied by God-fearing scientists, spiritual anti-theists, and people who just don’t like labels. Let’s get my views on the whole situation out of the way via bullet points.

• Is the mother to blame at all?
  Of course she is, her frakking kid fell fifteen feet into the enclosure of some wild animals. What do I know about watching kids, though? I’ve never had any.  I’ve SURELY never watched any. More than a dozen. I do know that, when at zoos, everyone in my family always makes sure – especially when their child mentions wanting to go swimming with the freakishly strong, four-hundred pound primates – that they hang on to their kids that are likely not old enough to hang on to themselves. That, again, is only opinion that I am not entitled to, since I don’t have a child, after all. I do have a pug. I know I don’t let her off the leash because she likes to play in roads and run head on at cars, but, that’s not a fair comparison because you auto-magically become exempt from responsibility of your offspring’s actions when you have said offspring. Or something.
• Should the zookeepers have killed Harambe?
  On the one hand, I saw the gorilla protecting the kid. On the other hand, I put my little niece in that situation in my head, I jumped down the fifteen feet myself, and I Tarzan vs Kerchack’d that damn dirty ape.
  Emotions aside, with sheer Vulcan logics, yes. When Jack Hannah says they had to cap Harambe to save the kid because tranquilizers would have just upset him, I accept the fact that there are now only ~94,999 Western Lowland Gorillas in the world. I also accept the fact that Harambe was allegedly on loan from Zoo Miami, and somebody gon’ sue somebody.
• Should zoos exist?
  Isn’t this a loaded question? I think to an extent yes “zoos” of a kind are essential, as they often currently exist, not so much.
  There HAS to be a conservation effort for Western Lowlands. Their population, based on VERY outdated and mis-collected data (According to the IUCN Red List here: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/9406/0) is ~95,000 individuals, in captivity and the wild. That figure is dropping every day, and has no doubt been dropping since that figure was collected based upon available habitat, not actual individual count. That individual count hasn’t been confirmed since 1981, and it is believed, according to the Red List,

  “…recent surveys suggest that since the early 1980s, commercial hunting and outbreaks of the Ebola virus have virtually extirpated gorillas from a great deal of otherwise intact forest…”

  Look up the meaning of extirpated. Ah, hell, here. I did it for you because I want you to see the severity of what’s happening here:

  “Full Definition of extirpate

  extirpated   extirpating

  transitive verb
  1. 1a :  to destroy completely : wipe out
  1b :  to pull up by the root
  2:  to cut out by surgery

  I’ll just let you ruminate on that for a second. Sunk in? In case not, basically, the foremost conservation entity in the world has said that the population of Western Lowland Gorillas is much closer to ninety-five than ninety-five thousand. That means we, as the “dominant species”, have a duty to make sure the Western Lowland doesn’t go extinct. That means that sometimes we are going to have to oversee breeding and make sure they aren’t killed by poachers and Ebola, or poachers named Ebola. That’d be a really good supervillain name. I digress.

  The question is, then, is our current system the grooviest for the animals? The answer, Mr. Powers, is: “Not too groovy at all.”

  Many animals, even in “good” zoos, live their lives in cages, and spend very little time every day in their cool, little, themed enclosures. No matter how cool or themed, can something like a male Silverback reconcile the fact that he is inclined to want to roam a twenty kilometer range (That’s 12.4274 miles, y’all…) and is stuck, variably, in a limited size, definitely not that big, gorilla enclosure, and a cage? Not very healthily can he reconcile. I mean, is a gorilla that has never roamed and migrated really a gorilla? Wasn’t Harambe more a product of his captive birth and raising? I think so. I also don’t think he would have intentionally hurt the child, but, who knows. As Jack Hanna said, a mature male g.g. gorilla can crush a green coconut in hand. That’s not the question here, though. I answered to my opinion on that, this is about my opinion on zoos.

  Conservation and captivity are necessary to the survival of endangered species, but, are zoos the right fit, even the modern cutting-edge ones like Cincinnati, or nah. In my opinion? Nah.

  There are many better options. Reserves in the actual natural habitats. Reserves in more accommodating countries. Reserves, reserves, reserves are always better than zoos. (Sing that to the children’s or seventies tune of your choice…) Reserves that allow the animals to roam large spaces that are actual habitats. Reserves that are minimally monitored and allowed to naturally occur. Reserves that allow mating to be as natural as it can be in captivity. I realize in extreme cases, like the Giant Panda, human intervention has to be stronger, but primates are known for our sex drives! So let nature take its course!

• What’s my overall point here?

  Simple. Humans, while having a duty to conserve, should do so in the least invasive way possible. Laws, protections, and reserves are the answer. Not in jails where the animals are put upon a staged facsimile of their natural habitat for entertainment and profit, and where one unobservant mother and her curious child can get them killed.

  I like zoos because of the animals, but I question if I can go to one again after thinking about it this much. I knew they always kind of made me sad, now they make me angry, too. Thanks,  human race! ;P

2015 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 310 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Petition to Bring Back “Constantine” Reaches 50K Signatures.

The popular cult sensation Constantine was cancelled back in early summer, much to the chagrin of the show’s fans.

NBC saw fit, after a bout of poor ratings, to can the show after only one thirteen episode season. Due in part to a poorly executed pilot, an untimely exit from the actor meant to play a pivotal role in the drama, and to Neilsen not using ratings from third party streaming services like Hulu, the show never got much of a chance at life in the modern television era, but did two points better at its worst than part of the first season of now-NBC-staple, Grimm.

When the show was not renewed for syndication, many fans made their voices heard with petitions. None was more successful than one made on change.org by fan group Save Constantine. They reached their goal of 50,000 signatures, and were rewarded with the Constantine creative staff receiving a special meeting with the NBC brass and show runners, who still nixed the show.

Now, the showrunner from the CW’s Arrow, Marc Guggenheim, has brought John Constantine (Matt Ryan) back to the small screen for Arrow‘s fourth season.

The episode, Haunted (S4:E5), recieved a 99.15 composite score on comicbook.com, one of the highest scores ever recorded on the site. This led to the Save Constantine group raising a new petition. The petition, this time, appealed to the CW, USA, and various other networks, to pick the property back up. The goal for the petition was 50,000 signatures, but has now been stretched to 75,000, as the signature count was at 57,638 at the time of this writing.

The change.org petition reads:

“The dark supernatural TV series Constantine originally aired on NBC for one 13 episode season only to be cancelled. This left a very strong and avid fanbase without any network for their show to call home. Constantine needs to be saved by another network to give the fans closure. This situation would be a win for both sides. The network to pick it up will receive a boost in ratings and revenue while the fans will be able to see their beloved show live once more. On November 4th, 2015, it was proved that the Constantine fan base is still very much alive as evidenced by the reception to the character’s appearance on the 5 episode of Arrow‘s fourth season. We encourage you to sign this petition to show the various networks available to pick this show up that there is in fact interest for the show to live on.”

Matt Ryan and the show’s writers have expressed interest and have said they are ready to jump back to work on the show as soon as given the word. Matt Ryan had this to say when asked by Access Hollywood how it felt to put the trenchcoat back on:

“I was excited. He’s such an iconic, amazing character and he’s so fun to play and he’s dark and he’s funny and it was great. I was so excited. Obviously, when the show wasn’t picked up, I was disappointed and I felt that I still had unfinished business with the character, so to be able to get the trench coat on again was a great thing.”

Want to sign the petition? Check it out here!

The Little Comic Shop That Could

Mike Boze has never speculated. He has always checked and rechecked himself in his business.  As he sits on a stool behind the glass counter full of Magic: The Gathering cards at HawgHead Comics, wearing a well-worn Harley Davidson sweatshirt and an easy smile, the owner of the longest lived comic shop in Fort Smith, Arkansas opens up about the trials, tribulations, and long, metered road of his success. His many years of surviving in a town where comic shops come and go can be attributed to a keen business sense, an expansive knowledge of his niche, and an uncanny ability to shrug problems and disappointments off with a smile. His medium sized shop with it’s very specific selection of best-selling comics on the racks and a multi-table gaming area speak to his ability to foresee trends in his client base, and focus in on those. The smiling faces of customer and proprietor alike are clues as to why this business has had such a long life.

Mike smiles as he arranges some new additions to the shop’s Magic: The Gathering card game stock.

This little shop located 1600 Greenwood Avenue in Fort Smith, Arkansas has been a home to nerds, geeks, and whoever else might wander into its doors since May of 1995.

The medium sized store front with the bright open sign and constantly rotating array of colorful posters.

Mike had originally opened up shop in a much smaller location on Grand Avenue in the summer of 1993, but he jumped at the chance to acquire this larger building and the adjoining real estate to foster the growth of his blossoming business. In asking Mike how he got into this business, he says it has much to do with family, namely his son Patrick.

“Patrick had a lot to do with it. He had gotten interested in comics sometime, like, in ninety-two, and it rekindled my interest,” He said, “Patrick and I, really more I, decided, you know, that he and I would collect Amazing Spiderman and Captain America, because those were my two favorites. I thought we could go to conventions, it would be something he and I could do together… and it just kind of escalated.”

After doing some thinking and research, he thought it might be lucrative to turn this hobby into a business.

“I was looking through a price guide I’d picked up at, I don’t know, Books-A-Million or Hastings, and was looking through thinking, ‘I had that one. That one, and… Woah! Four thousand dollars?’ I thought, “Man alive! If I still had these , I could pay my house off!”

The interest quickly became a hobby that was finely honed by not only interest, but what was popular and profitable at the time.

“Instead of just collecting Spiderman and Captain America, I was reading the magazines that were out… in the early ninieties and saying, well, look here, they’re saying you need to be buying this, you need to be buying that. I was taking any spare cash that would come up, any bonus I would get from Whirlpool, any cash that was unexpected, and I would be investing it in the stuff that they were saying and it just gradually grew.”

So after doing some research and buying a few issues the guides anticipated would sell big, he took his collection on the road.

“I was toying with the idea of opening a store, but Paperbacks Plus was already here, and I wasn’t sure how many stores Fort Smith could handle, so I wasn’t too serious about it. There was going to be a convention in Muskogee, so I contacted them and got the table… little six foot table, a couple of short boxes…I think I did seven hundred dollars that day, and I thought, ‘If I can do this from one day at a convention just from what I have been learning on my own, I should be able to open up a store.”

So he rented a small storefront on Grand Avenue in Fort Smith, and opened the first iteration of HawgHead, just in time, it seems.

“Dan [Owner of the now defunct Comics -n- Stuff] was still in Van Buren at the time… by the time he announced he was moving to Phoenix Village Mall [in Fort Smith], I think I had already rented the little shop on Grand… so the shop, if I hadn’t opened it when I did, probably never would have happened.” He said with a chuckle.

In May of 1995, he moved into a larger storefront at 1600 Greenwood Avenue and there the shop has stood since.

A sign that has survived a move and twenty-two years.

During what is often called the “Dark Age” of comics, in the late nineties, many shops in Fort Smith closed down or hit hard times, just to find themselves bought out by HawgHead and assimilated into its location. Mike attributes his longevity and ability to last through hard times to his business model.

“I think it’s the fact that I have never speculated on anything. I didn’t take chances on, the only thing I ever took a chance on, before I opened, was the Black Bag. [Superman] 75… I only order what I know I’m going to need. I never liked back issues… It was a series of fortunate events. The owner of Alpha Books approached me to buy him out… he gave me a pretty good deal in which I could pay him out… I approached Earl [of now defunct Crazy Earl’s novelties and Mystic Domain] and we decided that, instead of competing, we would split. He wanted the comics, the Warhammer, and the D&D. I wanted the comics and the Magic: The Gathering. He said that was fine… I bought out his Magic stock… and he bought my Warhammer. When Dan [of Comics -n- Stuff] heard that he contacted me… I told him, ‘Look, I’d rather work with you.” I even said, ‘The enemy I know is better than the enemy I don’t know,’ ” Mike laughed, “but, no, he just wanted me to buy him out.”

The shop’s small, targeted, well thought out inventory of racked comics.

That was the nail in the coffin of his final competitor from the early days. Mike’s cyclic ordering of only what he needed and his ability to work hand-in-hand with competitors has left him in a position to be the only Fort Smith survivor of the “Dark Age of Comics”…

A small, well maintained, and thought out inventory of gaming accessories.

Over the years other shops have come and gone, but, if they looked down their nose at the chance to work with Mike and HawgHead, they have went away as soon as they showed up. Mike has always extended a hand of friendship to these people, and even has a symbiotic relationship with most other local gaming and specialty shops in the region.

An equally tightly managed collection of graphic novels and statues.

Mike and HawgHead are staples of Fort Smith culture. Mike knows regular customers by name, is happy to open a comic pull file for anyone, hosts many gaming events, and is always quick with a witticism and a smile to make any comic book nerd feel at ease and at home in his shop.

Mike and customers converse and joke.

Through good planning, hard work, and lots of good will, HawgHead Comics has stood the test of time as Fort Smith’s longest operating comic book and gaming retailer. With succinct business practices and an eye for what the customer wants, Mike looks to have many more years of good times at his store.

“If you need to ask me anything else, you know where to find me.” He said as he waved goodbye.

Women Find Place in Comics

ComiqueCon in Deerborn, Michigan celebrates women in comics with special guests like Gail Simone and special events geared toward females.

On November first, Comiquecon opened its doors to fans in a very unique way. They were set to celebrate a group of people that are often too under-represented in the field of comic books. Their Kickstarter, that was very quickly funded, can be quoted saying:

“Women don’t just read comics, they make (DARN GREAT) comics too! Women are creating some of the coolest comics out today, and we are thrilled to showcase the best in contemporary comics talent. Through ComiqueCon 2015, we will connect fans with amazing female creators. Our event will take place on Nov. 7, 2015 at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan”

Gail Simone has and runs on DC comic’s Birds of Prey, Marvel’s Deadpool, and is now working on the acclaimed new title Swords of Sorrow. She has been working in comics for almost twenty years.

Studies show that by the current year, almost half of most comics readership is female. With the popularity of titles like the new Batgirl,  – currently written by Kelly Puckett (A female.). Gotham City Sirens, the new female Thor, and Birds of Prey have found popularity in the last decade and the trend is set to continue, according to industry leaders. An article from Scott McCloud, comic book author and contributor to Time Magazine reads:

“Comic books are raising a whole new generation of readers—and a lot of them are girls. We’re seeing a momentous shift in the demographics of comics readers and comics creators, so much so that I’m guessing within about eight years we may see a majority female industry and readership.”

 

This is a decades old problem that is only propagated by misogyny and stereotypes that many fans have had toward women, and debacles like the GamerGate fiasco.

According to writer Holly Black of “The Spiderwick Chronicles” and Newberry Award winner “Doll Bones”, also known for her graphic novel work “The Good Neighbors”, in a Variety article Women Quietly Become a Force in Comic Books, from October of this year:

“ ‘The discrimination I’ve seen manifests mostly in being overlooked,’ Black says. ‘Whether that means getter fewer reviews, or having your work considered to be less universal or less serious, or not being asked to do panels that aren’t specifically about women — it’s largely subtle stuff that, unfortunately, adds up.’ ”

Many other women in the field have voiced opinions on this issue. Constantine: The Hellblazer writer Ming Doyle adds:

“Gender is an issue in every aspect of life,” says “Constantine: The Hellblazer” scribe Ming Doyle. “I certainly know that women creators can have a much different experience exhibiting at conventions than men. However, I wouldn’t say that these are issues in the industry specifically so much as problems that permeate our entire culture.”

According to a quote from Diane Nelson, president & chief content officer of Warner Bros, in that same Variety article, women in the industry are finally being taken seriously:

“ ‘DC has joined forces with WB Consumer Products, Mattel and other brand partners to launch ‘DC SuperHero Girls,’ Nelson says. ‘It’s a ground-breaking new franchise that is part of our long-term strategy to harness the power and prominence of our female SuperHero characters.”