[heroic music] ♪ [heroic music continues] ♪ [heroic music continues] ♪ [heroic music continues] ♪ - Hello and welcome to "Comic Culture."

I'm Terence Dollard, a professor in the Department of Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

I'm coming to you from the home office while our studio is still undergoing renovations.

It's time for part two of our trip to Heroes Con in Charlotte.

People come to Heroes Con because they love comics, but they also come to promote their art and create their own comics, and because they love cosplay, like sisters Jessica and Ashley Wheeler.

Jessica, you're in costume, Shego from "Kim Possible."

Looks like you spend a lot of time putting this costume together.

So what is it about cosplay that makes you want to spend the time putting this together and then come to a convention, and, you know, walk around?

- I've had a thing for cosplay since I was a teenager.

I made my own Astrid costume from "How to Train Your Dragon," and since that I've just been in love with cosplay and I love dressing up.

And I am a little vulnerable sometimes if I go out in public dressed up like this.

Like even today I was a little nervous, but then it's like once I got here I was like, okay, now I'm in my area.

But I think right, having the heart and passion into it, that's what I have.

- You know, that's the great thing about this community is that it's very welcoming.

It's very, very supportive.

So do you do a lot of conventions?

- See, this is actually my first one.

Like I've actually wanted to go to a convention for a long time.

But me being a teacher, I, yes, I've been very busy, but thankfully when I saw there was a convention in the summer, I was like, "Oh yes, I definitely have to go to that," and so me and my sister were like, "Oh, we gotta go as Kim Possible and Shego."

Like, that's one thing we wanted to go as for a long time.

- You know, when you put a costume together like this, it takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of effort, but it also has to be comfortable.

So I'm hoping that when you're putting the costume together, you're thinking about sensible shoes.

- Oh yes.

I put on, Hey Dudes under here, 'cause I want, 'cause I knew if I put on like my combat boots, my feet were gonna be killing me.

- So if you had advice for anyone who is considering coming to a convention like Heroes Con, maybe they've never been to a convention before, would you, you know, give them that advice?

- Oh yeah, definitely.

Like, especially like don't be afraid.

Like, you know, just come as you are.

Like if it makes you happy, go for it, and just remember one thing of all: wear comfortable shoes, 'cause you're gonna be doing a lot of walking.

- Shego without Kim Possible would be like Jessica without her twin sister Ashley.

Ashley, you are here at Heroes Con.

You are in character as Kim Possible, if I'm not mistaken?

- Yes.

- So what is it about cosplay in general that makes you to, you know, get dressed up, come to a convention, and see other people?

- I mean there's lots of people that came up like, "Oh my gosh, Kim and Shego!"

Because you don't see a lot of people dressed up like us, but I mean besides that, it's just you get to see people dressed as your favorite superhero, and it's just like a icebreaker.

You get to meet people that way, and it's just cool, because you don't see people dress up as superheroes every day, so it's just a special occasion.

- As somebody who has been reading comics for many years, I see a change in when I would go to a comic convention, there would be a certain group of people.

But now as I come to conventions, it's a different audience.

There's a lot of younger people who aren't necessarily comic readers, but they enjoy cosplay or they enjoy the cinematic universes or something.

Is that something that that kind of factors into your love of of cosplay?

- Oh yeah.

I love all movies, especially, yeah, especially the Marvel ones.

But yeah, it just kind of goes back to, yeah, you get to connect with other people, and yeah, 'cause like for like Kim Possible, I loved the show growing up.

I mean it's not like big anymore like it used to be, so it's kind of fun like when you get to see people my age, they're like, you know, "Oh my God," like you know, "You're dressed as one of my favorite characters," and yeah, the younger people don't get it, but it's fun when I get to connect with older people.

- When you pick a character and it's more of a deep dive, where it's not like, you know Spider Gwen, do you get a little bit more satisfaction when someone says, "Oh wow, that's a great costume?"

- Yeah, for sure.

I mean, I know I didn't like make my costume, like the spandex and everything, but it's just nice that I had something like pulled together.

So it is nice when you get like compliments about it, 'cause you do put in some work, even if it's like, you know, just simple as like a shirt and pants.

It's just, yeah, you're putting like heart into it too.

- Cosplayer Meg Devertus came to Heroes Con as part of the charitable organization Costumers for a Cause.

Cosplay has become a bigger part of the convention experience, and a lot of folks are into cosplay, but not necessarily into comics.

So you are here not just as someone who enjoys cosplay, but cosplay with a cause.

- Yes.

So I am the branch leader of a brand new group in Charlotte called Customers with a Cause, and we bring all kinds of costume characters, lots of comic book characters, to charity events and hospitals and fundraisers.

Anything that we can do to make a difference and make kids smile in our community.

- Are you here trying to sort of maybe raise a little bit of money or just raise awareness?

- Both!

Hoping to find some new members, people that love cosplay, that want to be a part of our group.

We are also raising money for a charity, the Lennox-Gastaut Foundation, which benefits children with a very rare form of epilepsy.

We were able to work with them this past spring.

They have several very big fundraisers throughout the country.

One of those is in Charlotte, and so we had several characters go out to their event and just hang out with the kids for a few hours.

And so lots of fun.

- How can folks who are watching find out more about your organization, so that they can either join or donate some money?

- We have a national website.

It is CostumersWithACause.org.

You can also find us on social media.

We're on Facebook and Instagram.

The Instagram handle is CWC National.

- Over the years the popular costumes have changed, and in prior years we would count the number of Harley Quinns and the number of Deadpools, and you could get up into the double digits for both.

I'm noticing that there are a lot of folks who are really taken by Spider Gwen and Gwenom, as you say.

So what's about that character that excites you and makes you want to spend the time and the effort to not only dress, but make that costume?

- I think Spider Gwen and to a larger extent Spider-Man and all of the spider characters have such an appeal, because Peter Parker is just a regular guy, you know, with regular life struggles, and Gwen is the same, trying to struggle with band practice and family, and also trying to be a superhero at the same time.

We are very fortunate to have had several really great "Spider-Man" movies recently.

I know I was excited that people got to know who Gwen was, 'cause I've been reading her comics since they first came out, and so for her to then appear in the Spider Verse movie was a really big deal.

And yeah, I just think she's a really relatable character, and I love being able to bring her to life.

- [Terence] Cosplayers weren't the only people interested in colorful clothing.

Vendor Jill Rivera had a booth selling bespoke shirts.

So you're taking shirts and you are stitching panels on the back.

- Yes.

- From comics, and you've got some really deep dives in here.

It impresses me to see the scope and variety of images that you've come across.

So where do you get these images?

- So there's two different types of images that I do.

So like the Charizard and the Snake Eyes, those are images that I basically recreate into panels.

So I get them online, I recreate them into my own, and then depending on the size of the flannel, would be the size of the panels.

And then the other types of panel backs that I have would be like the Wolverine and the "Legend of Zelda."

Those are actually vintage bedsheets from the '80s and '90s, so I'll just get them online, recreate them into panels, and so those are completely a hundred percent upcycled, including the flannel and the panel backs on those.

- So this is really cool.

You are sort of curating stuff that is designed to be used and thrown out after a period of time and you're giving it the second life, and I'm... Is it the same with the shirts you're getting?

Shirts, like secondhand?

- Yes.

So the majority of our shirts are upcycled, but we do have some that we buy manufactured-wise, but the majority of them are going to be upcycled shirts.

- And another really interesting thing about this is that you are catering to adults, men, women, children, and you're finding things that are, like I said, you've got some images there that are really deep dives.

So are you a fan yourself?

- Yes.

[laughs] So I actually grew up, there's a lot of like "Care Bears," there's a lot of "Flash," things that I grew up personally that I love, "Little Mermaid."

So I actually had "The Little Mermaid" bedsheets and the "101 Dalmatian" bedsheets growing up.

So it was funny, like I found a photo of myself when I was a child in my room with one of the bedsheets and I'm like, how crazy is it that now I'm actually recreating these bedsheets into panels when I once had them?

So it's a lot of people come in, it's so nostalgic for them, like growing up they're like, "Oh my god, I had these bedsheets."

A lot of times that's why they purchase an item, but for other people it's like brand new to them.

They never had these bedsheets, they never seen it, so it's awesome to see like two different types of customers coming in, as well as like the ones that I also recreate, like the comic books, like they grew up with these comic books.

So it's interesting to see the two different types of customers that walk in, and how excited they get just to see the actual like products put together, and they can actually wear it.

So that's why I love seeing.

- The entrepreneurial spirit filled Heroes Con's aisles, as small publishers tried to connect with fans.

John Kanakry had an old school approach to hooking readers.

John, you brought a copy of "Kid and a Comic."

- Yep.

- To the convention.

You're at Heroes Con, but you're not just a fan, you're kind of promoting "Kid and a Comic."

- So I'm a publisher.

A while ago I had an idea and I came up with it, and my wife told me to get off my butt and do something about it, which is a nice change from just take out the garbage.

But it was to fill a void with Sunday comics, you know, the strips and kind of a nostalgia based book.

And we came up with the idea of what if we reached out to real world comic artists that do comic books and say, "Hey, do you have an idea that you've been sitting on?

"Do you have something that maybe Marvel or DC or Image "or whoever didn't kind of want to go with, "but you really kinda scratch that creative itch?"

And the overwhelming response from very big names was, "Yes, I do, and I wanna do this."

So we decided to put together a newspaper, it's subscription based or in your comic shop, and they also have them on their tables, although there's a lot that are sold out, and it's really cool.

It's, some are episodic.

They go from issue to issue, and some are just, you know, a quick pan, funny story.

There's art, there's games, there's puzzles.

Everything that, it's a nostalgia bomb of you sitting in front of Saturday morning cartoons with the Sunday comics and a bowl of cereal.

That's the best vibe I can tell you about it.

- It's fascinating, because there is the decline of the American newspaper, but it was so influential in my house, and in so many people's homes where you would get 20 pages of Sunday comics in color on the big broad sheets of paper.

So you're sort of bringing that back with this.

- I get it.

Newspapers for the most part, just, they're not trending upward, if you will, because the news is, it stinks, okay?

But this is the best part of that.

It still exists.

It's still something that doesn't have to be micromanaged, that can be enjoyed, and just people need to know it's there.

People you know need to enjoy it, read it, hand it to somebody else, read it until it's so tattered that, you know, it's got all the love it needs.

We don't have a gateway for young readers.

And I'm not talking about too young, 'cause some of our stuff has, you know, not mature, but it's, I would say middle school or above.

We don't have a transitionary period, because one day all us old guys who love these stories, these books, are gonna be gone and then, you know, where's the industry coming?

Where is it drawing from?

So this is a great way for both a father, son, mother, daughter, whatever, to say, "Okay, here's something to check out.

"Here's something to have interest in, have fun with."

Fill out the crosswords, do all the stuff that isn't so collector specific, but is just meant what comics are to be.

It's fun.

- I spoke with a small imprint publisher known as Coach about his line of comics.

Coach, you have your own imprint called Essential Comics and you are here at Heroes Con.

What is the goal from, I guess, a business point of view to make the investment to come down here to introduce audiences to your ideas?

- Any venue that we go to, our goal is just to build the product, build the fan base.

So if I get out here and I can shake 10 to a thousand hands, it's growth within the comic books.

That's why we're here.

- So it's interesting, because comics have moved on from the days of where you had maybe two or three publishers and you had to really pitch to them.

But with the digital age, you can have your comics online, you can do print on demand.

So how are you approaching getting the physical copies of your comics produced?

- We like to go back into the old school way of comic books.

So we like to make sure that all, number one, all of our artists can tell a story with their art before I add the words to it.

So that way old heads like me remember, you know, we might not have been able to read when we were younger, but we could still follow the story based on what the pictures were.

So that is the first base.

And then we've been blessed enough to run into people that can do our printing at a very, very low rate.

And just by traveling the country as best we can, we're able to put a hard copy in people's hands, because I think that carries a little more weight, a little more value to someone than a digital copy.

- I know for me personally, having a comic in my hand is, it's, well, I mean you get to hold it, you get to appreciate it, you can look at it.

You can't zoom in on it like you can on your tablet.

- [Coach] Right.

- But I really have a hard time looking at the whole page, because a lot of times the page is part of the design.

- Exactly.

- It's not just that one panel that you might see on a reader.

So what changes do you see from when you were growing up in terms of audience and the type of comics that you see to now?

- Unfortunately, I see the bad side, because I have kids myself, with a lot of blood, guts, politics being shown in comic books, when originally comic books were just fun reads.

And that's what, you know, we tried to get back to.

We want them to have a fun experience, so that they want to come back and say, "Oh wait a minute, we got a cliffhanger here.

"I gotta get the next issue."

I think a lot of times, because books may be quote unquote "too serious" that it just bogs you down with the weight of what's going on in the world.

And we want to give people a little vacation from that.

- And if the folks watching wanted to find out more about you, where can they find you on the web?

- They can find us at EssentialMedia1, the number one, .org.

- Another creator with big ideas and aspirations that I met at Heroes Con was Doni.

Doni, we're at Heroes Con.

You have come all this way to talk to people about "Apeiros World," which is your comic.

As someone who is a creator taking a risk, coming to a convention to introduce your concepts to an audience, you know, what goes into that decision to, you know, hop in the car, spend the money, and meet the people?

- Yeah.

After a certain amount of time being in the lab, as I like to say, it just comes a time we need to put the project out there.

I'm very much more of a, I think I have a good grasp of the art and the commerce aspects of creativity, 'cause I don't, I think those two things can work together well.

So once you kinda have enough to showcase to people, I think it's, then it's time to really make a decision and find what's compatible, to see what people are into.

I mean, there's a lot of competition, there's a lot of ideas, a lot of stories out there.

So it's like why shouldn't you put your work out there and kind of find like who is attracted to what, because you know, someone may be looking for the thing that you're trying to create.

- Before we started to record, you were talking about how this guide is sort of like something you would find in the old school video games.

In the world of comics, it's shifted quite a bit from the '80s and '90s and early 2000s when everything was, you know, comic.

Now you can do things that are a little different, because audiences are really open to new ideas.

So as you start to speak to people and you introduce your concepts to them, you know, how are you finding their reception of what you're presenting?

- It's been a good interest for something new, but I think you have to also battle against what's proven to sometimes, like I always say like the legacy of all these like comics brands, you know, Marvel, DC, "Star Wars," like they have a legacy of track record, and that's what attracts people.

But even at one time they were also the beginners that had to fight for that proven ground.

So I think people are receptive to something that's proven if they see it at first touch point, that, "Oh, this is something unique that I can see.

"This is gonna be carried on into the future, "not just another like copycat."

- So what I find really interesting about this book is that you are using manga, inspired by manga, which is, you know, Japanese comics, and you're working with an artist from Nigeria, which just this global outreach, this global connectivity in making comics is really interesting.

So what is it about manga that speaks to you, and how do you connect with an artist who's thousands of miles away?

- Well, growing up in the '90s, I was more introduced to manga and stuff like that early on.

The comics, there wasn't any really comic shops around, even though I'm in a comic convention, manga always had like a more unique draw, specifically 'cause when "Dragon Ball Z" came to the US, that was like the big door opener.

So that's what opened it up, so it's like, oh this content is cool.

Manga was more accessible, weirdly enough, at the local library to be able to get all of that.

But with the globalization of the internet, I'm all the time scouting for, you know, talent online, people that are doing really awesome stuff.

People that are, like to work with people who are not yet as discovered and high profile and be like, "Hey, you know, I had this idea," really kind of convince them on the vision, because I think it's really important, 'cause if they don't have buy in to the vision, that output's gonna show.

So I just think through finding other people across, talent pools across the world globally, that doesn't get a lot of shine.

Specifically for me, it's certain parts of Africa and South America, like Brazil, even like the UK, France, and some areas like that.

Like there's tons and tons of talent there.

So I'm always like looking for these like kind of undisc...

It's almost like stock picking or emerging markets in finance world, like looking for these emerging markets.

So yeah.

- And you are the writer, and you have come up with a concept, but you're working with the artist to sort of create the character models.

- [Doni] Correct.

- So, you know, how do you, 'cause I know there's gotta be some language barrier, whether, you know, if you go to speak to someone from Great Britain, that version of English is different than, you know, New York English, which is different from North Carolina English.

You know, so how are you kind of bridging that gap, so that way you can find that common visual language, so that the characters look the way you think they should?

- That's a really good question.

So far there hasn't been necessarily like, I would say a full on language barrier, in terms of like English communication.

I think sometimes it might be, I would say more of a vision barrier, or a stylistic barrier might be, like a visual style barrier I think is is more so the case, 'cause learning how to communicate is very important in the sense of like, you know, how a person learns, what they're receptive to, other reference points.

So other people's work and like, hey, you know, this is sort of what I'm going for in this sort of line style, this sort of color style, this sort of posing.

Using a lot of those kind of tools that have been really helpful to then showcase.

I will say the secret weapon is Pinterest.

If you, if you're not a, if you're a writer only creator, use Pinterest, 'cause then you can kind of just gather a whole bunch of visual like, you know, reference material you can show to an artist like, oh okay, I can kind of see the global map of things, and you can kind of let them do what they wanna do.

- Someone watching at home wants to find out more about you.

Where can they find you on the web?

- You can find it @Aperios.World, that's A-P-E-I-R-O-S.World on Instagram.

And then ApeirosWorldProject.com.

- Actor and publisher Jay Conley set up a booth to tell everyone about his imprint, Fate 68 Comix.

Jay, you are involved in comics in two ways.

One, you are a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

- [Jay] Yes, sir.

- But you are also working on your own comic property, so - Right.

you're at Heroes Con to tell people about that.

So what is your comic about?

- Fate 68 Comix is a company I started a couple years ago.

The acting, kind of just kind of fell into it about five years ago.

And I got lucky with getting cast for the role in "Wakanda Forever" with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and now I'll be taking over as like her partner, so I'll be appearing in like the "Thunderbolts" movies and stuff with her.

But as far as the comic book company, it's been around for like two years and it grew so fast.

We got seven titles, seven different titles, they all intertwine as one universe.

And we got like several artists that are working for us now.

Some of the classic legends, like, you know, Mike DeCarlo from, you know, "Omega Men," as everybody knows that did the Lobo cover.

And one of Frank Frazetta's partners, Sean Joyce, who's just an icon in his own right.

And now we have one of our stories, "The Adventures of JP Cummings," which was our miniseries that, I did not see this coming, but ended up being such a hit that we got a Netflix and some other properties wanting to help get this movie made, so we just acquired a director.

We are now in the process of casting for the trailer, 'cause once we get the trailer done, we'll be able to send it off to see what, where it goes from there.

But yeah, things moved very fast in the past two years, a little faster than I expected.

So, but I can't complain.

And this is my first Heroes Con, and it's exactly how they described it.

I can't say anything different, but be ready.

- It's a great convention, because it is comics focused.

- [Jay] Yes.

- And the fans who are here are serious about comics.

So it's a great way for an imprint to sort of connect with people who might not be aware of a new title, because the industry is still dominated by the big two, and, well, big two and a half I guess, if you count Image.

- That was such a great plus for us, because we ended up meeting so many people that already knew who we were and supported us.

We have people that knew us from either our Kickstart, our website, or heard about us through other people.

And that was the best thing is like people come, "Oh yeah, we have this issue.

"We need this one and that one," and to me, I'm like, you know, like, "Oh, awesome."

So that's always a plus for me to meet the fans, and trying to do whatever I can to help them out.

And being able to walk around and meet some of the legend artists, like my all time favorite, got me into comics when I was a kid in the '80s was to me one of the best "Spider-Man" artists ever, Ron Frenz.

Somebody mentioned he was here, and I just stopped what I was doing.

I was like, "You said Ron Frenz is here?"

Went down there, met him, did a sketch for me, and we connected where we'll be talking, where he will be hopefully doing a series on our Snap now.

- Oh, wow.

Yeah.

And that to me, I told him, I said, that would be like nailing everything for me.

I'm like, "To have you just, even if you did one issue," and so he was up for it, and, you know, he got the information.

So we're gonna be talking later, and see what we can work out.

But that's what happens when you come to these things.

You know, you get to meet all these new people and expand and learn things.

And there's people out there that are just starting off, and just needing the break, and those are the ones that I kind of gravitate to, because I know what it was like.

And their art's amazing, but they just need that one time, and I figured if I can give somebody that one time, I'll do it.

And I've been giving a lot of these new artists a chance, and their work's so amazing that they've blown up, and I've just, if I can be that stepping stone, I have no problem.

Step on and step on over and make something of it.

That's great.

That's what I kind of base the company on, is helping all the up and comers do it, because it's really hard.

Like I said, there's independent companies everywhere, you know, but there's not a lot of independent companies that got people that have worked hard and give you a good story with good art.

Usually they just kind of base one or the other.

So I'm trying to combine them both at this point.

- It's difficult to do, because you have to kind of cut through the clutter.

The internet is a great equalizer, in that you can reach a great audience, but you still have to figure out how to reach that audience.

And a convention like this is a great way for you to find people who will kind of spread the word about that.

- The internet is great, but when you put a face to somebody that you've seen, like I, honestly as much as I admired Ron, I had no idea what he looked like.

so he was not what I expected.

And so when people put a face to that person and they come up and they meet you, you know, 'cause you can read anything on the internet or a message or an email and just take it as like, "This guy's just a jerk or something."

But when you meet 'em and you say something, they're like, "Oh no, he's really a nice guy."

Like that happens all the time.

And so face to face is how I grew up.

That's how I was raised, and that's what I love, and I try to bring a lot of that back, especially in the stories.

Our motto with Fake 68 Comix is bringing back the stories of the '90s, but putting a twist on it.

So what everybody liked and got into comics for in the first place is what I'm trying to get back into the comics industry.

And so far it's been working.

This is the place to do it.

I'm literally selling sketch box covers for this place and telling them, I said, "You literally can get this, "get every book in here signed by one of the artists, "and just throw a rock and pick somebody to draw on it."

I mean, everybody's here.

I mean, there's no shortage of talent in this place anywhere, and you can get any type of book you want.

And this is great.

- So if the folks at home wanted to find out more about your comics, where can they find you on the web?

- You type in Fate68Comix.

Comics with an X. C-O-M-I-X, .com, www.Fate68Comix.com, or just type in Fate 68 Comix with an X and everything pops up.

- That's all the time we have for this episode of "Comic Culture."

Thanks so much for watching.

Join us next time for part three of our trip to Heroes Con in Charlotte.

Until then, I'll see you soon.