The story behind the image. A few years back, a local comic book store owner and good friend, Ken Brown (from Drawn To Comics), and I had a sit down for lunch. We were discussing many topics - comics, movies, more comics, and telling jokes. During said discussion, we began throwing around some ideas for his next Free Comic Book Day event, losing ourselves completely as we bounced ideas off of each other. Ken would say an idea, I would add to it, then he would add more onto mine, and so on and so fourth. In the end, we came up with an idea of the scene setting taking place in the middle of his FCBD event, where he would be passing out free comics to a bunch of the Marvel heroes. Thanos will be causing a ruckus, because instead of going for free comics, he’s there for free Cosmic Stones. We ended up finishing our lunch, said our farewells, and went our different ways. This was a big project and I put a lot of pressure on myself. Not because the number of characters I chose to draw or because of the setting, but because I was going to draw one of the most knowledgable comic book store owners in the state of Arizona. The fact that he is a good friend didn’t help the matter, either. If who I drew did not resemble or embody Ken, then I would have missed the target and would, therefore, deem the project a complete failure. Putting my fears aside, I decided to let my heart control the sails of my artistic ship. Were there bumps in the road? Of course there were! That is how we learn and grow. We make mistakes! But here’s the thing…if we do not allow those mistakes to sink our ship, we’re are left with a brand new day to seize every opportunity we are given to correct those mistakes. So, with everything said and done, I look at my final image and I smile. I smile because the super heroes that I love and enjoy are in my favorite comic book store, being helped by the real hero in this image. Ken. A man faithfully serving his customers the very comics and stories that have helped to inspire my talents and mold me to become the person I am today.
