Rok Comics Creators: Ben Tinsley
First Published: 14 March 2008
Ben Tinsley, publisher of Wham Bang Comics and president of WBC Entertainment is a journalist with nearly 20 years of experience Tinsley writes for, edits and publishes the comics in his small line. His 13-year-old son Jake is the creator and writer of the 12-year-old shaman superhero Night Owl, Wham Bang Comics' flagship character, and the pair are in the process of creating a children's book based on the character...
Questions compiled by David Hailwood
How did you discover Rok Comics?
Over the web.
How do you feel about Digital comics over Print based comics?
I'm not a fan of the idea. Print based comics can be taken anywhere, whereas a computer can not.
What's your greatest achievement in the comics field?
Finishing and publishing our first issue!
What projects (both Rok Comics and non Rok Comics related) are you working on at the moment?
The Night Owl children's book, numerous ROK comics, and a couple of comic books.
What advice would you offer to new cartoonists?
I'll leave the advice up to others.
What's your favourite comics related website?
It's a tie between ROK and www.comicrelated.com.
Where else has your work appeared?
Wham Bang Comics gallery display of comic strip excerpts at
Art Encounter gallery in Las Vegas. (Several paintings already sold), and
we sold hard copies at Vegas conventions. Our comic strips are published
monthlhy at www.myspace.com/whambangcomics,
www.comicsherpa.com and
www.comicrelated.com
Copies of Two-Fisted Adventures #1, the Two-Fisted
Christmas variant, and LouLou and
Nightowl are on sale at www.comixpress.com.
Where/when did you get your first comics break?
I never got a "break." Diamond Distributing inexplicably refused to publish our first title and the first cellphone distrubutor I applied to did pretty much the same thing. Rudely and dismissively, I might add. I had to make my own luck.
What comics are you reading at the moment (both web and print based)?
Anything by Brubaker or Bendis.
Whose work do you most admire in the comics field and why?
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. They did it first and best!