We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gene Willoughby, II. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gene below.

Gene, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I will always see The Sunstroms prose novel as project that is most meaningful to my creative journey. It was not only my first release, but it served as the catalyst that led to the comics storytelling that I’ve dreamed of doing since I was a kid.

Once I got into the editing phase of the novel and realized that I wanted to self-publish it, there was the question of how I would pay for getting the book printed. At the time, I was teaching Language Arts at a local middle school. One day I wore a shirt that depicted some of the characters from the novel that I had drawn. One of my co-workers liked it and suggested that I make the shirt available to the staff. So, after that particular conversation, I began selling t-shirts featuring Sunstroms art and ended up making enough money to get my book published. My principal and teammates from all departments even showed up and bought all of my books at my first book signing. I’m so grateful to those staff members to this day, and I credit them for launching me onto the path of sharing my work at conventions, libraries, and art shows.

As I presented my novel and posters at various events, fans of the book who were also into my art began asking for comics featuring this superhero family I created. I released my first Sunstroms comic book through Kickstarter in 2020, and I have been creating new installments of the series since then. I have also dropped The Last Age Book One which features new characters that exist in the Sunstroms’ world as well as trading cards and art prints. But as I look back at the The Sunstroms prose novel, that was the project and experience that opened all of the doors that I am currently walking through.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My love for the comic book medium and superheroes started at an early age. Mom always read the comics page in the paper, and one of the strips she always read was The Phantom by Lee Falk. I remember loving the fact that he’d always leave the skull imprint from his ring on the bad guy’s chin whenever he knocked him out. There was also the fact that Mom was a high school English Teacher who knew the value of reading. So when I asked for my first Marvel Comics subscriptions, she didn’t hesitate to make it happen. Those books as well as all the animation that I was watching after school and on Saturday mornings planted a seed that would grow into a full-blown love for drawing, character creation, and storytelling.

I have long wanted to see more Black representation in superhero comics, so my sci-fi/fantasy tinged stories definitely reflect that. My imprint Hammerblam Storytelling publishes my art and comics stories featuring The Sunstroms a Black American superhero family wrestling with taking on the enemies and responsibilities left to them by their deceased parents. I’m also publishing an anthology series called The Last Age which showcases interrelated short stories starring members of a diverse superhero fighting force called Protectorate Team Auric.

At the moment, I am most proud of the instances when I am able to inspire other young creators. When I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, I did not know or see other artists and writers who had created books within this medium. So, when a parent brings their child to my convention table to get creative advice or a teacher asks me to speak with their class about writing or visual storytelling, those moments make all of the long hours of drawing and writing worth it.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I think that it has taken a great deal of resilience to be consistent in my creative process. I always tell people that when you jump into a project, there will be a moment where you are too far into it to see the beginning or the end. It’s very easy to all the frustrations, re-writing, and redrawing to turn into procrastination and losing focus. When I was working on my novel, I stayed as committed as I could to writing three pages a day. Sometimes I could hit more than that; some days I did less. But that was the goal. When I am doing comics, I try to get one page penciled, inked, and colored a week. Again, there are times that I achieve more or less, but that is the goal. In my experience, this requires resilience because there are so many other wheels that have to keep spinning such as ordering inventory, scheduling conventions, and maintaining a social media presence.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

There are a few rewards that I get from being a comic book creator. First, I’m able to pour back into the medium that poured into me for so long. I’ve always seen each form of art as an ongoing conversation between between the creator and the audience….and also between the creators. It feels good to be able to add my voice, characters, and stories at conversation. I also value being able to inspire younger creators who are looking at putting their own stories out into the world. At least once a month a meet people who have created their own characters and worlds; I love being able to show them that there are ways to bring their dreams into reality.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hammerblam.myshopify.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/sunstromsnovel
• Other: https://willoughby.substack.com

Image Credits

Gene E. Willoughby, II