We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Justin Simmonds a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Justin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

One of my most meaningful projects to date is a collaboration I recently had with Johnson and Alday Attorneys at Law. This collaboration was the first in hopefully a continual practice reestablishing the bridge connecting sequential art and brand messaging. I had first met with Bobby Johnson at the Strand Theater in Marietta, GA where our conversation eventual led to the “So what do you do” portion of the evening and in introducing him to my craft he became enamored with the creative possibilities. Those plans were put on hold however due to Covid-19 leaving the world in a state of uncertainty, but it must have been meant to be because in the winter of 2021 we had crossed paths again and the interest was still there, this time it had grown into a vision that the Law Partners were excited to share, so after the holidays Bobby Johnson and John Alday invited me to their office to discuss that vision.

Funny Enough I had a whole power point planned on how Sequential Art was a major tool used in brand messaging in the days of yore, though since it was a tactic hardly utilized in today’s businesses, I felt like I had to do a fair amount of persuasion to sell the idea, little did I know that they were waaaayy ahead of me. To my pleasant surprise Johnson and Alday had an entire concept formulated down to the visual aesthetics and story. What made matters greater is that I had recently discovered a unique method of printing short stories in an effective way that only relied on the use of one sheet of paper. The results were more than favorable.

Since the success of that project, I now have a proven method that revives an old tool of visual communication, a product that allows me to produce short form comic books furthering my own and others brand messaging, and a new set of satisfied clients that I can’t wait to work with again.

Justin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Comic books and illustration have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, my father was the one who introduced me to Superheroes and Science-Fiction at a very young and impressionable age. Once that seed was planted my imagination blossomed over the years to the point of no return and so I picked up a pencil letting it all run wild. However, it wasn’t until the 7th grade that I met my lifelong best friend Brenden Sellers, and through our mutual love of art and comics we became inseparable, which eventually evolved to us creating and printing our own comic book adventures, thus establishing our dream of becoming comic book creators, a dream we have carried with us into adulthood

At the age of 25 I had begun the proceedings of making my comic book dreams a reality by trying my hand in the publishing business establishing Mind Invader Comics. A humble little publishing house championed by stories of Marietta, Ga and inevitably the metro Atlanta area by giving a 1950’s Sci-Fi spin to its day-to-day life and history. The frontliner of that concept begins with Cobbzilla, The Furious Fowl of Georgia (My creative take on the infamous Big Chicken.)

It was through this character and its public reception that I had realized that the relationship between sequential art could work as a powerful tool for marketing and brand identity. When I’m not conjuring stories of alien invaders and misfit heroes, I lend my artistic talents to local businesses who desire innovative and unique tactics for their marketing strategies and sharing their brand messages.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

To put it simply I want to tell the stories I feel in my heart, whether it’s a blessing or a curse I have these ideas that just get stuck in my head that I just can’t seem to leave alone. I know it’s not something unique only to myself, but I have made it my mission to hone the skills to be able to materialize those abstract fantasies. In doing so I have found myself with what my college professor Lionell WIlliams calls a “Superpower”, but I see it more as an energy. An energy that has transferred to me from the creators that were paramount in my youth, that inspired me to do and see things in a new perspective. I want to share my energy with those that happen upon it in the hopes that it does for them what it has for me.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

What comes to mind are three books really, now that I think about it each one kind of marked a chapter on my creative journey thus far. The first book is “Making Comics” by Scott McCloud. An absolute MUST HAVE for all who even think about diving into the world of sequential art. I had discovered this book the summer after my high school graduation, having only known about comic book making from the books in my collection. Mr. McCloud gives a meticulous walk through on what comics are, expanding my view of the sequential arts shifting my thought process to more of a science of expression and a powerful asset in visual communication.

After digesting Scott McCloud’s gospel, I spent the next few years honing my craft leading to the day the philosophy of Jeff Goins found his way to me in the form of his book “Real Artists Don’t Starve”. A book that would forever shape my mind set on how to foster an environment that would sustain my creative pursuits in the professional world. Within the pages of this book Mr. Goins speaks on the growing movement of the creator renaissance, opening my eyes to the traits of a “Thriving artist” while debunking the archaic views of a “Starving” one as he addresses the Mindset, the Market, and the generation of revenue. Diminishing stigmas in association to creatives and their work, by plainly stating that the “Starving Artist” is a choice and NOT a conviction. It was with this book that I began to think outside the box on the role that sequential art had played in the business world in the past and how its integration with creative marketing can bring something lost to brand voice and identity in the future.

Lastly is “Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination” by Neil Gabler, a book that held me over during the Covid Lockdown, a particularly dense tome that I admit am still studying, but what makes this book so significant is Mr. Gabler’s scrupulous detail of the trials and tribulations of one the most iconic figures in modern history. Reading Walt and Roy Disney’s journey has been a very humbling and inspiring experience. It humanizes Disney by taking you on a tour of not only what they did but how they did it, giving a front row seat to all that went into achieving their aspirations. It not only inspires one as a creative but acts as a call to action. Leading you to believe that if Disney can do it, then so could I.

I truly believe that without these books my journey would have been set back God knows how far, and would have left me lost or even worse, on the verge of quitting. In a master class of how to understand and pursue one’s creative passions, these three I feel are required reading.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.Mindinvadercomics.com
• Instagram: Mind_Invader_Comix
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/Mindinvadercomics
• Other: Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Rex Robinson Images “Nickel Bag” Rik Wayne