Brant Mawdsley is taking his comic book series across the province.
Mawdsley, 32, is setting out on an adventure to take his Action Hero series to comic book conventions in Barrie, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, and possibly Belleville and Niagara Falls this year.
The series — written, illustrated, and published by Mawdsley — follows a man named Brock Barnes, who, with his superhero friends, fights crime and corruption in Bayfield City. The comic books are sold locally at MVP Cards and Collectibles, Dr. Comics, and Triple C.
Life before Mawdsley became a comic book writer was "boring," he says.
“I go to school, I get in trouble,” he explained of his younger years. “I come home, I get in more trouble…But one day I pick up my first copy of Captain Underpants and everything changes.”
Mawdsley was just nine years old when he fell in love with comic books and started writing his own. His inspiration for the star of his series, Barnes, comes from himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris, James Bond, and Superman.
“All men that all men at some point in their life wanted to be,” he said. “Myself included.”
It takes Mawdsley two to four weeks to come up with an entire comic book, but he is always working on them. Even when he’s working away at Giant Tiger collecting shopping carts, he is often deep in thought about the next adventures of Barnes.
Mawdsley has already written 20 books in the series.
The Park Street Collegiate Institute graduate says he plans to continue writing Action Hero "forever". One day, he would also like to dive into writing a romantic graphic novel.
Mawdsley says attending comic book conventions this year is a "big-time" opportunity for him.
“This will allow me to hit my five-year goal of being province-wide with my comic books,” he said. “I started this goal in 2019.”
Mawdsley hopes to one day make a career out of writing and illustrating comic books.
“I just need to keep finding more and more venues across Ontario, Canada, and possibly the United States someday.”
Locally, Mawdsley says his comic books have been "selling like hotcakes."
“People want to support local and that’s good,” he said. “The fact that people are supporting me means I’m doing something right and I’m on the right track.”
