Capes-n-Babes

“Capes ‘N’ Babes” was originally envisioned as a graphic novel.
About eight years or so ago, I went to the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland. It was there that I discovered a wonderful little comic book called The Copybook Tales. It told the story of two friends – a writer and an artist as they remembered their childhood adventures. The story essentially was a flashback of then and now. It was a great book and I eventually found the trade paperback.

But it helped spawn an idea. At the time, I was still into serious super-hero books… Batman, X-Men, Captain America and all the rest but thanks to the first trip to the SPX, I was suddenly getting into more self-published work. So much so that I started creating my own story.

Inspired by The Copybook Tales, I started writing about my high school memories of hanging out at the local comic book shop. The characters started flying out of my brain. The stories were too. The only problem was… I could never get it right… whether it was the style (realistic) or the story (drama/autobiographical). Although I thought it was a good concept – a story about a comic book shop – I could never seem to get it right.

But the idea never left my brain. In fact, many of the original story elements are still there:
“Capes ‘N’ Babes” is based on a real store and a real strip mall.

The video store Roy works at? That’s a real store. In the same strip mall. I worked there. And yes, we sold and rented all kinds of videos – including adult videos. My big claim to fame there was that when it was discovered Tracy Lords was underage when she did porn, it was my responsibility to go through our entire stock of adult videos and pull out ever single movie she made an appearance in – whether she starred in the film or not.

Marc is an original character. Joey is too – although her original name was “Jodi”.
The only brand new characters thus far are Roy, Bob and B.C..

Roy does have an origin. I specifically know how (and why) he became a werewolf. Eventually, his story will be told.

Bob the Barber is based on my father-in-law who is, indeed, a barber.

B.C. is loosely based on my next door neighbor who has a wife. they are both motorcycle enthusiasts. But while my next door neighbor drives a puny little Honda motorcycle, his wife – who is even smaller and skinnier then he is – drives a huge, mean ol’ Harley Hog.

I find this extremely funny and plan to somehow incorporate that into the strip.

So I hope you join me in this new trip I’m undertaking. I have no idea where it’s going to lead (do any of us?) but I certainly hope it will be exciting!

-Chris