BEN TINSLEY: We got reviewed!

Hey, guys:

We were lucky enough to get a recent review for Two-Fisted Adventures #1 from Ron Fortier, a professional writer with over 25 years of time in the show, writing comic book projects such as The Hulk, Popeye, Rambo and Peter Pan.

To be honest with you, the two comic series of his that really kicked my a@# were The Green Hornet and The Terminator. He did Terminator with the fantastic Alex Ross.

Anyway, here's his review, which originally was printed on the fantastic comics news website Comicrelated.com. Hope you enjoy.

Thanks,

BEN TINSLEY
Publisher
Wham Bang Comics

2-Fisted Adventures #1 (Christmas Variant)
$4.25
COMICS LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE

A Review of Two-Fisted Adventures # 1
by Ron Fortier
(Imported from www.comicrelated.com)

More than twenty years ago I attended a small convention at a Howard Johnson’s in Portsmouth N.H.

The convention was sponsored by the owner of a local comic shop and he made it a point of inviting talent from the neighborhood.

That included two young fellows who wanted to debut their brand new, black and white comic book.

It was an awkward looking book, oversized and the art inside was way too dark and crudely rendered.

I bought a copy, wanting to support these likeable guys whose talented was obvious, if a bit crude. There was nothing amateurish about their love of comics.

They were Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird and the book was the first ever issue of something called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

While reading through the first issue of Two-Fisted Adventures, I found myself remembering that day often. Don’t get me wrong, the two books in shape, style and production are leagues apart.

Where they are exactly alike is in the tons of enthusiasm for comics that jumps out at you on every single page of this new comic.

And unlike TMNT, this is an anthology with many different concepts and voices, all to the good, I might add.

The brain child of Ben Tinsley and his son, Jake, Two-Fisted Adventures is very much about the love of comics. Night Owl is a manga inspired super-hero strip, as is the book’s final entry, Sentinels of Liberty.

It’s rock and sockem action start to finish. John Doe is way more adult in orientation and perhaps the best written piece in the collection, albeit very, very short. An idea like this should have been given a few more pages to breathe.

Whereas Genius is perhaps the most professional tale and features a great new character in Tanya, the sponge-like librarian with the world’s knowledge at her command. I’m going to be very, very anxious to see where this goes next.

Two-Fisted Adventures # 1. Why you should you race out and buy it? It isn’t often comic book lightning strikes. Ask all those imitators who tried copying TMNT and failed miserable.

TFA is an original worthy of your both your attention and support. Buy it, read it and enjoy it. I sure as hell did.

-- Ron Fortier

BEN TINSLEY: We're on ROK!

Wham Bang Comics Art Director Jason Dube and I recently started submitting our Night Owl comic strip to ROK Comics, a Lancaster, UK-based company that publishes licensed and creator-owned comics for use over cell phones.

After a very short time. ROK Managing Editor John Freeman contacted me about continuing to submit comics to them, for immediate publication and for possible syndication after we finish 20 strips. So far, we've had at least three of our current comics posted on their Internet front page.

I totally love ROK. These guys are tireless and hungry to succeed -- all the elements a company needs to skyrocket to the top.

Our strip is usually published in a typical one-page format, the same type of layout you'd see if you opened a comic book. But to accomodate the "order your strip over the cell phone" style of ROK, we've had to take our already-finished comic pages and reformat them a bit, breaking down each adventure panel-by-panel so that you can access the story on your cell one panel at a time.

And ROK won't just take anything you give them. We recently had a strip returned, with the editor asking us to work on the punch line a bit. We did just that and I think the end result is better.

I'm really hoping ROK decides to syndicate us after we hit the 20 strip mark. Jason, my son Jake, and I are in the process of mass production of our comic strips right now. We're hoping for a long and healthy relationship with ROK.

Just part of our ongoing campaign to bring you Wham Bang-tastic entertainment!

Thanks,

BEN TINSLEY
Publisher,
Wham Bang Comics

Check this out! The ROK Comics experience!

BEN TINSLEY

Special Christmas issue at www.comiXpress.com at a discount price!

Starting next week, Wham Bang Comics will start publishing a special variant of Two-Fisted Adventures 1. It's the same basic issue as before, but with a brand new cover, more comics, and a drastically -- HUGELY -- reduced price.

We will only be publishing this special collector's item Christmas variant through Dec. 25.

We're reducing our price from $5.95 to $4.25. We're stuffing brand new comic strip material inside these 52 pages and packaging the comic book in Christmas cheer. It should make a great, economical gift for the kids as well as comic reading adults! Easy, too. just access www.comiXpress.com, point and click and a copy will be delivered right to your home!

Check www.comiXpress.com next week for the debut of this special issue!

And .. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Thanks,

BEN TINSLEY
Publisher
Wham Bang Comics

BEN TINSLEY: The wheel in the sky keeps on turning

Lots of interesting things happening with us since we announced the publication of Two-Fisted Adventures 1.

1. My son Jake, the 13-year-old author of Night Owl, has been interviewed by two news agencies and appeared on television discussing our comic. The press release explaining what brought him into this fine business has appeared on numerous news sites.

2. A fantastic comics news site, comicrelated.com, has asked us to write a monthly column for them on our adventures in comic booking and will also be running our webcomic every month. From us to the staff at comicrelated, THANK YOU!

3. We've sold several issues of our comic on www.comiXpress.com. This printing company is bending over backwards to be helpful to us and we totally appreciate it!

4. Christopher Blaine is still a polygamist!!

5. We've got more news on the horizon. But look for our column and webcomic on www.comicrelated.com tomorrow. And thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

BEN TINSLEY
Publisher
Wham Bang Comics

How 12-year-old Jake Tinsley created a comic book to honor his late grandfather, a Tx journalism legend

Contact Rachel Raya,

214-597-3539

Rachel_raya@hotmail.com

November 2007

Twelve-year-old Night Owl creator is schoolboy by day, comic superhero by night.

Grandson of legendary Texas journalist crafts character’s hero after his late grandfather

GALVESTON, TX. -- When Jake Tinsley sits down to write his superhero adventures, he draws inspiration from the memory of his grandfather, legendary Texas journalist Jack B. Tinsley, who was Jake’s best friend.

Jake’s first book, Two-Fisted Adventures #1 is slated for publication this month in www.comicexpress.com, making him one of the youngest comic book writers in America. Night Owl is the character in the 50-page comic book which also houses three other titles. The other adventures are written by Texas teacher Pmanuel Alvear, Kentucky fan fiction writer Christopher W. Blaine; and Chicago comic book artist and writer Casey Columbus.

Jake began writing the book over two years after his grandfather died unexpectedly in 2004, when Jake was 9. Jack B. Tinsley, known to Jake as “Poppa,” was the executive editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The paper won two Pulitzers under his leadership.

For some time after his Poppa died, Jake was overwhelmed by sadness. It subsided after awhile, but Jake was still troubled by the fact he hadn’t had the chance to say goodbye to his real-life hero.

“I think the whole creative process of writing Night Owl has helped him remember the many good times he shared with his Poppa,” said Ben Tinsley of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ben Tinsley is Jake’s father and a journalist who formed Wham Bang Comics to publish Jake’s writings when living in Galveston, Texas. The company spans both Texas and Nevada.

In his Night Owl adventures, Jake’s main character, 12-year-old Zack Finley, inherits the Shaman powers of his Poppa after witnessing his brutal murder at the hands of a villain. In real life, Jake’s grandfather died of complications from surgery after suffering a ruptured aortic aneurism. Jake was unable to get to the hospital in time to say goodbye.

“The character Jake patterned after grandfather, “Poppa Finley” will play a major role in the second Night Owl episode in Two Fisted Adventures #2,” Ben Tinsley said. “He’s referenced in several flashbacks.”

Jake, who lives with his mother in Fort Worth, always had a ferocious imagination, having invented the Night Owl character as a small child. But as he dealt with the death of his real life hero, he was more drawn to the character than ever. At Jake’s urgings, his father decided to publish his work, which is why Wham Bang Comics to do it.

“Wham Bang Comics is creating a new mythology of heroes for the here and now,” Tinsley said. “We all love today’s superheroes but many of them were around when our grandparents were still kids.”

Jake inherited his love of comic books from his dad. Ben Tinsley is a journalist of 18 years and an avid reader of comic books since childhood.

“Comics inspired me to learn more about history and writing and words as a young child, and I’ve seen them have the same effect on Jake,” Ben Tinsley said. “Several times my son has put down a comic and asked me to go online with him to research history, geography and other concepts.”

Jason Dube of Sacramento, California, Wham Bang’s art director, said he came aboard with the new company because he was impressed by the passion that Jake and his dad had to create new and interesting comic books.

Together, Dube and Ben Tinsley spent the better part of six months – mostly in their spare time – editing and organizing the first issue for the comic. It was a lot of work, and their collaboration occurred completely over the internet and telephone. Dube and the Tinsleys have never met in person.

“As I began working for Wham Bang Comics I realized I was not doing your average comic book,” Dube said. “I was now part of a vision that little 12-year-old Jake Tinsley and his father shared. Working for long hours at my art table and over phone conversations with Ben Tinsley I saw the development of a child’s world come to life.”

Dube said he really enjoys working with Jake Tinsley because of the young Texan’s love for kid heroes.

“Two-Fisted Adventures has a little bit of something for everyone – from a funny, slapstick, sometimes dramatic superhero adventure to a gothic tale of magic, to a super powered fight against terrorism,” Dube said. “The comic really covers a lot of ground and I am really looking forward to seeing what happens in future issues.”

Shane Clendening of Fort Worth, chief financial officer for Wham Bang Comics and a longtime friend of the Tinsley family, said he hopes Two-Fisted Adventures inspires other children in the same way Jake and his father have been inspired by comic books Clendening’s young son Niko is friends with Jake as well.

“If we can get kids as excited about reading our superheroes as Jake is, they’ll eventually get excited about history, math and science,” Clendening said. “That’s what Wham Bang Comics is all about. We’re selling excitement.”

Two-Fisted Adventures #1 goes on sale today!

By the time you read this (I wrote this Thursday night) Two-Fisted Adventures 1 should be up on www.comiXpress.com. Meaning, OUR FIRST ISSUE IS OFFICIALLY PUBLISHED!

The guys at the old Xpress are great and professional printers and one click of the mouse should send our comic right to your front door.

It's been a long time coming and we're totally happy to get our product out to you.

But there's more on the horizon. I'm not going to say what, but the story behind our creation is about to be explained -- and it's something you'll want to hear.

Watch the skies!

Sincerely,

BEN TINSLEY
publisher
Wham Bang Comics