What Winning A Black Authors Matter Award Meant For Me And My Comic Book

When I first started creating my comic series, I didn’t begin with awards in mind. I started with a simple goal: create a superhero, fantasy, and sci-fi comic series with raw, meaningful and impactful stories.

I grew up on cartoons, superhero shows, and big sci-fi movies. Most of them were the 90's and early 2000's Saturday morning cartoons. Those stories shaped how I see storytelling. But as I got older, I also became more aware of the different types of brokenness in the world.

So using the Saturday morning cartoon style I grew up with, I wanted to explore various raw and honest topics like Black and Native history, faith, grief, illness, and real human struggle — all in the same universe.

In 2023, my first comic issue of Zero Hour Epsilon Force was honored with a Black Authors Matter award, and I wanted to share why that matters to what I’m trying to build as a Black comic creator and to me personally.

A Black Comic Book Inside Of A Bigger Raw Christian Comic Universe

While Zero Hour Epsilon Force takes place in a raw Christian universe and addresses many topics, Issue 1 was specially designed to cater to and resonate with the African American community because as a Black owner, this is a community I'm of course familiar with.

The story of Issue 1 focuses on Tyrannogator, a reptilian warrior who both hates humans and wants to be a superhero after his mother is killed by a human hunter. However, he fails to qualify for the planetary protection organization in his world due to the vast amount of powerful warriors that exist there.

Tyrannogator is forced to face his bitterness and prejudice when he gets drafted to the military and interacts with William Wallace, a Black man who survived the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 back on Earth.

Tyrannogator's bitterness towards all human-kind mirrors William's past and reminds William of how he had to learn to forgive and overcome his hatred and bitterness towards white people. So despite Tyrannogator's hostility towards him, William helps Tyrannogator anyway as he sees his younger self in Tyrannogator.

And to make things more dramatic, Tyrannogator must wrestle with his hatred during a deployment to Atlantis for a mission to fight the evil Dr. Dewey Ore, a time traveling human cyborg from the future who wants Tyrannogator dead for his own reasons.

Representation Isn’t Just Visual — It’s Thematic

When people hear “Black comics,” they may sometimes assume it means one specific type of story. But Black stories don't always have to be just one genre or one type of story. They can be historical, superhero, spiritual or anything else, and my series blends multiple lanes.

I did this on purpose because I wanted to create a universe where Black characters can exist inside epic adventures and raw meaningful conversations without creating something that only fits into one box.

That balance is important to me as a comic creator creating a large universe because I feel like a comic can still resonate with the Black community and be considered a Black comic even if it fits in a much bigger Christian universe where there are aliens, monsters, or fantasy creatures in the story.

Winning a Black Authors Matter award felt like confirmation that this kind of approach has a place.

Why This Award Matters To Me

There are many indie comics released every year. So to have a Black organization look at my work and say, “This deserves to be highlighted,” means more than I can easily put into words.

It tells me that the story connected, the themes landed and the work didn’t go unnoticed. It motivates me to keep building this universe out even when growth feels slow.

For Black Readers Looking For Something Different

If you’re a Black reader who:

• Loves superheroes or real action

• Enjoys sci-fi or fantasy

• Wants impactful stories with passion and heart

• Loves Black history or history in general

• Likes Saturday-morning-cartoon style art with deeper themes

• Part of the Black Church or wants something that's Christian-based

My comic might be for you.

Zero Hour Epsilon Force is not trying to be a political or activist manifesto. It’s simply trying to tell engaging and honest stories through imaginative worlds and with a Christian world view.

Building A Black-Owned Comic Universe

Right now, I run Spidercade Studios as a small, independent studio.

No publisher. No big team. No corporate backing. Just me building one issue at a time.

Winning a Black Authors Matter award doesn’t mean I’ve “made it.” But it does make me feel like I’m moving in the right direction.

And I’m committed to creating comics that entertain, motivate, impact, and tell people about Jesus along the way.

Zero Hour Epsilon Force is colorful, fun and action packed reminiscent of the 90's Saturday Morning cartoons. But it also deals with very heavy topics in order to make an impact. If you’d like to check out the award-winning first issue or its G8 version for younger audiences, you can find them both on the Spidercade Studios store page.

Thank you for supporting Black creators and Black comics.