Andrew Thomas, has built a strong body of work spanning well-known franchises while continuing to refine his skills across comic drawing, the art of lettering, and most recently creating a popular local event.
Thomas, who was born and raised in Mississauga and has spent the last five years in Brantford with his growing family, delved into his early passion for comics.
“I was always that one kid that always drawing in class. I was also then one getting in trouble because I was doodling on every scrap of paper I could find. But, when it came to reading comics, I wasn’t really into that when I was younger. I remember the first comic I ever bought with my own money was a copy of Ultimate Spider-Man, Volume Four in Portuguese. I used to go to Portugal every summer, as I have extended family there and we would go visit them. And as many people may know, the cafes in Europe are on every corner and there was a particular one that was near my grandmother’s house. They would display their books, magazines, and comics in these plastic sheets and they were suctioned onto the window…so the covers would be facing outwards and get people seeing what they had when you were walking by,” he said. “And that’s how I happened to see the volume four…the cover had a picture of Spider Man and the Ultimate Green Goblin….duking it out. That caught my interest…and I bought it. I didn’t necessarily read a whole lot of Portuguese, but I tried to extrapolate as much as I could from the visual, which was one of my first exposures to the world of comics was just trying to gather the action from the visual storytelling, you know, without being able to read Portuguese. I did end up finally reading that particular volume in English many, many years ago, so it was cool to circle back to the childhood moments, but in terms of reading comics. But it wasn’t until high school that I got really interested in reading comics. The high school local library had a nice selection of Batman graphic novels…the Essentials, like Gear One, The Long Halloween, Batman: Dark Knight Returns, The Long Halloween, and The Killing Joke. I would read one comic after the other, and I just fell in love with Batman, and those storylines.”
Even from an early age, Thomas was fascinated by creating his own comic.
“I was very young, around seven or eight, when I had aspirations…to start drawing out my own comics…at that time, I was also very heavily inspired by anime, like Dragon Ball, and so I would draw from memory…and create a comic based on the stories or an episode that I was watching. So, I knew that I wanted to pursue some sort of illustration as a profession, whether it was in comics, or…as a Disney animator. I’ve always loved Disney cartoons as a kid, and wanted to learn how to animate for the longest time,” he said.
After high school, Thomas would take game design in college.
“I wanted to learn how to do animation. The course that I took broke it down…there was graphic design fundamentals, modeling, audio engineering, and programming, which happened to be my least favorite….because there’s just something about computer language that I just could not grasp, and even to this day it’s more of a foreign language to me. I’m more of a visual learner,” he noted. “So, while this is happening, DC Comics had just launched the new 52 run, where they would relaunch all their titles back to issue one with brand new stories and brand-new creative teams. I started collecting from that point. On Wednesdays, a new comic book would come out….and I’d pick it up. And Batman and the creative team behind that version was the one that sold me into the idea of pursuing comics, because not only was the story fantastic, but the artist Greg Capullo…really drew me in and inspired me. It was a light bulb moment…realizing that I could pursue a career in comic book illustration.”
Eventually, the budding illustrator would create PostHuman, a self-published comic.
“That was my very first self-published book I ever worked on. In my pursuit of being a comic book illustrator, the one thing that I definitely wanted to do above all else was self-publish a book that was entirely my own. This is this was an original comic that I had worked on with a writer friend Tristan Nall, and it was just something that I wanted to do. I wanted something to call my own. This was an aspiration that was even above wanting to work for Marvel or DC for example. I really wanted to learn how to self-publish, and that would entail not only how to draw the comic, but how to produce it, and how to tell a sequential story, and basically put everything together,” he noted. “That was my first crack at comic book lettering, which would be a skill that I would end up developing professionally. It would become a huge part of my career path, and learning how to print, how to properly format it, which paper to choose. There’s a lot that goes into comic book production which I wanted to learn about and this project gave me a strong insight.”
However, leveraging his experience in developing his own comic, he would connect with retailers, learning about the business.
“I was talking to a few retailers, and there was one that gave me probably the most, the best piece of advice, that I would take to heart would be that if you’re going to learn how to make comics…it wouldn’t just be focused on the artwork, also focus other aspects like lettering. Comic book lettering is the art of taking the written dialog or the written script and putting them into balloons and then putting them on the comic page. That also includes captions, sound effects and locator tags. That’s an art form in itself, because it has to flow organically with the art form, so there is a consideration of what typeface to use, or what kind of the balloon styles that should be used,” Thomas explained. “Good comic book lettering is invisible, [while] bad comic book lettering will stick out like a sore thumb. That was the advice given to me… it doesn’t matter if you could have the best piece of artwork that’s ever been drawn for a comic book, but if the, if the lettering is subpar or an afterthought, it’s going to ruin the entire experience and the flow of the book. I took it to heart, and I learned not only how to draw a book, but also how to letter it.”’
Eventually, Thomas’ work would draw interest from an editor at the time, Chapterhouse Comics, based in Toronto.
“They were responsible for republishing the Captain Canuck comic series that was originally done in 1975. They had acquired the rights to it, and they basically did a relaunch where they redesigned the character, and under a new comic book publisher…and done it for the modern comic book age. So, the editor reached out because of my lettering and after reviewing my portfolio, I was asked to letter an issue of Captain Canuck. At the time, that was kind of the moment I was waiting for. I quickly got acquainted with the first nine comics in the relaunched series, studying the story, the style and providing me a guide for the lettering which I had to match in the next issue,” he noted. “After production had wrapped they started giving me a few more to the point where they were happy with the work and they ended up hiring me as their or the in-house letterer for their entire production line, which was great timing because they had just expanded.”
As Thomas continued building his portfolio, he would find a voice that inspired him.
“During that time, I had started listening to a lot of Batman podcasts, specifically one called Batman on Batman, and this was a podcast by Kevin Smith. I knew of him, but I had never watched his movies before. My exposure to Kevin was through the world of comic books and he was essentially the godfather of nerd culture. I would consistently be listening to his podcast…where he would interview some of my favorite comic artists. They would talk about the ins and outs of being one in the industry. Eventually, I started to pay attention to Kevin and what he was all about. I began watching his movies and fell in love with his characters like Jay and Silent Bob and those characters from the Clerks franchise,” he said. “I took a lot of inspiration from him, just there was he became kind of like a spiritual mentor to me, because a lot of the things that he would say….I would kind of apply it to my own life…especially like the idea of your ‘voice’ being your currency and what you choose how to spend it. I took that to heart and I knew that I just wanted to create.”
However, Thomas would learn more about Smith by listening to a lot of his content online, and then developing a collaboration as a career highlight.
“One of the things that I would do was that there was also a Discord server where you talk to fans. I would start being connected with a bunch of other fans….but, there’s a server where fans are encouraged to share fan art…so I jump in every morning before doing my tasks for the day….and do I call a warm up doodle…a little sketch or a cartoon of some characters like Jay and Silent Bob..[and] I got quite a bit of positive feedback. I was obviously part of the fan club and one of the perks was that once a month Kevin would host a virtual Zoom call with his members, and people would get a chance to ask questions and talk with him,” Andrew said. “I would end up getting an opportunity to ask him a question, and I also show him some of my art with he dug. I would then get a message from his licensor out of Toronto that Kevin liked my stuff and asked if I would consider designing some merch for him. And of course, said yes. It was a pinch me moment. I submitted some work for various merch including t-shirts and posters involving Jane Sullivan, Bob, and Kim’s Convenience, and which he loved.”
And then, another opportunity came around, that the artist quickly seized.
“In 2022 he announces that he is getting back into writing comics, and he had started an imprint under Dark Horse called Secret Stash Press, and this imprint allows him to publish his own comics. So, when I heard this, I needed to be part of this team. And I got the opportunity to speak to him in person in Calgary. As a comic book artist, another thing that I do a lot is a lot of conventions since 2013…going to the ones in Toronto, Niagara Falls, Ottawa and even in the United States and just last year I went to the UK. So, at the Calgary Expo, where Kevin was featured there doing a promotional tour for the third installment of his of his Clerks franchise. I knew that that was one of the goals for that weekend, is I have to go meet him in person. And as a creator at the expo, I had the chance to talk to Kevin for a few moments during his autograph session for fans. He recognized me and told him it was an honour to finally meet him in person. He already knew that I was doing work in comics and of course my work for his merch lines. Then he asked me if I do lettering and I told him that’s my bread and butter…I do that full time and without hesitation he asked if I wanted to work for him doing lettering for his comics. He offered me the job right on the spot, and that put-on cloud nine. True to his word, I received an email from an editor at Dark Horse, with a contract ready to work on two comics, Masquerade and Quick Stops. I remember when the books were finally announced…with actual cover arts, the one thing that struck me was the fact that my name was on the cover, and I was blown away, because typically for letterers, that’s not, that’s not necessarily a normal thing. Usually the cover credits are reserved for writers, artists, and even colorists. That’s something rare. And that led to Kevin connecting with me because he knew I drew and asked me to do one of our exclusive covers for Quick Stops, issue one, and that’s going to be a variant cover for his store, The Secret Stash in Red Bank, New Jersey. That was just another pinch me moment. Fast forward a little bit, so I ended up work doing three volumes of Quick Stops for him and two volumes of Masquerade, and as of, as of right now, there is plans for more, I just don’t know what that looks like, and then I also, he also did an Archie meets Jane Saller Bob crossover, which I also got to work on as well.”
Additional opportunities for new work came about when Thomas brought Smith to one of the most popular and biggest comics book stores in the region.
“I saw that Kevin was coming to Brantford to do a stand-up special at the Sanderson Center, and I had used that as an opportunity to get him to do an in-store signing at CaptCan Comics. I reached out to Warren Mitchell and his son Jayden, who are owners of CaptCan, to see if they were interested and they were on board. Kevin came in a few hours prior to going to Sanderson. And that really brought them some notoriety…it was a big event with a lot of people coming out. It was great supporting them and our community” he noted. “And it was great when Warren and Jayden….hired me to do some retailer exclusive covers, and the way that works is that the publisher will send out a newsletter to retailers, and they will give them a list of titles that will be available for retailer covers. As long as you buy into their minimum orders, and as long as the artwork is approved, your store can have its very own cover that will not be available anywhere else. That’s something that collectors love to have…and to get every single cover of that particular book. I got to do a cover for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and the for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Kevin Smith related stuff…this was another feather in my cap contributing to these properties and working with Cap Can. I’m very grateful to them.”
While Thomas has a few projects in the works including a comic called Innards, a dystopian sci-fi series and a historical graphic novel, it was an idea for a comic convention in Brantford that developed into something special.
“That was something that I was shooting around with another local comic creator and writer, Scott Wojcik. We would talk about the ideas and think that it would be cool if we had Comic Con in Brantford…but how would we make that happen? I then stumbled upon somebody who had already created an account called Brantford Comic Con on Instagram, and that really piqued my interest. I reached out and a person by the name of James Wright got back to me. We met up and talked about the possibility of doing one in Brantford. He said he had talked to many people that were just adamant that it wouldn’t work. I said that if we would start small and slow, we could build something that would work,” he recalled. “We got the ball rolling by looking into venues. Neither of us had a while lot of money to throw around [and] stumbled on Branlyn Community Center. They had a good space, chairs and tables….and we thought that this could work! James then pitched to me that he did marketing for rappers and rock bands and he knew how to move that marketing machine…..I started developing a logo, and creating a visual identity. We created a Facebook page for Brantford Comic-Con and got things going by stating via social media….‘Hey, Brandford Comic-Con is coming soon.’ And instantly there was some chatter and feedback with people asking if it was really going to happen, People were actually excited about the possibility of having a convention in Brantford. Then Joshua Wall from the Benson Crew reached out and wanted to be involved. It was great to have their support and they jumped on board instantly as our title sponsor. And then the next step was getting guests. We got Ming Chen, who was on Kevin’s TV series Comic Book Men on AMC, and local voice actor, who hailed from Hamilton, Frederick B. Owens, who did some work on One Piece, and the Ninja Turtle cartoon in the early 2000s. Then we started talking about the idea of supporting local artists and writers and vendors, and putting a spotlight on them because there is so much talent here. We got Steve McGinnis, an amazing artist and painter from Brantford. We also had our other partner Shayne Maracle who brought in the wrestling events. Dan Housen, a popular independent wrestler who recently signed with the WWE, was a big hit.”
With what he has learned, Thomas, who has won multiple awards for his lettering work as well as comic book creations, is looking forward to improving and growing as an artist.
“I’ve definitely learned not to take critique too seriously. I’m always exploring or fixing what is broken or that needs to be refined on my end…I have also learned to take breaks…in order not to burn myself out over recent years…I have learned how to pace myself and not worry about things that I can’t change…..I’m not necessarily very reflective of my own personal journey, and just like where I am. I’m always looking ahead, I’m always looking at the next project….I’m always looking at what’s next, and that kind of keeps me going, I have also become supportive of this community, and trying to create something special with the Brantford Comic-Con….I’m nurturing it, and getting more people out to be part of it,” he said.
