Space Coast Comic Con – September 09, 10 & 11, 2016
301 Tucker Ln, Cocoa, FL 32926
We are proud to announce that James Bethel will be joining us THIS YEAR! James is the creator off Z-LUNAR and has published a few books under his belt to include, Betta, The Sensational Crew, and Project Novemeber to mention a few! James comes to us from Gainesville, Fl and is the other half Business partner at B Brothers Comics books, James sometimes uses one of his many passions Martial Arts into some of the stories that he publishes with some of his original characters, here is a little about James: After 911 my unit trained like normal and life continued for me as an anesthesia tech. I have been interested comics since my early child hood. In 2003 my unit got deployed and I left my job behind to serve my country. While I was overseas my unit job was convoy tracking and escorting convoys in to Iraq. One day at the check point, me and one of my solders started talking about comic book heroes, the conversation turned towards comic book characters that we would make and stories behind them, this was when Captain Jamaica a non-stereotypical superhero started milling around in my mind.
We talked about the need for diversity in comics, spurring the first release of Betta 1 my lead characters’ inspiration came from me growing up watching super friends, being a big Aqua Man fan. I added some flair to my water based character. I retired from the military in 2007 and returned to work after 26 years of service. I released betta 1 in 2014. It was the begging of my escape from the feelings that surrounded me after coming home.
I was working at the VA and found myself wanting to escape from people, as a way to combat the isolation I used my free time to draw and write, modeling Betta after me and my territorial behavior designing a world all its own.
The comic helped me to integrate into the world around me I wanted to share it, with the world. I publish it because I needed to make connections. I partnered with my friend Terrance and we set up shop at conventions all over Florida.
Now I regularly attended the conventions and introduce others to my work, with the collaboration of friends I have released other comics and continuations on Betta. And if you know anything about Betta fish you can see the relations between his territorial behavior and dominance, but now he’s in a new world with new rules.
