Comic books are for everyone these days

Comic books. You read 'em as a kid and many of us still read 'em now, probably with a deeper appreciation of the impact that can come with the artful melding of words and drawings.

Few Southern Nevadans are as avid fans of the words-and-pictures medium as Pj Perez, who appreciates comic books as a fan, as a comic book writer and illustrator, and as a publisher of comic books and graphic novels through Pop! Goes the Icon, his own publishing house.

Perez serves as co-chair of the 2015 Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival (www.vegasvalleycomicbookfestival.org), which will run from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road.

We talked with Perez, 39, about his own comic book history, trends in the industry, and why even Southern Nevadans who aren't particularly serious comic book fans still should check out this weekend's festival.

Review-Journal: Do you remember your first comic book?

Perez: The first one I distinctly remember having was actually a Radio Shack giveaway. It was in the early '80s. They had these characters called the TRS-80 Whiz Kids. Basically, they used this to promote their personal computer at the time and did a comic, and this particular one was a team-up between Superman and Wonder Woman with the Whiz Kids. The Whiz Kids had to use their TRS-80 to solve a crime or something like that.

Review-Journal: OK, so when did you start being a more discriminating comic book reader?

Perez: It didn't take that long. As soon as I was able to purchase comics with my own money — I mean, money given to me from my parents — by the time I was 9 or 10, I found a bookstore in L.A. I loved that had boxes of old comics priced 50 cents apiece. I would go there every week and buy stuff, mostly older comics at the time that were about 10 years old, (from) the early '70s, and that kind of led me down that path.

Review-Journal: When did you start creating your own comic books?

Perez: I started as a creator when I was, like, 9. I wrote and drew hundreds, thousands, of comics between the ages of 9 and 15, and I actually have a Tumblr blog. I've been posting them chronologically for the last four years, all homemade comics.

Review-Journal: What's the biggest change you've seen in the industry?

Perez: The biggest is the shift to an older demographic. The (stereotype) used to be that comics are for kids, and then all those kids grew up, and now comics are only for middle-aged people, usually men, holding on to their childhood or whatever. But as comics have diversified from being identified not as a single genre to, actually, a medium encompassing endless genres, the readership has changed as content has become much more diverse.

Review-Journal: Comic book creators have become more diverse, too, haven't they?

Perez: Definitely, there a lot more female voices, a lot more multi-ethnic voices, and they've made huge moves (among) lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender creators and readers. So there's much more material coming out in the last five or 10 years that has the place to be a voice for all of these different people. We're doing a panel at the comic book festival specially talking about diversity, especially in sexual orientation and gender.

Review-Journal: If someone isn't a particularly big comics reader, is it worth it for them to come to the festival?

Perez: I think so. First, it's a free event, so there's that. But it's really more a celebration of comics and pop culture and just that creative energy, and there's so much that happens at the comics festival that's not specifically tied into comics. There are film screenings and live music and drawing workshops and writing workshops, all of that stuff. Even if you're not necessarily, quote-unquote, into comics, it's worth it to stop by and check it out. And, who knows, you might find something you really love.

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280 or follow @JJPrzybys on Twitter.