Today we’d like to introduce you to Travis Huffman.
Travis, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Growing up a child of the 1980s, a trip to San Jacinto Mall in Baytown, Texas was a thrilling adventure. My dad and I would go to Sears to look at Craftsman tools while my mom and sister would shop for clothes at Foley’s. We didn’t have cellphones back then to text each other when to meet, so my parents would set a time, and we’d all meet up at Waldenbooks. At the bookstore, there was this spinning rack filled with comic books. In 1997 I found Flash #1 on that rack. I thumbed through the comic book, and I was hooked. The comic book was filled with dramatic situations, realistic peril, suspense, and even death. That was something Saturday morning cartoon superhero shows didn’t have. I begged my parents to buy it for me and they did and I think it was 75¢. I must’ve read that comic book a hundred times. It made me want to know more about everything happening in the story. About once a week my mom would stop for groceries after school and I’d head straight to the comic book rack, which almost all stores had at the time and are sadly missing today. She’d buy me a couple of comic books each time. My dad would go on trips out of town and bring home older comics, especially the ones featuring my all-time favorite superhero, The Flash. He’d also take me to a small comic book shop in the Houston area called Happy Trails, where I’d pick up even more comic books. Before long I had boxes of comic books. That’s when the creative juices started flowing.
I started teaching myself how to draw comic book characters from books like How to Draw the Marvel Way and then started developing my own characters. I’d use pencils, pens, and markers in spiral notebooks to make my own comics. My stories were simple at first, but then after studying the craft of storytelling, they began to improve. In my hometown, comic books were what I became known for. It’s weird to think about now because comic books weren’t mainstream like they are now. Back then, it wasn’t as cool and hip. You maybe had one or two kids in a Batman shirt in the whole school. I knew that comic books were the career path I wanted to take in the future. In 1997 I met a Houston comic book publisher named Marcus Marshall, the owner of a small press called, Random Comics. He coached me on writing comic book scripts. Although none of my work was published, I learned a lot and attended my first comic book conventions as a creator with Random. I also met a few of my friends in the industry that I’m still friends with today. Many years later I met one of my best friends, Patrick Yarbrough. I told him about how I had been wanting to make comic books and how I had learned the process. That’s when we decided, around 2003, to do it. A man named Terry Staats had bought my favorite old comic shop, Happy Trails and had renamed it Eastside Comics. Pat and I would often go there to buy our comic books and collectibles. We found out Terry was a Joe Kubert School of Art trained artist and inker. He also had a guy he had been teaching named, Hector Avila. They agreed to work on our brand new comic book, Titans Ascending. That comic book was taking a lot longer to make than we realized, so I started working on a comic book called The Stalker. The comic book featured my superhero, The Stalker who I had created when I was in the 6th grade. That Stalker went smoother and it ended up being our first comic book published under the Last Sentry Comics company banner. We also met a local writer, Heath West who joined us on the journey. Now we’re three best friends making comic books and enjoying the process of the whole thing. We’ve had our ups and downs since then, but in 2014 we kind of hit our stride and haven’t looked back. In 2015 we met Houston based WWE Hall of Fame wrestler, Booker T, and began publishing his comic book series, G.I. Bro. We currently publish multiple comic books and attend comic book conventions all over Texas.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Creatively it has always been a smooth road. Art and storytelling come naturally to me. My brain is always on when it comes to creative things. The financial and business side has been a curvy road. At first, it was difficult for me to switch gears from the dreamlike state of storytelling to the reality of marketing, accounting, and everything else that comes with being a small business owner. I started listening to business podcasts and reading a ton of business books for conquering the obstacles of entrepreneurship. I learn something new every single day. My struggles and failures have been a huge part of my experience, and I have learned from all of them.
We’d love to hear more about your company.
Last Sentry Comics is a publishing company specializing in comic books and children’s books. We are known for our golden-age and pulp-era comic book characters. Our comic books are built and designed to be an escape for our readers. Asa society, we’re living in a 24/7 news cycle world where we are bombarded with constant noise. We want to bring back the days where people can enjoy the quiet escape of a comic book. It’s an escape. We stay away from current events and social commentary and instead stick to adventure, mystery, action, and suspense. Our books are created in a way where kids and adults can enjoy them. I’m most proud of the fact that we’ve developed a unique fanbase and continue to do so. People from all walks of life, men, women, teenagers, adults, liberals, conservatives, whoever can enjoy our books. That’s rare. I mean, it’s cool to have a female junior high student come up to our booth and tell you they just read and love your comic book, then ten minutes later, have a Vietnam Veteran come up and tell you they read and love your comic book. This happened and happened all the time for us at conventions. In life, we’re all in this together, and sometimes we need to turn it all off and enjoy a little entertainment.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success for me is achieving a goal—small goals, big goals, daily goals, yearly goals just goals in general. I believe goals are like rungs on a ladder. When you’re on the ground, that first rung is quite an achievement if you stop and think about it. You have to keep climbing the ladder until you get where you want to go. I keep grabbing taller ladders along the way by setting higher goals but always see each rung as a major success.
I’ve also always believed that if you put your name on something, it should be your personal best at the time. Don’t settle for mediocrity because of instant gratification. That goes against the advice of a lot of people, but that’s my rule for creating a product. Some folks jump right in and never stop and think about it. They don’t learn the craft. Then they’re out of business six months down the road. I’ve always believed in the slow journey where each step means something. I learn and improve all the time. A high school quarterback can dream about playing in the NFL but he’s kidding himself if he thinks he can do it tomorrow. But he can play the best game he can play at that moment in time, improving while shooting for the goal of playing in the NFL. That’s my thoughts on success. That means our products start great and they keep getting better and better as we grow.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lastsentrycomics.com
- Email: info@lastsentrycomics.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lastsentrycomics
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lastsentrycomics
Image Credit:
Tom Mandrake, Nicholas Malara, Juan Romera, Erwin Arroza, Michael Malatini, Carlos Trigo
Suggest a story: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
