HOMETOWN GEEKHEROES UNITE AS ONE! >>>

A sculptor. A poster artist. A film critic, and a team of filmmakers. Eight women on roller skates.

What do all of these things have in common? Not a whole lot. And that's just how Comic Book Ink owner John Munn likes it.

"All these different people go together like a kind of great big geek gumbo," says Munn of the first in what he hopes to craft into an annual tradition: Comic Book Ink's Homegrown Heroes signing.

Saturday, June 19, at 2 p.m., this eclectic array of ingredients will cram into Munn's comic shop to meet, greet and sign autographs for their fans, each other's fans, and whoever else shows up.

"We have so many different cool things going on here. Sculpture, web-comics, self-publishing, poster art, Derby Dames," continues Munn. "Every one of them have their own niche, and the fans of each get to experience something new."

Guests include:

• Eight Dockyard Derby Dames, of Tacoma's one and only roller derby league.
• Two members of local cartoonist group C.L.A.W., and Frost Park chalk artists, James Stowe-a Derby Dame poster artist-and Mark Monlux-purveyor of comic-strip movie reviews as The Comic Critic.
• Heroclix sculptor Ben Misenar. For those out of the loop, Heroclix lives somewhere between tabletop role playing and board games, and requires use of carefully crafted miniature superhero figurines.
• Comic improv troupe The Dead Gentlemen, creative force behind the independent film series, The Gamers.
• Matt Youngmark, creator of Zombocalypse Now, a choose your own adventure zombie romp distributed by Chooseomatic Books. Also, apparently Volcano editor Matt Driscoll is his fault.
• Jack Cameron, self-publisher of what he calls his "destruction manual," Ruin Your Life.

"These are all people that have put it all out on the line for something they believe in. Ben Misenar started out as a fan, playing Heroclix here at the shop, and he was discovered at Comic Book Ink, and now he is sculpting full time, trying to get his art out there and entertain" says Munn. "It embodies the spirit of what we try to do with the shop."

Munn announced earlier this week plans to move Comic Book Ink to a new, larger space in Lakewood Cinema Plaza come August; however, that move will come too late to give its ample floor space to what is by far the longest list of guests at a single event Munn has hosted.

"I have a cunning plan," replies Munn to concerns about space and writing surfaces at Saturday's Hometown Heroes signing event. "By the will of all things fun we will figure out a way. It will give us one big last hurrah here, and at the same time prove that we really do need more space."

Hometown Heroes book and stuff signing

Saturday, June 19, 2-5 p.m., free
Comic Book Ink, 1625 E. 72nd, Suite 800, Tacoma
253.761.4651