“Between the Panels” is a monthly interview series focusing on comic book creators of all experience levels, seeking to examine not just what each individual creates, but how they go about creating it.
Here’s a story you may have heard before: kid falls in love with comics, dreams about making their own, gets a job at a comic store before ultimately, indeed, breaking into the business. Now, here’s the twist: What if the creator in question not only broke into the biz but also along the way ended up owning their own comic store? Let’s meet the person who did just that…
First off, the basics…
Your specialties (artist/writer/letterer/inker/etc.): Writer / Comics Retailer / Comics marketing specialist
Your home base: Ventura, CA
Website: arsenalcomicsgames.bigcartel.com
Social Media
Instagram: @comicbooktimmy
Facebook: @arsenalcomicsandgames
X: @comicbooktimmy
Blueksy: @comicbooktimmy.bsky.social
Fanbase Press Contributor Kevin Sharp: We start with the same question for all guests: Why comics? For someone like yourself who’s seen the business from the fan, retailer, and creative sides, what’s the specific appeal of this world for you?
Timmy Heague: Why comics? Because… comics. It’s just the best, man. It’s forever my favorite medium for storytelling. I love the power of sequential art storytelling. The emotion that can come with going from page to page, investing yourself into a story every month leading up to the big pay off or twist, being able to love a character that you’ve loved since you were 8 years old or just met for the very first time in a new series, fully submerging yourself into it all… It can make you have a smile on your face that you had when you were 8 years old reading a comic for the very first time. That’s what a great comic does to me.
I think really the appeal is just that I am truly comic book obsessed and have been now pretty much my whole life. I don’t know much about anything other than comics — ok, that’s not completely 100% true, but pretty much — and I love every aspect of it. For me it’s so much more than just the story like I mentioned already. It’s about the collecting, the artwork, the rich history that these characters can have, the joy of talking about it with your friends and fellow fans… all of it is an experience that I just couldn’t live without.
I am very thankful that everything in my life that has either come my way or that I have willed into existence has led me to this life where I am a comic book retailer, comic book writer, comic book marketing specialist, and most importantly, a fan.
KS: I won’t ask about the first comic you ever saw, unless you happen to remember, but what were some of the first comics you would have encountered?
TH: After my first initial visit to the local comic book store where I picked up two back issues (Web of Spider-Man #1 and Green Lantern vol 3 #145) I was hooked. Like Galactus, I hungered for it all. New Comics on a Wednesday and back issues on a Sunday. And yes, I had incredible parents. It’s all thanks to them. I was not jiving well with reading as a kid, and they took notice of my love of Star Wars (the ’90s rereleases just came out, those are MY STAR WARS, sorry not sorry!!!) and the comic book-based animated series of the time — Batman: The Animated Series, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, X-Men, you get the point — so they decided to try comics. I had looked at them before as a kid here and there through random British comic reprints of the Bongo Simpsons stuff. My parents are Liverpudlians, that’s how those found their way to me. And what do ya know, their hunch was correct! It got me to love reading.
That right there is why I am so passionate about Free Comic Book Day, making my stores as new-reader friendly as possible, and facilitating FREE comic events at local schools!
KS: How about the first titles you remember actively seeking out to collect?
TH: Green Lantern, Amazing Spider-Man, JLA, JSA, The Flash, Impulse, Robin, Nightwing, all comics based on the DC animated series at the time like Batman Adventures, and as time grew I pretty much started reading 90% of most mainline DC and Marvel with the occasional mini. And then as a back-issue collector, I needed to collect the prior issues of all that I was reading off the rack. Lucky for my parents, I was a little collector kid weirdo so I cataloged and bagged and boarded everything so it was not toooo messy but the collection grew quickly needless to say. Ok, ok, I was a bit spoiled — my parents really wanted to encourage that reading!
But by age 10, I had to be put to work for my comics! I was spending my weekends and after school at my old man’s surplus shop where I learned math at the register, people skills, customer service, and the art of the hustle. Looking back it really shaped me to what I’d become in terms of a retailer. As I got to my early teens, I wanted more than Marvel and DC. I was the most obsessed Hellboy/Madman/ Grendel/Invincible/Spawn/Sin City 12-year-old on planet Earth! And from there my world of comics grew bigger and better!
KS: At Fanbase Press, our #StoriesMatter initiative endeavors to highlight the impact that stories can have on audiences of various mediums and about the way a reader can find an important story at just the right time. What was a comic book story you read when younger that had a real impact on you?
TH: Whoa! Love this question… it’s got me really thinking… probably has to be the Geoff Johns/Mike McKone Teen Titans run. Issue 4 where Impulse gets messed up by Deathstroke really messed me up! I was an obsessed Bart Allen (a.k.a. Impulse) fan and seeing him get hurt and then turn into Kid Flash was a rollercoaster for me but a fun ride nonetheless. It was just such a big deal to me and I remember it being the first time I was truly counting down the days till the next issue despite all the comic books I had to keep me occupied in the meantime! It was such a fun feeling for little Timmy!
KS: Looking back now, why do you think you vibed with it at the time?
TH: I think seeing a character I had read their first appearance of, their entire ongoing series, and following them fanatically all the way to that moment was just such a surreal thing. All that time and energy invested leading up to such a crucial moment where I see their leg shot up at the end of an issue was just the wildest thing. I never hated a villain more! I don’ t know if I’ve ever forgiven ol’ Slade Wilson (a.k.a. Deathstroke the Terminator) for that!
KS: Were art and/or writing childhood hobbies for you? Did you ever dabble with making your own comics?
TH: I always loved to write growing up. My childhood and preteen years consisted of me scribbling away stories of my favorite Marvel and DC character which, sometimes dare I say, I’d reenact with my action figures. Something I definitely wouldn’t ever do if I were to ever write for Marvel or DC. When I was 15 or so I’d start to write my own original stories and ideas. Just fun superhero sci-fi stuff. The one that I spent the longest time on was very much Invincible and Ultimate Spider-Man inspired.
KS: Was that kind of field something you ever daydreamed of as a potential career? Or what was your childhood vision of a fun adult job?
TH: Writing! That was always what I wanted to do. Comics, movies, or TV. I never had anything else I wanted to do — after finding out I actually couldn’t grow up to be Batman or a Power Ranger, that was a tough day.
KS: Your next stop in the business was as a retailer. Did you start the traditional way, working behind the counter at a store? You obviously already had the experience in that regard from your dad’s shop.
TH: It was the summer of 2008, the week before The Dark Knight came out, and my mind was blown away when I went in on a Wednesday for new comics and I got asked if I wanted a job at the local comic shop that I frequented since I was 8 years old! I started off with a position that was half backroom stock organizing and half shop counter clerk. It was absolutely an experience that paved the way for me to operate and own my own store one day. I was there from 15-18 and then back again from 20 to the week before opening my own store on my 22nd birthday. The best part about it all was meeting my best bro in the entire world, Aaron, who I gladly spend every Wednesday with behind the counter at one of my stores still to this day because he’s a very valued team member of my store!
KS: You’re not the first BTP guest to work the retail end of things, but you are the actual first store owner. Please give readers the scoop on how you ultimately ended up as the boss at Arsenal.
TH: So, I was around 19 when I decided I wanted to pursue a life of owning my own comic book store. Like one of my favorite comic book characters, I made a vow to myself to do whatever it takes to make it happen which at the same time inspired me to have a logo and store color that paid tribute to DC’s Green Arrow. My life was working at the comic book store by day and before or after my shift, building my business plan, buying and selling comics that I’d pick up at swap meets or yard sales — it was a lot easier back then before apps that told everyone what was valuable or “key” — and performing at the occasional wedding for extra money as a musician with my band. Something that I managed and was a bit of a precursor for me one day being a manager/business owner.
I hustled harder than I ever had in my life. I accumulated a good, little savings through the years working like crazy through high school at the comic shop and multiple other jobs, the wedding gigs, flipping comic collections, and with my business plan, and I qualified for a small business loan from my business plan which I’m proud to say I was told, “Before we met you, we didn’t even know comics were still in print, now we’re wanting to help with your success.”
KS: Is there one particular memory that stands out from that time when you were really getting things going?
TH: I was in high school when MySpace ended and Facebook and Instagram began. I turned my time of being on part of those early years of those apps to my benefit where a big part of my marketing was social media, something comic shops were not doing at that time nor not many businesses in my area. My social media marketing campaign for my grand opening tied into a comic convention that was happening in my county which I used to my advantage. In addition to having the support of very kind comic creators that took a chance on me to be special guests, I amazingly had a line wrapped around my shopping center. It was quite the 22nd birthday party! One of the best nights of my life.
KS: Let’s jump from opening your stores to your official debut as a published comics writer. Were you on the hunt for the opportunity, still holding onto your childhood dream, or did the opportunity come to you?
TH: It was really a combo of both, a sort of stars aligning type of thing. I had been doing exclusive store covers for my shops for a couple years with multiple different publishers, and it can either work two ways — the publisher can present you an artist and a cover to go with, or you come up with the concept and find your own artist for this exclusive cover to a title. For me, it was always about the latter. I just had so much fun creating the concepts, finding the artists, and seeing it all come to life, and then financially be a success.
KS: This is where Archie Comics first entered the picture?
TH: I was doing a good amount of [covers] with Archie Comics, and I just started getting an itch more and more to take it to the next level. I wanted to create stories and ideas for comics beyond just fun, cool covers. As a lifelong Archie Comics fanatic and a huge fan of their horror line since its conception in 2013, I had a couple ideas I was playing around with for stories. Archie Horror was on my mind plenty back then since that was the line we primarily were doing covers with Archie for the most part.
KS: When did your first “real” story idea kind of come together? The thing you knew you could pursue.
TH: It was January/Feb of 2023 and it was pouring down constantly. In my SoCal home of Ventura County, when it rains, life stands still. Nobody shops during the rain, it seems, in my towns and nobody knows how to drive. (The California cliché of nobody knowing how to drive in the rain is unfortunately very true). So, I found myself writing a lot at home looking at the rain, using it as a stress escape outlet of the slow months of the shop — owning a small business can be fun — and just really finding peace through getting more serious about writing as it rained outside my window.
I had approached my contacts at Archie if I could send them some pitches, wanting to go about everything in the most professional manner possible, not just cold-calling them. To my pleasant surprise, they were more than happy to send me the proper paperwork to be authorized to pitch story ideas to them for future writing opportunities. Once that paperwork was signed, I got to work!
One night I had the then-recent killer doll movie M3GAN playing and I was reading Afterlife with Archie for the umpteenth time. I looked at the TV screen, looked at the comic in my hands, looked again at the TV screen, and then I immediately rushed to my computer to work on a pitch that was essentially killer dolls in Riverdale. I submitted a couple pitches but that one I knew was my strongest.
KS: Then comes the waiting game.
TH: A couple months later, right as I made peace with maybe not ever hearing back, sure enough a week after that, I got the email response. Back then, I didn’t really have an idea of how truly busy editorial can be and how much time things take. I was over the moon, thrilled to say the least. Maybe some tears in my eyes. I truly realized there and then how badly I wanted to write comics professionally.
The pitch they went with was the killer dolls pitch, something that they had been wanting to do on their end for awhile so they already had some things they wanted to pursue story wise with it. I was so thankful to be part of a comic that was a fun YA horror anthology Archie Horror release with so many awesome creators. What a fun comics debut. Fear The Funhouse: Toybox of Terror, you’ll always have a special place in my heart!
KS: Aside from working with them for your store covers, was the Archie line something you were familiar with from your reading days?
TH: So, believe it or not, my first Archie comic was Archie Meets The Punisher which I think is pretty fitting considering my biggest Archie release yet is a crossover! So, how this transpired is little 8-year-old Timmy was sick at home and late at night, a cartoon channel was playing Archie’s Weird Mysteries. I fell in love with it! I asked if there was comics based on these fun characters at my local comic shop and what do you know, turns out there indeed were Archie comics for me to read. One of the store employees even laughed about there being Archie Meets Punisher and me being a Marvel fanatic, I just had to see it, I couldn’t imagine it, I had to see for myself, and luckily it was an all-ages title (more or less) so I got to buy it!
After Toybox of Terror, I started writing for their digest line, more traditional Archie Comics humor stuff and with that gave me more and more of a desire to dive through their rich history beyond the horror and wacky crossovers; sure, I had read digests and random stuff here and there, but this is when I got hardcore about hanging out in Riverdale and now I just love collecting it all!
KS: What’s something you’ve learned about making comics that maybe you weren’t fully aware of when you were behind the counter?
TH: Everything! For real though, so much goes into it, more than you could ever imagine. Sure, I had an idea, but wow! So many steps and layers all go into it. Making comics is truly a labor of love! Comics are made because people love them! I don’t think there is ever such as a “bad comic” to me anymore, I’m sorry, I just can’t. So much time, energy, blood, sweat, and tears goes into making a funny book. Sure, maybe there are some that are not for me or something I’m into but dang, all comics are beautiful comics made of love!!!!
KS: As far as your involvement with Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum, and Minor Threats — what came first: your friendship with those guys leading to a professional relationship, or vice versa?
TH: Well, you see, I was hanging outside a comedy club at 2 in the morning with a giant crate of Ratatouille Pops, wanting Patton to sign them so I can sell them all on eBay and… isn’t it crazy people actually do that?!
KS: I want to hold on to the mental image of you doing that as long as possible, but I also want to hear the real version.
TH: How it all went down was back in early 2022, my former manager, the late, great Jesse Tapia, had booked Patton and Jordan for a Minor Threats signing at one of my Ventura stores, where, naturally, we all majorly hit it off. We’re all such chill cool dudes, after all. Time went by and in that period, my store’s social media game, my own creator marketing game, and then marketing services that I started providing for other creators just got bigger and bigger, more noticeable. Jordan reached out asking if I’d take on helping out with all things Minor Threats, joining the team and overseeing marketing, direct sales strategy, and the series overall. It was a huge honor, I couldn’t have said yes fast enough.
Befriending Patton and Jordan, working with them, having their mentorship as a writer, really is something that means a whole lot to me. Being someone they trusted with their characters in their first Minor Threats crossover meant everything to me. Writing Archie Vs. Minor Threats really has been a thrill of a lifetime for me.
KS: How do you balance time to write while also running your stores and handling your marketing role, without burning yourself out?
TH: Being conscious of burnout is such a real thing for me. I am constantly trying my best to keep tabs on it because then it hits, it hits, and it suuuuucks. To help challenge it I exercise and hike a lot; it does wonders for my stress, my bandwidth, my creativity, and just overall happiness and existence. I have really gotten hardcore about it in my 30s and it really has helped.
I’m a big fan of writing in the mornings and late evenings but sometimes a good afternoon writing session does me wonders. I am very thankful to have the best team in comics retail that helps make it possible for me to have the relief needed to keep the well-oiled Arsenal Comics machine going so I can wear my multiple comics related hats.
KS: Imagine a Comic Book Hall of Fame where you get to nominate one title from history for inclusion. This could be a series or standalone graphic novel, a big name, or deep cut. What gets your plaque as something that represents the medium at its very best?
TH: Hands down, Mike Allred’s Madman. While it’s been recognized plenty before back in the day, I truly think it is a piece of sequential art that could not be praised enough. Everything about it truly showcases the medium in its best potential, showcasing why comics in my honest opinion is the best storytelling medium and why it is my favorite. It has heart, humor, beautiful character designs, incredible backgrounds, fun story, wild characters, it’s just a perfect comic! A man brought back from the dead who wears a costume paying homage to his favorite superhero, goes on crazy adventures, has the coolest supporting cast, and every issue it just gets wilder and wilder! A new TPB compendium consisting of the first couple arcs just got released from Dark Horse.
KS: As we wrap up, time to put on your salesman hat to let readers know what you have out now and what they should be on the lookout for the rest of 2025, and into ‘26.
TH: Archie Vs. Minor Threats, the greatest crossover of 2025 (Sorry, Batman/Deadpool.) has issues #1-3 out right now and the fourth and final issue comes out December 17th! Series artist Scott Koblish has done some of the best work of his incredible career in my opinion here, and it just gets crazier and crazier with each issue, so the finale? Not to be missed!
Unfortunately, most of what’s to come hasn’t been announced yet, but I have something coming at the end of the year with PANICK Entertainment. And then in 2026, I am on another crossover that involves a franchise I am very much obsessed with, and then the big one… I got two original series coming out, my creator-owned stuff is coming, super excited for that! And I’m sure in between all that, there will be plenty of trips to Riverdale. They can’t keep me out of that town!
Thanks for this, Kevin. I had a blast and really appreciate this. Thanks for reading, everyone! See you in the funny pages!
[Author’s note: After our chat, Timmy’s project for PANICK was announced: a story in T.A.M.A. #5 illustrated by Agnes Garbowska — on sale December 24.]
