Joining forces Southwest Missouri men create comic book company

JOPLIN, Mo. -- Jeremy Haun is the type of artist who surrounds himself with childhood inspiration.

Sitting behind a design desk in his attic with windows overlooking the yard, Haun's work area is filled with the things he has always been drawn to movie posters to remind him of his favorite films, cartoon lunch boxes, superhero action figures lined along the bookshelves, and the near-complete collection of Bart Simpson characters.

"I don't have all of them," said Haun, of Joplin, who now spends more of his time drawing than collecting superhero figures. "I had to kind of grow up and do the comic book thing."

Haun, 26, recently began developing the kind of career many aspiring artists dream of all their lives: After years of working nearly 80 hours a week to fit in a full-time job while devoting full-time hours to his aspirations of becoming a comic book artist, he finally listened to his intuition.

In this case, that intuition turned out to be Matt Cashel, a Neosho writer who soon became the other half of their comic book collaboration, Paradigm Comics.

"I was in a situation where I needed to make a major investment of time to get the book going," said Haun, who has been friends with Cashel for two years. "He left a message on my machine that said we needed to do something uniquely together, 50-50, that we could be passionate about."

Took to the attic

Haun quit his job at a Joplin frame shop and took to the attic, sketching pictures to go along with the descriptions and dialogue he created with Cashel.

"The comic book came together by us passing notebooks back and forth," said Cashel, 27, an English major at Missouri Southern State College. "We come up with ideas together and just go through, panel by panel. Creating comic books affords you the opportunity to foreshadow, and readers are almost always into that. I won't even tell you how much money I spend a week on comic books."

What has resulted from months of serious work is a painstakingly-detailed series of comic book issues that now have their place in the attic, as well as bookstores in every state. Although the books are published by Haun and Cashel, they are printed in Texas and have been distributed throughout the world by a company in Maryland.

Normal lives, 'weird things'

"Their distribution covers every comic book shop in the United States, and some in Great Britain and Canada," said Haun. "We've had people contact us from Spain and say 'I read your book.'

"We were like, if we sell just one copy we'll feel like John Grisham. But all of a sudden it is paying for itself and getting a return. It's beyond our wildest dreams."

Haun and Cashel describe the books as "reality-based fantasy," in which a recurring cast of 20-something characters live normal lives full of "weird things that happen to reshape our world."

"The best comic book has a cinematic flair," said Haun. "The industry has a lot of inbreeding. You get a lot of stories that are warmed-over, regurgitated tales. But Matt has a real knack for conversation and I have a cinematic approach to things.

"Paradigm is a way of thinking. It's people realizing that some paradigms work and some don't, but they always change."

They are the type of business partners many entrepreneurs hope to be Cashel and Haun often have different ideas about the images portrayed in the books, yet think enough alike that they finish each other's sentences.

"Usually he's like, 'We need jet planes' or 'How about explosions here?"' said Haun with a laugh. "And I'm just like, 'OK'."

'We even each other out'

"That's the good part of being friends," said Cashel. "We can call each other up and say, 'This makes no sense.' But we have so much in common we even each other out."

Still, their differences have led to a successful working relationship. Paradigm Comics are sold locally at the Book Barn, where Haun and Cashel recently signed books for fans.

Although the stories they tell through their comics are just varied as their imaginations, these artists agree the world that now seems the most like fantasy is the one in which they're living.

"Comic books properties are a hot thing right now," said Haun. "Hopefully, it will continue. I think as long as a creator is true to their fan base and satisfy the people who are reading their books, their success will go on."