EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE: Tini Howard, comic book writer

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Superman, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman. All superheroes who have lived a long, successful storyline in the world of comic books. Enter our Extraordinary Person of the Week.

She’s a big fan of comic books, but she’s more than just a reader. Wilmington’s Tini Howard also helps create them. Comic book writing has been, for the most part, dominated by guys. That could change if women like Howard continue to be champions of the script.

“I work here at Nerdvana Comics,” Howard said, “and I opened the box to unpack comics on a Tuesday and next to some books that some of my heroes have written is my name on a book.”

The book she is talking about is “The Magdalena: Seventh Sacrament.” She wrote it.

“I started around two to three years ago,” Howard said. “I kinda looked into comic writing a little more because I had read comics in some form or another my whole life.”

Top Cow is a comic book publisher looking for new talent in 2013. Perfect timing for this writer to make her move.

“I sent in a script, called ‘The Magdalena: Seventh Sacrament,’ which was accepted and published in December of 2014,” Howard said.

Howard described the storyline of her comic, and as each page turned, so did the plot.

“Night falls, and evil shows up, and she has to save the boy who will be king one day,” she said. “And she has to keep him safe because the castle has been raided by vampires.”

Armed with a pen mightier than the sword, Howard is on a mission to write herself into an industry dominated by men.

“I got paired with an artist, Aileen Oracion, who submitted too,” Howard said. “She lives in the Philippines, and she is awesome. She and I have become friends. She did amazing work on the interiors, and it was her first comic credit as well. And it was cool, us both being women in an industry that is historically kind of a boys club.”

While hanging out with Howard at Nerdvana, we quickly noticed how easy it was for her to talk various storylines with customers who walked in.

“Both ice and fire have the power to bring people back to life,” she told one guya as they chatted about some comic characters.

Talking comics by day and writing by night, this fantasy world could very well be a reality…too.

“The dream for me is to be able to write,” Howard said. “There are a lot of women in comics that get the opportunity to write ‘Wonder Woman’ and ‘Captain Marvel.’ I love those, and it’s great, but I really want to open the door to be trusted to write ‘Batman.'”

Howard says she has some more projects in the works, but at the moment, they are hush hush, so expect more creativity from this comic book writer.

And if you’d like to meet her and check out a big day for the industry, head over to Nerdvana on Front Street, May 2. It is Free Comic Book Day at Nerdvana Comix, as well as Fanboy Comics and Memory Lane Comics, all located in Wilmington. Our Extraordinary Person of the Week and writer of “The Magdalena: Seventh Sacrament” will be at Nerdvana to autograph a copy if you’d like.