But always near the surface, and waiting to bubble over, is the puppet master who delights in building creative teams of all kinds and shepherding projects to completion. He’s a P.T. Barnum of D.I.Y. vision, a Bill Graham of promotion, a Svengali of talent development, a Gandalf of creative alchemy.
“I’ve always enjoyed – even growing up in North Carolina – finding things that were cool and kind of underground, and showing them to people,” he said.
“When I came out here I found lots of people with stories to tell who maybe didn’t know how to get those stories out there,” he said. “I’ve always felt it was a privilege writing and creating comic books, and it’s a privilege to help other people do the crazy stuff they do.”
Wellman came out to the beach cities to write movie scripts, and when he couldn’t draw attention to his work while an unknown, he began to create comic book series around his scripts, and take the comics to Hollywood instead. He sold movie options for a handful of the comic-scripts, and now he gets to option his work before it hits the comic book stands.
He and Jun Goeku opened the Bug, which quickly turned into a salon for creative types, some who work in comics and some who do not.
The store provides a stage for rock bands and comedians. It hosts comic creator meetings and signing events featuring luminaries such as Geoff Johns and Mike Mignola. It’s served as the launching pad for four children’s books including “A Totally True Princess Story” by Chris Patton, plus numerous comic books, produced by Wellman-assembled teams of writers, editors, illustrators and designers.
When Kids of Widney High, a pop band made up of students from a special needs school, required a puppet master to create a comic book of their adventures, Wellman pulled together a compilation book that was distributed nationwide.
Most book signing events feature a table and a lonely writer. A recent signing event at the Bug featured the author and illustrator, the editor and designer, a band playing live, and two rented snakes slithering around.
And when the day is done, Wellman dons his Wonder Boy costume and continues to promote cool stuff on the cable access TV show “Comic Book Geeks,” which boasts its own scored, animated intro and its own production team. ER
