I am Brock Smith, and I am a Hoosier living on the west coast. I was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, but I headed west to San Diego, California, when I grew up.
I have been writing for years now, officially and professionally. But I created my first comic book when I was nine. Along with a few of my friends in the fourth grade - in the Fourth Grade - Tyler, Alan, Jesse, and Alex – we created the superhero comic The Adventures of Stick Boy. As a kid, I read plenty of comic books from the big guys – with Batman, Wolverine, and Green Lantern being some of my favorites.
My first introduction to comics came through the Calvin and Hobbs comic strip by Bill Watterson. I am an uncompromising fan of DC Comics. Some of my favorite stories include the Batman stories Batman: No Man’s Land and The Dark Knight Returns. I also love Green Lantern titles like Brightest Day and Green Lantern: Renegade. I have always been a Batman fan because he is one of the few superheroes that is closest to being realistic--a guy rich enough to travel the world to get the training and make the tech? Not likely something that will happen, but he is real and relatable. I have always thought that the Green Lantern was pretty cool, but I love what Geoff Jones did to the character. I have always taken mental health seriously and had recently been diagnosed with anxiety and bipolar disorder, and I felt totally lost, not myself. I got my hands on Blackest Night and Brightest Day; long story short, they helped me understand my mental disorder. So, thank you, Geoff, for helping me understand myself better!
What do I like to do when I am not reading or writing comic books? I am a Constant Reader of Stephen King, and The Dark Tower series is my absolute favorite of his works. I love disc golf, catching Pokémon, longboarding, and long, romantic walks on the beach.
Regarding ZRock, why did I want to launch my own comic book company? I am a storyteller, and I want to share my tales. If I can connect with even one person through my stories so they feel a little less alone, then all the work was worth it. More importantly, it felt to me that, at some point, the mainstream stories lost their sense of adventure that we all fell in love with as kids.
I started collaborating with Zen at a different comic book company a few years ago. I shared my idea for a story, The Ferryman. Greek mythology has always been an interest of mine. I was interested in telling a story with the character Kharon (often called Charon) because so little is written about him. In fact, that character’s origin can be traced even further back than Greek Mythology, which means that we can have a lot of fun telling his story.