Urbanime, a Comic Book Company for the Culture

 Chris Walker, founder of Urbanime, shared his journey and path in the comic book world with Black Texas Magazine, including what led to him creating his own company focused on hip hop and Black and Brown culture. 

What is Urbanime?

Urbanime is a culture x comics company, fusing the expansive nature of Black and Brown culture with the unique expression of comic book storytelling.

Growing up, what were some of your favorite comic books? 

Spider-Man. I know not everyone loves him, some even have issues with Peter Parker. I think Spider-Man is probably one of the greatest characters ever created. He's the “everyman.” 

Under the bravado and cool powers, he’s the guy who believes enough to make it happen. Let’s not forget his costume is considered one of the all-time greatest designs in all comics.

Beyond that, I get really nerdy. I'll get into my love of Cyclops and Colossus or a deep cut like Captain Atom or Nightwatch from Marvel.

Of course, Static, what an amazing first run. Great hero and amazing art by John Paul Leon who recently passed away. His work on Static inspired a whole generation of comic book creators.

What and/or who have been some of your greatest influences, and why? 

Brian Stelfreeze and Grey. They were my mentors as a young artist. They helped me understand the industry and the career of being a creative person. 

Brian showed me how to use painting theory and create amazing comics. Grey taught me a lot about commercial art, how it works, how to get your process down to turn out great work consistently.

 For colors, it is a couple of different places. I am to this day a big fan of Paul Mounts colors on the Jim Lee X-Men cards of the 90s. Anime is a big influence, especially 90’s anime like Bubblegum Crisis, Cowboy Bebop, Akira. 

I also bring painting and color theory to the work from color field painters like Rothko  impressionist and favism ideas on color, as well as abstract painters such as Richard Diebenkorn.

 Tell me about your journey and what led you to found Urbanime?

When you look at my journey, I always say I am super passionate about storytelling and creativity. When you look at it from that way the various moments and paces come together as a pursuit of understanding those two elements and how they come together. 

I’m a classically trained painter who went to art school and soon after headed to California to pursue a career in animation and comics in LA. I had family in San Diego and ended up staying there which was great as I worked for Osiris shoes, a skateboard shoe company.  

From there I headed to NY to work as a designer and illustrator working on album covers and designs for artists such as D-12, Guru, and Diddy. 
During this time I broke into comics as a colorist. My first project was the Fantastic Four Marvel Mangaverse coloring Keron Grant. 

Being in love with story, I made the jump to film, writing screenplays and directing shorts, web series, and a feature before heading into advertising as a creative director and brand strategist. All of this led me to where I am now, as publisher and founder of Urbanime.   

What has been a couple of the greatest highlights of your career?

There’s quite a few to choose from, but if I could pick three they would be working on my childhood heroes from Batman and Spider-Man to Transformers and Thundercats has been a dream come true; being in the studio with Guru working on his logo and branding while the tracks for Jazmatazz 3 were blasting in the background; and creating spots and developing strategy for Happy Meal. Like everyone always loved getting a Happy Meal and the toys that came with it. So, working on that was a dream. 

How has your experience with DC and Marvel influenced your work with Urbanime?

When you work for Marvel and DC you see it from the inside. You work with amazing characters and stories. You see that it can be done. The big two really are the NFL and NBA of the comic art world, so working at both means you are the best of the best in comics and are rubbing shoulders with legends. 

I really enjoyed working on those characters and sharpening my skill sets, you know, being a comic book artist, you know, it has its challenges meeting deadlines, being able to do your, your absolute best. 

The skills that are sharpened when working for those companies you take with you everywhere. Storytelling, what makes a comic good, understanding the structure of the medium. You see how to bring a world together. 

What sets Urbanime apart from DC, Marvel, and other comic book companies?

We are a culture company. Full stop. Our goal is to empower Black and Brown audiences through stories by making culture the hero. We leverage comic media to do just that.

Our publications are culture-driven, be it more traditional graphic one-shots-, 45-page digital comics like Relic, which is more of a traditional comic, but with characters that feel like real people you know. 

We also have Urbanime Mixtapes and EPs, culture-focused editorial zines, and publications that focus on the culture itself and bring to life stories from the culture using comic book storytelling and geek culture.   

It could be sneaker culture like our Air Max Day drop, street art, music, wherever culture is at, and doing something interesting if you can see our Mixtapes and EPs and see the culture influence the pages of one-shots.

Simply put, Marvel and DC make superheroes, we make culture the hero.

Why do you believe storytelling is so important, especially for hip-hop culture?

What is hip hop without storytelling? It’s those stories and shared experiences that make it great. The many stories we share about going against the grain, or being willing to bet it all to win, having style, to not let anyone hold you down. It’s these and many others that make hip hop the cultural juggernaut we know it to be. 

What role has comic books played in hip hop, how do you see that role growing and evolving in the future, and where does Urbanime fit in all of that?

Hip Hop and Comics have always influenced one another. From the early days of hip hop like Darryl McDaniels imagining himself to be a superhero and creating a stage name DMC, to Wu-Tang using Marvel names taking Johnny Blaze and Tony Stark to another level. 

Now we see comics being a form of self-expression, using comics, anime, and manga as a way to reimagine yourself and create a new dialogue. Urbanime is taking it a step further to have comics tell stories of the culture and be seen as the next evolution of hip hop and urban storytelling.

What is a “creativepreneur”?

A creativepreneur is someone who is passionate about business, strategy, and creativity. Creativepreneurs are passionate about problem-solving, taking ambiguous knots, and finding solutions. You can tell a creativepreneur because they have a million projects happening, a business, a side hustle, and more. It’s very contagious energy. 

What’s some advice you have for anyone who may be interested in a career involving comic books?

Practice. You hear it a lot but it's true. Practice and in time you become great. Be humble, take criticism. Learn the difference between general criticism and what can make your work better.