Comic Books

The story behind DopeSmack did not start with a comic book. It started years ago as an idea for a film, and over time it grew into something much bigger than I originally planned, eventually becoming the foundation for what is now the Dark Atom Universe™.

The Origin of DopeSmack

Back in 2017, me and my good friend Kikala Diallo were looking for scripts to produce, and he brought me this idea for a ghetto superhero. It was funny, I will give it that, but the direction was not something I could stand behind. The character was a drughead superhero, and while it had humor, it just was not what I wanted to build. I knew I wanted something with more weight, something that felt grounded and real but had a bit of comedy, so I told him straight up that we needed to go in a different direction and create something new from scratch.

That moment right there is really where DopeSmack started, even though at the time it was only meant to live inside a film and nothing beyond that.

Creating the DopeSmack Universe

As I started developing the script, I began building out a full world around it, something that felt like it had depth and history even if you were only seeing a small part of it on screen. While writing, I started coming up with visual ideas for the character, but since I am not an illustrator, I brought in an artist to help bring those ideas to life, and that decision ended up changing everything.

The illustrations came out so strong that Kikala kept pushing me for months to turn it into a comic book. At first I kept brushing it off because that was never part of the plan, but he stayed on me about it until I finally gave in, so honestly you can thank him for that because I cannot take credit for that push.

How Alex Santos Became DopeSmack

Once I committed to it, I had no idea how difficult it was going to be, but at the same time I found myself pulling from my own life more than anything else. When I was a kid, I had a huge imagination, I used to walk around with a bag full of toy weapons, climbing trees and acting like I was a superhero, and that energy never really left me, it just evolved. That is where Alex Santos came from, from that mindset of wanting to be something more, of building a world in your head and stepping into it like it is real.

Once I was locked into that world, the ideas just kept coming from everywhere, from my own experiences to things I have seen, and it started expanding naturally into something much bigger than just one character.

The Process of Making the DopeSmack Comic

Turning that into a real comic was a whole different level though, and it took about eight months to get it done from start to finish. Finding the right artist alone took time, then adapting the script into comic format, going through illustration, coloring, and lettering, all while learning as I went because this was completely new territory for me.

After all of that, I finally had a finished digital comic ready to print, but even that process was not simple. There were multiple print attempts, proofs going back and forth, and months of figuring it out before we finally got our first shipment in hand.

Bringing DopeSmack to the People

By the time those books came in, I was already out there hitting comic conventions and promoting DopeSmack before it even physically existed, so when I finally had copies, I did not wait, I went straight to work. Some of the first people to buy it were actually other vendors who had been watching me show up consistently and talk about this project, so they already knew what it was before they even opened it.

What really stuck with me though was seeing people buy the comic, walk away, read it, and then come back just to tell me how much they loved it, because after everything it took to get there, that kind of reaction is something you cannot really describe unless you experience it.

Building the Future of DopeSmack

That response gave me the fuel to keep going, and since the plan was already to build a six issue origin story, it became about delivering more and making each part better than the last. Right now I am working on Part Three, and I can honestly say it is leveling up in a way people are going to feel immediately.

What people do not always see though is what it takes behind the scenes, because this is not just creativity, it is time, money, and sacrifice, and sometimes it really does come down to choosing between paying a bill or ordering more comics just to keep the momentum going.

More Than a Superhero

At the end of the day, DopeSmack is more than just another superhero, it represents the heart and soul of New Orleans and everything that comes with it, and seeing people connect with that, especially when I walk into conventions and hear them call out the character, means more than I can really put into words.

So to everyone who has supported this journey so far, just know this is only the beginning.