Comic Book Creator Brent Trayce Sands Has Big Plans For The Future of Superhero Movies, Starting With an Animated Film of His Own
In the city of Sacramento, located in a downtown shopping plaza not far from where the Kings play, is iMPOUND COMICS. Owned and operated by 35-year-old Brent Trayce Sands, the store was originally launched as an outlet for Sands to share some of his independent comic books and has grown into a full-fledged media franchise, now at the precipice of the future of the superhero industry with an animated movie currently in production.
Sands kick-started his shop on a whim in late 2020, at first just looking for somewhere he could sell his small collection of self-made comic books, and potentially build a following. But when he reached out to the DOCO (Downtown Commons) shopping mall asking if they’d be interested in purchasing any of his work, they saw the potential and gave him the keys to his own storefront right off the bat. Having only three comic books ready for distribution at the time, Sands was bewildered and grateful for the opportunity, but not quite prepared for running an entire store. With a chance too good to pass up, he decided that this was make or break, so he got to work. Four months later iMPOUND COMICS was born, and Sands was already on his way to creating a franchised superhero empire.
In an interview with The Sacramento Observer from just over a week ago, Sands opened up about his experience creating iMPOUND COMICS, and his aspirations of promoting Black superhero characters imbued with authenticity and with original perspective. According to Sands, “even though Ryan (Coogler) directed Black Panther, he didn’t create Black Panther; Stan Lee did, you know. Same with Miles (Morales). Miles wasn’t made by a Black person. So I think there was still a part of that culture that was missing in the authenticity of the character itself… Even these dope cultural Black characters weren’t created by Black people at the end of the day.” Sands is hoping to bridge this gap with some of the comic book characters he’s created, like Anthony “Impound” Endsley, a former MMA fighter-turned-superhero, and Lady Monarch, a young woman who is the reincarnation of the Egyptian goddess, Ma’at.
Sands now divides his time between his store in Sacramento and Hollywood, where he’s actively working on the soon-to-be-released animated film “Impound: Rise of the Unbound.” The upcoming movie is expected to be at just over an hour in length, centered on Sands’ heroes Impound and Lady Monarch, and has already begun to generate significant anticipation pending its release.
To keep up with iMPOUND COMICS and Sands’ foray into the superhero film industry, checkout their website at www.impoundcomics.com.
