Today we’d like to introduce you to Onrie Kompan.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Onrie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started working in comics professionally back in 2005.
My first foray into the business was through an independent publishing company I founded called Grey Cloud Comics. I released my first comic and I was not happy with the results. The creative team worked hard but I just didn’t have the experience to make sure it turned out the way I envisioned it. The result taught me a valuable lesson that would serve me well.
So, after releasing my first comic, I decided to stop making comics until I essentially learned how to make comics. I started keeping a daily journal, which I’ve been writing in every single day for the last twelve years. I also read a lot of comics and broke them down panel-by-panel in order to give myself a better understanding of how the experts in the field tell good stories.
While I was doing all this, I was working a day job that I absolutely dreaded but it paid me very well and allowed me to not only save money but the experience of working there taught me how to run my business. I learned that if I wanted things to get done right then I needed to treat everyone that worked for me with absolute respect. But not only that, if I wanted people to work hard, then I needed to work even harder.
Now, all I needed was a story worth telling.
Over the summer, I went to a local comic book convention and pitched a couple of publishers. One of them walked away from me while I was actually pitching him. I was tired of forcing myself to tell stories about superheroes. I really wanted to do something different.
And then a month later, I discovered the story of Admiral Yi Soon Shin through this K-Drama called THE IMMORTAL YI SOON SHIN. I loved the show so much that it changed my philosophy completely. Around this time was when the film adaptation of the graphic novel 300 was released. It was a huge success and so I decided to tell Yi Soon Shin’s story in comic book form.
To sum it up real quick, Admiral Yi Soon Shin was a Korean Admiral that fought the Japanese samurai in the 1500’s. He was outnumbered 10 to 1 and beat them 23 times in a row without ever losing a single battle. This all actually happened! All that stood against an invading army of samurai was one man who could not be defeated in battle!
It took a long time for me to do research on the subject matter. I read a ton of books, put together over 1000 images, which my team and I are still referencing today, and eventually traveled to Korea multiple times and ended up working with their military. I became heavily integrated into their culture. I realized that if I wanted to do right by the people of Korea, then my series really needed to stand out. There were no cutting corners. Like Yi Soon Shin, I was a man up against tremendous odds and I was determined to conquer them.
So, I did my research and eventually started writing what would become the first issue of the series. I reached out to some professors from my college who had comics published in the past and they mentored me even though I had already graduated. Mort Castle and Len Strazewski gave me direction and if it wasn’t for them, my comic would not be what it is or where it is today.
It took me a couple of months to assemble my creative team. Eventually, I hired Giovanni Timpano (known for his work on SHADOW/BATMAN, ECLIPSE) to draw and ink the book, Adriana De Los Santos to digitally color it, and Joel Saavedra to letter it.
We managed to complete the first issue in the summer of 2009, ironically on the 420th anniversary of Admiral Yi’s first major victory against the Japanese. I started shopping the book around to publishers but it was again rejected due to the foreign subject matter.
At this point, I was all in and I realized that if I had to go this path alone, then I needed some direction and that’s when I reached out to David Anthony Kraft — a battle-hardened comics creator who had done it all. He had very memorable runs on comics like THE DEFENDERS, SHE-HULK, and had a hand in editing, writing, and even coloring on occasion, every major superhero in both the Marvel and DC Universes.
I liked his approach and hired him to come on board as both my editor and co-writer. He quickly whipped us all into shape and started helping me build YI SOON SHIN into what it is now. Eventually, we had a couple books out but no real means of distribution.
Very few comic shops really supported us and I have to give a special shout-out to Patrick Brower of Challenger’s Comics in Chicago for not only being one of the few shops that actually support us but for also suggesting this interview take place.
Other than Challenger’s and those few other shops, there was no real way to get YI SOON SHIN out into the world and so my destiny was laid out before me during the first ever C2E2 in 2010. I came to the show and sold 200 books that weekend, which was more books than I had ever sold to date.
I was born to work the convention floor and I love working in sales. It fills my soul just as much as producing comics. I’ve been running my own business now full time for eight years and I’ve hand-sold over 80,000 comics by attending conventions all over the world and selling out at the majority of them. To date, YI SOON SHIN has sold out at nearly 70 conventions and on average sells anywhere between 1000-1500 comics per show.
In fact, in 2016 and 2017, I created this challenge called the 1500 Comic Book Battle and managed to complete it twice at New York Comic-Con. This year, I plan to do it for a third time at New York Comic-Con this October!
YI SOON SHIN sells because of the quality of the work and because of the passion that everyone working on the book puts into it. I’m very proud of everyone who is involved in the project. They are the true champions of this story.
Has it been a smooth road?
The road has been full of nasty potholes and struggles that have tested my resolve, but I still consider myself very fortunate and lucky that I am in this game for the long haul.
Living the dream is not as luxurious as people make it out to be. Being your own boss means being your own boss. If you decide to sit around and do nothing, eventually you’ll be forced to go out and find a job.
I spent ten years working a dead end job and that was enough for me. But despite how much I hated my old job, the scariest day of my life, as well as the most rewarding, was my last day. Walking out of the building I worked in for a decade meant that I no longer had the security of a steady paycheck–but it also meant that my destiny was finally mine to command.
The first few weeks of working from home were tough. I had to find ways to become more efficient. I had to justify everything I was doing and eventually I came up with a system that kept me on track. Every week, I have a list of objectives that I need to get done along with long-term goals that allow me to stay on course.
I made a lot of mistakes, especially at first, but unlike my dreaded day job, when I make mistakes now, I actually learn from them and don’t repeat them.
The truth is if you aren’t willing to fall flat on your face, then you’ll never know how great you’re capable of being. Failing makes you stronger and wiser, especially when everything goes to hell.
I once had an investor who agreed to pay all the production costs associated with YI SOON SHIN. Then one day, he decided to back out and I thought I was screwed. Little did I realize that he actually did me a huge service!
That’s when I decided to turn to Kickstarter and after a successful campaign, I managed to keep my book in production on my own terms and I even got a foreign publishing deal in Korea, which led to me becoming a celebrity in their country and also led to me working on a movie with a Korean film producer.
But the cherry on top was that this also led to my first official licensing deal. Back in 2016, I was contacted by a precious metals coins company and they licensed our artwork to make a YI SOON SHIN 2-ounce silver numismatic coin, which is selling out everywhere. It’s the first in a series and it’s selling for $250 on our site and for about $400 everywhere else!
Oh yeah, we’ve also got a couple toy deals in the works now. There are lots happening and it’s all wonderful!
The road is still not smooth though. If I let up for a second, all of my struggles will have been for nothing. I have to work hard and the beauty of it all is that I want to work hard.
Conventions aren’t easy. Traveling with three-hundred pounds of comics and graphic novels can get tough at times. Not knowing whether or not I’ll sell out at a convention can also be a little nerve-wracking. Money problems are still an issue.
But I can say this with 100% certainty–I am fully content in life. I am doing everything that I want to be doing. It’s brutally hard work but it’s so rewarding that somehow the bumps in the road and struggles I face only make me love it even more!
On the day Stan Lee agreed to write the foreword to the YI SOON SHIN: WARRIOR AND DEFENDER graphic novel he said that when you do what you love for a living, it isn’t work. It’s play.
He’s right.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
These days, I’m all over the place.
My primary focus is centered on my comic book production studio, Onrie Kompan Productions. Our signature series is YI SOON SHIN and we just released a new title called MARX: A TALE OF NEGLECT, which tells the story of my grandfather’s life. During World War II he was a Russian Jewish soldier who fought the Nazis. He died back in 2011 and this book serves as homage to him and my family.
YI SOON SHIN is my primary focus. I spend a lot of time working with David Anthony Kraft and the rest of the creative team on the book. YI SOON SHIN is a trilogy of books and we recently finished the second arc of it, and are now focused on the producing the last four issues of it and then plan to collect it in a hardbound book. We did this for the last two arcs as well.
The first part of the YI SOON SHIN Trilogy is titled WARRIOR AND DEFENDER and the second is titled FALLEN AVENGER. The third will be titled HUNTER AND DESTROYER and we will be releasing the first issue in early 2019. We’re actually doing a Kickstarter for it in Fall 2018, which I’m really excited about!
My time is divided mainly between managing the creative team, writing scripts, and selling comics at conventions. I do about twelve shows a year on average and am now hand selling about 15,000 comics and graphic novels a year.
I’ve recently started up my own show called ONWARD WITH ONRIE, where I share my experiences at conventions and offer up free advice to other independent creators and entrepreneurs who are looking for direction. From time to time, I even have guests come on the show and share their experiences. It’s been a really wonderful experience for me.
I also plan on teaching an online class very soon, which will focus on comic book production. I am still working on the curriculum.
I also just started a business with my Sales Captain and best friend–Kevin Hines. We buy and sell comics online through a company we created called Hunter Killer Collectibles.
David Anthony Kraft and I are also working on some side projects. He really wants to get me in at Marvel, and I can’t argue against his desires! It would be a tremendous honor to do something for a big publisher in the near future!
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
As the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, I am very proud to have been born and raised in the Chicagoland area.
I have traveled all over the world and no matter where I go, no place feels more at home to me than Chicago. There is nowhere else on the planet I would rather settle in than Chi-Town.
This city has a very diverse community and can be a great place to start and maintain a business, depending on what that business is.
However, working in comics, you can essentially do it from anywhere. I think what makes Chicago such a great place is that its really a melting pot of different cultures. I learned a lot about Korean culture because of the fact that Chicago has such a large Korean population. In fact, I even learned how to read, write, and speak Korean in this great city and eventually recited a full speech in Korean while I was in Seoul in 2015.
Though the city is expensive to live in, it really is the best place to be! Chicago is grand and gorgeous! It is and always will be home.
And we have the best food.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3045 MacArthur Blvd. Northbrook, IL 60062
- Website: www.yisoonshin.com
- Phone: 847-323-5524
- Email: olkompan@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/okompan/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Yi-Soon-Shin-Comic-Book-139636395551/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/OKompan
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