By Malcolm Curry | Special to The OBSERVER
A lot of young boys sit around and watch superhero movies with their dads, but not many grow up to make a superhero movie themselves.
Don’t tell that to Brent Trayce Sands, a Sacramento State alumnus, comic book writer, and owner of iMPOUND COMICS, a shop in downtown Sacramento. He’s working on a movie based on some of his most famous creations, the latest accomplishment in a list that is growing fast.
Sands has made it a point in his writing career to implement Black culture in his characters. His most essential character, Anthony “Impound” Endsley, is a Black character with a background in mixed martial arts. Another is Lady Monarch, a Black woman who is the reincarnation of the Egyptian Goddess, Ma’at. The goal of these characters is to portray an under-represented side of the Black community.
“Even though Ryan (Coogler) directed Black Panther, he didn’t create Black Panther; Stan Lee did, you know,” he said. “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 was only writing superhero stories as a hobby. But in order to give people more access to his comic books, he reached out a few years ago to DOCO (Downtown Commons), a shopping mall in downtown Sacramento, California.
“I reached out to them about potentially being one of those kiosks maybe just on weekends. I was thinking maybe just when the Kings are playing, could we have a kiosk to be around all these people? And then when they responded, it was a guy named Philip. And he was just like, ‘man, I looked over your stuff, and a kiosk would be disrespectful to this brand man. I got an open space for you.’
“And I was like what do you mean? And he said a store front. I was like, I’m not ready for a storefront, I only got three books. And he said, ‘well you got four months to get ready cause you got a storefront.’ And it was one of those moments where you either step up or step down, and I had to step up… That’s when it became a business.”
Going from a kid who grew up loving superheroes, to a young Black man who sells superhero comic books emphasizing Black culture, in one of most high traffic parts of his hometown, is an impressive achievement, and Sands knew it.
“Everybody was supportive, it was dope, he said. “We were the only Black business in there. I think DOCO at that time, to people of color, was kind of like a myth, you know?”
The store opened in 2021, shortly after quarantine restrictions were lifted in Sacramento County. Not seemingly a great time to open a business; however, iMPOUND COMICS was located right next to Golden1 Center’s rapid Covid testing facility, which, according to Sands, made for a lot of traffic since you had to walk past the comic store to get Covid tested for entry into Golden 1 Center.
“Getting a store in front of the Kings… I don’t even think people thought that was realistic until we did it,” he said.
Sands, 35, grew up in Natomas, surrounded by siblings, playing sports, and watching science fiction.
“We were definitely heavy on sports.” Sands said. “We all played basketball, football, and started with soccer. I used to travel a lot for AAU (Amature Athletic Union). Throughout all of that I was always into Star Wars, I was always into Dragon Ball Z… Pokemon when I was younger, all of that.”
Sands was not the only self proclaimed “nerd” in his family. During the weeks that he stayed with his father, they watched a lot of science fiction movies together.
“My dad was into Star Trek, my dad was into Star Wars,” Sands said. “But it wasn’t really until I got older where I realized we were the only ones who actually like this. Nobody else was really talking about anime. It wasn’t shocking or anything, I don’t think I cared, it was always just what I did. But I definitely realized it wasn’t a lot of Black nerds out there.”
When it came time for Sands to go to college, he turned down a basketball scholarship to Saint Augustine’s University, and decided to stay local and attend Sacramento State.
“When I was at Sac State, I also think I came in with this idea that there’s gonna be parties all the time. I’m just thinking like that’s the whole college experience. And then there were only some. There weren’t that many, so I started throwing parties. So a big part of what made me able to market my brand was that I started promoting. I started renting out warehouses, throwing frat (fraternity) parties, working at clubs. Like actual clubs downtown,” Sands said.
While in college, his main focus was film, so he majored in communications to sharpen his writing, as well as his camera and editing skills. He then chose a minor in creative writing, where he met someone whom he still calls a mentor: Steven Buss, a former communications professor at Sacramento State.
“Not only was he one of the most creative and hardworking of my students,” Buss said, referring to his experience with Sands, “but I’m not sure I had any students who were as pleasant, polite, and always in such a good mood.”
“That writing class is when I wrote my first book,” he said. “But it wasn’t until the pandemic where I decided I wanted to do a comic book. And that was really inspired from when I saw the Black Panther movie, because Ryan Coogler went to Sac State, too,” he said.
Ryan Coogler, a Sac State graduate who directed the “Black Panther” film, has been a big inspiration for Sands over the course of his career.
“We weren’t at Sac State together for too long, but I knew he was there, and we were always like one person away from each other. But his journey was always inspiring,” Sands said.
Coogler and Sands may have more in common than Sands is willing to admit, according to Buss.
“It’s funny that he mentions Black Panther as an inspiration,” Buss said. “Because Brent reminds me a lot of Ryan Coogler when he was at the University.”
The comic book superhero Black Panther was co-created in 1966 by Stan Lee (1922-2018), and Jack Kirby, 76, to address Marvel’s lack of diversity, according to Gary Groth of The Comics Journal, who asked Kirby directly.
“For the most part our culture still has an edge to it. We can’t ignore the fact that a lot of us live in poverty and live in the hood. But there’s also an ignored fact that there are ‘regular not born in the hood’ Black people. You know, like myself: Two parent household, you know what I mean.”
Sands didn’t want the Black community to just be seen as “charity cases,” but to be seen as strong and cultured, with more than just the stereotypical ways of finding success.
As Sands is moving forward, trying to elevate his company to new levels, he sees a lot of support in his hometown.
“He’s a really great guy. I’ve known him for a few years now, and every time he’s just real honest with everybody, and I love that about him. Being a business partner, and seeing the ups and downs of everything, him having my back and me having his, he’s definitely a stand-up guy for sure” said Antawn Bryant, co-owner of iMPOUND COMICS.
When the store opened, Sands was there, working every day.
“I just stopped being at the store probably in the last like six months. So I was there literally every single day for two and a half years, Sands said. “Right now, I live in LA. The goal coming out here was a cartoon series… movie series… you know. Standing in the store every day wasn’t gonna take us abroad.”
In Los Angeles, Sands has been working on an animated movie titled Impound: Rise of the Unbound. The Unbound is the name of the super team centered around his trinity of characters: Impound, Lady Monarch and Blasted, as they take on a world ending event. Not unlike DC Comics’ famous trinity characters: Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, according to Sands.
The movie is set to be around an hour in length, and momentum is building for its impending release. More information is available on the iMPOUND COMICS Instagram account: @impoundcomics, and YouTube channel: Youtube.com/Impoundcomics.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was produced by Sac State students of Professor Phillip Reese for The OBSERVER.