Meet Ryan Brady

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ryan Brady. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ryan below.

Hi Ryan, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

I think my work ethic comes from my upbringing and my love of comic books. I know that no one else can tell these stories. Passion only matters if you back it up with consistency. I’ve been writing, penciling, inking, and coloring my own comic book titles since 2013. It’s not always easy, especially now as a father of two, but I want to set the example for my kids. I want them to see that if you have a dream and you have the passion, nothing can stop you. I may get tired, life may get busy, but I never give up.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I formed Camden’s Comics in 2013 as an independent comic book publisher specializing in kid-friendly superhero stories. I write, pencil, ink, and color most issues myself. My first title is “The Bolt”, an action-packed comic about an electrifying superhero fighting supervillain gangs in Camden, NJ. This is my flagship title and the one people enjoy the most. Camden, NJ often gets a bad reputation, but I’ve taught comic book programs there and the kids are some of the most imaginative I’ve met. I often include Camden landmarks in the pages of the Bolt like the former RCA building or the Ben Franklin bridge.

My second title is “Anomaly” featuring a sentient robot determined to break free from the mold and establish his own identity as a hero. This comic is based on my love of robots, classic good guys, and capes. What I find most intriguing is that the more issues I write for Anomaly, the more I realize the series is about one’s identity. Are you a victim of fate/circumstances? Can you really decide who you are when the whole world is forcing you to be something else? Of course, there’s a lot of robots fighting as well too.

What’s most exciting about Camden’s Comics is the work I do with children. I have taught comic book programs in middle schools in Camden. I frequently host comic book lessons at local libraries. It’s my ultimate hope that I can inspire others to write and draw their own comic books or graphic novels.

The Bolt #11 was just released and Anomaly #7 will be in print very soon. Not too late to get caught up!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Three qualities that helped me on my comic book journey were creativity, persistence, and adaptability. Creativity is essential to crafting unique stories and characters. You really need to get to the heart of a character, uncover their motivation and goals to really tell a great story. It’s not enough to have a visually appealing character, they should also be interesting.
Persistence is vital to every creative. No one starts out being incredible. Just like anything, it takes practice. I teach kids how to make comics and so many of them want to quit because they can’t draw something on the first try. Art is no different from any pursuit. You have to put in the hours. You have to try new things. The Bolt #1 from 2013 looks vastly different from The Bolt #11 in 2025 because I never gave up. Every issue taught me something new whether it was inking techniques or page layouts. I kept challenging myself to make each issue better than the last.
Adaptability is my secret weapon. When I began making comics, I was a single guy. I was drawing in pencil at a desk and thus, I could only work on my comics when I was at home. Nowadays, I’m married with two kids and I work a full-time job. Time is a commodity and I do a lot of my work on the go. Now I draw a lot of my issues on an iPad Pro wherever I find free time, like lunch breaks or doctors’ waiting rooms. I’ve also hired a colorist recently to take even more of the workload off me.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

The folks I’d be interested in collaborating with are passionate comic book creatives. By that, I mean individuals who are writing/drawing/inking/coloring comic books because they are in love with the medium.

I’d also love to collaborate with anyone who can help me create a Bolt or Anomaly action figure. I’d love to have a toyline.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.camdenscomics.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/camdens_comics/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camdenscomics/

Image Credits

Ryan Brady