Unique comic book series launched by Mississauga cardboard designer

A Mississauga resident, known for his one-of-a-kind cardboard art, has just released a new version of his comic book series.

Luanga (Lue) Nuwame, a Mississauga-based comic book writer, board game creator and YouTube cardboard craft artist, has released a colour version of his four-part series Paper Rock Scissors N’ Stuff Wars on Amazon.

This four-issue series takes the classic game Rock Paper Scissors and brings it to life as “an insane all-out war between kingdoms on a distant planet,” Nuwame tells insauga.com.

Nuwame works full time as a cardboard artist but says his true passion has always been comic books.

When he was a child, Nuwame struggled with reading.

“Up to the age of seven, I was not a reader. I struggled to read because I just wasn’t interested — I found reading boring,” Nuwame says.

But then his father bought him the comic book Silver Surfer, number four.

“The first time opening up [this] comic book and I was like, a dude on his surfboard and space fighting aliens — I was sold,” he says. “I read the whole book, and I couldn’t get enough.”

From there, Nuwame got into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, and he realized comic books didn’t have to be just about superheroes.

Fast forward a few years and Nuwame was at a friend’s house when he got into a Rock Paper Scissors battle with his friend’s uncle from Mongolia. And that is when he realized the game is around the world with ancient roots in China.

His mind started working and Nuwame had a dream where the rock, paper and scissors were living creatures fighting against each other. He wrote out the story but didn’t have the drawing skills to complete a comic book.

Luckily, a fan of his YouTube channel offered to do the illustrations for free, and a Mississauga artist Daniel Wong did the cover.

Just like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, this story wasn’t based around a superhero.

“I wanted it to be different.”

The first comic book was released in 2016 and Nuwame then went on to complete three more in the series. He was able to get Hugh Rookwood as the main artist; Rockwood has done covers for Image Comics, Archie Comics, IDW and Antarctic Press. And Christopher Moore, an up-and-coming Montreal artist, is a cover artist.

Christopher Moore, Hugh Rookwood and Luanga Nuwame pose with the comic books.

Nuwame has been able to meet comic artists and celebrities through his work as a cardboard artist. He networks by creating special art for a particular celebrity and bringing it to a comic book convention for that celebrity.

Celebrities such as comic-book creator Todd McFarlane and Kevin Eastman, the co-creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have pieces of Nuwame’s custom-made cardboard art.

Luanga Nuwame, left, poses with Kevin Eastman and his wife Courtney.

The original Paper Rock Scissors N’ Stuff Wars was released in black and white but the new editions are now in colour.

After the series launched on Amazon’s websites in early December, it was in the Top 100 Fantasy Graphic Novels list.

The new, colour series features pin-up art from Michael T. Gilbert (Batman, Superman, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Power Rangers and the creator of Mr. Monster);  Dan Day (Spider-man, X-Men, Sherlock Holmes, Elvira, Detective Comics, Captain America); and David Day (Spider-man, X-men, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Strange, Star Trek DS9).

Publishing a comic book in colour is an expensive endeavour. Nuwame thanked Paul Kemp, Pop Culture Canada (Courtice) and Back Alley Barbershop (Niagara Falls) for supporting the comic book series since the beginning, up to these colour editions.

Nuwame’s next goal is to get Paper Rock Scissors N’ Stuff Wars turned into a cartoon series. He feels now is the time as interest in superheroes is starting to wane.

“I’m still optimistic because everyone who reads this book, you know, it’s positively reviewed,” he says. “I’ve heard back from people like that it is so original…and I think my timing was good. Coming out with this now because now you have the superhero fatigue.”

To learn more about the series and to purchase the comic books, see the page on Amazon here.

Learn more about Nuwame on his Instagram page here.