Hall of Justice Comics & Collectibles Hosts Its First Jingle Ball

If you know comic book fans, then you know that the best gift to get them for Christmas is something that suits that passion. The challenging part is knowing exactly what to buy.

“Comic books themselves can be a tough give,” says Jonthan Garnett, owner of Hall of Justice Comics & Collectibles in Parker. “One of our regulars, his mom and dad asked his wife to go through his comic collection because they wanted to give him some comic books.” She was game for a little good-intentioned snooping, and managed to write down some issues he was missing so that his parents could pick up a couple to fill the gap.

“It’s such a private hobby,” Garnett says. “Luckily, there’s a ton of toys, the [Funko] Pops!, the trade paperbacks — all the other comic book ephemera that work really well for gifts at the holidays.”

And business is good, especially after Hall of Justice’s recent move into a much larger space. “People love comics and comic book stuff,” says Garnett. “And we wanted to give fans something special for the holidays while also supporting some great local and national comics artists.” To that end, Hall of Justice is hosting its first Jingle Ball, a gathering of five comic book creators that will offer cookies and eggnog and possibly include some awesomely terrible seasonal sweaters. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, December 21, at Hall of Justice Comics, 10136 Parkglenn Way in Parker. Garnett suggests that visitors “make a day of it.”

“The idea started with a customer letting us know that Brent Peeples was going to be in town from Texas,” recalls Garnett. Peeples is an accomplished comic artist who has worked on both DC and Marvel titles, including Action Comics, Flash and Ghost Rider. Most recently, he worked on the mini-series Spider-Man: The Lost Hunt, issue #2 of which debuts the week of his appearance at the Jingle Ball. Signatures are $5 each, and Peeples will also be doing sketches and selling original art pages. Garnett says that booking Peeples was “really the catalyst for everything.”

Around that same time, longtime DC colorist Alex Sinclair reached out to the store to let Garnett know that he was going to be in town. Sinclair is best known for being Jim Lee’s regular colorist (his work on Lee’s Batman: Hush storyline has won several awards); his daughter runs a CrossFit business in Denver, and he says he enjoys visiting here. He’s spending some of that Colorado time (2-5 p.m., to be specific) at Hall of Justice, signing copies of his work and offering commissions.

Once Garnett had Peeples and Sinclair booked, he knew that things were snowballing, so he contacted local creators Morgan Beem, Jorge Corona and Travis Mercer to see if they could come down and hang out. As it turned out, all three had projects that just debuted.

“It’s crazy how it all just fell into place,” Garnett says. “Travis has a cover coming out for Batman: Urban Legends #22 next week. Jorge had a variant cover for Image’s Dark Ride that just came out this week. Morgan’s book Crashing, from IDW, has its fourth issue just now coming out. It’s just amazing that all five of these people have stuff that you can grab off the new-comics rack and have them sign, which is really cool.”

A Christmas miracle, comics style.

Garnett says that it’s not just about getting something signed so that it may someday be worth more; the value in supporting comic book creators isn’t just monetary. “The comics industry is so weird,” says Garnett. “All of this stuff that people love, that people come in every week and pick up and buy…the names on those books, unless they’re Todd McFarlane or Jim Lee or something, you don’t have any idea who most of these creators are. Getting people in the door so that fans can meet them, so they can thank them — and the same for the creators, too, so they can meet the folks reading and loving what they do? It makes a huge difference.”

This is the first year that Hall of Justice is hosting the Jingle Ball event. “We had to call it something,” Garnett laughs. “We wanted it to be something Christmas-y, something for the holidays, something just to get everyone together and celebrate. It’s all about building the community, both in comics in general and here at the store. It’s about a lot more than selling a $4 comic book.”

Jingle Ball, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Hall of Justice Comics & Collectibles, 10136 Parkglenn Way, #109, Parker. Get more information on the Facebook event page or at the HoJ website.