A native of Pennsylvania, Steve Mowry made his way to North Carolina via Connecticut before he landed in Charlotte in 2005 with his then husband-to-be Jason Estrada. The two met in 2004, got married in 2013 and celebrated their eleventh anniversary Dec. 27. In 2017, Mowry and Estrada made the decision to move to Winston-Salem, and they continue to call the city home today.
For his day job, Mowry works as a logistics specialist, but if you’re a comic book fan, it’s his non-business hours hobby that you might recognize him for. Combining his love for comic books and conversation, Mowry serves as one of three hosts for the podcast “Comic Book Bears.” Other regulars on the podcast include founder Bill Zanowitz, Bryan Pittard and Caleb Alexander-McKinzie.
David Aaron Moore: Tell me about Comic Book Bears.
Steve Mowry: It was started back in 2012 by Bill Zanowitz and Justin Allen, who are two friends that met through various internet boards. They became really good buddies and decided they wanted to do a podcast that spoke to a section of the comic book fan population that isn’t really represented in media much: gay bears.
DAM: Wow! Twelve years. What is your audience like today?
SM: So the podcast is not only for gay bears, it’s for anybody who wants to listen: gay, straight, queer, questioning or other. But you know, originally it was set up as a way to give some gay bears who wanted to talk about comics a voice and a platform to do that.
DAM: How did your involvement come about?
SM: I met Brian at HeroesCon in Charlotte, because it is such an amazing comic book convention and it brings people in from all over the country and beyond. We met and became fast friends. He invited me onto the Comic Book Bears podcast, just to be sort of like a guest friend of the podcast that got to hang out with them, and I came on for one episode. They really liked me, so they asked me back for a second episode. That was in early 2014 and at the end of the recording [they] asked, “Do you want to be on full time? Do you want to be a full time cast member?” So I, of course, said yes, and I have been on the podcast consistently for the past 10 years.
DAM: So you guys are all over the place. You’re not in one studio recording, you’re in different parts of the country?
SM: Yes! The current core podcast team is myself here in Winston-Salem; Caleb Alexander McKenzie, who’s out in Little Rock, Ark.; Bill Zanowitz – he’s sort of our fearless leader – in Princeton, N.J.; [and] Bryan Pittard is in Seattle.
DAM: How long have you been collecting comic books?
SM: So I started reading comic books and collecting them when I was a kid. So probably when I was about eight, nine years old. I bought my first comics with my own little allowance or birthday money. And then from the age of probably 10 to 14, I went almost weekly to a local comic shop that wasn’t too far from home to pick up whatever I saw off the wall that sparked my fancy. Eventually I stopped buying comics regularly and reading single issue comics for almost 20 years. I of course read a lot of the really prestigious graphic novels that were coming out from independent publishers and things like that. But I stopped reading superhero comics altogether. But starting in 2011, I got back into reading comics again full time, and I haven’t stopped since.
DAM: Is there a large portion of the LGBTQ+ community that are comic book fans?
SM: I think there is, I think there’s a sizable minority of the community that does read comics, or at least is interested in comics, whether they buy them regularly, or they read them digitally, or they go to conventions whenever they can. I think there is a pretty sizable minority within the community, and a lot of times they don’t always see themselves represented in comic media, because a lot of times you have the general idea that if you are a comic book reader, you’re probably, you know, 30s, 40s, middle-aged, straight, white, and that’s basically your average comic reader, straight white male.
DAM: I’ve thought it seemed to skew that way, but that’s not representative of the entire community, though, right?
SM: No. There are great female and female-presenting fans of comics that, again, also from their perspective, don’t always get the recognition they should or really get. I think a lot of people who may be interested in comics, especially in the queer community, might get kind of unnerved if they try to go into what they perceive as a very straight white male space. You know, comic fans are notoriously stereotyped as being very gatekeeping. Just a certain type of person that you don’t want to spend time with. Obviously there are people like that, but that’s not everybody. There are plenty of wonderful, pleasant comic fans that are from all walks of life and all types of people.
DAM: What’s it been like for you watching that develop over the years?
SM: Just being able to meet a lot of them over the years, since being part of a podcast, but also just generally hearing from fans and seeing the growth in the industry and the number of creators that are from generally underrepresented groups and part of the queer community as well, getting to have their books published, getting to write big publisher titles at Marvel and DC, having queer characters as superheroes, as well as on the independent scene. I mean, it’s been amazing.
DAM: How many followers do you think you have now?
SM: We regularly have about 1000 listeners per episode and we do both (video and audio streaming). During the pandemic, we started live streaming as a way of being able to see each other during COVID. You know, getting to actually see and interact with each other, because we knew we wouldn’t be able to hang out in person at conventions, because all the conventions were canceled that year and into 2021, as well. So we started live streaming, so we could connect on a weekly and bi weekly basis. And then we started broadcasting those on Facebook Live and on YouTube and on Twitch.
DAM: Do you have a favorite comic book or two you’d like to share?
SM: Sandman. It’s by Neil Gaiman. His works as a writer are one of my favorites. They have aspects of Shakespeare, Greek mythology and superheroes. It’s all very interesting and it made me realize how a fictional narrative can change your perspective on life. I’m also a fan of X Men. Of course, it’s fun and exciting when you’re a kid, but then you realize it addresses discrimination, treatment of marginalized groups like the LGBTQ community and others, and civil rights. X men started way back in the mid-60s and took off in the ’70s when Chris Claremont started writing.
DAM: What motivates you to do this?
SM: I think a big portion of it is I absolutely love comic books. I love reading comics. I love reading about comics. I love looking at art. You know, the artists’ work. I love the writers. It’s really, really fun. And, you know, it’s a way of sharing my hobby with others and also to have them share the same hobby with me.
The Comic Book Bears will celebrate podcast #300 in January. To watch them live or see previous episodes, check out Facebook and YouTube; @comicbookbears on IG and @comicbookbears.bsky.social.