Editor’s Note: This is the first in a regular series of columns detailing contributor Toren Chenault’s work starting a brand-new comics and entertainment collective from scratch.

By Toren Chenault — We launched Black Hole Comics and Entertainment on April 8, during a global pandemic. And the state of the world hasn’t improved much since. But this week, the week of June 29, is probably the most important week in our new company’s short history. Our slate of content this week includes an interview with an up-and-coming comics juggernaut, a short story from one of our original writers, and the announcement of the winners of our first short story contest.

Black Hole is sort of my rebellion against everything…against how things are done in comics, writing, publishing, branding, all that. I don’t know a lot, but I know I don’t like the usual trajectory of it all. I want things to change, and this is how I’m going to do it. I love stories and bringing people together, and I don’t want creatives to feel like they don’t matter. That’s why Black Hole has so many things going on, so much stuff planned. I’m learning every day and plan to be in this space for the long haul.

Part of our brand is short stories. I love them as an art form and as a way for writers to flex their muscles. It’s how I personally got better as a writer over the last few years. So, when conceptualizing what Black Hole was going to be with co-founder Nick Couture, we thought short stories would be a great way to showcase writers’ talents. All the writers who contributed to the site for launch are people I have known either in real life or online for some time now. Each brings their own flare and attitude to a story they put their all into.

But I wanted to get more people, I wanted to showcase more talent. That’s when I came up with the short story contest. Short story contests are everywhere, but just like with everything else at Black Hole, I wanted the access to be as simple as possible. Any genre, any topic, you can be from anywhere, etc. And of course, pay people for their work, which is something we’re dead serious about. We aren’t swimming in cash, really just making it work but creators will always get paid and paid on time. The contest was open to anyone and everyone, which was great because a lot of the submissions we got came from writers who had never been published.

The submissions didn’t roll in at first, but I did some extra promotion on other social media sites, and they eventually started flooding in. We got 70 overall. Not a lot, but myself and Nick were the only people reading them, and for a brand-new company barely two months old, I was hyped. It was a process for sure. And for the last month that’s all I’ve been doing is reading these stories. It’s been inspiring to say the least. It’s the best feeling as a creative to see something or read something you’ve never seen before. Or to see something you might have seen or done before but see someone else’s unique take on it. That’s what these stories were. Unique in so many ways. Raw, unflinching, different, something to say about life and the way we live. Everything we aim to be.

That same passion and energy that was found in the stories from our launch are in these contest stories. And that’s exactly why I decided to do this. I knew they would be. The notion of “who you know” is utter nonsense to me when it comes to breaking through into any industry. Mainly because I’m a marginalized creator and a lot of that doesn’t apply to me and never will. My fight has been one for recognition not just for my work, but also for my life, my existence. I can’t give a platform to every writer or artist that seeks one, obviously that’s impossible and people will be missed out. But Black Hole will always try, and I believe this contest is a great start.

Toren Chenault is a writer and creator from Lansing, Michigan. He released his debut novel, Mystic Man in 2018. He's the owner and co-founder of Black Hole Comics and Entertainment. Toren has a passion for comics and all forms of storytelling. His influences range from hip-hop to anything science fiction related.