Stanley the Snowman, a magical frozen fella with a young girl sidekick, was born from bickering.
Tampa artist Austin Janowsky's three daughters were quarreling on Christmas morning: who had more gifts, who had better gifts.
"That's really how it started," Janowsky said with a smile.
Janowsky, who's worked for Disney, Universal, NASCAR and more, created a holiday story where family, tradition and merry magic trump crass commercialism. Less fighting, more sisterly love.
The "Stanley the Snowman" series is published by Florida's own Scout Comics.
"I'm a creative person," Janowsky said. "I love telling stories."
Inspired to write comics after falling in love with the X-Men, he also wanted to show his children that girls could be heroes, too.
"There are a lot of series going on where there's a male lead," Janowsky said. "For my daughters, I wanted to be able to say, here's a book specifically written with a female lead."
He has had a wild career, including a later foray into filmmaking. Most recently, he filmed a documentary about legendary Tampa high school hoops coach Herman Valdes.
But this time of year, it's Stanley season. Scout Comics just released a graphic novel that collects all the snowman stories so far.
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