BEN H. WINTERS Shows us a BENJAMIN of his Own

Austin Allen Hamblin invites Ben H. Winters into the Yeti Cave to discuss Benjamin, now available through Oni Press, with issue #2 out July 15th, 2025!

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COMIC BOOK YETI : Ben, you are an extremely prolific author who has written for pretty much every medium. Here at Comic Book Yeti, we were able to check out the first issue of Benjamin, and I enjoyed it! In a nutshell, what is the story of Benjamin about?

Ben H. Winters:  Well first of all, thanks so much. For reading, and for enjoying. It’s about a guy named (spoiler alert!) Benjamin, specifically the cult-favorite science fiction author Benjamin J. Carp, who died in the early 1980s and now finds himself alive and awake, for some reason he can’t understand, in a motel room in Los Angeles. So he sets out on a journey to figure out what he’s doing here, and why. Benjamin is suspicious that he may be trapped in the plot of one of his own novels, but he can’t quite figure out which one. 

CBY: You’ve written short stories, novels, and for television before, what makes comics the perfect medium to tell this story?

BHW: There’s something about this particular character and this particular dilemma which both seemed to cry out for illustration. Benjamin’s books, like so much great pulpy sci-fi, traverse dimensions and planets, and now his existential crisis takes him in and out of different permutations of reality, not to mention different realms of sunny and weird Southern California. How better to tell that story than with the infinite aesthetic variety you can only achieve in comics? 

CBY: What have you learned from writing in other forms that you have been able to bring into writing for comics?

BHW: It’s all so different, of course; books and TV and plays and audio dramas and so on. But it’s all also kind of the same, at the core: who is the central figure? What does she or he want, how do they try to get it, what gets in the way? What changes will they go through, and what changes will be thereby achieved in the reader (listener, viewer, whatever) It’s all about telling some very specific story about some very specific person that connects in some universal way. We’re all human! (Except Benjamin, who may or may not be a robot. Or a ghost.)

CBY: I’ve been a huge fan of Oni Press over the years. How did you find a home with them?

BHW: Hunter Gorinson, the publisher, knocked on my door one day. I should have realized it was a trap, because everybody knows comics publishers can only enter your home if invited. But my politeness got the better of me, and soon I found myself mesmerized by the ancient silver pocket watch he keeps in the pocket of his morning coat, and by the time he left I had agreed to write a three-issue prestige-format series for his company. Plus he took all the silverware! 

CBY: This is a story I feel has some real “legs” behind it. How long is the series planned to go on for?

BHW: That is very kind, and I will restrain myself from making a crass remark about having nice legs. Benjamin is a three-issue series, which I have endeavored to tie up in a satisfying fashion for readers, although there is also a bit of a side door that opens in the end. So maybe there’s more Benjamin down the line? But what do I know, I’m just the author. 

CBY: How can people follow your work?

BHW: I have a website, which is BenHWinters.com. I’m also on Instagram, and Facebook, although I try not to be on either very much. 

CBY: This was Austin Allen Hamblin from Comic Book Yeti, signing off with another interview from the Yeti Cave. Be excellent, everyone! https://linktr.ee/austinallenhamblin

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