A beautiful life: Services Friday for Montgomery comic book creator Lashawn Colvin

Her brand and brainchild is "Beautiful Soldiers," but the words "beautiful soul" capture the life and mission of Montgomery comic book artist, writer and editor Lashawn Colvin.

Services for Colvin, who died Monday at age 37, will be held on Friday at 2 p.m. at Alabama Heritage Cemetery. Memories and expression of sympathy can be shared at www.AlabamaHeritageFH.com. A cause of death has not been released.

A native of Fort Hood, Texas, Colvin was part of a military family. She lived in Montgomery since kindergarten. At a young age, she'd traveled the world with parents Timothy and Denita, and her siblings. She graduated from Jefferson Davis High School, and went on to higher education for comic book art and writing skills. Along with creating and editing comics for the RedBand line-up at Short Fuse Media Group, she hosted a podcast and owned the comic book and gaming shop Comics & Geeks in Montgomery for a while.

Friends and fans went to social media Tuesday to mourn her passing:

"Beautiful person and a beautiful heart... You will be missed," wrote Geoffrey Gwin.

Calvin Simmons said Colvin was one of the best and most talented people he'd met.

"Rest in peace, beautiful," wrote Jorel Lonesome. "I am saddened and you are missed. You are an inspiration to many independent creators and the aspiring creators of tomorrow."

Kendra Hale said the world is suddenly darker, and described Colvin as a whirlwind and a force that shone on the world.

"Stunned by the loss," wrote Ken Vaughan. "Such a powerful creative voice and advocate."

A balloon release remembrance of life tribute to Colvin will take place Sunday 4:30 p.m. at Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery.

Colvin through the eye of a journalist and friend

I'll never forget the first time we spoke. It was 2017, and Montgomery was on the verge of a new comic book convention Gump City Con. I was searching for local artists who might be be attending when I stumbled across her name and reached out. Luckily she responded, we spoke, stayed in contact, and continued to run in the same circles for the next five years.

By 2018, Colvin went from an attendee to being a special guest with her own booth at Gump City Con.

"I've always been really big on female empowerment and girl power, and sisterhood," Colvin told the Advertiser in 2020. That year, she made national headlines as a Black woman opening her own comic shop in the South, on Perry Hill Road in Montgomery. Getting it open by Halloween wasn't easy, especially while still dealing with the death of her mother in April.

“I know the struggles of trying to get seen,” Colvin told the Advertiser in 2020. “It’s very important for my store to represent the community, where we try to help each other get ourselves out there.”

On top of everything else happening in 2020 (including the pandemic), Colvin took on a special project with the Montevallo-based alternative rock band Pink for President, who frequently perform in Montgomery. She had the band illustrated into a stage performance scene with her "Beautiful Soldiers" characters for their song "Win or Lose." Colvin said it was the theme song for "Beautiful Soldiers."

Fast forward two more years, and Colvin's life had taken some major turns.

When we spoke this year in July, Colvin said she'd made the tough decision to close her comic book shop. The location she had required too much of an investment to get a much-wanted smoothie bar addition up to code, and she was searching for a new location to make it happen.

On the comic book side of things, life was really blooming for Colvin. She'd recently landed a publishing deal for "Beautiful Soldiers" with Scout Comics. Along with being a comic author, artist and editor, she was working with dozens of independent creators. She also served on the board of directors for this year's Urban Nerd Con, a first-of-its-kind convention in Montgomery that focused on Black characters, creators, actors and more. Colvin was proud to speak at the con on a panel about women in comics.

"My experience has been good in comics," Colvin told the Advertiser in June. "Everyone has been supportive and wanted me to succeed."

Early days of art for Colvin

Surprisingly, it was Colvin's writing side that bloomed first when she was little.

She told the Advertiser that as a child, when she wasn't watching anime like "Sailor Moon" — or live action TV such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Xena: Warrior Princess" — she'd fill shoeboxes with her own handwritten "Power Rangers" stories.

"As far as I can remember, even when I was a child, I was into cartoons and comics and drawing," Colvin said in 2017. "My favorite comic book is actually a manga, and it was turned into an anime back in the day, called 'Sailor Moon.' I am a humongous 'Sailor Moon' fan."

Back in the sixth or seventh grade, one day she was watching one of her 'Sailor Moon' episodes on tape, and just had the urge to draw a scene from that show.

"I got a piece of notebook paper and a blue pen. I paused the VCR, sat down in front of my bed and I just started drawing exactly what I saw on the TV," Colvin said. "Lo and behold, that's how I found out I could draw."

Colvin's legacy of 'Beautiful Soldiers'

Five years ago, Colvin was still laying the groundwork for her "Beautiful Soldiers" series, which she was writing and drawing. It's the tale of four teenage girls, descendants of an elemental race.

"They are hybrids. They're half human, half elemental," Colvin said. "They each genetically control their own element — earth, air, fire and water. Besides trying to save the earth, juggle boys, go to high school, basically they're trying to find the fifth element before the bad guys can get to it. The fifth element is supposed to be very powerful. Like on the power level of God."

After reaching a publishing deal for it, she spoke this year of an evolution in her "Beautiful Soldiers" inspired by her fans. Her four-person hero team expanded to five to give it even more diversity, though she already had white, Asian-American, Native American and Black members. Terra, her Black hero, wasn't considered "Black enough" by some "Blerds" (Black nerds).

"She's a lighter toned woman," Colvin said of Terra. "She doesn't have the regular Afro-centric kinky, curly hair... To some people, she just wasn't Black enough. I used to tell people all the time that Black comes in different shades. That's the beauty of people of color. There's a multitude of shades."

Colvin decided to add a fifth hero to the group, instead of altering Terra's design. The look for Nina, her new character, is based on Colvin's late mother.

"Nina is a dark-skinned Black woman with kinky, curly hair," Colvin said.

Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel can be reached at sheupel@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: A beautiful life: Services Friday for comic book creator Lashawn Colvin