In time for Super Bowl Sunday, a new comic book highlighting the career of Kansas City Chief tight end Travis Kelce has hit shelves. The 22-page comic, “Fame: Travis Kelce,” explores Kelce’s time playing football for the University of Cincinnati to his present success with the Chiefs and relationship with Taylor Swift.
“Fame: Travis Kelce” is a part of the “Fame” series from comic book and graphic novel publisher TidalWave Productions, which explores “culturally relevant celebrities and other pop culture icons.” The comic was written by Michael Fritzell, director of student learning services at Missouri State University, and illustrated by Martin Gimenez, who is based in Argentina.
Fritzell has written more than 100 comics for TidalWave — most of which are non-fiction — over the past 10 or so years and the idea to write about Kelce was of mutual interest to both Fritzell and the publisher. With the plan to publish before the Super Bowl, Fritzell worked fast. He said he spent about two weeks researching Kelce, one week writing and simultaneously, Gimenez began working on the art.
When it came to writing “Fame: Travis Kelce,” Fritzell decided to write in first person, from the perspective of Kelce. The comic is a combination of direct quotes Fritzell referenced from media appearances and paraphrasing.
“Anything I say is as true as possible to him,” Fritzell said of Kelce. “I don’t want to accidentally misconstrue something that he may have said, especially if he gets a chance to be involved with it, which sometimes happens.”
For Fritzell, telling a holistic story about Kelce, from his wins with the Chiefs to some of his “youthful indiscretion” was important.
“I look at where they’re from, what their influences might have been and the things that led to who they are today, missteps along the way,” Fritzell said of the people he writes about. “We’re all human. I wanted to have all of that kind of create a whole picture of a person, not just a larger-than-life gridiron hero.”
Specifically, Fritzell outlined Kelce’s time playing football for the University of Cincinnati. During his sophomore year at Cincinnati, Kelce was suspended for the entirety of his second season with the team due to failing a marijuana test.
“I started out with the mistake and I felt like that was important because I … really wanted it to feel like, this could be you and I,” Fritzell said.
One of Fritzell’s favorite parts of the comic is a page that depicts a handful of different Chiefs fans. Fritzell said all of these characters are real people who live in Missouri, one of which was his college roommate.
“I felt like just having pictures of real people in the book gave it more of a Missouri feel,” Fritzell said.
The comic concludes with Kelce’s relationship with Swift, including how the musician heard the tight end talk about her on a podcast to their various public appearances together.
In conjunction with the release of “Fame: Travis Kelce,” TidalWave released four new, alternative covers for their comic,” Female Force: Taylor Swift,” a 26-page comic book about the musician released in December 2023. These new covers depict Swift as a cheerleader and as Dazzler, a roller-skating Marvel superhero.
Publisher Darren Davis said TidalWave decided to play homage to recent rumors that Swift is playing Dazzler in “Deadpool 3,” to be released this summer with some of these designs.
“Female Force” is another series from TidalWave, which offers a “broad examination of strong and influential women who are shaping modem history and culture.” Other featured women include Nancy Pelosi, Madonna, Mother Teresa, Queen Elizabeth II and Paula Deen.
Where can you buy ‘Fame: Travis Kelce’?
Physical copies of “Fame: Travis Kelce” are available for $7.99 on Amazon and at Barnes & Nobles, Walmart and Books-A-Million. E-books are also available from iTunes, Kindle, Book, Google Play, Overdrive and other e-book software.
