Meet Wes Molebash

Today we’d like to introduce you to Wes Molebash.  

Hi Wes, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve loved drawing for as long as I can remember. While watching a behind-the-scenes featurette on The Little Mermaid when I was nine years old, it clicked that drawing cartoons could be a career. I’ve been chasing that goal ever since. 

During middle school, I fell in love with comic strips like Calvin and Hobbes and Fox Trot, so I learned everything I could about making daily comic strips for newspapers. I would draw my own comics and take them to school to show my teachers. I was very fortunate to have supportive and encouraging teachers all through school. 

In high school, my cartoons ran in the school newspaper. These cartoons caught the eye of the local newspaper editor, and he offered me the opportunity to make a comic strip for the town paper. I did that for about a year and spent my short time in college trying to figure out how to break into national newspaper syndication. Unfortunately, this was the late 90s/early 00s, and the death knell for newspaper comics was ringing loudly. But I wasn’t deterred. 

Webcomics were becoming prolific in the early 2000s. A bunch of cartoonists who, like me, were struggling to get syndicated had taken to the internet to share their comics. It was a very exciting time! It was a whole new way for cartoonists to not only share their work but also engage with their audience. In 2004, I signed a contract with a small comic book company called Viper Comics. They published my daily comic strip, You’ll Have That, on their website and collected the cartoon into a few collections. Over the next twelve years, I experimented with different webcomics, formats, characters, etc. The whole time I was trying to find that one magic idea that would launch me into stardom and grant me financial freedom. While I was able to establish a small following of readers, I was never able to earn enough money to quit my day job. 

In 2017, I decided it was time to switch things up. So, I started pursuing traditional book publishing for a children’s graphic novel series I was developing about a short, socially awkward kid named Travis Daventhorpe. I was able to get an agent, and in 2020 I signed a 4-book deal with 01: First Second Books! Book 1 came out on March 21, 2023, and the subsequent books will release in 2024, 2025, and 2026! 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Not a smooth road at all. Most of the obstacles I’ve faced have been my own insecurities and self-doubt. Thankfully, I have awesome friends, family, and mentors who help me push through those feelings. The biggest obstacle I’ve faced (that I had no control over) was losing my agent at the very beginning of 2020. She decided it was time for a change in careers, and she released her clients from their agreements so we could pursue representation elsewhere. That was a really tough time because my book series had already been out on submission to publishers, and a few had rejected it. So, I wasn’t sure another agent would want to rep a property that didn’t seem to be gaining any traction with publishers. But I decided to try again with Travis Daventhorpe anyway, and I’m glad I did. I wound up getting SIX offers of representation! And when we pitched it to publishers, we got offers from TWO; and one of them was a publisher that had previously rejected it! 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am first and foremost a cartoonist. People know me for my webcomics You’ll Have That and MOLEBASHED, among others. I’ve also created cartoons for a few large organizations such as PBS Kids, Target, and THE Ohio State University. I think I have a unique cartooning style that is consistent and fun to look at. 

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Contentment. 

If my book series ends up bombing and I never get to make comics on the big stage again, that would be a bummer. But I’d be OK. I have a good day job and an awesome family, and we’re having a blast living our lives in a tiny town in Southern Ohio. For me, that’s what it’s all about. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.wesmolebash.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewesmolebash
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewesmolebash
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/thewesmolebash