Actor Tyrese Gibson has a case of hero worship.
The 30-year-old movie star and R&B singer knows exactly when he became a self-proclaimed geek - it was during the 2008 San Diego Comic Con. Gibson was promoting his upcoming movies, "Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen" and "Death Race," to tap into what publicists call "the nerdy, geeky demographic" of potential ticket buyers.
But he wasn't quite prepared for the throngs that turned up in homemade Transformers costumes. Seeing the devotion of the fans up close, he says, was a life-changing experience.
"That's passion I've never seen in my life," says Gibson.
Fast forward one year, when Gibson found himself back at the San Diego convention. This time, however, he spent three straight days on the general floor, singing the praises of something a lot closer to his heart: his first comic book.
And now fans will be able to get their first look at his new masked vigilante as Image Comics . "Mayhem" #1, co-written by Gibson and William Le, hits stores Wednesday.
"This is my baby," he says. "I put my name on the cover. I left [this year's] Comic Con, I didn't have my voice back for six days. I was screaming at the top of my lungs, trying to get all the attention to our booth."
Just how much attention he got in a crowded market dominated by X-Men and Wonder Wom a n remains to be seen. Comic book fans tend to be a very finicky bunch, wary of newcomers who haven't logged years of experience in the comic book industry.
And they've seen other stars attempt to leap into their comic stores in a single bound, including "Clerks" director Kevin Smith, William Shatner, Steven Colbert, Nicholas Cage and "Heroes" star Milo Ventimiglia.
But Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee says getting Hollywood names like Gibson involved is exactly the buzz comic books need.
"If you ask me [ you didn't, but so what?], it's great for the comic book industry when big name Hollywood stars get involved in comics," Lee told the Daily News by e-mail. "For decades, comic books were considered Pablum for little kids, and hardly any mainstream adults took them seriously. But today ... the entire genre is now accorded the respect it deserves - and has always deserved."
Gibson has been trolling the Internet, reading the harshest criticism and vowing to convince naysayers that he isn't some celebrity dilettante dabbling in a get-rich-quick scheme.
He gets so worked up during his interview with The News that he refers to his hero, a tortured soul looking to torture the drug- dealing mob boss that wronged him, in the first person several times.
He's not just trying to woo existing comic fans, either. Gibson says he is serious about getting the word out to fans of his movies that have never set foot in a comic store that there's a larger world of pop culture that they've been missing.
"I need to spark the interest of new comic book readers," says Gibson. "I need to find a way to get them into the stores and find a hero they can identify with."
While Gibson says it wasn't a factor in making his main character African-American, he is quick to add that he hopes Mayhem will appeal to people of color who may not feel as much of a connection to the predominantly white super heroes who dominate the four-color panels of today's comic books.
Whatever is in store for Mayhem, Gibson is taking it one thought balloon at a time.
"I'd be lying to tell you that I grew up on comic books and I have been reading them for years," he says. "But I'm here [now]. I'm in this world."
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