While he was a student, Grayson Burgess started to design superhero gadgets and props. In 2015, he established Comic Sandwiches and began creating selling his collection for superhero fans.
Comic Sandwiches creates authentic, life-size prop replicas and collectibles for cosplay and superhero fans. Every piece is handcrafted and made to order. The company also provides design and manufacturing for custom props and items tailored to individual clients, whether they are comic related, or not.
The phrase “Comic Sandwiches” comes from frames Burgess designed for displaying comic books. The frames would sandwich the comic book in between glass and were the first product that he designed and sold.
However, after having little success selling the comic book frames, Burgess shifted to selling Captain America shields along with other superhero replicas and props.
Today, the company sells a large variety of products—wall art, shields, watches and prop replica and t-shirts—on its website, ranging from $15 to $950.
Grayson recently went through the fifth cohort of CYstarters, an 11-week program that provides students with financial support, professional resources and educational workshops for startups.
“CYstarters was extremely helpful for me. I never initially had the intention of turning this into a business, just making a little money off it,” said Burgess. “The program helped me step back and organized what I was building into an actual business and figure out how to grow it a little more properly.”
In October, Burgess was named the Collegiate Entrepreneur of the Year at the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Org Global Conference.
Going forward, Burgess hopes to streamline the custom aspects of the business to make it a quicker and more cost-effect option for customers. He also says he wants to work with comic book artists to make custom done artwork for Comic Sandwiches to sell in various formats.
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