A personalized comic book for your husband

Most gifts for a husband are things he could have bought himself. A personalized comic book is the one he couldn't: a whole story where he is the hero, built from the things only you know about him. Here is how to make one that actually sounds like him, using our sample comic about a barber named Andre and his wife Simone.

Start with what makes him him

The comic is only as good as the details you give it. You answer a few questions about him: what he does, what he loves, a secret, a line he always says. These were the answers for Andre:

• A barber for fourteen years, in his own shop on the corner, cutting three generations of the same families.
• He loves freehand fades. No guard, no guide, just the clippers and his eye.
• His secret: he can tell whose head he's working on with his eyes closed.
• His line: "Nobody leaves my chair crooked."

Notice that none of these are hobbies from a list. They're small, specific and a little bit funny, and that's exactly what makes a story feel like it was written for one person. A detail works best when it can change what he does in the story, not just get a mention.

Put yourself in it

You can add up to 5 co-stars next to the hero, and for a husband the obvious first one is you. Each co-star needs a photo of their own, and when there's more than one of you, Bookva asks what you love doing together.

For Andre and Simone, the answer was closing up their shops at the same time and walking home arguing about whose smells better. That line became the first page of the comic: the two of them on the sidewalk at closing time, right before something very large rolls down the street.

Pick the story that fits him

From those answers, Bookva writes three story ideas built around both of you, and you choose one. Andre got these:

• Fade Out. A grooming machine the size of a water tower starts buzzing every head in the city to the same dull cut. Andre's freehand fade is the one line it can't copy.
• Nobody Leaves My Chair Crooked. The machine parks on his corner, so Andre sets his chair down in the middle of the street and Simone rolls her proofing cart out beside him.
• Andre & the Matching Machine. Every head on the block is suddenly identical, and the machine is headed for the school.

His catchphrase is a title. His secret, cutting by the shape of a head with his eyes closed, is how he wins. Simone isn't a cameo either: her oven steam is what blinds the machine long enough for him to work. That's the difference between a comic with his name on it and a comic about him.

Make it look like him

From his photo we draw Andre as a comic character, and every page is drawn from that same sheet, so he looks like himself from the cover to the last panel. It's a comic version that's recognizably him, not a copy of the photo. One clear, straight-on photo in good light works best. You can read more about each step in how a personalized comic book is made.

See it before you pay

You read the cover and the beginning of the comic before you pay anything. After you order, the finished book comes to your email before it prints, so you can read every page and ask for changes, which are free.

Timing it for Christmas, a birthday or an anniversary

Each comic is written, drawn and printed after you order, one copy at a time, so most orders arrive within about three weeks. Work back from the date you need it. The order summary shows the date yours should arrive by, before you pay, so you'll know it makes it in time.

Is it a good gift for a husband who doesn't read comics?

Usually, yes. He doesn't need to be a comic fan to enjoy reading a story where he saves the city with the thing he's proudest of. It's a gift for the husband who is hard to buy for, because nothing else on the table is about him. If you want to know how it went for other buyers, they share it on our reviews page.