“Gotham has Batman, New York has Spiderman, West Bromwich has Megatomic Battle Rabbit”

“There was some time travel sub-plot that I crowbarred in because I was in love with stuff like Dr Who and Back to the Future,” he tells Weekend.

Since then more than 40 of his stories have been published in various anthologies, magazines, graphic novels and comics.

“Like most people my age my love of comics began with reading things like The Beano and Dandy, and has I got older I discovered things like 2000AD, Watchmen and Batman and a whole new world opened up in front of me. I even did my work experience at school at a comic shop. So I think it’s fair to say that I’ve always had a love for the geekier things in life.

“I could say something cool, hip and underground, but the truth is my favourite comic characters have to be Superman and Batman. I would love to have a chance of writing those characters one day. I have notebooks full of stories for Bruce and Clark so to be given a chance to play in those particular toy boxes would be incredible, they have such rich worlds and back stories that what could be done with those characters is pretty much endless,” says Stu, who grew in West Bromwich but now lives in Kingswinford.

His latest creation is the story of a 6ft talking alien rabbit that suddenly crashlands in West Bromwich, only to be discovered by sci-fi obsessed 12-year-old Dexter Draper.

“Gotham has Batman, New York has Spiderman, West Bromwich has Megatomic Battle Rabbit,” says the 44-year-old.

The book, which includes artwork by Spanish artist Israel Huertas has been published by Markosia Entertainment.

“They say ‘write what you know’ and while I never met a talking alien rabbit when I was twelve years old I knew exactly what is like growing up in West Bromwich wishing I had. I was obsessed with movies like ET, The Goonies and Back to the Future and I was always a tad annoyed that something out of this world didn’t suddenly fall out of the sky and land in my life.

“So really, half of the story is completely autobiographical – one of the main characters Dexter, lives on the street I grew up on and goes to the same high school I did – and the other half is pure fantasy – a half biography.

“It is an out and out all ages story – something for almost everyone. It would, I hope, appeal to adults like me who grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons, as well as kids who are now the age that they were then.

“It’s been described as a cross between Stranger Things and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and that’s a comparison that I’m more than happy with.

“I loved creating these characters and their story so much, that when I’d emailed the final script to the artist Israel Huretas, who is an amazing artist and person, I was genuinely gutted that was over, but I’m overjoyed at some of the feedback we’ve been getting – the character of Megatomic Battle Rabbit was voted runner-up in the Best British Comic Character category in last year’s ComicScene awards, only losing out to Judge Dredd,” says Stu.

When it comes to creating his stories and characters, he says it begins with him considering different scenarios.

“It all starts with what I call a ‘what if’ idea, which normally jumps into my head when I’m not really thinking about it, like when I’m doing the school run or having a shower.

“I then jot that idea down in one of my many note books and by the time I go back to I later, it’s fleshed itself out a little and I keep going back to it until I hit ‘that moment’ and then it’s suddenly a story with a world and characters and then it gets really exciting,” explains Stu.

When asked what he enjoys most about writing, he said: “All of it, honestly. There are times when the black dog of writer’s block rears its ugly head, but overall creating a comic from beginning to end is a series of amazing creative moments fizzing and popping in my end. It’s a genuine thrill and a hell of a lot cheaper than booze.” He is also the writer and co-creator of books Clockwork Inc and Whatever happened to the Archetype?

“I try and use fantastical stories to talk about real life issues. My previous book Whatever Happened to the Archetype? uses the idea of an aging superhero to discuss how the elderly are seen in modern day society, which was inspired by me discovering the day after his passing that my grandad had been a motorcycle stunt man in his youth – which I still find incredible.

“But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that he hadn’t always been my grandad, he’d once been someone with passions and life experiences and had probably done all the crazy teenage stuff that I’d done way before I was even thought of,” says Stu, who also has two other projects currently in the pipeline.

“I’m actively working on two projects at the moment, both of which are coming along nicely. The first is called ‘Cosmic Debris’ which is a OTT space opera aimed at an older audience which I’m working on with an incredible American artist called Sean Murphy and the second is called ‘Chrono-Cat’ which is the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid cat, based on the imagined adventures of our pet, Charlie, and the artist on that series is Alfredo Torres who’s artwork is stunning.

“All being well both of those books should see the light of day next year,” he tells Weekend.