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There would be no Pineapple Man if  Sam's high school art teacher, Ted  Uratani, had not gotten fed up with him reading  comic books in class.   Suddenly Sam found himself in the position of having to create his own superheroes or receive a failing grade.   Over the weekend,  he jokingly designed a  tropically themed team that he named Hawaiian Punch.   

Over time, Pineapple Man's design was tweaked and  he was given a backstory that tied him to ancient Hawaii.   Sam's goal was to bring  the history of the islands together with  its multi-cultural heritage and local lifestyle, as experienced by this ethnically diverse  character  who was still finding himself.   People laughed and pointed out that  he could never be  taken seriously.   However, Sam stuck to his philosophy of "If it's  something you really want to do, and you're not  hurting anyone,  then  go for it no matter what anyone else says."

Despite  not owning a computer or being able to afford  quality art supplies,  and the enormous  difficulty  of  finding affordable printing back in  1994,  Sam  went for it.   He blew through a lot of  Sharpies and glue sticks, and couldn't  afford to publish all the stories he had  on the table, but  what he  did accomplish was  sharing  Pineapple Man  on an international  level and  finding out that this local superhero  really could be taken seriously.   Sam took  it right back to  Mr. Uratani's classroom to speak  at  Career Day, and  made his former teacher proud.

Not that it was smooth sailing  from there.    Major life changes did  put  Pineapple Man on hiatus, and the world of comics and self-publishing is still not an easy one.    But  Pineapple Man lives on;    so much of his story  has yet to be revealed! 

Pineapple Man was published under Sam's  SoloGraphics label which he has since changed to Kaaawasaki Productions.

Genesis  (Campos) Maya writes and letters most of Sam's books.  The pair met in  elementary school in 1980.  They married in 1993 at which time Gen convinced Sam to do Pineapple Man even though he didn't think he was ready.  (When will you ever be ready?  Just jump in and go for it!)  Despite divorcing in 2003, they remain creative partners.

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Thank you to everyone who celebrated Pineapple Man's 30th Anniversary with tribute art.  We celebrated the event at Amazing Comic Con Aloha  on November 9,  2024 at the Hawaii Convention Center.  

Available on IndyPlanet

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Pineapple Man Vol. 1
A collection of Pineapple Man #0-#4.
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Pineapple Man Special 1/2
The first half of Pineapple Man's origin story.
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Pineapple Man Xmas Special

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Pineapple Man #9
The Wandering Stones part 1 of 2.
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Pineapple Man #10
The Wandering Stones part 2 of 2.

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Have questions?     Contact  Gen at [email protected] or use our contact form.
Pineapple Man, Dragonfly, Kamenkaze, Hawaiian Avenger Kanaka, Captain Hawaii and related characters are creations of Sam Campos, ™ and © 2022 Samuel Campos, published by Kaaawasaki Productions, LLC.  The Keepers and all related characters are © 2022 Art Wong.  Native Sons and all related characters are © 2022 Mark Gould.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED