There are plenty of reasons to celebrate at EPT Barcelona this week. Some are enjoying their first major tournament score, others savoring the rare feat of winning two tourneys in a matter of days, and yet more marking the 20th anniversary of the European Poker Tour itself.
PokerStars’ Joe ‘Stapes’ Stapleton has been a fixture on the EPT circuit for much of its history, whether in the booth, on the stream or providing comic relief through stand-up performances or the regular ‘Poker In The Ears’ podcast.
And while Stapes has just as much reason to celebrate as anyone involved in putting on the traveling circus that is the European Poker Tour, there’s another reason he’s smiling this week: he’s just launched his long-awaited graphic novel, Trapped.
Four years in the making, Trapped is the work of Stapleton and comic artist Neil Gibson and is based on Stapes’ experiences as a poker commentator and player - along with a few healthy measures of artistic license.
We sat down with Stapleton at EPT Barcelona to learn just what it takes to turn life into art.
Congratulations on the launch. How did ‘Trapped’ come into existence?
So there's a fellow named Kenny Dyack who used to work for PokerStars, and producing independent comics was kind of his side gig. He put the feelers out, like, ‘Hey, do you know anyone here that might have a good comic idea?’
They came to me and I pitched them four or five different ideas and we settled on one that was basically ‘Die Hard at the WSOP’, where a retired John McClane ends up being in the Rio when bad guys come to rob the World Series. The trouble was, I didn’t really have much more to the story once the robbery starts happening. So then I was like, ‘All right, let me just try one more idea, loosely based on my life’.
Me and my co-writer, Neil Gibson, then just started writing it. Neil is a very accomplished comic book writer and has written dozens, if not hundreds of comic books. This is my story and a lot of the dialogue is mine, but Neil is really good at important things, like giving it a beginning, middle, and end.
What was the writing process like?
I've always kind of fancied myself as a writer, but I've never finished anything my entire life. Never finished a screenplay, never finished a pilot; I mean, I've written a treatment, but that's it. I have, like, a dozen screenplays that I've started in my life.
This was maybe the hardest I've ever worked on anything, because when we were writing this - during the pandemic - PokerStars was doing a lot of broadcasting. I live on the west coast, so my broadcasts would start at 7 or 8am. I would get up at 3am and write with these guys from 4-6am, three or four days a week, and then do my Stars job on top of it. So I really did put in a lot of effort into getting this done and making it happen.
Working with a co-writer like Neil, who I knew was counting on me and keeping me accountable, was really what this came down to. His experience in finishing things, and knowing how to get unstuck from the places where I got stuck, was incredibly helpful.
Something I didn't realize about a comic book is that, let’s say you're writing a screenplay and you mention someone's wearing a beautiful red dress, or that someone's in an opulent church, right? Then you turn that script in and the movie gets made, but somebody's deciding on the clothes, and someone's deciding what’s going to be in shot, and what kind of car it is, and you have a set dresser who decides what’s in the main character's bedroom, and stuff like that.
So for the book I wrote a scene where the main character comes home and he opens his drawer, and the artist is, like, ‘What's in the drawer? What's on the walls? What's he wearing? What does this person's house look like? What does the dog look like?’ So in a way, you're not just the writer of a comic book. You're designing a lot of the stuff, and it’s all stuff I didn't really think about. So it's so much work.
And then there are the poker scenes, like at one point there’s a weird seven-card stud hand that goes to showdown four ways. I had to tell them every single card to put in every single spot.
What’s your background when it comes to comic books?
I love comic books and I love the stories contained therein, but I don't love reading comics. When I flip through a comic, my eye immediately scans the whole page. Whatever happens in that bottom panel, even though I'm starting at the top, I see it and I'm spoiled.
To this day, though, I feel really emotionally connected to The X-Men. That whole thing about being an awkward teenager, not fitting in and your weaknesses really being your strengths… all that really still resonates with me.
And even though it's kind of cliche at the moment, because it's so hot right now, Deadpool's another big influence. Our main character in Trapped doesn't break the fourth wall, specifically, but he never truly acknowledges the gravity of the situation that he's in, and most of the time he’s trying to crack jokes to get out of particular situations.
Much like myself in real life, he uses that as a weapon, that's his main superpower.
What’s next?
I'm not like people who like to finish something and then start immediately working on something else. I have so much respect for them. I haven't actively worked on this in, like, a year. I mean, I finished writing this probably more than two years ago, and so all I want to do is just sit back and wait and just be like, ‘Nah man, I'm f***ing good for a while. Just let me just have some time’.
But really I should be writing the next thing. I do have an idea for another one of these, set in this same universe - another story about this particular character in the poker world. But I kind of want to see how it's received first. If it just does OK, if it's just kind of a lukewarm response, there's no need for me to cram another one down everyone's throat.
The authenticity of a poker story means a lot to me. I'm definitely gonna wait to see what the reception is like before I decide to move forward with doing something like this again.
Ideally, this just gets turned into a movie first, then we can start writing the sequel comic. And then the TV show. I won't be too picky. Well, you know, you can't be these days…
Trapped is fully funded and complete, with orders fulfilled through Kickstarter. It’s available in digital and physical formats, along with a selection of optional perks, including the chance to play a home game with Stapes.
To find out more, and place an order, check out the Kickstarter page.
