At 12 years old, Chad Corrie found writing inspiration after watching the biggest superhero film of 1989: Batman. Since then, he knew he wanted to write graphic novels, comic books and fantasy novels.

Corrie, who is based out of Minnesota, will be traveling to Ames for a book signing at 2 p.m. April 22 at Books-A-Million.

“The Shadow Regent,” which follows the events of Corrie’s “Wizard King” trilogy, was released March 21. This stand-alone fantasy novel started out as a collection of notes for the trilogy, slowly transforming into a short story intended solely for Corrie’s own reference.

“I thought, ‘Why don’t I just make a full-fledged novel and just put it out there?’” Corrie said. “I had a lot of fun doing that because it was exploring a lot of elements that we didn’t get to see [in “Wizard King”].’”

The intention behind “The Shadow Regent” is for new readers to test out the genre before committing to a longer series, like “Wizard King.”

“I wanted to help people get an opportunity to read the book without having to get into a long slog,” Corrie said. “Sometimes in fantasy, they have these big, multi-epic series, and people are kind of turned off to that.”

Corrie will also be promoting his upcoming graphic novel “Sons of Ashgard: Ill Met in Elmgard,” which is expected to come out in both print and digital formats May 9. This story follows an army of Viking Squirrels who fight in a kingdom-wide war after the main character, Erick, attempts to start a new life in Elmgard.

Over the years, Corrie has attended many book signings but never one at Books-A-Million.

“You guys have the unique honor of actually having one in your state,” Corrie said. “We’re kind of too far up north here in Minnesota to get that privilege, but I’ve always wanted to do this.”

Lori Berg, general manager of Books-A-Million, coordinated the event at the store. Berg said Corrie’s books have sold well at the store in the past due to the popularity of their comic book section.

“We do have people that travel from all over the state for our manga and graphic novels,” Berg said.

While the number of attendees is difficult for Berg to predict since it was not ticketed, she estimates around 100 people in attendance.

“We set up an area for the author to sit and greet customers,” Berg said. “Customers line up, [and] if they already purchased some of his books, they can bring those in and have them signed.”

For attendees looking to buy Corrie’s work at the signing, they can pick out which book from the table display and have him sign a new copy.

Corrie will also be signing an inventory of books at the two Barnes & Nobles in West Des Moines for those who want a signed copy but are unable to attend the signing at Books-A-Million.