3 Questions With… Jamar Nicholas
A couple years ago Leon The Extraordinary burst on to the scene. It’s a graphic novel about an ordinary kid who lives in a world filled with superheroes and supervillains. Leon wants to be a superhero but doesn’t have any special powers. That doesn’t stop him though, he still makes it his mission to right wrongs and stand up to bullies that are way out of his league. He’s basically kid Batman, using brains, guts, and principles instilled by his single mom to make a difference at his school.
The book and creator Jamar Nicholas were an overnight sensation. But like most overnight sensations, Jamar had been working and honing his craft for years. He self published an initial Leon graphic novel that led to a deal with Scholastic. This major publisher put Jamar and Leon The Extraordinary in the spotlight and it’s well deserved. It’s a great read and meaningful without being sanctimonious.
A follow up book Leon Worst Friends Forever came out in October and has Leon grappling with the fallout of his self importance. We could all benefit from a little more fun, adventure, and a bit of self reflection in our lives.
What is it that you want people to take away from your work?
That the themes and characters I tackle in my work have way more nuance than one may think. Being in the traditional publishing space the last few decades has shown me that the expectation that kids’ graphic novels should be good is fairly high. For them to be great is a lot lower and shocking to some. If you spend time with the work, you’ll find a really rich vein of storytelling inside my pages, so spend some time with it.
What is something you do now that you wish you had either figured out or implemented sooner in your career?
It’s always hard to answer questions like these – falling on my face for decades or having happy accidents has brought me to where I am now. I don’t have lots of regrets, but one thing I wish I did earlier is not over-promise. When I was younger I wanted to quickly power through projects I agreed to when I could have used more time. I try not to do that these days, but your excited brain doesn’t always line up with the time it takes to finish things and a month seems like a lot of time, until you’re three weeks in and you’re nowhere near finished!
What is your favorite part/step of the process?
My favorite part of the process of making comics may be the middle-end, when after long periods of writing dialogue, hundreds (!) of pages of thumbnail pages and cleanups, I’m at the stage of tight pencils and finishing the art in ink – i’ve already handled each page several times, and am at the place where I get to shift into a comfortable gear of wrapping up art and adding last minute details that reveal themselves at this later stage of my process. It’s very rewarding, similar to having a few puzzle pieces left before the picture is completed.
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