Big Things: Jamar Nicholas

And lo, it is said that whenever two or more indie cartoonists are gathered, so shall you find The Grand Poobah getting down and shouting,
11 August 2003

Jamar Nicholas (aka The Grand Poobah) bills himself as "Philadelphia's Favourite Son". A prolific veteran of the indie scene and a founding member of the non-organisation The Indie Cred All-Stars, Nicholas is best known for his Movie Poop Shoot strip DETECTIVE BOOGALOO: HIP-HOP COP, and past favourites THE JAMAR CHRONICLES and ASTEROID GIRL.

BIG NEWS:

Main thing on my plate right now is DETECTIVE BOOGALOO, but I recently finished up art chores on an issue of RADISKULL & DEVIL DOLL for Image Comics. Also, look for some of my other properties in some hot anthologies coming down the pike this summer, and maybe some more Image work.

BIG BUSINESS:

I think my main reason for getting into comics, was to make people laugh. Hopefully not at my work, but with it. I have a bunch of properties in my head, and tons of ideas waiting to get out, standing in a queue line. You can only do so many things at once, so they all have to wait their turn.

BIG TROUBLE:

I think the biggest challenge that most cartoonists face are the same two things: Time and Money. Time, because there's never enough to make your comics, and money, because there's never enough to make your comics.

BIG SPENDER:

I finance my comics by selling tracksuits and mix tapes outta the trunk of my car.

Seriously though. At this point, my full-time freelance career pays for any product I'm putting out these days. I also teach comic creation and self-publishing to adult students, so that helps.

BIG AMBITION:

If money and time and the moon's alignment weren't factors, I'd love to create animated versions of my properties. I think most of my art screams 'animation', and that's what I went to college for, so it lends itself to being a perfect marriage for me. I have a half-finished ASTEROID GIRL short sitting in my studio. One of these days I'll finish it.

BIG UP:

I keep on the lookout for anything new by Kris Dresen, Mike Norton, Mike Hawthorne, Paul Grist, John Kerschbaum and Evan Dorkin. I buy that stuff on sight, No questions asked.

BIG TIME:

I have some unfinished business with THE JAMAR CHRONICLES, but as of right now, it's Boogaloo-time. It is my intent to push DETECTIVE BOOGALOO on everybody I can find. Seems like the pop culture machine has chewed up and spat out the '70s, and now it's stomping through the '80s. Nobody has really chronicled the 1980s Hip-Hop culture Golden Age in comic-form, so I have taken it under my wing. I'm looking to reproduce the Movie Poop Shoot color strips and also am in the process of throwing around pitches to publishers for a graphic novel.

BIG FINISH:

I want to be remembered as the true Grand Poobah of comics, who brought the indie and mainstream worlds together in unity, to drink Coca-Cola on a mountaintop and have a huge pig-roast. None for me though, because I try not to mess with pork. But you guys can eat it.

BIG DEAL:

For your weekly Boogaloo fix, go to Movie Poop Shoot, and for all of my other properties and news, check out my self-publishing site, Sweatshop Press. Coming real soon, my new "hire me!" site, www.jamarnicholas.com. I'm all over the place!

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