Jamal Igle is a man of many talents, from writing and penciling. He’s known for his work on DC’s Supergirl and other assorted properties of that publisher. He also ran a successful kickstarter for his creator owned book, Molly Danger. Currently he is the artist for BLACK, published by Black Mask Studios.

1. I’ll start with the biggest comics event lately, namely that Chaykin cover. Are you surprised that in this day and age a cover like that could be produced, much less marketed? Furthermore, as a black man, what does something like this tell you about the industry in which you work?

No, I’m not surprised and frankly I’ve seen a hell of a lot worse than Howard’s cover. I think people forget that despite it’s size and prominence, Image’s books are all independent creator owned books. Anyone familiar with Howard’s work, from American Flagg to Black Kiss to Satellite Sam knows that he’s all about pushing boundaries, particularly sexually related.



There’s a place for it.



It’s not my job to dictate to him, or any other creator what they should or should not do with their work. It may not be my taste, it may even offend me, but I have the choice to not read it or support it.

I think it’s the mark of a healthy industry when we not attempt to censor content.







2. The cover for BLACK issue two has a similar cover, but comes from a different place. Your creative team is PoC while Chaykin is a white man, which gives him massive amounts of privilege in the industry, in society. So with that in mind, do you think he’s allowed to use that type of imagery? Or are depictions of atrocities committed against a marginalized people are only to be reproduced/represented by said people?





I don’t think that should make a difference, frankly. I also write and draw a series about a 10 year old white girl. I’ve worked on multiple projects with characters of different races and religions that don’t always reflect my world view. Again, it’s not my place to tell people what they should or shouldn’t do. Howard is a white Jewish man of a certain age, who, as lefty liberal as I am, makes me look like George Will in comparison. No one has read the issue yet, not one has read the context of the series since I think one issue is out. That said, I wanted state implicitly that people have the right to be disturbed. It’s a horrific visual, and while it’s similar in tone to the cover to Black #2, the execution (pardon the pun) is different. There’s a different historical context and how it is reflected in the content of the issue. We were not without our critics about doing the covers or the story we told.







3. When I read through BLACK, I often felt that this book could only have been made in this moment of time. From the increased rate or police brutality (though it was always there, just not as reported) to the general populations consumption of media featuring super powered individuals. Would you agree that BLACK is perhaps an artifact of this moment in American history or does it often a new voice in the on-going conversation of race relations that is occurring, made even made more important with the current POTUS?





I don’t know if I necessarily agree with that, Since Kwanza (Osafajyeo) and Tim (Smith III) came up with the story of black a decade ago. We’ve never been in a period where black people in all nations have never been marginalized, brutalized or murdered unduly. The only difference is we all carry a small recording device in our pockets that we can film and share almost instantaneously. This isn’t a microcosm or a new phenomenon, it didn’t begin when the current POTUS took office, it was always there. The previous President, Barack Obama, was constantly accused stirring up racial strife, which wasn’t even remotely true. They just gave themselves permission to crawl out of the shadows.

I recently reread an old issue of Captain America and the Falcon #194, Where they were they were talking about the exact same racial issues we discuss in BLACK and that was in 1976. What we’re doing is less an artifact and part of an ongoing narrative.





4. When incendiary incidents occur in the industry, the outcry is usually sudden and fierce. Especially with this more recent Chaykin cover controversy. I’m on the side that thinks both creators and fans should protest against the work because of who produced it. On the other hand, I can understand the notion of creator’s rights to produce any kind of work. What I’d like to know is where do you fall in the argument? And following that, do you think the burden rests with the new generation of creators, the ones actively shaping the landscape?





I can’t get on a high horse and say “ X isn’t allowed to tell this story because X is a different race/religion.) Who the hell am I to do that? How much of a hypocrite would I have to be to make that my stance as a creator. That’s like telling me I can only do stories about straight, black people and I refuse to be pigeonholed that way. I sure as hell am not going to tell someone else that. In all things, Context is important. I’m old school, I’ve been in the industry since before the formation of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.I defended Mike Diana when he was brought up on obscenity charges, even though I hated the work he was doing. I supported Charlie Hebdo after the senseless murders at the hands of religious extremists, so the idea of censoring content be others me.

We’re in a period where everyone wants a voice and be seen equally. I understand how frustrating that can be for some to feel like they’re continually marginalized for things they cannot control. However, i feel like we’ve veered into outrage culture, where no matter where you turn, someone is pissed off about something. I said before people have a right to their feelings and opinions, and if something upsets you, speak out about it. Boycott it if you feel that strongly about it, but i’m anti censorship unless it’s exceedingly harmful or proven to be dangerous. That said, people have the right to create things that don’t fit the norm. Things that make us uncomfortable, uneasy or angry, because it’s not always about you. As a fan, not everything is for me, or made for me. I accept it and I move on.





5. Moving away from BLACK, I’d like to talk about your process. This is something I ask of every artist because I find it quite fascinating. How do you prepare for a book? Once you get the script, is it straight to breakdowns or do you sketch out characters beforehand? In shorter terms, how is it you do what you do?



I usually begin by reading the script several times before I jump into the breakdowns. Once I’ve broken down the issue and they’ve been approved, I gather the necessary reference, designs etc. I then move on to the layout stage. My layouts are small 3.5 X 5 inches, but it allows me to work out off of the perspective, etc. From there I import the pages into a PDF print file i created and print them out to be lightboxed for penciling. In terms of the characters , if i have more time I’ll do sketched to become comfortable with them, but i’ve found it’s better to find your way with a character as you’re drawing them.





6. Speaking of the industry, I’ve seen the numbers and successes of using Kickstarter. More and more I see creators using that as a launching platform to get their work out, without having to deal with the constraints of the big three while allowing from a broader form of expression. Do you see this as the natural evolution in the production of comics ? Or are successful Kickstarters just outliers?

I think they’re more outliers. Producing a book is extremely hard, even for season professionals and while kickstarter tends to level playing field, I’ve backed a lot of campaigns that have never been completed. Even for myself, there have been a lot of delays with the second Molly Danger volume. It’s unfortunately the nature of the beast.





7. There are many issues and challenges within the comics industry, especially within the mainstream. If there was one thing you could identify and change, what would it be and why?



Outreach is my biggest problem. We need to expand the market and no one has seemed to figure out how.



8. Finally, what media are you consuming that’s been setting your head ablaze?

Mostly political shows like The Bob Cesca Show and Stephanie Miller. As far as pop culture, I just watched GLOW on Netflix, which was really good and I’m just getting into Fred Van Lente’s new novel “Ten Dead Comedians.”

