X____Jamar Nicholas__

Award-winning cartoonist/graphic novelist. Educator. The Kevin Bacon of comics. Proud #BlackBerry user.

[jamarnicholas]

Missing Tokyo right now . . . Doing something else this year! #goals #japan #otaku #jrline #cartoonists

[jamarnicholas]

Good ol' @toonhound done did good. Got this fat kickstarter package today. Looks great. #dnd #cartoonistlife #tabletitans

[jamarnicholas]

Jamar and @jamal_igle_artist kool-aiding at black comic festival 2016! #BlackHorsemen #bcbfnyc #cartoonistlife #blackpeopledraw

[jamarnicholas]

DRAW! #31 is hitting the streets next week! Great interviews with JG JONES, KOI PHAM and columns by MIKE MANLEY, BRET BLEVINS, JERRY ORDWAY and yours truly, Crusty Critic Jamar Nicholas! #draw #cartooning #creative

[jamarnicholas]

Fortune I got from the Asakusa shrine in Tokyo and keep on my person. If you get a bad fortune, tie it to the rack and leave it behind. NO. 10 BEST FORTUNE #keepsakes #motivation #positivity #japan #tokyo

[jamarnicholas]

The stamp of quality. #putastamponit #Yo #stamplife

[jamarnicholas]

Got to see-slash-hear Malcolm @Gladwell in person @ UPenn this week. Can't wait to dip into his new book. #deepthoughts #MalcolmGladwell #PHL

[jamarnicholas]

HUGE Detective Boogaloo: Hip Hop Cop news coming. DON’T TAKE HIP HOP FROM STRANGERS! #hiphop #dontstop #boogaloo #surprise

[jamarnicholas]

ICE TRE' IS COMING. DON'T TAKE HIP HOP FROM STRANGERS! #DTHHFS #boogaloo #detectiveboogaloo #hiphop #dontstop #NYC #PHILLY #BOSTON #surprise

[jamarnicholas]

Moon Patrol: A social experiment?

Book cover.When Devin Hughes approached me about creating a children's book featuring a lead character of color, I jumped at the chance. I've often been frustrated by the lack of diversity in children's books, comics and movies. All the leads are white men. The coolest characters are white men. It's embarrassing and boring.Of course, I'm generalizing to a degree, but the vast majority of characters of color, when not villains or low level thugs, fall into these catagories: The "sidekick" (comic relief, or "buddy"): "I'm here to make the white guy look cool." The "black version of a white character": "I'm not Spider-Man. I'm the BLACk Spider-man." Or the excessively overt "blackness". A character that doesn't exist outside or without their racial identity: "I'm black." "Did I mention I was BLACK?" Individually, there's nothing wrong with any of these. Black Panther is cool. Miles is cool. ("Cage" is mildly offensive, but to be fair, there are dudes like that.) But as the only options, or overwhelming majority of content, it's degrading and marginalizing of a whole culture.I'd always wondered why more characters aren't "incidentally" people of color. Would some people not watch the new Batman if they had cast Denzel instead of Ben? Minorities put their money down for white heroes all the time. They buy the t-shirts, give their kids the toys. Would white people refuse to get behind a character if they were a minority? Could you create a cool character and have their race be an afterthought or completely irrelevant? These are the kinds of questions I'm addressing with "Moon Patrol."Aside from this blog, I'm not addressing the lead character's, race. He's a cool character who happens to be black. He is NOT a black character. He's on a higher plane. My hope is that people respond to Axis because he is cool. He looks cool. He does cool stuff. He has a talking guitar named "Saturday" and a shape shifting immortal sidekick named "Dream." He wears purple goggles and has a fin on his head. While I did draw inspiration from Jimi Hendrix, it was not because of a shared ethnicity, but because Hendrix also existed on a higher plane. He transcended all labels and paradigms, and spoke to a better world. The same world that Devin speaks to. The type of world that this book or series hopes to help cultivate.If you'd like to be a part of this world also, join us: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/kid-s-book-the-power-of-diversity-inclusion#home

[superheroesincolor]

Toni Morrison on Black Artists (1975‎‎)

"Racism was always a con game that sucked all the strength of the victim. It’s the red flag that is danced before the head of a bull. It’s purpose is only to distract. To keep the bull’s mind away from his power and his energy. Keep it focused on anything but his own business. It’s hoped for consequence is to define black people as reaction to white presence…

It’s important to know who the real enemy is and to know the very serious function of racism, which is distraction. It keeps you from doing YOUR WORK. It keeps you explaining over and over your reason for being.

It may very well be left to artists to grapple with th‎is fact (the distraction). For art focuses on the single grain of rice, the tree-shaped scar and the names of people shipped not only the number. And to the artist one can only say: not to be confused. You don’t waste your energy fighting the fever. You must only fight the disease. And the disease is not racism. It is greed and the struggle for power.

And I urge you to be careful for there is a deadly prison. A prison that is erected when one spends one’s life fighting phantoms, concentrating on myths and explaining over and over to the conqueror your language, your lifestyle, your history, your habits. And you don’t have to do it anymore. You can go ahead and talk straight to me.”

On May 30, 1975, the author and intellectual Toni Morrison visited Portland State University and gave a speech, followed by a Q+A with a panel of academics.

[chrispalmerart-deactivated20201]

It’s going to be a while until I post anything new on this tumblr. So I decided to repost some of my favorites from my defunct blog from a few years ago.

Some comic-related oldies.

[frankenlincoln]

my god

[superheroesincolor]

Dr. Zetta Elliott on Diversity in Children’s Books (via elliottzetta)

[softmouseboy]

hey yall, i’m looking to take a handful of slots for commissions like above! simple full body, either one character for 20$ or two for 30$.

if yr interested please email me at [email protected] w character refs ✨

if you cant purchase one consider rebloggin this post to help me out!

[jamarnicholas]

Look out for my BooBoo

[jamarnicholas]

The secret life of cartoonists. I'd have it no other way. #tezuka #heavenhell #GodofManga #Cartoonists #ThatLife 

[superheroesincolor]

Leon: Protector of the Playground (2015) 

"An all-ages comic featuring a hip kid hero following in the footsteps of his superhero mother. Leon dons cape and goggles to save the denizens of Robert Guillaume Elementary from life’s daily conundrums using the power of common sense."

By author and cartoonist, Jamar Nicholas

Author facebook / twitter

[leseanthomas-deactivated2021030]

" Another video game tribute. My take on Simon Belmont, from one of my all-time favorite game series: Castlevania." - Joe Madureira.

This is why I love Joe Madureira and why he is one of the greatest, American comic book influences to legions of artists in the last 20 years. My bromance for this dude’s work, energy and enthusiasm is real, lol.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Joe-Madureira/157043750975722