Video: Jamar Nicholas @ NY Comic Con 2011

Video by my new pal Palle Schmidt, all the way from Denmark! Go check out his site and his great new IDW Graphic Novel, Devil's Concubine.

See Jamar ON THE WALL September 2

On the Wall

September 2 – October 16

On the Wall: Works by Anita Allyn, Marta Sanchez, Christian Herr, Jamar Nicholas, Mauro Zamora, and Nami Yamamoto
Guest exhibit curator: Robert Raczka
Art-in-Progress day: Friday, Sept 2 | 11am – 7pm.
First Friday receptions: Sept 2 and Oct 7 | 5pm – 7pm
On the Wall is a non-traditional exhibit for which 6 artists are being invited to make artwork directly on the walls of the gallery. The exhibit is designed to include aspects of spontaneity, artistic risk-taking, artist/audience interaction, and ephemerality. The artwork will include painting, drawing, collage, and mixed media. During the Art-in-Progress day and First Friday reception in September, the gallery will be open to the public allowing people to observe the artists at work towards final completion.

Check out the site! 

VIP at ECBACC

Indie Cred All-Star Redux

I have been asked to be in a group show with several of the creme de la creme of indy comics at the Arlington Arts Center in Virginia. The show will be on view until next year, so you have no excuse. Click the link to see my name with several others.

I can't wait!

PARTY CRASHERS

Comic Book Culture Invades the Art World

NOV 19, 2010 - JAN 16, 2011
Opening reception: Friday, November 19, 7 – 9 pm  Members only preview 6 - 7 pm
For a press release, click here.

PARTY CRASHERS mashes up comic art and contemporary gallery culture, and features artists who pass back and forth between the two worlds. This massive two venue show results from a crosstown collaboration between AAC Director of Exhibitions Jeffry Cudlin and Artisphere Gallery Director Cynthia Connolly. The show’s two independent halves feature different types of work: Connolly’s show presents fine artists who mimic the appearance of comic art; Cudlin’s show at AAC contains: alternative comic artists who also show their original pages and drawings in art galleries; fine and comic artists working side-by-side on a national curated project (Creative Time Comics); and fine and comic artists creating avante-garde, purely abstract sequential art without words or recognizable imagery.

JAMAR IS BACK! FSKG News and More

FIST STICK KNIFE GUN: Pre-Order it now on Amazon.com

Been away for some time and I'm slowly making my way back onto the information superhighway - I'm taking my time to merge, and checking the GPS frequently so I don't get lost this time.

My publisher, Beacon Press has released the cover for my book! It's already listed on Amazon, as well as some other places. Pre-Order a copy now! The book hits the streets in October, but I have to bang pots in the street now. No time like the present.

Check in frequently, as I update you to the progress my book is taking, and also events I'll be at. Since I've posted last, I've created a Facebook Page, since it seems that most of civilization is hanging around there - you can follow me on that thing, and I'm going to try and keep the content different from here. I honestly don't want MORE places to have to try and keep track of - that's a huge part of the reason I took the internet vacation in the first place, but I have this new book to promote, so I don't mind as much right now.

I will be appearing on the First Person Arts' WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT panel on March 9, 2010. Tickets are on sale so go see me live and on stage! I will be talking about the process of adapting a memoir into a sequential narrative format and will be using big words.

I've also had a handful of interviews in the past week, so I'll update you to those as I see them.

It's good to see you again!

Come see Jamar on stage!

Why Am I Not Famous?!?
Come see Philadelphia’s only live comedy talk show, hosted by 2008 Philly’s Phunniest winner Kent Haines. This month, Onion writer Mike Drucker and comic book creator Jamar Nicholas join Kent for an evening of hilarity and mirth. BYOB!

Why Am I Not Famous?!?
8pm, Wednesday, March 25th
The Shubin Theatre – 407 Bainbridge Street
Tickets $5 – BYOB!

HVD!

T.O.N.Y.: Tapped Out on New York?

Look for my interview with my new pal Bryan Lee O'Malley in the next issue of DRAW!
You can't miss it - it's on the cover!

Hey you motor scooters!

So I have on my itinerary, a trip to the lush metropolis of NYC this weekend for the New York Comic Con, but it may not come to pass. If I do, it'll be on some secret-squirrel in/out type episode - where I exit a cab at the Javitz in slo-motion, my scarf flipping out behind me all Michael Bay style. There might even be doves. I can settle for white pigeons in a pinch.

In any rate, If you're there and you see me, then you saw me. Comic cons for me, besides work and pressing the flesh with the fans, are micro family reunions, where I see old friends for maybe the only time in a year. It's tough to not go.

One thing that's gonna be there is Bryan Lee O'Malley and his 5th Scott Pilgrim book, which I'd like to scoop up, as I love what he's doing right now in his career. I had the chance to interview him a while back for DRAW! magazine, which you may know by now, I put my thing down in from time to time. Mal was real cool and I can't wait for the issue to come out, which I think will be sometime this month. I'll let you know when it drops, but if you're at the con, go check out my pals at the Twomorrows booth, who publishes the magazine and have wonderful people working for them that love the medium of comics.

Are you following me on twitter? You need to be. That'll be the quickest way to see my moves these days - like if I'm on my way to NYC!

Jamar E. Nicholas: HANDSOME GENIUS!

Hey yo!

Yours truly was a recent guest on my good friend Anthony Kingdom James' ill pod/blogcast called THE HANDSOME GENIUS CLUB. I am now a Handsome Genius, so you have to live with it. Please visit his site, and listen to Kingdom and I rant about the Eagles/Steelers meeting in the superbowl (NOT GONNA HAPPEN NOW - THANKS IGGLES!), the best cheesesteak in Philly, and my cartooning career so far. Also a great spoiler that I haven't put on the blog yet, so if you pay attention, you'll hear what it is.

Kingdom's interviews are filled with geekitry like comics, sports, videogames, professional wrestling and some light cussing, so be warned that I may drop a bomb or two.

So go listen to this week's podcast and tel me what you thought.

LEON: Enter: Chalmers

In this strip, I introduce CHALMERS, A kid in Leon's grade who is the archetypical 'rich kid'. Well that's a stretch - he's more the Ralph Kramden template - the kid who's always scheming on how to make a buck. Here we see some of Chalmer's design chops.

I took this act on the road and brought a buncha Leon strips to a local school and the kids ate it up. I did a lotta Chalmers sketches. They liked the kid who loves money. How interesting is that?

Anyway, you're gonna have to click on that image - it's crazy small right now.

UPDATE: I realized that I put a newer strip first. It's cool to see how I'm getting used to drawing Leon and he looks a bit better in the strip below. Also Chalmers is the first classmate to make two appearances in the strip so far.


APPEARANCE ALERT!
I'll be appearing at the Baltimore Comic Con at the end of the month. Mark your calendars!

The Black Billy Crystal?

We're jussumen that rock the mic!

So I'm back on board to host the GLYPH awards this year in Philly, coming up in May. Check out the PR posted last week for it - it's big news!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JAMAR NICHOLAS RETURNS AS HOST OF THE GLYPH COMICS AWARDS

The Glyph Comics Awards Committee is proud to announce that Jamar Nicholas will return to host this year's awards ceremony at the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (ECBACC) in Philadelphia. Nicholas, a Philly native, is best known for his hip hop comic strip Detective Boogaloo, as well as his autobiographical series The Jamar Chronicles. In 2007 he hosted the Awards for the first time, delighting the audience with his unique brand of humor while serving as emcee of the evening's entertainment, which also included performances by spoken word/rap artists Grayson Board, Randy Moore, and Brother G.

"I'm very excited about having the opportunity to host the 2008 Glyph awards, and am honored to be asked," says Nicholas. "I had a great time hosting last year's awards, and to have it take place in such a historic institution as the African American Museum makes it even greater."

"We really couldn't ask for a better host," says Committee Chair Rich Watson. "Jamar's local, he's a cartoonist himself, and he's funnier than anybody hosting this thing has a right to be, so we hope to have him as our go-to guy for a long, long time."

The Awards ceremony will be held Friday, May 16 at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, the night before ECBACC, which will be held the next day, Saturday, May 17, at Temple University's Anderson Hall.

The Committee also wishes to remind everyone that the poll for the Fan Award remains open until March 31. Everyone is encouraged to head over to the ECBACC website (http://ecbacc.com/wordpress/?page_id=76) and vote for your favorite black comic from 2007.

About the Glyph Comics Awards:

The Glyph Comics Awards recognize the best in comics made by, for, and about people of color from the preceding calendar year. While it is not exclusive to black creators, it does strive to honor those who have made the greatest contributions to the comics medium in terms of both critical and commercial impact. By doing so, the goal is to encourage more diverse and high quality work across the board and to inspire new creators to add their voices to the field.

The awards are named for the blog Glyphs: The Language of the Black Comics Community at Pop Culture Shock (http://glyphs.popcultureshock.com), started in 2005 by comics journalist Rich Watson as a means to provide news and commentary of comics with black themes, as well as tangential topics in the fields of black science-fiction/fantasy and animation.

About ECBACC:

The East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (ECBACC), in association with the Temple University Pan-African Studies Community Education Program, is an annual gathering of comic book creators and retailers who create and sell material that caters to black readers of all ages. In addition to selling their work, they also take part in panel discussions and self-publishing workshops for aspiring creators. The convention is held on the Temple University campus in Philadelphia each May. ECBACC is an outgrowth of the original Black Age of Comics Convention in Chicago, founded by Turtel Onli.

For more information about ECBACC, contact event coordinator Maurice Waters at maurice.waters@ecbacc.com, or visit the official website (www.ecbacc.com).

That's What's Up!

2008 - The Year of the Poobah

What's good party rockers!

As referenced by many of my blogging pals, 2008 seems to be a turning point for a lot of creatives that I know, and I'm bunching myself in there as well. Not dealing with the resolution route - 2008 is taking off to be a 'make or break' year for a lot of people, and with that, I'm planning on steamrolling thru this sucker with some bull power.

First up is some structure. I'm fixin' to begin a posting schedule here on the blog, where on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays expect a post from me on the Big Beautiful Wonder Woman Blog, and then on Tuesdays, Thursdays and mayhaps the Weekend, check for new posts here. I'm sure you're all RSS-ed Up here, so you don't have to miss a thing.

I have a million things I need to get out of my head this year, so let's start with one simple one - more updates.

Also, pay attention to the Appearances sidebar, as I'm going to try to stay on top of that this year. I have a signing for Tokyopop next weekend here at the American Library Association 2008 Midwinter Meeting: , but I don't think they let you in unless you're a librarian. Who knew? As one would think, I'll be at the Tokyopop booth signing copies of THE GROSSE ADVENTURES for a few hours. I'm all atitter!

One other thing you should be on the lookout for is another one of my properties, LEON: PROTECTOR OF THE PLAYGROUND is a new comic strip that you can see every month in the Delaware County Magazine!

LEON is the story of a super-hero sidekick in elementary school. It's a lotta fun, and it's all-ages, and I think people of all ages will dig it. You can see the first comic story of LEON in the pages of EVEN MORE FUND COMICS anthology, from a few years back. Dig it up and you'll see me working out the kinks. I'm really proud of Leon!

Along with my great pal Scott Neely, (GLO, Mr. Bundles!) and Mike Manley, we will be bringing you a full page of full-color comic strippy goodness every month in the pages of this super mag!

If you live and love in the Philly/Delaware/Tri-State Area, you can cop this anywhere. There is also an awesome interview with me in the latest issue, as we debut our new strips (Scott debuted ALFIE a few issues ago, but now were all in it to win it)!

I guess this counts as a weekend post, huh? Sounds good to me.

Be Easy!

HEY KIDS! COMICS!

Come see me on Saturday, December 1st at Captain Blue Hen Comics in Newark DE. I'll be signing and doing sketches for the kids and I'll even have something special in tow!

I'll be there with my mansnthem, Scott Neely, kicking up dust!

Be Easy.

The return of the JDOT 5-SPOT!

Hey. Here's 5 easy-to-digest bits from the laboratory of Jamar to take you into the weekend. We're over here at Team Poobah trying to get it going for you - so when you see me in your area, you are sated and full. Full of comic-y nougat. (I've been reading too much Penny Arcade blog entries lately.)

Anyway, here's some news for your side of the world.


ONE.
Next weekend, travel on down to the BALTIMORE COMIC-CON where I'll be set up, shakin' the babies and kissin' the hands. This is a sentimental show for me, as we're gonna go all-out, and have a great show and remember our pal Ringo. He was going to be going to this show. He didn't go to many cons, but Heroes and Baltimore. He'll still be there, but on another energy frequency, and right here (taps heart).

Just for that, I'm going NUTS for this show, and going back to old Jamar-Mode! I will have with me, me hopes, a Tokyopop GrossePack, which will include all three of the GROSSE ADVENTURES books that I did with Tokyopop, (With art on the first one by my mans'en'em, Mike Norton). You can also order the books on Amazon.com if you can't make it down, but look for a hot sketch-tie-in if you buy all three from me. I may even throw in some scratch-n-sniffs! I'm nice like that.

While I'm here, here's the cover of the third book again, with proper dress and editor cleanining:*
Also look for a Baltimore-Special edition of my first sketchbook, E POOBAH UNUM: IN JAMAR WE TRUST. We're still getting that together over here, but don't sleep - They may go fast!

*I have a small stash of the DETECTIVE BOOGALOO ILL CRIMES UNIT CASEFILES left, that I'm gonna bring through. This is gonna be it until the comic book comes out (!) which I'll talk about in more detail at a later date.

*I will have original art that I want to unload, mainly an almost complete pagecount of my first 'mainstream' gig, RADISKULL & DEVILL DOLL HATES LOVE! comic, done with Devils Due/Image. Come cop this stuff!

*I should also have a batch of 'WILL DRAW FOR LOVE' The second Philadelphia Cartoonist Society jambook that I have some sketch material in.

*OH! Also on the table, we'll have copies of UVC MAGAZINE: The Urban Voice of Comics. I'm doing color-re-ups of the Boogaloo strips in the mag every issue! I think we're up to the 4th strip so far. (That reminds me, I have to turn work in to the editor!)

*ALSO! (again) The latest issue of DRAW! magazine came out, where I interviewed one of my idols, Steve Purcell of Sam&Max fame. We'll have copies of that to cop, so come talk to me about it or make me feel good and let me sign your copy. I'll be set up next to my road-dog Mike Manley, so you KNOW he'll have his Draw!s on hand. [||]

* We are going to be in the KIDS LOVE COMICS! Pavillion, so bring your seeds over and be treated to kid-friendly comics and I promise not to swear in front of your kids.

TWO: I have a Twitter account. See my drops at the top of the blog here, and on my myspace page. Come Follow Me!

THREE: What I'm reading: Freakanomics. What I'm playing: PuzzleQuest on the DS.

FOUR: What I'm waiting on: Graduation, Kanye West.

FIVE: Where I'm at next: SPX in October. But that's another post entirely.

This Weekend: NY COMIC CON!

This weekend (Saturday and Sunday) look for me (All 4 of you) at the New York Comic Con! I'll be floating around bothering my comic pals, posing for photo ops, shaking babies and kissing hands.

Also you can find me at the TOKYOPOP booth on Sunday signing, sketching and that whole deal promoting THE GROSSE ADVENTURES.

Come give your man Dap!

SNOW DAY SNOW DAY!

Hey ya'll. Happy Valentine's Day and all that. Remember - if your S/O is one of those types that for some reason NEEDS this day to be about them, don't screw it up - that's Not a Good Look.

Following that vein - here's my latest stab at bag art - just for the occasion! Just imagine I'm giving this to you, full of candy and stuff. Make the appropriate gutteral sounds that work for you.

Much love to my man Bill Morton on this one - I think I channeled the power of MORTCO.

And I would be remiss if I didn't post one of my favorite wintry illustrations on a day like today. Reminds me about the childhood dangers of the 'hood in winter. Ain't nobody smiling!


Take it easy. One more week to Comic-Con in Noo Yawk, baby!

Get Grosse!

Yo.

So here's the little book I've been working on - THE GROSSE ADVENTURES VOL 2: Stinky and Stan Blast Off! for Tokyopop.

Tokyopop has a 'young readers' line of chapter books - well, I think it may just be this book and AGENT BOO. Anyway, if you have kids in 3rd-4th grade, get them this.

The first book was illustrated by my main man of height and importance, Mike Norton, and I'm rolling in with 2 and (on my desk now) #3. Props due to Mike, who always looks out like a Eagle Scout on his Paper Route.

Oh yeah - the main hook of the books is about farting. Lots of it.

Go cop it at your local bookstore or amazon. Good luck finding this at your comics shop.

APPEARANCE NOTE: I'll be freezing my nahmean's off at NYC Comic Con at the end of the month promoting the book, so you should be able to see me at the TPop booth getting ignored as soon as people realize I'm not the MBQ Guy*.

* Respect to my man Felipe. Go Buy MBQ! It's dope!