Megami Jadeheart is a local webcomics cartoonist who is appearing this
weekend at Intervention Con in Gaithersburg. I suspect she’s operating under a
non de plume, but being polite, I didn’t ask. Ms. Jadeheart has been taking a
break from her ongoing strip, Annie a
Space Western, for health reasons but it is planning on returning to it.
She was inking panels when I asked her to do this interview.
ComicsDC: What type of comic work or cartooning do you do?
Megami Jadeheart: I tend to do full page continuing narrative style
comics, in the style of American Graphic Novels and Japanese Manga.
ComicsDC: How do you do it? Traditional pen and ink, computer or a
combination?
MJ: Different comics are worked different ways. Annie
is usually drawn in pencil and inked by hand.
Then scanned and colored or shaded, and lettered digitally, but there
are some pages that were drawn entirely on the computer, and some that were
colored with Copic markers. Annie is my experimental art style
comic.
MJ: I have worked on another
comic called Sword Of Survival, which
is a Zombie apocalypse story that very, very rarely gets touched, that is
worked completely digitally but in the style of charcoal drawings.
ComicsDC: When (within a decade is fine) and where were you born?
MJ: I was born in the 80's in Dayton, Ohio. There was a lot of corn and baseball when I
was growing up. And air shows. The Dayton Air and Space Museum is awesome. XD.
ComicsDC: Why are you in Washington now? What neighborhood or area do you live in?
Mom's work moved the family when I was ten, and after living briefly in
Crofton and Bowie they settled us in Columbia.
I ran away to join the circus in Ithaca NY for a while though.
ComicsDC: What is your training and/or education in cartooning?
MJ: An associate’s degree in Fine Arts obtained at the wonderful
HCC, and most of an Animation Degree
bounced off of it at UMBC.
ComicsDC: Who are your influences?
MJ: Spider-Man and Rumiko Takahashi.
A bit more seriously, my mother ran the art shows at science fiction
conventions when I was a wee young thing, and was something of an artist
herself. She and her father always
encouraged me in my art as a child, and after I lost my way in the confusion of
middle school, my high school art teacher, Mrs. Coulson, reminded me that art
was my love and passion, and encouraged me to push past the limits of a
cartoony style and draw the real world.
She gave me a gentle push towards her art teacher, Jim Adkins, who
teaches at HCC, and is one of the best artists, best teachers, and best people
I have ever met. He is right up there
next to Stan Lee and Takahashi-San in my book.
Also, Phil Foglio and Wendi Pini.
Dear goodness, I probably misspelled all of those names. This is why I draw and make people proofread
my scripts.
ComicsDC: If you could, what in your career would you do-over or
change?
MJ: I would have started earlier!
I also would have tried taking school down to part time when my health
went bad, and tried finishing my animation degree. I still love animating, and wish I got to do
a little more of it. Maybe if I get the
chance, I'll animate part of Annie.
ComicsDC: What work are you best-known for?
MJ: Probably Annie, and a
partially finished protect on DeviantArt where I set of to write a novelization
of a video game. That went over pretty
well.
ComicsDC: What work are you most proud of?
MJ: Annie! She is my baby, and
my pride and joy.
ComicsDC: What would you like to do or work on in the future?
MJ: Dear goodness, there are so many other ideas. Finish Annie,
of course. I want to work more on S.O.S.
There's a comedy series outlined called "The Adventures of Captain
Michiko and the Starship Innuendo".
There's this theme in my work, I guess, women and space. There's also a comic called I have a hundred
or so pages thumbnailed for, inspired by a friend's novels. But that one will wait to be released in tandem
with the novel it's set during.
ComicsDC: What do you do when you're in a rut or have writer's block?
MJ: Spin my wheels in frustration.
For a while anyway. Often,
talking to my best friend will help me bring the idea bubbling back up. And if I'm simply burnt out from doing, say,
nothing but Annie for three to seven weeks, sometimes I just need to give my brain
a vacation and go to one of the other worlds and work on S.O.S. or the novel
one. Or I play a video game, or I role
play, or I sew something. Sometimes your
brain needs a break XD not to mention your hands.
ComicsDC: What do you think will
be the future of your field?
MJ: That's a tricky one. Web
comics are certainly big and very very accessible now. I love print media, but web is so accessible,
and there's no submission criteria. You
just do it and put it out there and people find you. There are also people like Hussie of MS Paint
who combine flash animation with comics and games, and I've seen both Marvel
and Square-Enix play with adding games and interactivity to comics in
app-comics for the iPad. But in my personal
experience and opinion, it doesn't always Add to the comic reading experience,
to the story consuming and mood conveying, to have random mini games for the
hell of it. If multimedia is going to
keep getting woven into comics, it needs to be done skillfully and very very
intentionally.
ComicsDC: What local cons do you attend ? The Small Press Expo,
Intervention, or others? Any comments about attending them?
MJ: Oh, I go to a lot of local cons.
Mostly Anime cons. Intervention
of course, Katsucon and Otakon. Anime
USA, CHS Otakufest and Tigercon. Anime Midatlantic, Nekocon. I'll be going to Magfest for the first time
this year, and will be looking into T-Mode and Zenkaikon, too. I'm even looking
at Anime Boston.
ComicsDC: What's your favorite thing about DC?
MJ: The Smithsonian
ComicsDC: Least favorite?
MJ: How hard it is to drive through, and how awkward it can be to Metro
around if you live outside Metro reach.
ComicsDC: What monument or museum do like to take visitors to?
MJ: Smithsonian!
ComicsDC: How about a favorite local restaurant?
MJ: My favorite local restaurant is, of course, up Columbia way. There is a little family run sushi restaurant
called Hanamura. Best unagidon ever.
ComicsDC: Do you have a website or blog?
MJ: http://ww.emeraldixia.com .
Also http://megamijadeheart.deviantart.com
. But I am a notorious net hermit. Shy
until you get me talking.
Raina Telgemeier will finally be here on Saturday for two signings, at our Vienna and College Park stores! Raina is the creator of Smile and her new book Drama, both with middle school/early high school protagonists but enjoyable by all! She also adapted 4 of the Babysitters Club books into graphic novels, and has done X-Men comics and more. Her Smile graphic novel just hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list for graphic novels!!! Her new story, Drama, is all about a young girl named Callie and her time with the drama club at her school, as they put on a new play, and she has to deal with new friends, old crushes, school stress, and more! It's really sweet and fun, you can listen to our review of it on our 
Raina Telgemeier, creator of the New York Times bestseller Smile, will be appearing at both our Vienna and College Park stores on Saturday, September 22, for her brand new book Drama!
