1. What drew you to comics initially?
I’ve always loved drawing, and I’ve always loved writing. When I was a kid, I would make my own little illustrated books, and draw my own versions of comic strips like Garfield. I came to feel that comics were the best medium to combine both image and text. I’ve also always leaned toward humor in my work, and comics are especially good for that.
2. What inspires you to write and create for younger readers?
After beginning my career with autobiographical comics for adults, it was a natural transition to making books for kids as I became a parent myself. I was reading picture books and then chapter books with my sons, and then had the opportunity to do the middle grade series Jedi Academy. From there I just fell into the groove of making more comics for younger readers. So my own kids have been a big reason for making work for other kids.
3. Please tell us about your recent work for DC, and any other titles you’d like to highlight.
My latest middle grade book is Batman and Robin and Howard, the story of the son of Bruce Wayne, Damian (aka Robin, Batman’s sidekick), and his fellow student Howard, who begins as a rival and becomes a best friend. In my story I also wanted to show a different side of Batman – he’s a superhero, but to Damian he’s also an awkward, embarrassing dad. I’ve enjoyed getting to make middle grade comics with DC and Star Wars, but I’m most proud of my series Lucy & Andy Neanderthal, which combines a goofy fun story about a brother and sister growing up in the stone age with lots of actual science and research on what we know about how people lived 40,000 years ago.
4. Any advice for young creators?
The first advice I always give is to read A LOT. Read everything you can – even if you don’t realize it, you’ll be learning a lot about storytelling. The other thing is to create a lot. Make work without worrying about who will read it, or what they’ll think, or if it’s any good. Like anything, making good comics takes practice, so don’t give up just because someone says something negative, or because something didn’t turn out the way you wanted.
5. What message(s) do you like to explore in your work?
For me, art is all about understanding the world better, and that involves whatever comes to mind. I’ve written comics that are about accepting yourself or finding where you fit in, about parenthood and childhood, about learning what you want to do in life. I also like to always make my comics portray being a good person – or at least, not being a jerk – and always give a sense of hope. However, I never really set out to make comics with a message in mind, I usually start with a feeling, or story, or character, and the message comes from the process of writing the story.
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