Interview with Molly Danger Creator Jamal Igle

Interview with Molly Danger Creator Jamal Igle

If you follow any of the Kickstarter comics that are going on, then you may have heard of Jamal Igle’s Molly Danger. The comic is about a girl with super powers who protects a town and learns that her whole life may be a lie. Jamal Igle is well known for work on comics such as Supergirl and G.I. Joe. He was nice enough to interview with Comic Attack, and we have it for you here.
Comic Attack: You draw, ink, and write comics; is there one of those three you like most?
Jamal Igle: I don’t know if that’s really a fair question because I see them all as extensions of one another. I guess in the end I like the mechanics of penciling  comics because that’s half the the work trying to fit everything in the script onto the finished page. however I do have to say, that there’s a freedom to writing that I really enjoy.

 

CA: What I’ve seen of Molly reminds me of my nieces. Do you look to your daughter as inspiration for Molly?

JI: Catie, especially as she gets older is definitely the template for who Molly is now. It’s funny actually because I think Catie has toned down my approach to the character in a lot of ways. Molly, when I originally created her was a much more sarcastic and biting character, more “street” for the lack of a better term. She was much more of an extension of my mindset then but 30 year old Jamal is a much angrier person than 40 year old Jamal. I think as I’ve become more tempered, so has Molly.
Jamal Igle in a picture I did not take.
CA: If Molly does phenomenally well, would there be a possibility for more stories beyond the four books?

JI: If Molly does moderately well, meaning there’s a small audience and enough revenue to continue, there will be be more volumes. Molly’s story is just beginning in this series, there’s already a fifth and sixth volume in the back of my head.

CA: Besides Molly, what’s your favorite comic to have worked on?

JI: It really depends, but I think Supergirl is the frontrunner at the moment.

CA: Have you ever thought of making Molly Danger a webcomic?

JI: I did, but as much as I love webcomics there’s no way I could monetize it and do it on the scale I’m doing the albums on. I love webcomics though. I may serialize it later on. 

CA: How did you decide on the design for Molly’s costume?

JI: It’s hard to describe, but the best way I can say it is, it was there. The very first sketch I did of Molly when we were putting the animation pitch together years ago is the same as it is now, just streamlined a bit. I just saw it in my head put it down on paper. Every time I thought about changing it somehow, it looked awkward. It’s just who she is and it fits her personality.
CA: Do you think Kickstarter will help start a new wave of comics professionals getting to start dream projects?

JI: I think it’s a become a leveler, but even with such a huge platform you still need to be on point. I’ve seen more than a few well known comics professionals pitch projects on Kickstarter or Indiegogo have their campaigns fail. They either didn’t do any promotion and just expected their “celebrity” to carry them. Others just threw a random concept up and didn’t talk about why they thought it should be made, why they felt it was important. Kickstarter, to me, is almost like a barn raising where the community gets together to help one another. I pledge to a lot of projects because of that as well.
I wish to know more about this character.

CA: What was the experience like while the Kickstarter campaign was going on?

JI: I’ve never worked so hard in my entire life. Keep in mind while I was running the campaign and doing all the PR and social media stuff, I was working on Smallville at the same time. I went through every emotion you can go through. In the end all I wanted to do was cry because I was so tired and spent emotionally. 

CA: What has it been like getting to work on Molly again while still doing other works?

JI: Difficult to be honest. I was doing covers, pencilling pages and had to take weeks at a time to do the design work, the writing, editing the script, writing contracts and talking to vendors for the cars, T- Shirts etc, and there’s still more to do. I take it one step at a time, though. 

CA: This is a silly question I like to end interviews with: You’re off to save the day; what dinosaur do you ride to save the day?

JI: Pteranadon, the terror of the air!

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I would like to thank Jamal Igle for taking the time to do this interview, and to once again recommend checking out Molly Danger this July.

Alexander Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net

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