THE Jamar Nicholas and Leon the Protector of the Playground!
I had the pleasure of meeting Jamar Nicholas (Multi-nominated and four time Glyph Comics Award winner, Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics winner, and Artblog Libertarian Awards Author! Author! BEST Books by Philadelphians at)the Baltimore Comic Con. I’m not sure which year it was, must have been early 2000 something. I had just finished buying a few trade paperbacks of various superheroes and walked over to the “Artist Alley.” (On a side note, I am all for changing the name of “artist alley” and not having every AA always in the back of every comic con or in far flung corners. Minor rant over…) I saw “Detective Boogaloo: Hop-Hop Cop” and remembered seeing the art for this online. We chopped it up for a few, I picked up the Files Folder for the character and went on my way.
Each year I’d see Jamar and like we never missed a step, we talked, joked, and laughed like we knew each other for the longest. Then again this is who Jamar is, a good guy who isn’t just at cons to sell a product. I’d pick up a Draw magazine or two, a poster, the “Fist Stick Knife Gun” graphic novel Jamar drew, and each year we’d talk about what’s coming up the next year. I remember one year Jamar talked about a project, “Leon Protector of the Playground,” and how excited he was for it. Like always, “When it drops, I’ll be down” I said. I’m very glad I did.
“Leon Protector of the Playground” is an all-ages graphic novel that follows the hero Leon as he defends his friends and peers from a colorful (and hilarious) group of villains. Leon is a child superhero who isn’t bogged down with a heavy backstory or adult produced trauma. He just wants to rock his new school clothes and help people; and enjoy a slice of pistachio chocolate cake..
Each chapter is a fun read and filled with bright full color storytelling. Jamar filled with book with fun, you can feel how much he enjoyed the process. The children at Guillaume Elementary, where you need to provide your own tartar sauce on Fish Stick Fridays, are written and treated like children. Besides dealing with the likes of Broccoli Rob, Urine Nathan, Tattlesnake, and Brahma Bully (thankfully we have Leon for them!) I would have loved to have gone to this school or send Noah there when he was younger. I HIGHLY recommend getting this book for the young person in your life and for yourself for that matter.
Today you can find Jamar on Twitter @jamarnicholas, at Jamar.Nicholas at Instagram, patreon.com/jamarnicholas (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for all the amazing gems he drops), and the amazing Pencil to Pencil podcast (with co host the epic Mike Manley) on YouTube.