Today we’d like to introduce you to Sebastian Jones.
Hi Sebastian, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I have always been a fan of comics and cinema, songwriting, and poetry. It is probably why I started creating the fantasy world of ASUNDA. It gave me a place to tell tall tales and conjure heroes I could root for, villains I could demonize (or identify with), and of course characters in-between, the ones in the gray area that help populate a landscape. All were needed to create a realistic world I could explore over my lifetime, a world where adventure waited.
It started with Niobe. She was my Spider-Man, my Superman, my hero that could take my inhibitions, my vulnerability, and my wrath onto her winged shoulders. And as I grew, she grew with me, as did the world of Asunda she would try and make better. She was also of mixed background, like me, to represent the struggle of finding one’s place with others but also within. Niobe being not only Half-Elven, Half Human, but Half Angel, Half Demon, she represents the duality of spirit we can all relate to.
The world of Asunda and Niobe were ideas formed when I was a teenager. They have been developed over more than thirty years through a lot of table-top roleplaying games, LARP games, screenplays, and even music. And for the last 16 years, they have come to life most beautifully in the graphic novel format I have published at STRANGER COMICS. It didn’t start like that. At 34 years old, after running a record label for a decade where I released jazz, blues, and funky old soul, I pitched the idea of a Marvel Universe of fantasy to various publishers. Some were cool, others were not, saying that Black comics, fantasy comics, and comics with female leads didn’t sell. I was doing all three! Still, some wanted my world, but with deals that were not attractive, especially considering a couple only wanted it for a Black History Month announcement. So, I started Stranger Comics to protect the integrity, vulnerability, and power of Niobe and her story. We started with the first issue for her introduction story, THE UNTAMED. Now we have many graphic novels in her inter-connected world, as well as children’s books BROWN SUGAR FAIRIES and the I AM BOOK SERIES, the historical drama DEFIANT with studio partner LEGION M, and action adventure series JAYCEN WISE. We’ve had a lot of film and television interest. We were in development at HBO for several years. The relationships we developed there actually led to JAYCEN WISE. And more to come! We have several new announcements coming soon. Plus all the new books I am very excited to share with our ever growing community!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Smooth would be the last adjective I would use. The road has been full of bumps to upset the cart, potholes to dig ourselves out of, and walls to smash through. There are so many to mention, but I will start with time. Time – we have to spend away from our loved ones. As a true independent company, this is a “seven days a week” job. Plus being on the road to conventions. And understanding not only the costs that come with a product selling business, but the ever-shifting market. We have had to deal with paper shortages, Covid, tariffs, trucks breaking down on the way to conventions, pallets being delivered to the wrong locations, and that’s just on the front end. On the production side, we deal with the same things every indie company does. Often, you’re the talent’s second or third priority, occasionally they leave for greener pastures in the middle of a project. We’ve had to start books over with a different artist after already having paid for a full issues, even two. But we’ve learned from those experiences, and we’ve put together an amazing stable of talent that we work with. The books we’ve created with them, I am truly proud of, and they make all of the above-mentioned logistical nightmares worth dealing with! But there are other challenges too, like the racism and prejudice on social media. Once upon a time, it was a great help, free promotion to an audience that we could directly connect with. We looked for them as keenly as they looked for us. Now it feels like a wasteland of doomscrolling, algorithm deciphering, and trolls. But I will say, on this bumpy road, the landscapes have been incredible, and the people we have met along the journey make the adventure a beautiful one. Food for the soul.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am the owner of Stranger Comics, but also the head writer, and social media person, game developer, world builder, convention warrior, and I need a nap. To focus on the creative side of it, I enjoy the writing. It feels as if I get to unburden my love and pain, hopes and fears onto the characters I create, and let them take me on a journey of self discovery. It is a healing, to paint my sins on paper, and in the characters find my own redemption and perhaps one day forgiveness. I am probably a bit harsh on myself there, so let’s focus on the fun. I am a music head, so a lot of times a certain song or album will help set a mood for a tale to tell or a landscape to lay the down the foundation to. Music is the frequency of the human spirit so I enjoy having my characters converse with depth and meaning, and often between the lines. Each comic has a soundtrack to it (And I have written music to some). It might be Gorecki, Alice Coltrane, Fela, Satie, or Nina Simone to Led Zep and ATCQ. I also really love the world building, as a town, village, or tundra should be as much a character as the people that live there. My goal is to tell character driven stories in epic fantasy worlds in the most cinematic way. So you could say my inspirations are a mashup of Tolkien, Kirby, and Kurosawa, to name a few!
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was a happy go lucky kind of guy. I liked to dance, especially to James Brown. Really, I would try and dance like James Brown, no matter what music was playing. At school, I was always in trouble with the headmaster and teachers as I only respected authority when it was from those who weren’t cruel or bigoted. No change there. I was also a hopeless romantic, often dwelling on an unrequited love story, writing bad poetry, or worse, short stories. But I was a positive kid, despite the occasional bullying (I had to learn to fight, with words and sometimes with fists). I had a great group of friends, who I am still close with today, and wonderful parents. I laughed a lot back then. I miss the British sense of humor a lot. The good people I knew made that time in my life special and fun. And I had a wide variety of fun! I was into D&D, comics, especially the Hulk and the X-Men, LARP, Warhammer, 90’s Hip Hop, Blues, Funk, Jazz, and going to the wildest nightclubs in London. And then at age eighteen, I moved to the US by myself with Asunda in tow, and the rest is history!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.strangercomics.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strangercomics
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StrangerComics
- Twitter: https://x.com/strangercomics
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@StrangerComics
Image Credits
Artists include: Tehani Farr, Sheldon Mitchell, Peter Bergting, Darrell May, Hyoung Taek Nam, Jae Lee, James Cory Webster.
Writers seen in photos include: myself, Darrell May, Quincy Everidge, Joshua Cozine, Thuso Mbedu and Amandla Stenberg with colleagues Justin Estrada, Antonyo Smith, Yves Rhone and Jared Bailey
