Rising Stars: Meet Jared Bailey

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jared Bailey

Jared, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I became a superhero fan through the Spider-Man, Batman and X-Men 90’s Saturday Morning cartoons. The characters and costumes were always colorful yet complex so there was always a lot to get lost in as a kid from Spider-Man’s quips to Mr. Freeze’s intensity and that killer X-Men intro theme song (Shoutout to Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network for holding it down faithfully during the week!) My parents always saved the funny pages in the newspapers for my brother and I. I remember always having a lot of fun with Calvin and Hobbes and Get Fuzzy. We weren’t allowed to watch the more mature stuff, so my brother and I would stay up late on Saturday nights to watch Toonami and South Park on Comedy Central. Everything changed when our cousin introduced us to The Boondocks show one Thanksgiving when I was in middle school, switching it up from our usual Goldeneye death match sessions on the Nintendo 64 or free roaming in San Andreas on the Xbox.
In elementary school, we would be given prompts to write short stories every week and it was always the assignment I looked forward to the most. Listening to music on Windows Media Player in the background while thinking about the movies, shows, comics and games I loved in my free time, I’d play with action figures I collected and enacted storylines in my head that I’d write out in short story form to turn in. By 5th grade, I started making fan fiction comic books (bean-body stick figures for the win!) featuring Spider-Man and other Marvel comics characters, which eventually inspired me to start developing my own original characters and stories.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’ve been blessed with a lot of fond memories with family and friends. The biggest obstacle I think I encountered over time came from finding comfort in being myself. The thing that I always come back to is living authentically when it comes to the intersectionality of the different ways I identify myself. A black man. A queer man. A geek. An artist. A believer in God. The biggest difficulty has been trying to figure out how to make space and be accepted in one or any of the other groups according to the expectations we think society has for them. It’s a daily project, but the road starts to get smoother every day in learning how to not hold myself back.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I write and publish comic books for an indie comic publisher I began 3 years ago called Geekwality Comix. The goal is telling stories and highlighting perspectives that aren’t often elevated. I love the term ‘Geek’, because while we do focus on genres heavily centered in geek culture (superhero, sci-fi, fantasy, espionage, horror etc), being a geek in itself is very expansive. Essentially, I see it as a celebration of anything that you’re passionate about. There’s music geeks, sports geeks, fitness geeks, sneaker geeks…. whatever expression you find the most joy in. With Geekwality, we hope that the perspectives in our stories open conversations and help find space for mutual understanding.

As of now, the first two issues of our Afro-Meets-Medieval Fantasy Thriller, Fables of Reclamation are available! A knight goes on a journey into becoming a superhero with shamanistic powers when he encounters an heirloom from the family he was stolen from in an action-packed odyssey that’s like John Wick meets God of War.

Coming soon, we also have plans to release a street-crime superhero thriller from my good friend and partner Kevin Mandujano called Mortal Man. After learning that his father was a famous superhero back in the day, an ex-convict gets embroiled into the underground world of heroes and villains in an era where superhuman activity is abolished.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I love the feeling of knowing I made a positive impact on someone else’s day, big or small. I also really enjoy the feeling of finding a new song I’ll want to play over and over, it usually triggers a collection of emotions that find an outlet of being understood. Going to the movie theater is still a favorite experience of mine as well. Full scale immersion and the ability to leave reality and its problems at the door for a couple hours, and let go of control and step into someone else’s perspective or story (however fantastical or unbelievable) usually helps me walk back into the world feeling lighter. Local comic shops and Target are my happy places.

Pricing:

• Fables of Reclamation #1 — $10
• Fables of Reclamation #2– $10

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Geekwality.com
• Instagram: IG handles: @GeekwalityComix & @baileysnotirish62

Image Credits
Artwork by: Matteo Gannai, Sam Toluwalase, Juwon Omoboriowo
Photo taken by: Mark Rataj