Jamal Igle talks about his journey, the creation of Molly Danger and the challenges within the comic industry

Jamal is the recipient of the 2011 Inkpot Award for outstanding achievement in Comic Art. As the writer-artist-creator of Molly Danger for Action Lab Entertainment, he is also known for his art in DC comics’ Supergirl, and for contributing to Green Lantern Corps, Firestorm, Nightwing, and Teen Titans. 

“What really got me into comics was movies. My grandfather took me to watch the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie, and I absolutely fell in love with Superman as a character,” says writer Illustrator Jamal Igle. 

Jamal is the recipient of the 2011 Inkpot Award for outstanding achievement in Comic Art. As the writer-artist-creator of Molly Danger for Action Lab Entertainment, he is also known for his art in DC comics’ Supergirl, and for contributing to Green Lantern Corps, Firestorm, Nightwing, and Teen Titans. 

Metro Plus caught up with Jamal who was recently in the city to interact with his fans at the 12th Bengaluru Comic Con.  

Born and brought up in New York City, Jamal credits his mother and the city for his illustrious career. “My mother was always encouraging about my passion for comics and being raised in New York City where DC and Marvel were both making comics, it didn’t really feel like an impossible dream.”  

In school, Jamal was found either drawing or making little comics with his friends, “I would always get into trouble for climbing underneath the desk to draw during classes, and eventually get caught by the teacher.”

At the age of 14, Jamal joined the High School of Art and Design, to further his dreams. “That was the time I realised I could make a living out of it. It wasn’t always a linear path — I tried my hand at acting and marketing, but it always came down to comics somehow,” says Jamal. 

Jamal walked us through the idea behind his most celebrated work Molly Danger, a comic book series about a 10-year-old superhero girl who protects the fictional city of Coopersville. Jamal served as writer and artist for the series. “Molly happened in 2003 and initially, it was an idea for animation because that was when shows such as Kim Possible and The Life and Time of Juniper Lee came out. My friend and I were kicking around an idea for our version of this type of show and the name Molly Danger came up.”