Creator Interview: Amal Desai
Amal Desai is a Ringo nominated comic book letterer. He is the writer and co-creator of the graphic novel, Jane Jet, available through the publisher Markosia. Besides all the accomplishments and accolades, he's also a very nice dude.
Welcome, Amal.
Your work is unmistakably rock solid. What's your relationship with perfectionism and how has it evolved throughout your career in comics?
Thank you, Kevin, I appreciate that! This is honestly a constant and ongoing battle for me, how did you know?! I would like to work faster and obsess less over minute details. But I still find myself zoomed to 600% nudging text back and forth at 0.0005 inch increments at 3 am. So it unfortunately hasn’t evolved much. I seem to just be training myself to be a faster perfectionist. I’ll probably have to go to therapy someday and get back to you.
We have a lot in common, and one thing is introducing characters in a grandiose way complete with name plates. Besides the appealing visual, why is it important for that style of establishment?
For Jane Jet, Paul Essenson (the artist and co-creator) actually drew in the first logo-esque name on the first page without it being in the script. I loved how it looked and, since only a few pages had been scripted at that time, was able to work these grand entrances with logos into the rest of the book for each new major character.
As a letterer I feel it’s important for the lettering to be intentional and catered to match the artwork and storytelling. Usual bold italics would be a mismatch for the over-the-top names I gave the characters and the incredible bombastic designs Paul put together, so I think the logo name plates were a better fit.
Another commonality we share is a love of historical stories. Everyone has heard the phrase, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" by Spanish philosopher George Santayana. Is that a motivator to express stories rooted in the past?
The past setting for Jane Jet started off as an aesthetic choice as well as a necessity for the plot. When Paul and I were discussing the book he brought up Project Paperclip. This led me down a research rabbit hole and I was genuinely shocked by what I learned - about Project Paperclip of course but also many other facets of WWII and the world since that I had previously been completely oblivious to. And I knew I wasn’t the only one who was oblivious to all of this. So I decided to work in as much of this not-well-known history into the fabric of the story as possible. Of course my fun little book won’t really teach anyone about anything, but doesn’t hurt to try!
What's your best piece of advice for up and coming creators?
I very much still consider myself up and coming, so my advice would be to find me and we can make some comics!
For people just starting out, I would say it’s important to spend some time learning from various resources (books, videos, etc.) about the craft from creators who are experienced. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Then you just have to start making comics. For the aspects you do not want to or are not able to do yourself, the internet is there for you to find collaborators (who you should pay for their time, labor, and expertise).
100% agree. Alright Amal, when the dust of a hectic day settles and dinner time is approaching, pizza is on the menu. It's time for you to answer the most important and momentous question in all of history...
What is the best pizza topping?
I love pizza in all its glorious forms, as any proper human should. But if I have to pick one - the fresh basil discovered in my backyard a couple months ago. Life changing. My wife gardens some but didn’t plant it. It just magically appeared. The air of danger (what if it’s not actually basil?) makes it more tasty.