Meet Jamaal Harley

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jamaal Harley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jamaal, why did you pursue a creative career?
Both of my parents are very creative people that are into fashion, photography, music, art and film. At a very young age I naturally gravitated towards art, cartoons, music, and comic books. I was fascinated by the art on our walls and loved looking at all the cover art of my parent’s collections of magazines, comic books, VHS tapes, novels, and music albums. I also loved looking through my dad’s sketchpads full of his drawings and original characters, and his epic bed time stories. My mom’s creativity created an absolutely magical childhood for me through her amazing sketches, embroidery, decorations, cooking, and her hand made Spider-Man and Ninja Turtle Halloween costumes. I’d literally come home and put on those costumes after school for weeks well past Halloween. I feel creating art comes naturally to me, it recaptures the magic of my childhood, it makes me happy and I hope it inspires others to create what makes them happy.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My comic book writing and creating journey started as a project to keep me busy and/or sane during the pandemic. That project was my first comic book “WHO’S B.A.D.?” The premise of this ongoing series is basically what if a Henchmen for Lex Luthor ended up stealing Superman’s powers? But with my own original characters with different personalities, powers, and motivations so you know…I don’t get sued…heh heh. Anyways writing it was the easier part ,while learning how to find artists, then finding the right artists, letterers, graphic designers, etc was done through trial and error, and was way harder than expected. However, nothing in life worth doing is easy and the motto is “too stupid to quit” thus with each challenge accepted and eventually conquered I learned a lot more and more doors opened, which lead to my first successful Kickstarter campaign. I later put out my other books “Conquer the Galaxy or Die Trying” (basically what if the Emperor from Star Wars’ mind got trapped in R2D2’s body and now he’s going around the galaxy trying to kill Luke and rebuild his empire, but nobody is taking him seriously) and “The Ballad of Valkyrie Sinclaire” (a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk thriller about how a team of super heroes copes with losing an alien invasion) and started Royal Oak Comics. To date I have wrote and created seven comic books via successful Kickstarter campaigns, while facing even more complex challenges that consistently arise, but guess what? Too stupid to quit!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Oh man, gotta take them to Corner Cottage in Burbank for a breakfast burrito, the Jerk Spot in Culver City for their Jerk Wings, Sushi Ran in Toluca Lake, and Sushigah in Pasadena for sushi, Kao Cafe in Sherman Oaks, Little Bar because Rosja is my favorite bar tender! The Edmon has great drinks too. Farmer’s market at the Grove. Definitely go to the Getty Villa, and the Huntington Library, Motown Mondays at the Short Stop in Echo Park. Golden Apple Comics. Emo Nite. Black on the Block. Culver city steps, Redondo beach pier, 3rd street Promenade and walk from the Santa Monica beach pier to the Venice beach Pier for the scenery and people watching.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Dave Warner! He’s an amazing artist and graphic designer going by the Art of Dave and based in Riverside, Ca. We actually worked together 7 years before I started making comics and toured Southern California and Colorado as musical acts for Club Cosplay. He’s been vital and beyond helpful with my comic book career by helping me with graphic design, merch, logo placements on cover art, pdf issues, and helping me get into and showing me the ropes of having a table at conventions.

Website: www.royaloakcomics.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/royal_oak_comics/

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/illnoise

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/royaloakcomics

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RoyalOakComics

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@royal_oak_comics 

Image Credits
primary image Photo by Meredith James and edited by Dave Warner Image 1 WHO’S B.A.D.? #3 cover by Illustrabox Studios Image 2 Photo shot by Dave Warner of Jamaal A. Harley at Long Beach Comic Con Image 3 The Ballad of Valkyrie Sinclaire #2 by Jon Kutzer Image 4 Conquer the Galaxy or Die Trying concept of “Amaya Heartsguard” art by Jon Kutzer Image 5 The Ballad of Valkyrie Sinclaire #1 cover by Lucas Meyer Image 6 Photo shot by Tytus Harley of Jamaal A. Harley selling his comics at Anime Las Vegas Image 7 WHO’S B.A.D.? #2 cover by Thiago Silva and Douglas Mora Aguilera Image 8 WHO’S B.A.D.? #1 cover art by Kitt St.Joans. Image 9 Conquer the Galaxy or Die Trying #1 cover art by Douglas Mora Aguilera