KU film graduate gains fame as author of comic books

Jai Nitz doesn't merely make conversation. He tells stories—-one after another after another. He sets scenes, describes characters, delivers dialogue and denouement seemingly in one breath, picking up speed as he moves on to his next tale.

Luckily Nitz, c'98, has found a focus for his storytelling frenzy: comic books. He has written stories for the industry's most respected publishers, who have entrusted to Nitz and his imagination some of the genre's prized superheroes: Marvel's The Fantastic Four, Dark Horse's Hellboy and DC's The Joker.

But Nitz's own characters, such as "Slim Fulton: Steam Powered Cowboy," have won him national attention. In May, the Lawrence writer won a coveted grant for his self-published anthology, "Paper Museum," the second volume of which appeared in July. A $3,300 grant from the Xeric Foundation funded the publication; Nitz likens the prize to an honor from the Sundance Festival for independent filmmakers. News of his award brought coverage from the Associated Press, CNN, MSNBC and Yahoo-even calls from
Hollywood.

Jai Nitz

Nitz, who shared the total Xeric prize of more than $5,000 with five
other self-publishers, remembers the day the letter arrived from Xeric, a foundation started by Peter A. Laird, creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. "It was a fat letter," he says. "Skinny letters are, 'Thanks, but no thanks,' but this was a fat letter. I just sat in my car and held it, shaking. I opened it and it said, 'Congratulations, you've been accepted, go out and make the best comic book you can make.' It was the best thing ever."

Comics have attracted Nitz since his childhood in Atlanta, when he followed his older brother to The Book Nook, a comics shop. He started going to comics conventions as a fan at age 5. "My brother
read comics, and anything he did I wanted to do," he recalls. "My dad said, 'Great, Jai's reading.'"

But the early reader was bored stiff in school, so Nitz's parents handed him a notebook to fill with whatever popped into his head. By age 6 he was making up superheroes all day long and had begun his comic book collection, which over the years grew to nearly 7,000 copies. "My dad, who's an antiques collector, said, 'Great, he's into a hobby.' He thought I would save them and sell them one day to make a lot of money," Nitz says. "Then one day I
said, 'Dad, I want to be a comic book writer,' and he said, 'I've ruined my son's life.'"

Even if a childhood hobby alone didn't foreshadow his calling, Nitz's
unusual first name provided a hint. His dad and brother—with his mother's blessing—named him for Jai the Jungle Boy, a character they saw on "Tarzan" reruns in the late 1960s. Years later, the 27-year-old comics author, who has worked at comics shops since his teen-age years in Olathe, publishes his anthologies under the name Jungle Boy Press.

Nitz studied screenwriting to earn his theatre and film degree at KU,
and since college has continued to refine his writing. "I really started to study story structure, rather than just having characters kick the crap out of each other. I started getting into what I needed to do to better myself as a writer." Nitz describes his stories as action adventures set against grand, often historical themes. Slim Fulton, for instance, is a bionic cowboy battling evil in 19th century Laramie, Wyo. In another story in Paper Museum's second volume, Nitz imagines an otherworldly adventure for Amelia Earhart following her plane's disappearance.

Despite his achievements, Nitz cautiously clings to his 8-to-5 job with the payroll company ADP in suburban Kansas City. Practical concerns also guide his choice to publish anthologies, combining his own stories with those of others, instead of taking on longer tales of recurring characters, whose fates are controlled by publishing companies and industry budgets rather than authors.

His next anthology, "Heaven's Devils," comes out in September.
Meantime, Nitz fields e-mails and phone calls from fans and possible patrons, including the staff of Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks SKG studio and Hollywood agents. "My life has gone from 'Boy, I would really like to get a short Batman story to write,' to 'If I could actually sell the movie rights to something, I might be able to buy a house in Alvamar,'" he says. "My life has just gotten a lot weirder."