Mundelein High School was proud to welcome YA comic book author Jason Walz to the auditorium stage last Monday. Walz, an avid comic book enthusiast himself, focuses heavily on spreading mental health awareness throughout his books’ themes.
Growing up, Walz lived on a farm in rural Kentucky. The magical world of comic books was his escape into the world of reading and storytelling, shaping what he would later publish.
In the 7th grade, Walz read comic classics like Spider-Man, Star Wars, the first Ghostbusters comic, and Clash of the Titans voraciously. “Comics,” Walz shared, “gave me my own language.”
Walz has written Homesick, The Last Pick trilogy, A Story for Desmond, and most recently, The Flipside. Described as “profound”, “accesible”, and “relevant” by Booklist, what makes Walz’ comics truly stand out is his focus on being vulnerable and open about neurodivergent individuals and living with disabilities. “Almost all the books I write deal with mental health,” Walz noted.
Living with ADHD, OCD, and anxiety, many stemming from his own young adulthood, Walz is no stranger to stigmatization surrounding mental disorders. In his first book, Homesick, he tells a story based on his own experiences of having panic attacks after losing his mother to cancer. “It’s just straight up me,” Walz said.
His newest book, The Flipside, also has a main character grasping with the loss of his best friend. “The main character dealing with his friend’s loss is very much like me also,” Walz confessed.
His grief is represented by haunting monsters that follow him around, making it a supernatural comic. Because as Walz stated, “All my books have a monster.”
As for advice for young aspiring writers and artists, Walz shared his three-step process for publishing his books, but warned that he took the traditional route. “Nowadays, you can self-publish a book,” Walz explained, “and it isn’t as looked down upon.”
First is the pitch. Essentially, it’s when Walz sketches out 20 or so pages of a new story and writes a short paragraph to hook the reader. His target audience in this case is publishing houses willing to pick up his story and ideas.
If it is picked up, Walz will then take the draft and outline the rest of the story thoroughly, using a process he calls scripting. He does this by writing the entire story out as a script, a mix of dialogue and description.
“The writing part for me is short because I hate it,” Walz joked. Although it is one of the longer and more boring parts of the book process, it is necessary for the story to be cohesive.
Afterwards, Walz sends it to his agent for last minute edits and finalizing the story. Walz can then start his favorite part: drawing. “The drawing is the hard part–that can be a year right there,” Walz said.
Overall, if he’s only working on publishing and not teaching part-time, Walz said the entire drafting process can take anywhere from two to three years.
Another technique Walz shared that he uses to make his books successful is utilizing his personal experiences. “It’s like a cheat sheet to write about what you know and what your experiences are–use it,” Walz noted. “I know myself very well.”
Walz’ next book will be published in 2027. He is currently going back and forth on edits. “It’s a very cute, very funny story,” Walz said. “I really needed that after publishing Flipside.”
