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KANSAN.COM
ARTS & CULTURE
11
▶ MINSEON KIM @minseonkim94
A young Jai Nitz was given a stack of comic books to read alongside his brother during a long road trip to south Texas.
Nitz's older brother got into reading comics and Nitz followed his brother in everything he did. Nitz, the creator of superhero El Diablo who stars in the upcoming film 'Suicide Squad', said while comic books are more of a collectable market nowadays, comic books were everywhere when he was younger.
"I think a lot of people in comics kind of have the same origin story one way or another," he said. "You either have a long hospital stay or a long road trip."
For Nitz, it was the road trip. He said he and his brother didn't have GameBoys or DVD players so comic books were their form of entertainment.
"Not only was it kind of a neat luxury to be given them [but also] they were so inexpensive and ubiquitous that you can get them some other place," Nitz said.
When Nitz was 18, he knew going to college would give him a leg up
in the job market. Since no schools provided a degree in scriptwriting for comic books, Nitz said he was one of the first in the world to get a degree focused on the script of comic books.
"I've never met anybody who knows more about everything there is to know about comic books than he does," said Jon Niccum, a University alumnus and entertainment writer at the Kansas City Star.
The two first met in early 2000s when Niccum was writing a story as an editor at Lawrence Journal-World. The story was on one of Nitz's comic books. The two became friends and wrote the movies "Paint Shaker" and "Rhino." They also won the Golden Kahuna Award at the Honolulu International Festival (II) and Action of Film Award at the Action on Film International Film Festival.
Niccum shared his excitement for his former peer's work. Niccum is a writer and producer himself and said he is glad to see Nitz's international exposure. He said Nitz's knowledge in the medium of comic books amazes him and that Nitz puts his mix of knowledge and
creativity to use very well.
As a student at the University, Nitz, a 1998 graduate, majored in film studies. He said he never wanted to make movies but always wanted to write comic books.
"When I came to KU, it was to write comic books. The classes didn't exist. The degree didn't exist," Nitz said. "So I just kind of pieced one together when I was here at KU."
Since then, Nitz has written a handful of comic books none of which have received as much attention. However one of his characters, El Diablo, will be featured in the upcoming movie "Suicide Squad."
What hooked Nitz about El Diablo was simple: he's a villain whose powers force him do the right thing. He said he was intrigued by El Diablo because that type of character development is not seen often in super-heroes.
"Most of the times superheroes are doing something only for the right reasons — not because they're forced to," he said. "I think it's much more interesting [that he's] forced [to be] heroic than actually be heroic."
His character isn't only
interesting because of character development. Nitz's works also have a unique spin inspired by his racial background. He also said he created El Diablo because, at the time, there weren't any Mexican superheroes. El Diablo filled a void for the writer.
Nitz grew up in southern Atlanta and used that setting as a background for his other work, "Dream Thief."
"The most important being, who they are and where are they [are] from, and then through the lenses of their time and space on the planet," Nitz said.
Rather than pitch a steady-stellar hero like Batman to DC Comics at its New York headquarters, Nitz pitched his Latino superhero. The pitch became a hit, but the comic was not.
Several years later, though, the pitch has finally paid off. Of the thousands of Batman stories, very few characters serve a purpose of being a superhero figure and help sell DC Comics. In this case, DC could use
"It sold horribly," Nitz said. "It was one of the worst-selling comics of the history of DC."
El Diablo to promote the diversity of the world and the company.
"When I came to KU, it was to write comic books. The classes didn't exist. The degree didn't exist."
JAI NITZ KU alumnus
While the film "Suicide Squad" doesn't exactly depict the comic, Nitz said what looks good in a comic books is different from what looks good on a big screen. Rather than being portrayed as a superhero, El Diablo is based on Latin gangs in East Los Angeles.
"It is awesome because David Ayer, who is directing the movie, he knows about Latino gang members instead of superheroes," Nitz said. "He is doing what he knows, which is totally cool."
Nitz said he is also excited of all the possibilities the movie will bring once it hits theaters, such as action figures, video games, t-shirts, and more. Nitz said big productions like this with global outreach will shine
a spotlight on him different than before.
"Part of me is super excited and part of me is very scared," Nitz said.
El Diablo, created in 2008, is the newest character in the entire film, with some characters who are more than 50 years old. Different from his fellow comic book writers who have created other characters in movies, having a character in a movie has never happened to Nitz.
"It's a different level of attention," Nitz said. "The awesome part is, I am going to be for the rest of my life, have people dressing up as my character at comic book conventions. Like that is cool. That's really cool."
His former peer Niccum agreed.
"A movie with that kind of budget and those kind of stars is just a different level than most people will ever experience." Niccum said.
The movie "Suicide Squad" hits theaters Aug. 6.
Edited by Cele Fryer
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