A Sunday read: Ken Niimura (Patreon)

I am a great admirer of the cartoonist Ken Niimura. Ken has Spanish and Japanese parents, is versed in both cultures, and I think is a genuine one-off. 

The more experienced I get, the more I can look at other artists' work and say, well, I can see what they are doing here. It's easy to become jaded. But the best comic work is animated by an internal energy that cannot be replicated, and I think Ken's work is full of that. I'm always excited to look at what he is doing, be it his American series with writer Joe Kelly (I Kill Giants, Immortal Sergeant) or solo work like Henshin.

Here's a really fascinating 2022 interview with him from The Comics Journal's Alex Deuben, around the release of his book "Never Open It".  

I was lucky enough to meet Ken at an event in 2018. Like most true greats, he betrayed no ego at all. The exhibition of his work was fascinating. While his line on the comic page as published reduces characters and shapes to a minimalism that suggests a "first thought, best thought" savant approach, the original art showed a rough, loopy, impressionistic blueline pencil behind the blacks, making it suddenly very clear that the finished mark-making represented choices taken with immense care. 

I think you'll enjoy the interview! Have a great Sunday!