Novi — A Northville middle school English teacher took a half day off on Friday so he could make it to the first day of the Motor City Comic Con.
Not to geek out with his friends, meet celebrity guests or take photos with those in painstakingly-made costumes, but to run his own booth where he sells the three graphic novels he has written in what he called both his midlife crisis and a childhood dream come true.
Jason Douglas of Plymouth has always incorporated his love of comics and graphic novels into his teaching. First in his fourth grade classes in Northville, now in his eighth grade lessons. Early on in his career, Douglas said he struggled with how to get his reluctant readers interested in books.
The boxes of comics he had at home became his answer. It solved the problem of kids being embarrassed to read a book at their own reading level if they struggled to read or had a reading level several grades below their own. Comics were fun — and cool — so the kids enjoyed reading them, Douglas said. He saw their skills progress.
“It was as close to magic as I’ve ever seen in my teaching career,” Douglas said.
At the Motor City Comic Con Saturday, Douglas said he often runs into students and former students at Comic Cons. A current eighth grader in his class bought all three of his books Saturday and took a photo with him. Douglas said he saw six former students on Friday and knows several others are planning to attend Sunday.
Douglas had wanted to write a book since he was 12, but it wasn’t until an old student called him with her own crisis about not achieving her dreams that he started to write.
“With blissful ignorance and irrational confidence, I said ‘How hard can it be to sit down and write a comic book?'” Douglas said. “Pretty hard.”
His first book, “Parallel,” examines the price someone would pay for a chance to achieve their dreams they thought had been lost forever, Douglas said. His second, “Jane American,” is a World War II coming-of-age novel based on his own grandmother’s life in Plymouth. Before his grandfather died, Douglas said he made him promise that the book would be published.
Douglas self-published the book, though it has now been picked up by Simon and Schuster, and won the 2025 Ringo Award for the best graphic novel in the U.S. Douglas said this is a huge award that has never gone to a self-published book before.
Along with the graphic novel part of the book, Douglas also included information on all the historical aspects of the book at the end, as well as a teacher’s guide.
“I’ve been a fan of reading and collecting comics exponentially longer than I’ve been a teacher,” Douglas said. “I’m not taking this for granted. This is a childhood dream and I’m making it happen in my 40s. … It’s so special.”
He loves teaching, Douglas said, but writing books is his personal passion.
“This makes me the happiest person on Earth,” Douglas said.
kberg@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: At Comic Con: English teacher lives out dream of writing graphic novels
Reporting by Kara Berg, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
