I do find some comfort in keeping my nose to the drawing table, where it’ll remain for several more years. It’s surpassed my wildest expectations, but there’s still a lot of work - and two more books - to tackle. I’m deeply honored, and still in mild disbelief surrounding all the buzz. NATE POWELL: I’m very proud of how the book turned out, and the three of us have grown together through the process, creatively as well as personally. After many long months, did the book turn out as you expected, let alone hoped? MICHAEL CAVNA: Congratulations on the book as an achievement, Nate. And it’s certainly one of our Top-10 comics reads of the year.Ĭomic Riffs recently caught up with Powell to talk about his visual style, his sense of story - and his ongoing journey with “March.” “It very much feels like I’m just doing what needs to be done,” Powell notes.Īs Comic Riffs wrote in August, “March: Book One” is so compelling and vital, it deserves to be shelved in every school library and stocked in every bookstore. “While I was just holed up in my room drawing ‘Book One,’ I had absolutely no idea what to expect, but I’ve adapted as best as possible, my wife has been extremely supportive, and it feels wonderful to be able to foster timely and necessary social discussion - not just about this comic, but about comics themselves finally getting past the ‘Guess What? Comics Can Be Literature/Art’ stage in our culture.” “March is always, always on my mind, every waking hour,” Powell tells Comic Riffs, “and this summer’s travels have taught me that these regular events and discussions are just as much a part of the life of the book as my time at the drawing table. Powell dedicated himself to the drawing board, working long hours to visually tell Lewis’s story in persuasive and precise detail.Īnd when the bestselling “March: Book One” was released this summer, Powell was fully on board with spreading the good word. (Lewis’s passion is unabated he was arrested just this month as part of an immigration rally at the Capitol.) John Lewis and staff aide/co-author Andrew Aydin on the book, he traveled with his collaborators to hear and see firsthand what Lewis had experienced as a civil-rights pioneer who endured beatings and arrests throughout the South. When Top Shelf publisher Chris Staros urged Powell in 2011 to audition to become the trilogy memoir’s artist, the Eisner-winning graphic novelist ( “Swallow Me Whole”) put his full talent on display.

(Top Shelf Comics 2013)ĮVERY STEP OF the way, Nate Powell has fully committed himself to the project that is “March.” Cover image of 'March: Book One' the bestselling civil-rights graphic novel by Rep.

Nate powell march