From Ananci to Scarlet Ibis: The comic book world of Nigel Carrington

COMIC-book heroes like Batman, Superman and Captain America have featured in multi-million-dollar films in Hollywood. And if TT-born, New York-based comic-book artist Nigel Carrington has his way, one of his own superheroes will make it to the big screen.

A self-taught artist and writer, he has produced over 40 comic books and graphic novels. He is also the owner of Starr Skills comics, producing independent creator-owned comics, working with other artists, colourists, and graphic designers across the world.

Carrington spoke about his comic-book career and his dreams during a Zoom interview with Newsday from Rochester, New York.

Originally from St James and later La Horquetta, he recalled growing up he was not interested in comics. He explained he did not have much access to them, nor did he find them appealing.

“I found movies more appealing. Even now, when I do comics, I think of it more as a movie than a comic. I look at it like a poor man’s movie.”

But he did enjoy cartoons like GI Joe, He-Man, ThunderCats and Transformers. He also enjoyed tracing colouring books and activity books.

His formal training in art was at Mt Hope Junior Secondary. He recalled his art teacher would put vases in front of the class to draw and he would ensure he got all the details in.

“I was always a detail-oriented person. I would see things other people did not see.”

He would compete with a few schoolmates who could draw better, and get paid to do other children’s school assignments or draw on the back of their shirts when they were leaving school.

His interest in comics came after he and his brother met up with two friends in Trinidad, who were into anime and Image comic books. While looking through their friends’ books they came up with the idea of their own independent comic book. under the banner of Cape Comics. They created a comic called Sign in 1998, which was a small anthology which included his story Truth Amongst the Bones, an anime-style story about a grumpy old man telling neighbourhood children the story of a superhero who defended them against large, fly-like beings.

He and his friends went to a print shop, printed it in black and white, folded it half and stapled in the middle. They took it to local comic bookstores, but no one took them seriously and the printing costs were high.

“So I just created comic books and kept them at home.”

They also took the Sign comic to a local comic-book convention, where he met local comic creator Chris Riley and learned about his character Midnight Robber.

“I was blown away, as a young man, seeing what he did. His accomplishments with his book. And I was like ‘Damn, I want to do that.”

He offered to draw something for Riley and said he did not have to pay him much if he wanted to pay him at all. Carrington did a pin-up of Midnight Robber for Riley, then a six-page script for a soucouyant story in the back of his book.

“I couldn’t believe I got printed in a local comic book. It was a big deal for me.”

Ananci story

After the Midnight Robber, he began working on his own comic Ananci, which follows a young Trinidadian, Keith Evers, who struggles between reality and a world with African/Trinidadian trickster spider-god Ananci and other anthropomorphic creatures. Carrington described the character as a mixture of the character Darkness by American comic book writer Marc Silvestri, Batman, and Riley’s Midnight Robber.

He created a 22-page Ananci comic book, and the local printer told him it would cost $3,000 for “a couple” copies. He did not have the money and decided he would print it years in the future, “Not knowing that my dad would send me for in Brooklyn and I would come to America and years after, I would be in a position to print that same book that I had in Trinidad.”

Carrington arrived in the US in 2001, just two months after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

“I am watching it on TV like, ‘Way, I don’t want to come over there, nah.”

He arrived around Thanksgiving and told his father he wanted to work for Marvel Comics. His father gave him a nice suit, trench coat and tie. He sat with one of the editors, who praised his style, but told him his art needed a bit of work.

The editor gave him a six-page Spider-Man script to draw, which he did, and e-mailed it back. He then received a script for the characters Daredevil and Hulk.

“At the time I was like, ‘This guy playing with me or what?’ Is either you give me the job or not.”

Carrington said he did not know at the time, but he was on a type of internship.

“He was testing my skills to see how I could (do) better.”

Needing to make a living, he left Marvel and got a full-time job while creating comics part-time.

To the stars

He eventually moved to upstate New York with his brother after losing a job. At home and not working he decided to draw a comic and print it. That comic would be Gun, about a young man killed on the streets who is brought back to life as a spy by a government scientist. With Gun he launched StarSkills Comics, inspired by the frequent use of the term “star” in Trinidad and his own online handle.

“I just love the word ‘star.’ Aim for the stars. Aim for space.”

He took Gun to a comic bookstore and the owners were impressed. He offered them 100 free copies and people asked for the next issue.

“Real people hitting me up, calling me. I was real surprised by that reaction. I felt like a superstar at the time.”

One invited him to participate in a comic-book convention.

“It have other black kids that want to do the same thing that you doing,” he was told.

He began attending comic cons and created his second comic, Ant Hill, about a young man with an ant bio-armour suit who helps to protect Earth from any possible alien threats.

“When I bring that to the comic con, people were blown away by that.”

He said some people could not believe he had made the comic himself. The positive response encouraged him to keep making comics.

“I will keep going with this until somebody reaches out.”

He said there was point, however, when the “fire” of excitement started to get extinguished, and he realised people were only interested in his new titles. He then released Hair, about a woman with cancer who is saved by a mysterious wig with supernatural abilities. He also released his comic Guardians, about angels versus demons, inspired by his own Christianity. He said people tend to gravitate to his stories because he learned a formula for what people like and are into.

“And I kind of mixed it in with creating local books too, as well. My thing was always representation of who I am. I’m a black young man from Trinidad and I go to church. So I want, every time someone looks at one of my books, they see stuff like that. So all my books is like a representation of who I am.”

He added his books also talk about political views of being young and black.

The Scarlet Ibis takes flight

After Ananci, he created his second TT comic book, Scarlet Ibis, about a character who was a mixture of 80s anime G-Force and Batman.

“It is everything that I grew up with. Everything that I laid my eyes on, basically.”

The blurb for the character reads, “Doctor Jerome Griffin, was born with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a disease that has him paralysed and in a wheelchair. After a tragic accident that killed him, he was resurrected by his research to become Trinidad’s patriotic leader of justice… the Scarlet Ibis!”

He explained that for Scarlet Ibis he wanted to have the most patriotic TT character. He said the character wears red and always has a TT flag behind him.

“I don’t think we have an ideal representation of Trinidad in comic book form. A lot of people are trying to do it, a lot of people trying to bring it about. But I don’t really see it out there as much. It is not as strong as America is with their characters, Batman, Superman, Captain America.”

Carrington said he did not know what local comic book characters there were currently nor what was the state of local comics.

“I always wanted to have the quintessential comic where people could say, ‘hey, this is what Trinidad is.’”

Carrington also uses his comic books to speak about various issues including ALS, cancer, mental health, race, gun control and community violence.

“The beauty of comic books is that you can use the medium to speak about a lot of stuff that other mediums don’t touch on.”

He said that his books always touch on other issues.

“If someone gives you their money and walks away then they should have something more than just beautiful art and a good story.”

His comic book Ant Hill, for example, was dedicated to his cousin with sickle cell anaemia. He added that he had a vision of making contributions to charity with his books.

“Make a change in the community with art.”

The movie dream

Another area of emphasis for Carrington is diversity. He recalled when he started creating comics in the early 2000s there was not much diversity but that was changing with all the “wokeness” and its impact on comic books and movies. For his part, he has included black female representation as well as Asian and Indian characters.

“It is very important that people see themselves within characters and are able to identify with them. The story becomes more personal, and it broadens the fanbase.”

With his first comic Gun he did all the work, but as he made more books, he had to employ an assistant to do bookings for comic cons, a colourists, inker, letterer and writer.

Carrington sells his books through his website and has branched off into merchandising with T-shirts for Ananci, Gun and Ant Hill. He also collaborated with Rochester-based writer Joe Janowicz on a comic called Black Man White Man about a black detective pursuing a white serial killer. He recalled the comic did well in Rochester and they were on the front page of a local newspaper. Black Man White Man inspired to create his comic The New Slaves about an alternate word where black people are slave masters and white people are the slaves.

He also created an animation short called Ultimate Force which combined several of his characters and put it on a crowdfunding site but unfortunately, he was not able to raise the funds. He still hopes to have his characters in animation projects.

Carrington said his storytelling was influenced by classic anime such as Appleseed, Ghost in the Shell and Alita: Battle Angel and his major influence was Spawn by Image Comics president Todd McFarlane. He also cited artists Jim Lee and Greg Capullo and reported an upcoming meeting in Los Angeles with Lee, DC Comics chief creative officer, about the possibility of working with the company. He explained that his hope is to write comics full-time and added that, like other independent creators, he must have a nine to five job to support himself.

“As an independent comic book creator, you have to have some other means.”

He also has a dream to see one of his comic book characters up in a film.

“One of these days I want to make a movie. And hopefully one of these days somebody will see something like this, like an up-and-coming director in Trinidad might see this and say, ‘You know what? Let me reach out to that fellar. Because it looks like he have some ideas, some interesting IPs I can turn into a movie.”

He added: “Any new movie directors out there, hit me up.”

He is currently working on the new series FanBoy and Scarlet Ibis issue three. He said he was also looking forward to attending a comic book convention in Trinidad next year and showcasing his characters.

For more info visit starskillscomics.com.