A Hero’s Journey: ASC Fellowship Helps Mason Parker Add 'Comic Book Writer' to Already Impressive Artistic Resume
By Page Leggett
Mason Parker is a spoken word poet, musician, performer, husband, father and now – with an assist from an ASC Creative Renewal Fellowship – comic book author.
He applied for the $15,000 fellowship to support his education into the genre. He wanted to attend the Gotham Writers Workshop in New York City this spring to study character and story development.
While writing and developing a comic book was new to him, being a working artist is not. He’s been part of Charlotte’s hip-hop scene since he was 15 and was known around the city as “Quill,” his one-time nom de plume.
“I grew up in Charlotte’s arts scene,” he wrote in his grant application. “Spoken word curator Jaycee Cowan [used] to sneak me into nightspots to perform my poetry for an adult crowd.”
He’s always made his living, entirely or in part, in Charlotte’s arts scene.
And that’s not easy. Now that Parker is a married father of five kids – ranging in age from toddler to 15 – he feels the weight of that responsibility. He wrote in his application about “the pressure to trade my time for dollars.”
“This constant push and pull can do a number on your artistic inspiration,” he wrote. “This … grant would make it easier for me to balance being a present husband and father with being a dynamic and innovative creative, still able to make contributions to the community.”
Being a good provider while remaining true to his calling is what he (poetically, of course) calls “the beautiful struggle.”
“My dad used to call a day job a ‘Steady Eddie,’” he said. “He was the practical one. My mom, who had a theater background, was the dreamer. She taught me I could make a living doing my art. My dad showed me I had to approach it pragmatically.”
“Artists have to do that whole balancing act,” he continued. “And the biggest problem most creators have is that we’re so caught up trying to live that we allow that to take us away from our ultimate objective.”
Parker’s Steady Eddie is in the insurance business. He sees parallels in what he does by day and the art he pursues every chance he gets.
“My gift operates in a different arena here at work,” he said. “My job affords me the flexibility to step away for a little bit to focus on doing other stuff. I’m very, very happy here because I’m able to be my complete, unadulterated self.”
While the Steady Eddie provides stability, art provides something intangible, but equally necessary to Parker’s existence.
“My art has taken me places my paycheck would never have allowed me to go,” he said.
The hero’s (very personal) journey
Earlier this year, he stepped away from the Steady Eddie briefly to complete the first installment in a comic book series he conceptualized in 2018. He’s been working on “The Paperback Hero Saga” ever since, including enlisting illustrator Wolly McNair as his creative collaborator.
Parker knew enough to know that he didn’t know what he didn’t know. That’s where the Gotham Writers Workshop – which was online rather than in person – came in.
The workshop was valuable, Parker said, as was “a $20 book I got on Amazon. It’s ‘The Art of Comic Book Writing: The Definitive Guide to Outlining, Scripting and Pitching Your Sequential Art Stories’ by Mark Kneece. He teaches at SCAD. His book spoke specifically to what I intended to use the grant for. It was really cool to get so much knowledge out of something so easily.
“That book showed me how to pace a story. I was able to apply so much of what I learned immediately.”
The grant was valuable for another reason: It helped Parker create time and space “because parenting and having a family means I don’t really have lots of time to create.” He made time to be reflective and to rejuvenate.
His comic book comes out June 24 in print and online. Parker describes it as “vintage futuristic – kind of steampunk-ish.” He’ll be promoting it heavily, including at comic conventions.
In the book, a character named Mason gets orders to return to Earth in the year 2020.
“He investigates what’s basically a crime scene,” Parker said. “It’s his responsibility to make sure balance is preserved between all the realms. He embarks on an adventure that reveals his purpose as a man but also shows him who he can become once he taps into his true calling.”
The character Mason is a little younger than Parker, 37, and has a different last name but otherwise, they’re very similar.
“He looks just like me,” Parker said. “He is voiced by me in some of the promo material. He’s an artist and an MC who’s not super famous but has a bit of a following. After his father dies, he goes to work – begrudgingly because he’s in mourning – at this awesome, independent bookstore based on NoDa’s [now-closed] RealEyes used bookshop.”
“Much like my character, after my parents died, my legacy became important to me,” he said. “I started to consider: What type of legacy am I leaving for my kids to be proud of? Am I leaving something tangible they can benefit from? The importance of family, the importance of knowing where you come from, growth – and how uncomfortable, but necessary, it is – that’s all part of Mason’s journey.”
Parker’s mother’s wisdom is sprinkled throughout, although she’s not a character herself. It’s her best friend from college – Parker’s godmother – who appears as the mother figure.
Art & text
Collaborating with a visual artist was new for Parker.
McNair, a veteran illustrator, and Parker met many years ago through the hip-hop community. (McNair was a musician before deciding to focus full time on visual art.)
They made a good team because, McNair said, “We already respected each other’s work. I think Mason knew I’d be open to exchanging ideas. He knew I didn’t expect him to know everything about comic books. This was a new endeavor for him, and I admired how he was willing to make himself vulnerable.”
“Mason is an established writer and poet, but this was a new genre for him,” McNair added. “It’s a lot different when you’re writing from multiple characters’ perspectives.”
Although McNair has written and self-published comic books, he considers himself primarily a visual storyteller. However, he was able to share some writing advice throughout the project.
“On the page, a story is much different from the story you hear in a song. It’s a different skill to write that way. I connected Mason to resources I knew, gave him people in the comic book realm to talk to. He was willing to humble himself; he really soaked up the information.”
The artist’s way
At first, comic books may not seem to have much in common with poetry and music. But Parker sees similarities.
“There’s a similar lag period between creation and presentation in the comic book arena just as there is in music or slam poetry,” he said. “There’s still this anxiety between creation and presentation where I wonder if people are even going to like this. When I’m recording a song, the same process happens. I send it to my inner circle, the people I trust. With a comic book, it’s a slower burn, a longer process. But those feelings of anxiety don’t change.”
Author and screenwriter Stephen Pressfield might say that anxiety goes with the territory. In his book, “The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles,” he writes, “Self-doubt can be an ally … If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), ‘Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?’ chances are you are. The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.”
Parker may be anxious before sharing his art publicly, but he has no anxiety about the path he’s on. He knows he’s doing what he needs to do for his art and his family.
“A lot of people get locked in to one way of doing things, thinking their career has to look a certain way,” he said. “I want people to realize that this whole journey is literally just jumping off a cliff and figuring out how to build a plane before you hit the ground.”
“The more we give ourselves grace as creative entrepreneurs to think outside the box, the better,” he added. “When my mom died, I started to pray. Instead of praying for a specific thing, I prayed for God to tell me where I was supposed to be and what He wanted me to do. I had moved to L.A. and realized: I don’t really want to be famous. Instead of being locked in to my career looking a certain way – like, I gotta get a record deal, I gotta be a rapper – I realized my gift is being a connector.
“My gift is educating people,” he said. “My talent is rap. You can use your gift in other arenas. For me, it doesn’t have to be rap. I’ve found that working with my gift is way more satisfying than anything I do with my talent. Using my gift doesn’t always have to be music or acting. If I’m connecting with and educating people, that’s what matters.”
He’ll get to use his gift when he leads an upcoming workshop he’s been developing. He intends for it to be a national, and perhaps international, series – that’ll start in Charlotte – called “A Dreamer’s Journey: The Course for Staying the Course.”
He’ll cover how to understand the natural ebb and flow of your own creative cycle and how to live a more fulfilling life.
“I want to teach people how to balance everyday life with their passion,” he said. “This past year showed me that I could do that. I feel like this workshop has the potential to change people’s lives.”
Registration isn’t open, but if you follow Parker on Instagram or his website (iammasonparker.com), you can sign up for updates.
And look for “The Paperback Hero Saga” in June. McNair, who’s illustrated many comic books, believes it will endure.
“I told Mason his story is building up to be something great,” he said. “Years after the first book comes out, I think people will find things in the book they didn’t notice on first reading. There are so many layers to it. I’ve seen all the hours Mason put into this, and I think they’ve paid off.”