Meet Nicholas Doan

We were lucky to catch up with Nicholas Doan recently and have shared our conversation below.

Nicholas, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

My confidence and self esteem are rooted in my own desires and goals. I focus on what I want to achieve and always remember that if I don’t go get it myself, no one is going to give it to me. Confidence comes from that, because if you don’t stay on that path and stay focused on your goals, you will stumble. All that concerns me in that respect, is what I want to achieve and how I do that.

It’s also helpful to remember that I create art and art is subjective. Every piece of art has fans and detractors. I write stories that I would want to read. I worry about making comics that I can be proud of. As long as I am happy with the result, I can consider any detractors to be a result of differing taste. Everyone’s taste is different. If my thing isn’t their flavor, I don’t need to worry about them, because they aren’t my audience.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I have been creating comic books professionally since December 2007 when my webcomic, PRAY FOR DEATH, with Daniele Serra, became the first ever, user-submitted contest winner for DC’s web imprint, Zuda Comics. I followed that up by creating the award winning all-ages graphic novel series, MONSTER ELEMENTARY. I have continued to balance my dark side with all-ages hits. I created THE KID AND THE RIPPER about the unlikely teaming of Billy The Kid and Jack the Ripper and in 2025, I co-created MISFIT ISLAND with Sara Silver and Bobby Timony. My own publishing company is now distributed into comic shops all over the continent through Philbo publishing. And I am excited to announce that my next project is to see my very first published comic, PRAY FOR DEATH finally get printed in an oversized hardcover full of bonus material. It will launch on Kickstarter on September 20th, 2025. You can find out more at Brokenoarcomics.com

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Quality, Kindness and Patience.

Quality – A lot of my books missed deadlines. This never happened because I was negligent or irresponsible, but because I always put quality first. if there is a mistake on a page, I would rather take the time to get it fixed than push it through just to keep a schedule. as a result, I can look back at my body of work and remain proud of everything that I did.

Kindness – I think that our American culture has too strong a focus on competing. we instinctively want to compete with each other, but the truth is, being kind, friendly, supportive and giving have been much more rewarding in my career. The comics industry especially is a community. the more that we build each other up and support each other, the better we all do. the rising tide lifts all ships.

Patience – This has been really important. We are all eager for certain opportunities and advancements. but chasing after them desperately doesn’t do us much good. It usually drives opportunities away. Patience is extremely important. you can’t count on an unsigned contract. Be patient.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

If you are looking to write comics, there is one book that doesn’t get mentioned enough that is Vital.

THE DC COMICS GUIDE TO WRITING COMICS by Dennis O’Neil. There are a lot of great books about writing comics by a lot of great writers, but this is the book that lays out all the nuts and bolts and even has a glossary of terms. It gives you the entire language of a comic book script and it is written by one of comics’ greatest legends.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Misfit Island – Bobby Timony

Pray For Death – Daniele Serra

Daisy Cassidy – Eryn Tompsett

The Kid and The Ripper – David Palumbo

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