Las Cruces author, artist, animator publishes first graphic novel

Using the pen name Epoch Sonder, Las Cruces author Simone Jimerson wrote the text and created the artwork for her first graphic novel, “Maven Chapter 1,” which she will promote in London this month.

Inspired by the television show “Heroes,” Jimerson came up with the concept for a graphic novel in 2018 and began creating her characters two years ago, deciding, “I could really do something with this.”

Jimerson describes her book as “Alice in Wonderland meets Avatar, the Airbender, and Beauty and the Beast.”

Her lead character, Eleanor, is a self-insert Jimerson created because of her experience growing up mixed-race in Temecula, California (between San Diego and Los Angeles).

“I didn’t see a lot of people like me” in cartoons, on television and in the movies, she said.

“It’s for all the other girls out there who look like me,” said Jimerson, who moved to Las Cruces in 2021 from North Richland Hills, Texas (a suburb of Fort Worth), where she had been a firefighter and paramedic. She is now working full-time as an author and animator.

“I wrote this book for me,” Jimerson said. “It’s a gift to my younger self. She would have loved it.”

Jimerson finalized the story for “Maven” and its character design earlier this year using her iPad and the art program Procreate, and “settled on a script that I thought was really powerful,” she said.

Jimerson was invited to participate in Procreate’s “Playgrounds in Motion” event Sept. 8 in London, during which the digital painting app will unveil new technology. A featured speaker will be British animator James Baxter, who created characters for Disney’s “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

In “Maven,” Eleanor, “the chosen one,” wakes up in a new world, “Elade,’ where she must collect the magic of water, wind, fire, earth and spirit to guide her personal growth. Helping her navigate this new realm is a human-animal hybrid knight named Aleq.

“Maven” takes less than 10 minutes to read, and, although it was written for young adults, is “interesting enough” to appeal to children and adults of all ages, Jimerson said.

For her appearance at Las Cruces Comicon in August, Jimerson made a nine-foot replica of Aleq – even making his clothes and shoes – which brought a lot of attention to her book, she said. She has participated in El Paso Comicon and will attend El Paso Horrorfest Oct. 7-8; Pagan Pride Day, Oct. 14, in Las Cruces; Anime Mundo, Oct. 20-22 in El Paso; RenFaire, Nov. 4-5, in Las Cruces; and Fan Expo, June 7-9, 2024, in Dallas. Jimerson also has a book signing scheduled Saturday, Sept. 30, at Zia Comics, 125 N. Main St. in Las Cruces.

Jimerson is at work on “Maven, Chapter Two,” due in November. Her end game for the books is an animated series.

“I am passionate about animation,” said Jimerson, who created a six-minute animated Maven short (www.youtube.com/c/epochsonder).  

Storyboard artist and character designer Radford Sechrist, who has animated for DreamWorks, Disney TV and Cartoon Network, saw Jimerson’s video on You Tube and invited her to teach an online animation class in 2022.

“I felt so honored,” said Jimerson, who is hoping to teach other classes on animation and graphic novels, and comics.

“Wherever this goes,” I’ll be happy,” Jimerson said. “It’s a blessing to be able to tell my story the way I want to.”

Contact Jimerson at EpochSonderStudio@gmail.com.

Purchase copies of “Maven,” along with poster art, buttons and a coloring book, and subscribe to Jimerson’s mailing list at www.epochsonder.com.