New Newspaper Interview Talking Media, Missionary Work, Cancer and More

Here is an interview/profile that was published in Utah Valley's Daily Herald newspaper Sunday, January 29. It's about my family and me, and we talk media, missionary work, cancer, and spit bubbles.

New TV I Wrote This Week: Generator Rex "Guy vs. Guy"

UPDATE JAN 6: I will be live tweeting this episode during its east coast airing tonight. Follow me at twitter.com/jakeboyslim

This Friday, January 6, at 8:30 PM E/P, the episode of "Generator Rex" I wrote premieres on Cartoon Network. It's called "Guy vs. Guy" (an intentional riff on "Spy vs. Spy" of Mad Magazine--the content of the episode explains why...). Here's the official description from Cartoon Network:

"Guy vs. Guy"

Season 3, Episode 6

Episode Synopsis: Rex plans a prank on Noah and ropes Bobo into his scheming. Original Air Date: Jan 6, 2012

Worst New Year's Date Ever

This is a story I've put up on the blog in the past, but am reposting because tonight marks the 10th anniversary of this awesome event. Enjoy!

The Horror of it All!

By Jake Black

            “I would really like to go out again!” I said as we pulled up to Tami’s home.  It was sincere, too.  I, for the first time in a very long time had had a great time on a first date with a girl.

            With a smile, she said, “I would too!  It was fun!”

I was relatively new at the first-date gig.  Since my return from my missionary service, I had been involved in a pretty serious relationship that had ended quite badly.  This date with Tami was technically my third first date in a year.  Consequently, my inexperience combined with my enthusiasm got the better of me: I asked her out right then…

            “I have two tickets to the New Year’s Eve play at the Hale Center Theatre next week.  I would love to go with you,” I said eagerly.

            She got the look on her face that my previous girlfriend got whenever I’d do something stupid.  I am convinced that they teach that look in Young Women’s right after they stand and repeat the Young Women’s Values.  In Borg-like unison: “We are daughters of a loving Heavenly Father…and when boys do something stupid we will look at them like this,” followed by a half-glare, half-pity “I’m so sorry you’re so clueless” expression.

            “Well, I’ll call you.  I’m not sure what’s going on New Year’s Eve.  I’ll let you know,” She said before making her escape to the sanctuary of her house.  But I didn’t care!  It wasn’t a “No!”  And so, I thought I had a chance.

            Now lest you think that was the bad date, fear not, little flock.  It was merely the catalyst for what was destined to become the worst date that any man had embarked on, except perhaps for that dinner Adam and Eve scheduled where Eve brought the fruit.

            The days passed, and I, as though I were awaiting news from the moon, patiently waited by my phone, anticipating Tami’s call.  Ok, that’s a lie.  There was nothing patient about it, and I wasn’t by the phone, the phone was by me.  I carried my cell phone everywhere.  Waiting.

            One day: no call.

            Two days: no call.

            Three days: no call.

            Four days: no call.

            Five days: no call.

            New Year’s Eve: still no call.

            The hours passed.  The evening was drawing closer with each tick of the clock.  Certainly she would call soon!  The show was tonight!  But it was not to be.

            At around 5:00, I realized that my glimmer of hope was not to come to pass.  But I still had two tickets.  Not to mention that I had talked up the date to my many friends who also would be attending the play that night.  I’d had such a good time with Tami that I KNEW she was to be the one!  And I’d made that clear to my friends. 

            “Just you wait,” I told them.  “Jake’s back on top of the mountain!”

            Because of my background in local theatre, I knew that the 400-seat Hale Center Theatre would be full of people I knew.  And since theatre people are notorious for gossip – well, I knew that they knew that I was bringing someone I thought was pretty special.  Someone who didn’t call me back.

            It was time to act.  I started calling every girl I could think of, inviting them to spend New Year’s Eve at the theatre with me!  It should’ve been obvious to me.  5:00 on the biggest party day of the year.  Who wouldn’t have plans?

            Apparently no one I knew.  I made 15 phone calls.  EVERYONE had plans.  Most of them were going to the show already.  Some were out of town.  Who to take?  Who to take?

            Suddenly, the light switched on.  Christy.  I’d never really even talked to her.  But, my bishop told me she’d expressed an interest in going out with me.  Now, I tend to avoid the “Ward Incest” concept at all costs, but I’d spent good money on these tickets, and darn it, I was going to use them!  Plus, if I could fulfill her wildest dream by asking her out, well, that was a service I was happy to perform!

            I made the call. 

            “Yes!  That sounds so fun!  But you need to pick me up a bit early, b/c you need to pass an interview with my family before I can go out with you,” she said with as much enthusiasm as I’d displayed with Tami a week earlier.

            Relieved that I finally had a date, I missed the warning: “You have to pass an interview with my family.”

            At 9:00, I arrived at Christy’s house.  Like I said before, Christy wasn’t really someone I’d though of asking out before.  In pioneer times, she probably would have been referred to as a “Plain Jane.”  She never really cared about making herself look good.  Ratty hair, no makeup, and very little fashion sense.  But, in the times that I’d seen her (mostly at church) I saw that she could be very pretty if she took the time to make herself that way.  I was sure that a dream date with her dream guy would cause her to take that time. 

            She answered the door.  No dice.  Same old Plain Christy.  But, that was ok.  It was only one date, and she seemed nice enough, which is much more important that how she looks anyway.  She invited me into the family room at her home, so I could have my interview.  Expecting Mom and Dad, and perhaps a sibling or something, I approached this meeting with cool confidence.  She obviously wants me, so her family will automatically love me.

            She opened the sliding door into the family room.  To my shock, even horror, there were thirty people waiting, staring at me with anticipation.  Aunts, uncles, grandparents, nieces, nephews, siblings.  It was a full-blown family reunion.  And they wanted to play Congressional Inquisition with me.

            The rapid-fire questions began: “How old are you?” “Where do you work?”  “How much money do you make?”  “Are you Republican?”  “Where did you serve your mission?” and so on.  I tried to answer as many as I could hear, but their overlapping speed made it nearly impossible to answer them all satisfactorily. 

“When was the last time you got a speeding ticket?” One uncle asked, drowning out all the other family members.

“On my mission.  But it was a photo cop, so it was, like, entrapment,” I said, confident that my clear understanding of Constitutional law would impress the family.  They all went silent. Grandma gasped. An older sibling smirked.

“Steve, Christy’s older brother, is the number one lobbyist for photo cop in California,” Christy said.

Steve stood up from the couch, walked over to me, and said, “It’s not entrapment.” 

Christy shot him a look, and he retracted his claws, and sat back down next to his wife.  Christy’s mother stood up.

“Well, Jake, you seem nice enough.  We just have a couple of questions left,” she said.  I inwardly rolled my eyes in a way that would make teenagers around the world proud. 

“Do you have a cell phone?” She asked.

“Yes,” I replied, thinking that a mother wanted reassurance that if I tried to rape her daughter or something, Christy could for help.

“We need the number before you walk out that door,” she said matter of factly. 

You have GOT to be kidding me! I thought as I scribbled my number down on a piece of paper. 

“Before you go, please bear your testimony,” Christy’s father said.  It was not a request.

I shared a brief statement of belief, in shock at the audacious thoroughness of this interview. 

As Christy and I turned to go, her mother told us that Christy’s curfew was to be at Midnight.  On New Year’s Eve.  Midnight.  I expressed my concern that the play was starting late so as to include some midnight celebrations, ringing in the New Year, and would not have ended by 12:00.  Her mother saw the logic in this, and granted an extension.  12:30.  Not a minute later.

Finally, this torturous event was over.  I opened the door to leave with Christy, but as I did so, her mother had one more thing to say….

“Jake, you need to know that the men in our family got new firearms for Christmas, and are not afraid to use them to defend Christy’s virtue.  No kissing, or anything!” She said with a coldness outside that made my winters in Canada as a missionary seem like a tropical paradise.

“Duly warned,” I said.

A few short minutes later, we arrived at the theatre.  In all of the chaos of the interview, I had forgotten that my friends were waiting with baited breath at the theatre to see the special girl I was bringing.  We were greeted by Sarah and Joseph, who, when they saw Christy were nice, but clearly unimpressed.  The usher took out tickets, and we entered the theatre.

The Hale Center Theatre is a small black box theatre.  That means that the stage is surrounded on all sides by audience seats.  It is kind of like a tiny football stadium in its seating arrangements.  For New Year’s Eve, the Hales go all out.  There was a great buffet spread out on the stage, sandwiches, drinks, cookies, etc.  Plus every audience member had been given serpentine ribbons, and a noisemaker to use at midnight.  We still had several minutes before the show was to start, and I wanted to visit with my friends.  Christy had no interest in this, and requested to sit in her seat until the show started.  So, she did.  Leaving me to visit with my friends alone.  I told them about the interview, and explained how she wasn’t my first choice of date.  Had to safe face in front of my friends at all cost.  But, I soon felt the pang of guilt for letting Christy sit by herself.  So, I joined her.

She, apparently, had gotten a sandwich on her way to her seat, and was finishing it as I sat down next to her.  She looked at me, smiling from ear to ear. 

Looks like she’s having fun! I thought.

After asking me the usual question about if I had fun, etc.  She said, with a deadpanned seriousness that reminded me of Wednesday Adams, “I was eating my sandwich, and bit into the toothpick that holds it together.  I swallowed it.”

I was speechless.  All I could think of was how this kept becoming a better story.  Just as she’d said that, we were joined on the row behind us by Meagan and Rachel, my dear friends.  Meagan, at one point, was more than a friend.  We’d ended the relationship very amicably, but it was still a little surreal to have her there.  I hoped Meagan and Rachel hadn’t heard the toothpick comment.  But I didn’t have to wait long to find out.  Christy excused herself to use the ladies’ room before the show started. 

While Christy was gone, Meagan reached her hand from behind me, handing me a toothpick. 

“Just in case,” she said.

“Ha ha,” was all I had time to say.  Christy was back.

The theatre was full at this point, and we were ready for the show to start any minute.  Christy looked at me.  Same big smile.

“Don’t you hate it when you go to the bathroom, and your sitting on the toilet,” she said, moving her hands into a model of a person seated to take care of business, “And the wall of the stall rubs against your thigh?”

What do you say to that?!?!  For one thing, the rest room stalls at the Hale Center Theatre are HUGE.  The mechanics alone of what she described would require a Yoga master!  But what was most shocking about the experience was the fact that she said it at all!  Whos says that on a date?  Who says that ever?!?! Fortunately I didn’t need to come up with anything to say in response, because the lights faded, and the play began.  All I could feel was Meagan and Rachel kicking the back of my chair in a mocking pity for the date I’d found myself trapped in.

All was well for the first fifteen minutes of the play.  Christy was well mannered, and seemed to be enjoying the show.  Way more than I was, certainly.  But, as nothing on this night was in any way predictable, another socially mortifying experience was about to take place.  A certain twist in the play occurred.  The audience giggled a bit, as it was an entertaining little twist.  The laughter and applause died down, and there was relative silence in the theatre, when Christy said, full-voice, “Ahhh.  So, the plot thickens!” 

Full-voice.  In a silent theatre.  Full-voice.  I knew at that moment that all 800 eyes were fixed on us.  I slumped down as far down in my chair as I possibly could. 

We are always told to have a prayer in the heart.  Mine at that moment was one of repentance.  I promised God that I would do nothing wrong for the rest of my life, because my personal hell, I knew, would be to relive this date over and over again.

Mercifully, God must’ve heard my prayer.  Things were fine – that is uneventful – until intermission.  But little did I know that more craziness waited!

Just as before the show, a buffet was set up on the stage during intermission, though this time it was only desserts.  Christy said she didn’t want anything, except a drink.  Being the loyal, dutiful date I was, I left her side to fetch her a glass of water. 

The theatre staff was filling water in cups from a punch bowl with floating lemons.  I took a cup back to her, which she immediately emptied.

“Wow!  This is really good!  What is it?” She said.

“Uhhh….water!?!” I said, in a bit of disbelief. 

Was she serious?!? I thought.

Apparently so, because she said, “Oh.  I just thought it was really watered-down lemonade.”

More kicks on the back of my chair from Meagan and Rachel. And the lights faded for Act II. 

In the middle of Act II, the show stopped suddenly.  It was two minutes to midnight, and we had to do the traditional countdown.  The clocked ticked off its seconds, and my heart began to grow more and more concerned.  It was traditional to kiss your date at midnight.  Was she expecting that?  Her mother’s warnings of death and destruction in defense of virtue echoed through my head. 

10….

We got our noisemakers ready….

9….

Serpentine ready to throw….

8….

Meagan patted me on the back with an understanding tap….

7….

Across the theatre Joseph had his camera fixed on me and Christy….

6….

I hate you Joseph…

5….

Why didn’t you call me, Tami?…

4….

Christy doesn’t look like she’s expecting a kiss…

3….

All the men in our house got new firearms…

            2….

            FLASH…. Joseph’s camera….

            1….

            HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

            The melodious strains of Auld Lang Sine rang through the theatre amidst the noisemakers, yelling, and jovial celebrations!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

            Suddenly I felt a pair of hands on my head.  Only they were coming from behind.

            All the men in our family got new firearms…

            A sweet, fast kiss.  Someone kissed me!  At midnight! Someone kissed me!

            Meagan.

            Fortunately Christy hadn’t seen that I’d been kissed by another girl while we were on a date!  Dang, I love Meagan!  Only she could understand how difficult this night had been.

            As the midnight festivities were winding down, and the play about to continue, I wanted to throw out my serpentine ribbon, but because Chinese scientists designed serpentine as a follow-up to the finger trap, I couldn’t get it to unravel.  So, like any guy would do in that situation, I tore it to pieces and threw each piece after piece at the people around me.

            Christy would have none of that.  Grabbing my hands, she look me square in the eye, and said very sternly, “Be gentle!”

            Yup.  I would never sin again, because an eternity of this date would be true hell.  The play continued.  And it ended.  I’m not sure if Christy did anything else.  I was so shut off from paying any kind of attention to her.  In some ways, in hindsight, I was acting like a toddler who’d been scolded.  But this was my money we were spending!  I was supposed to be out with the beautiful Tami!  Not this crazy girl!  But I digress.

            The show ended – at 12:25.  I had five minutes to get this girl home, because her parents were NOT going to call my cell phone.  We raced out of the theatre, and I pushed my 1989 Honda Accord to its limits on the icy roads.  As I pulled in front of her house, I was nervous.  It was 12:31.

            “Thank you soooooo much, Jake,” she said, flashing that same smile she’d smiled all night.  “I really had a GREAT time!”

            Crap.

            She’d had a good time.

            She wants to go out again.

            Christy ripped off her seat belt, and dived on top of me.  She gave me a huge hug that never ended.  Ever.  Ok, maybe it did.  But she kept telling me that she’d had such a good time.  I felt a little guilty because I’d been so miserable on the date, and she’d had fun! 

            “Are you sure that you don’t want to come inside and light fireworks with my family?” She asked.

            “Yeah, I’m pretty tired,” I lied.  I just didn’t want to have to face Steve and his fascist photo cop agenda.

            “Well, I had the best night ever!  Thank you!” She said.  And she left.

            I moved out of the ward a week later to pursue a job opportunity in California.  This was good, because it allowed me to avoid the awkwardness of seeing her at Church.  But, the postscript to this adventure is that upon my return to the ward, Christy was engaged.  She was engaged!  She was going to get married before I was!  I blame the Bishop.  But, you know, sometimes he does know best.  Just not this time.  Maybe I’ll give Tami a call….

The Year That Was 2011

This won’t be the most comprehensive year in review, because I can’t remember everything that happened. But there were some pretty amazing things that went down, and those are what I’ll focus on.

FAMILY
The big things on the family front all revolved around the boy. He turned three, was potty trained, started preschool, and is reading picture books by himself. Michelle spent time in Washington DC taking care of our niece while my brother and his wife took a getaway.

We lost my uncle in New Zealand, and donated to causes to help with rebuilding that nation (and the city of Christchurch) after its earthquakes. Every time there’s more shaking in NZ, we get concerned for our family there. We never stop praying and pulling for them as they continue to recover time and again.

We redecorated a few rooms in our home, notably the dining room, where our friend Ryan and I put up a chair rail. Michelle painted, and made new drapes for the windows. It turned out great.

Dressed as Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach for Halloween because the boy LOVES Mario these days!

We celebrated Christmas by hosting two of my sisters (one of whom got engaged on Christmas Eve!) My folks visited my siblings on the east coast. It was a lot of fun having the girls here with us.

HEALTH
This year marked two years since completing cancer treatment. We had a minor scare in September, but everything turned out normal. Thanks to the love and support of many people, we made progress on the $40,000 debt that was left from cancer treatment, its subsequent costs, and living expenses that piled up because money went to paying the aforementioned bills.

I sold my comic book collection (thousands of issues) for a few hundred dollars, and had some success on ebay selling other collectibles. Writer Brad Meltzer tweeted about these auctions, and that got the notice of GiveForward.com who hosted a fundraiser for us. In total, we were able to knock out about $23,000 of the $40,000. So many people donated money, posted about the fundraiser on social media sites. Other friends donated prizes that we gave to donors. It was a tremendous experience. We still owe tens of thousands, but there is, for the first time since diagnosis, we’re seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

I was misdiagnosed with a hernia this summer, thanks to participating in 23 moves in/out of our neighborhood. The diagnosis was changed to herniated discs in my lower back. They are painful, but there’s not really risk of putting off surgery (since we can’t really afford it…) The discs may, according to the doctor, heal on their own, but it will take a long time.

Michelle continued learning to manage her bipolar disorder, and part of that has been to be very open about it. We’ve seen a lot of progress, and we’re all excited about the future on the health front, both cancer and bipolar!

PROFESSIONAL
This was a pretty amazing year professionally. I had several comics published—mostly in the UK version of WWE Kids magazine. I liked doing those a lot. One of those comics got the attention of the Hart family, my favorites of all time. It’s been nice talking with them, getting to know them a little bit via online communication.

The big news was USAToday covering my digital comic Five Senses, which debuted in print at the San Diego Comic Con. The book itself, a horror story, is probably the best-reviewed thing I’ve ever done.

I continued writing issues of the DC Comics Super-Hero Collection, which we refer to as the “lead figure magazines.” I also had a new story in Star Trek Magazine, after a four year absence.

Several books I wrote also came out this year. I’m super proud of my Ultimate Guide to WWE and the Green Lantern book I did (based on the movie.) The Authorized Ender Companion was also rereleased in paperback in December.

I was interviews by the Deseret News in Utah, and for sportswriter Jeff Pearlman’s QUAZ feature, as well as by Journalism student Jess McKenna (that interview is currently unpublished, but may be in early 2012).

Toured the Blizzard Entertainment campus this summer, and spent time at the now-closed DC Comics office in La Jolla. Also visited my friend RVD and his wife (and fellow cancer survivor Sonya) on that trip to Cali. It was awesome!

Saw the end of three of my favorite projects: Smallville, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and Supergirl comics. Worked on the DVD features for the final Smallville DVD set, and said goodbye to that show which will forever have an amazing place in my heart because my entire career is a direct result of it. 

Didn’t work on Batman or Supergirl this year, but when I did last year, they were among my favorite projects of all time. My Batman episode was listed as one of the ten best of the entire series (#9). 

Was said to see them end. (There are new Supergirl comics being published, but they are a different interpretation of the character…)

Went to Comic Con, and signed copies of Five Senses. Also attended parties sponsored by Nickelodeon (promoting the new Nick-owned version of Ninja Turtles) and Impact Wrestling. Super fun!

Looking ahead to next year, there are some fun things on the horizon, including a possible fulltime editorial job I’ve interviewed for (and hope to get/start in January…)

I have a Ben 10 comicbook story I wrote hitting comic shops next week, and an episode of Generator Rex I wrote premiering on Cartoon Network on Friday, January 6.

CHURCH
Michelle and I both continued the lay assignments we received in 2010—she as compassionate service coordinator and my as elders quorum president. We have both learned a lot and appreciate the opportunities to serve these callings have presented. Both counselors and the secretary (from the originally called presidency) were changed, leaving me as the last man standing of the original presidency after the first 18 months of being called/organized.

I was made a temple ordinance worker for the Timpanogos temple this summer, and have greatly enjoyed that experience thus far. I serve every Thursday afternoon.

We hosted Elder Joe J. Christensen in our home when he came for a fireside in the spring. Michelle and I visited with President Hafen of the St. George Temple this November, and he shared with us a copy of the biography of Elder Neal A. Maxwell, which he’d written. President Hafen said our experience with cancer reminded him of Elder Maxwell’s and that we might enjoy reading the biography. It is a treasured gift, and spending the time we did in the St. George temple was a big high point of this year. 

OTHER STUFF
Other fun stuff from this year included going to the Provo airport with my friend Nate to welcome the BYU basketball team back from their victory in the NCAA’s round of 32. Saw Jimmer and company on a rainy Saturday night/Sunday morning. Visited briefly with Pres. Samuelson and AD Tom Holmoe at the airport, too.

Went to Jimmer’s final game in the Marriot Center as BYU Cougar.

I read 35 books (grown up books), countless comics, magazines, kids books, and scripts.

Got our furnace fixed in the early spring after it went out on a freezing morning.

Mostly gave up reading comics, though I still collect the new Star Trek comics. Star Trek comics were the first I collected as a kid, and I love reading them now. Especially since they are retelling stories from the original TV series, set in the universe of the 2009 movie. (Also, my sisters gave me a CD-ROM containing all the Star Trek comics published 1967-2006. Awesome!)

Saw an advance screening of 50/50, which was my favorite movie of the year. Had a lot of personal connection/resonance with Michelle and me.

All in all this was a really special year. Really looking forward to 2012, even if the world will end! (At least our cancer debt would be wiped out for good!)

Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas, everyone! This is the reading that I wrote and read as part of our church Christmas program this morning. (As you can perhaps imagine, it contains LDS/Mormon beliefs pertaining to the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, in a manger in Bethlehem):

(Song: "O Come All Ye Faithful" sung by the choir)

Two thousand and eleven years ago, an event occurred that had been anticipated by every one of our Heavenly Father’s children since the beginning of time—the Savior Christ the Lord was born. From our premortal places in the presence of our Heavenly Father, each of us watched with great wonder as our Elder Brother, who we’d known as Jehovah, was born into the world!

What a glorious occasion that must have been! We’d known Jesus in the pre-Earth life. From Him, and our Father, we learned the Plan of Salvation. Every single one of us would someday go to Earth, receive a body, and learn the way to return to our Father’s presence.

No one knows how long we’d awaited Christ’s departure for Earth. But we can, with certainty, say that we looked forward with great faith and hope to His mission on Earth.

This was it! Our gratitude and humility for what he was to do could not have been deeper. As we watched His birth from our eternal vantage point, we celebrated the beginning of His life.  We understood that His sojourn through mortality was the defining part of our Heavenly Father’s plan. His ministry would change the course of human events. His great Atonement would open the door of salvation to all people. His resurrection would prove the love God has for all mankind.

So wondrous was the moment of His birth that the angels themselves trumpeted it, announcing these good tidings of great joy to all people. A new star shone bright. Light overhelmed darkness the New World. Perhaps we, in premortality, joined with the angels in saying “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

(SONG: Joy to the World sung by the congregation)

Indeed, the birth and life, the Atonement and Resurrection, of our Savior call upon each of us to “Ever worship God.” Like the Lord, we left the presence of the Father, accepting the great Plan of Happiness and Christ’s role therein. In this life, we endeavor to rise above our challenges and circumstances, looking forward to Christ’s eventual return; living in such a way that we too may join a new choir of angels that will sing in exultation, heralding His great and majestic Second Coming. In the words of Elder Neal A. Maxwell, “When Christ comes again, it will not be to the meekness of the manger; it will be as the recognized Redeemer and the Lord of the universe! Then, in a great solar display, stars will fall from their places in a witnessing way, with much more drama than at His birth, when ‘the stars in the heavens looked down where he lay.’”

That each of us may continue to remember Him this Christmas Day, and always, is our prayer collectively and individually, in His Holy Name. Amen.

 _________
NOTE: The phrases "Two thousand and eleven years ago," "What a glorious occasion that must have been," "This was it! Our gratitude and humility for what he was to do do could not have been deeper," and "rise above our circumstances," as well as some thematic elements were based on/taken from a Christmas program script created previously by Joy Ward of Monument, CO. 

New, Unpublished Interview

Following one of the interviews I did last month, the interviewer, Jeff Pearlman, assigned one of the students in the college journalism class he teaches to do a feature on my life and me. It is below, and discusses my family, faith, career, cancer, and my desire to build a fence around my house!

Jake Black: A Legend in the Making

By Jessica McKenna 

            Jonas is three years old, and at the moment, his entertainment is blowing spit bubbles. He pushes all the saliva he can make against his lips and blows, until he creates a wet, wavering thing about to pop.

            Jake is 32. He’s happy that he and his family settled down in this suburban neighborhood called Eagle Mountain, Utah, half an hour from the noise of Salt Lake. He’s glad that the worst crime his son has to grow up with is teenage vandalism, or people running stop signs. But to his adult sensibilities, bubbles made of spit are, well, disgusting.

            “Ew, gross!” he says, dragging out both words as the saliva dries on his son’s lips.

            And Jonas laughs. He laughs so hard, Jake decides to say it again: “Eeewwww, grosssss!”

            “Jake would just keep saying it,” his wife, Michelle, explained. “Because he knew it would make Jonas laugh, just to make him happy.”

             This simple love forms the daily life of Jake Black: father, husband, Mormon, comic book writer, and cancer survivor. But in the big picture, his story comes far closer to fantasy than nonfiction.

           

A Promising Beginning

            At 10 years old, Jake Black was a nerd. He’d been introduced to Archie, and after that it only took a few trips to Provo, Utah’s main comic shops (Dragon’s Keep and Captain Salamander’s) to get him hooked.

            Now he was wearing Star Trek shirts to school every day and hanging out with Trekkies who played Magic. “We went to Star Trek conventions in uniforms,” he admitted. His was Worf’s yellow suit. “I don’t know much beyond full geek than that.”

            But Jake was a determined geek. It wasn’t enough to simply read about Klingons and Starfleet; he had to write about them too. And it wasn’t enough to simply write, either; he had to know whether his story was good.

            So he mailed it to DC Comics.

            “I just wanted some feedback and some instruction,” he said. He was in fifth grade – a proper creative writing class was still several long years out of reach. “I thought that they would write back and say that I had talent, and that it was all awesome. I was pretty ballsy in those days.”

            They didn’t say that it was awesome. But they did write back. On DC letterhead, Jake received advice that would reflect his entire career: If you want to improve, write every day.

            If you ask Paul Levitz, president of DC from 2002-2009, he’ll say that comics are the “sweet spot” for today’s writer. Poetry means artistic freedom without the cash reward. Film will make you those big bucks, but it won’t let your mind explore. With comics, you get a reasonable amount of both.

            But the industry isn’t easy to get into. “You have to knock very energetically for a long while on doors, to convince people to let you in,” Levitz said.

            Jake did just that. From sending the guys behind the desks his Next Generation fanfiction to calling up Smallville’s production offices for an internship the afternoon before it premiered, Jake never let anything stop him from doing what he loved.

            “I’m a pretty driven person,” he said. “If I want to write something I’m going to be knocking on that person’s door until they let me write it.”

            Fifteen years after that first submission, Jake had already spent a semester with Smallville, writing viral marketing, making copies of scripts, organizing master videotapes, filing, and answering phones while renting a friend’s guest apartment in Los Angeles. He’d started writing comics, some Smallville for DC and Dead@17 for Viper.

He was already well versed in the role of superheroes. It was time to try the role of a prince.

A Fairytale Romance

            The love story of Jake’s life began with his mother. Cathy Black taught dance at Brigham Young University, and every once in a while a dancer would catch her eye as perfect dating material for her son.

It never worked out. By July 2004, Jake didn’t want anything to do with her recommendations. But when he ignored her request for Michelle Douglass, fate had other ideas.

“I met him by accident a week later,” Michelle said. “I had an appointment with his mom, and he just showed up at her office wanting to take her out to lunch. His mom had just been to lunch, but I hadn’t. And so he took me out instead.”

Right away, Michelle knew Jake was different. In an Italian restaurant near BYU, they talked about her ex-boyfriend’s stalker-like tendencies. But instead of trying to impress her by saying the guy was an idiot, he tried to understand her ex-boyfriend’s perspective.

“I was like, okay, this is new,” Michelle said.

And new was good. So good, in fact, that the date lasted twelve hours.

“We kept coming up with excuses to keep talking and keep hanging out,” Michelle laughed. “Even by the end of the twelve hours I was like, I’m not done with you yet.”

For the next two months, Jake was all Michelle could think about. She tried to date other men, but afterward she always found herself calling up the guy she’d spent a full day with.

It came as no surprise when Jake went down on one knee that September night. The only surprise was the way it happened.

There were three girls in Michelle’s family, and each of them had chosen a Disney persona while growing up. Michelle was Cinderella. So when Michelle woke up that morning, she found pumpkins on the table with a note. It rhymed, and ended with, Today your wish will come true.

“He had told me the day before that I should wear my hair like a princess,” she added. “And I hadn’t thought anything of it, like hello. That would have given it away, right? But I was like, ‘All right. Whatever.’”

There were many ‘All right, whatever’ moments for her that day. Jake didn’t show up to give her a ride to BYU; his brother did, and on the seat of the car was a Prince Charming Ken doll and another note.

In her ballroom dance class, she got a Cinderella Barbie from a friend. During class with Jake’s mother, she received a Cinderella book called “The Wedding Day.”

“So by this time I’m getting really anxious,” Michelle laughed. “I actually had to sit through all my classes wondering when Jake is gonna show up.”

Some classes she wondered while dancing. Like in dance technique, where she had to do it in her newest gift: a tiara and wand. “All the other dancers are asking, ‘What is it? What’s going on?’” she remembered. “And I say, ‘Jake is – I’m being proposed to and he’s not showing up!’”

At the Missionary Training Center in Provo, where she taught Spanish to out-going missionaries, her roommate gave her a pack of Cinderella stickers. And when it was time for Jake to pick her up, it wasn’t him in the car; it was his friend Jolene, with a framed print of Cinderella and her prince.

Jolene drove Michelle to a park. There was a bridge. Jake had lined it with candles, and he was standing at the other end, nicely dressed. They met in the middle, where he pulled out not a ring, but a clear plastic high heel. It was a close fit, but Michelle wore her very own “glass slipper” while Jake proposed.

“After all day you’d think I’d be jumping up and screaming, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t. All I said was, ‘Yes, please.’”

Jake and Michelle were married on Jan 8, 2005 in the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple. “Growing up, you always think, ‘I’m going to marry a lawyer or a doctor, a firefighter...’ Never in a million years did I imagine a comic book writer,” Michelle admitted. But she loved his passion, regardless of what it was about. “I got a good one,” she said.

Four years later, they were watching Jonas grow through his first months. Jake was freelancing for DC from the new Eagle Mountain house, and going to church every Sunday with his family. It was the happy ending every Disney fairytale promises.

But then, as in any real story, a dark conflict appeared.

The Hidden Enemy

            In 2009, Jake was diagnosed with stage II Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. “It was funny,” he said, “it wasn’t ever a big dramatic moment like I don’t know how to tell you this or anything.” It was only a phone call, but it began the lowest point of his life.

            “My son was six months old, and I wanted to be around for him. So the idea of not being was horrifying. My wife and I had been married just over four years. And you know, that’s not long enough.”

            Jake had a lump the size of a ping-pong ball in his neck, and two more in his chest. He couldn’t put on weight and he was constantly tired. That was before treatment, before chemo.

             “It just attacks your body,” he said.  “It was scary to watch my hair fall out. Scary to get down to 130 lbs and look like a concentration camp victim.”

            “Jake and I had to make some adjustments at home,” Michelle said. “He slept in the basement rather than in our bedroom, because he was closer to a bathroom down there. The chemo would make him throw up a lot.”

            Jake’s chemotherapy treatments took place at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, a hospital the size of a city block right next to BYU. It’s part of Inter-Mountain Health Care, a system that President Barack Obama often praised. There were posters in the elevators bragging about it.

In a room with 7-12 other patients, Jake received a cocktail of four different drugs, dripped through an IV for six to seven hours at a time. While he sat in a chair and waited, often playing Tetras on his phone, Michelle would take Jonas for a drive.

“We just put him in the car when I’d take Jake to chemo,” she said, “and I would just drive around. Because that’s the only way Jonas would sleep, is if we put him in the car.”

Michelle often worried on those drives. “At the time, cancer meant death. I didn’t know any better,” she said. She had to prepare herself for the impossible, to wonder what she would do if she had to support Jonas as a single mom. She wasn’t working, and she knew that life insurance could only hold out for so long. How could she afford to do it on her own?

“I thought I was going to lose my husband.”

In June that year, Jake began to struggle with breathing. At first the doctors thought it was pneumonia, but they quickly learned otherwise: it was one of the chemotherapy drugs damaging his lungs. At two o’clock in the morning, he was hospitalized.

On June 25, the night Michael Jackson overdosed, Jake almost died. He wasn’t able to breathe, and while the nurses quickly put him on oxygen and stabilized him, the situation was serious enough for the hospital to call his wife.

“She says I said, ‘I don’t want to die alone,’” said Jake. “I don’t remember saying that. I remember saying I didn’t want her to get a phone call that I was dead.”

Michelle called one of her sisters to take care of Jonas, so she could go to her husband. She sat with him and held his hand for six hours.

“While she was coming, I kept saying to the nurses and the doctors, ‘My wife’s coming, my wife’s coming,’ – I was holding on so much for her to get there. As melodramatic as that may be, it was very real.”

Jake survived the night. They removed the damaging drug from his chemo routine, and he continued the last 3-4 months with only three bags per session. But the scare couldn’t be erased so easily.

“We would cry together, because we didn’t know what the future would hold,” Michelle said, trailing off into silence.

But for Jake and Michelle, surrender was not an option.

Fighting Back

            The strongest part of Jake’s life had always been his faith. His faith in God, his faith in people, and his faith in the future.

            When he was 19, Jake traveled to Alberta, Canada as a Mormon missionary. He spent two years there, playing bingo with senior citizens and teaching unmarried 18-30 year olds at the Edmonton Youth Shelter about God and Jesus Christ.

            In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is not required for any member to complete a mission. Jake’s parents, having both been introduced to Mormonism in their adult years, had not done so, and he had no legacy of it. But he chose to apply anyway.

            “I believe that much in the message that my church has to offer, and I wanted to share it with the world,” he explained.

            Cancer could do nothing against such powerful conviction. If anything, it increased it.

“I didn’t doubt my faith ever during cancer,” he said. “We all come to a point where we do question our faith, and we do look at evidences in our lives, and we do go in prayer to God and ask, ‘Is this real? Is this really real?’ And I’ve done that throughout my life. But having cancer, and just seeing what I believe to be God’s hand in my life, it has to be real. It has to be true.”

“During the cancer experience, it was hell,” Michelle said. But she feels it has only changed herself and her husband for the better. “He has had even that much more faith in God and faith in people. It’s refined him.”

Even during cancer, despite their close call, Jake and Michelle found ways to keep fighting. Jake kept freelancing, despite the damage chemotherapy was causing him. “He was able to choose the hours he worked, so if he felt tired he could go sleep. But if he was up to it, he could come in his office and work,” Michelle explained.

She herself found strength in the community, in the neighbors whose own faith called them to help by making dinners for the couple on days Jake had his chemo appointments, cleaning their house, and doing their laundry. “I think that definitely helped to pull me through,” she said.

Cancer also gave each of them something far more valuable than a paycheck with Superman on it, or even the gift of a meal. It gave them memories.

For Jake, it’s his fondest memory yet of his son:

“I’d been in the hospital for a week, and my wife and son came to get me. My room was at the end of a hall, facing the hall where the elevators were. And he walked out…He had a little breathing mask on…He stepped out of the elevator, and he looked and saw me lying in my hospital bed, and started a full run down to see me.

He loved me so much, he wanted to run through the hospital wearing his little mask.”

For Michelle, it’s her most powerful memory of her husband:

“During the cancer experience, we went out on the porch and just spent some normal time together, sitting on our bench on the porch. And laughing. He was pale, he was skinny, his eyes were sunken in and he had no hair. No eyebrows. But we were laughing.”

Jake’s bout with cancer is something neither of them will ever forget. It is, as Michelle put it, “a permanent part of our lives.” But all of its horrors have only increased their appreciation for life, and strengthened their sense of hope.

Hope for Tomorrow

            As we reach the end of 2011, Jake is still writing comics and superhero television shows. Online reviews praise his recent comic Five Senses, and he finally knocked his way into the writing house of Batman: Brave and the Bold with episode 22 of its second season. His next project is a non-fiction book, a collection of 15 stories from Mormons who have experienced cancer as a patient, a loved one, or a doctor. His own story will be the introduction.

            “I think it’s really important to put my experience out there,” he said. “If the details of my experience can help someone else, then that far outweighs any discomfort I might have in talking about it.”

            At this point, Jake is content. He’s the Elders Quorum President of his congregation, with the responsibility of visiting 75 returned missionaries (elders), a couple each week, to talk them through any troubles they might be experiencing. It’s helping people, something Jake says is, “so important to me. So significant.”

            When asked to mention one career-related ambition, he said, “I want to be an editor for a magazine my church publishes.”

            When asked to mention one dream unrelated to his career, he said: “I want to build a fence around my house.”

            So, he has no burning desire to improve much of anything in his life. But he does have a passion for what he considers the best part of it: his family.

            “I love hanging out with my wife,” he said. “I love dating her still. I love wrestling with my son, dressing up like Mario, Luigi, and the princess for Halloween.”

            “He bends over backwards for me,” Michelle said.  Even the little things mean so much to her, like when he brings home her favorite no-bake cookies with oatmeal, chocolate, and peanut butter on days she feels stressed. “He’ll just show up. ‘Oh I just bought these for you, cause I know you need a pick-me-up,’” she explained. “I couldn’t have asked for a better husband.”

            But life still isn’t fairytale perfect. Cancer treatment has left its mark, and as Michelle has said, “It’s still a struggle.”

            Chemotherapy ravages a person’s body in more ways than weight and hair loss. Jake, like many others, suffers from a side effect called “chemo brain”: diminished clarity in thinking and memory. It is also possible that Jonas will be the only child he ever has.

            And then, there’s the remaining debt. Fundraisers, both within the local Utah community of writers and online, have helped tremendously, paying off $30,000 of the initial $40,000 Michelle and Jake owed. But that $10,000 still remains.

            “I’m always asking Jake, ‘What can I do, what can I do to help? I could go to work,’” Michelle said. She’s made about $1,000 by selling small crafts at local boutiques, a hobby she adores, but she feels as though it isn’t enough.

            Jake does. “He always says, ‘The biggest, most important thing that you can do is be a mom to Jonas. Just be there for Jonas. I’ll take care of it. The Lord will take care of it.’

            “It’s just faith,” she said. “Believing so much that everything will work out.”

            In a few weeks, Jake and his family will celebrate Christmas. He already can’t wait. “I’m excited to give,” he said. “I love giving.” They will eat Chinese food on Christmas Eve, and unwrap new pajamas to sleep in that night. The next morning he and his father and brother will watch A Christmas Story on TBS before the family dinner, and for those few days, their only concern will be to celebrate love.

            For Jake, that’s what’s most important. In fact, it’s the only thing he wants to be remembered for.

“I just want people to say that I was a kind person,” he said, “and that they knew I cared. That I cared about them, individually and collectively.”

COPYRIGHT 2011 JESSICA MCKENNA -- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

"Ender Companion" in Paperback Today!

"The Authorized Ender Companion" written by me a couple years ago, is being released in paperback today. Makes a GREAT Christmas gift for sci-fi fans! Go buy it here: