Immortal Dark Manga & Mental Health with James Church

“I am deeply invested in blackness and I’m deeply invested in mental health-specifically as it relates to generational trauma.” - James Church
I first met James Church (who is also known as Enoch the Poet) when I was working on a series for OC87 Recovery Diaries about The Healing Verse Poetry Line (1-855-763-6792), a toll-free telephone line that offers callers a 90-second poem and a moment of pause in our busy days to help us center, contemplate and think just a bit differently about the grind of everyday. I loved meeting him and was deeply moved by his poem, Fractal (mom), and his commitment to mental health.
I was delighted to learn that James is also the creative mind behind Immortal Dark, a fantastic Black supernatural martial arts manga that blends two of James’ lifetime passions - Japanese manga and mental health. I was even more excited when James and Senior Editor Tommy Horsey agreed to be interviewed about their creation in front of a green screen, so we could immerse them in their manga world.
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Immortal Dark is an action-packed deep dive into the mental health of young martial artist Nico Savage. It is a tale of vengeance centered around the process of healing and the importance of breaking cycles of generational trauma.
“Whatever I do creatively, it’s all about focusing on generational trauma, how to cope with that, how to identify it, how to navigate it, so on and so forth,” says James about his motivation to make Immortal Dark.
All of the action in the series takes place on the continent known as Jura, a predominantly black continent that is split into eight different countries. Says Church, “Jura is a world that I created that’s populated with a large variety of different black identities, characters who engage and interact in different ways from different cultures, with different modes of expression, different gender identities, different sexualities, all coming together in in this one story to showcase a lot of the ways in which mental health can manifest within our bodies, based on our life experiences and the traumas that we go through.”
James/Enoch is a poet, author, publisher, trauma-informed teaching artist and manga writer born and raised on the Northside of Wilmington, DE. His work examines the process of healing and the ways that trauma and mental health move through a family, as well as the outside forces that affect or have affected these developments. As a mental health advocate and someone living with bipolar disorder, his work examines the process of healing and the ways that trauma and mental health move through a family, as well as the outside forces that affect or have affected these developments.
We spent a great day in the studio with this creative team, unpacking the forces for good behind their remarkable manga series. I hope you enjoy meeting James, Tommy and some of the inhabitants of Jura-including Nico, River, Emanu, Shula, Anoki-as much as I did.
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[@ishmaelwilson6702]

Brother, I give you 👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿💪🏿💪🏿💪🏿💪🏿💪🏿💪🏿👊🏿👊🏿👊🏿👊🏿👊🏿👊🏿 DOPE AS HELL, you have a supportive fan!!!!! Black folks Stuff

[@Amylynn-EarthAngelPriestess]

So true, that is so amazing!

[@geraldwestjr520]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥We are all small pieces of the HUGE collective TRANSFORMATION.
KEEP GOING👑👑💯

[@allywallydd]

This is amazing! Looking forward to grabbing a copy of the manga.

[@OC87RD]

Love to hear that!

[@ishmaelwilson6702]

When it comes to mental health, BLACK FOLKS DEFINITELY IN NEED OF MAJOR HEALING, ESPECIALLY IN NORTH AMERICA

[@shanishine38]

I love your view on world-building. You're inspiring. These are the characters I grew up wanting to see while reading manga. I'm on your mailing list and will support your endeavors. 👏🏾

[@NikaGantz]

I love this person his energy peace and generous

[@kevineneck8807]

Can you introduce us to other characters from immortal dark pls🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾(if u want to)

[@flowerblue196]

This manga look great looking forward to reading it ❤📚

[@User17.2.9]

He's helping the comic book kids and adults

[@jeaninepetro1529]

Manic/depression's flip = wisdom/joy

[@youtubenocturnal]

Keep up the good work. We need more like you to make comics and anime. I'm on my own journey so this helps a lot. God Bless.. Can you make more videos to help beginner artist? Thanks bro.

[@johnsharkey2948]

😊looks good/ dig the creativity ..Nice imagination ....Just the drop... iz sick..

[@johnsharkey2948]

Looks like a wide 4 an animation....Aye we all been to get that diagnosis..Bio/o/polars//scizefrenics//multi personality disorders....Like your effort/ thanx 4 sharing....

[@mastermed7724]

Not To Shabby At All Good Brothers👍🤙👏

[@thebrandonmayesfiles5419]

Cool

[@jeanneshanahan8293]

James, wonderful. How can I email you?

[@OC87RD]

You can join his email list here: immortaldarkmanga.com/

[@jeanfoley3266]

💕TH€
CONCEPT
+
I WANT THAT
HOODIE ON❕❗
Detroit CERTIFIED~👊...

[@pharaohdarien69]

Will there be an app where I can read this ?

[@zer0cx110]

Where do you find this manga so I can read it?

[@jeaninepetro1529]

James 1:5