Johnnie Christmas is an American-Canadian author and illustrator. He is known for the graphic novels Swim Team, Gamerville, and Crema, as well as the comic series Tartarus, Alien 3, and Angel Catbird.
Career
Graphic Novels In 2020, Christmas wrote Crema, a digital graphic novel illustrated by Dante Luiz. The book is about the lesbian romance between a barista who gains the ability see ghosts when she drinks coffee and a coffee plantation heiress. Originally published exclusively online by ComiXology, a print volume was published by Dark Horse Comics in 2022.
Christmas' first child-oriented work, Swim Team, was released in 2022 through HarperAlley. The graphic novel follows Bree, a Black girl who goes from being unable to swim to joining her school's swim team with the help of her elderly neighbor, a former swimming champion. The book discusses the history of swimming for Black communities in the United States, including how segregation at swimming pools contributed to stereotypes about Black people and swimming. Reception to the book was positive, with it receiving starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly. It won a BCALA Literary Award and Young Reader's Choice Award, and received nominations for other awards including Eisner and Harvey awards.
His next middle-grade graphic novel, Gamerville, was published in 2024 and is about Max, a video game-obsessed young boy who after being made to attend the screens-free Camp Reset for the summer conspires to escape to the Gamerville video game tournament.
Comics In 2018, Christmas wrote Firebug, about a volcano goddess named Keegan. The work was nominated for the Joe Shuster Award for Outstanding Cartoonist.
Christmas adapted William Gibson's unproduced Alien 3 script into a five-issue comic in 2018, both writing and illustrating the work.
He is the illustrator for Margaret Atwood's Angel Catbird, which follows scientist Strig Feleedus, who is transformed into a winged cat-bird-human hybrid by an experiment gone awry and enters a secret world of animal-human hybrids.
In 2020, Christmas launched Tartarus, a science fiction Afrofuturist comic series illustrated by Jack T. Cole.
Personal life Christmas is a dual American and Canadian citizen. He was born in Puetro Rico and raised in Miami, Florida. As of 2009, he lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is an alumnus of Pratt Institute, and has a BFA in Communications Design.
Publications
As Author
As Illustrator
Accolades YearTitleAward/HonorResult2019FirebugJoe Shuster Award for Outstanding Cartoonist2021Swim TeamDwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics2022Harvey Award for Best Children's or Young Adult BookNational Book Award for Young People's Literature2023BCALA Literary Award — Children & Youth Literary AwardsCoretta Scott King Award - IllustratorEisner Award for Best Publication for KidsCybils Award for Graphic NovelBarnes & Noble Children's & Young Adult Book Awards - Young ReadersQuick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers2025Young Reader's Choice Award - Junior CategoryGamervileNAACP Image Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel
References