Life on Earth is MariNaomi’s aptly named YA graphic trilogy, a Rashomon-like tale of friendship, family, loyalty, loss, and possible alien abduction at Blithedale High. The last installment, Distant Stars (Graphic Universe, March 1), ties the series’ storylines together and includes a burgeoning queer relationship. Our reviewer called Distant Stars “a tremendous finale to a singular trilogy.” MariNaomi’s comics and paintings have been featured by the Smithsonian, and she is the founder and administrator of the Cartoonists of Color, the Queer Cartoonists, and the Disabled Cartoonists databases. Here we talk with her about adolescence, seeing the world in color, and character development. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Life on Earth covers a lot—first kisses, unwanted pregnancy, rape, gun violence, friendship, loyalty, crushes, UFOs, coming out. What drew you to tackle the full spectrum of teenage life?

I don’t think I tackled the full spectrum at all. My own adolescence contained a lot more drama than I dealt to these teens—namely drugs, race issues, bullying, running away from home. OK, now that I list it out like that, I can see that I included a lot of this stuff in this series. [Laughs.] I guess that I’m just writing what I know, plus trying to look at the issues from different angles.

Other than in the portrayal of the otherworldly Claudia Jones (who some speculate was abducted by aliens), color is used somewhat sparingly. When do you use color? 

In this series, I meant the colors to represent each narrator’s essence (their auras, perhaps), which Claudia not only sees a fuller spectrum of, but also helps bring to the forefront and helps each person see as well. I consider her almost like an undercover spiritual guide. 

In my experience growing up, I saw the world in mostly blacks and whites, good or bad, happy or sad. As I got older, I started to understand the world in shades of gray. It’s possible for someone to be good and bad! Happy and sad! I figure the next logical step to that is seeing the world in colors, which would represent a higher maturity, or awareness, of self and others. 

Was it important to you to integrate—rather than foreground—the queer romance in your trilogy?

Although there are certainly a lot of romantic things that happen in this story, as in life, I didn’t want it all to be about romantic love. Friendships and familial relationships are just as important, if not more so, as romantic relationships, especially in formative years. At least for me, romance was idealized as a kid, whereas my other relationships were more true.

These characters are somewhere in between, learning about themselves and toeing the line between idealization and truth. I feel like the relationship between Paula and Johanna is the most truthful out of all the romances in these books. I feel like their relationship signifies Paula’s growth as a person, which is why it’s important.

The series digs into all of the characters’ inner lives; Paula, for example, wonders: “When did I become such a moody bitch?” Each character feels so fully realized.

Thank you! I initially based each narrator on someone I’ve been close to, then let the characters develop from there. Most of my work in the past has been memoir, and at first I was worried about all the characters ending up being me. But having real-life inspirations made it easy to determine what they’d do and think in each situation. They are their own people, with bits of me mixed in at times.

Can you tell us about the Cartoonists of Color, Queer Cartoonists, and Disabled Cartoonists databases that you founded?

I started the Cartoonists of Color database in 2014. At the time, I was tired of hearing that there were no people of color in the comics industry (folks would say this in response to criticism of creators of color not getting the same opportunities as white creators), and I wanted proof, for myself, that that was not the case….As our sheer numbers overwhelmed me, I found myself getting upset that there wasn’t a resource of creators of color online, and then it hit me. I had the list. And so I had to make it available to the world.

Once I got that going (it started as a very simple HTML page and now is something much more elaborate), I decided to use my newfound superpower to create the Queer Cartoonists database. Then, recently, inspired in part by my mentee Rus Wooton, a quadriplegic comics pro, and in part by my friend Patrick Dean, who has ALS and is documenting his experience via powerful cartoons, I decided to create the Disabled Cartoonists database.

As of this date, there are 1,398 creators in the Cartoonists of Color database, 1,145 creators in the Queer Cartoonists database, and 99 creators in the Disabled Cartoonists database. Some of these folks appear in more than one database. 

Karen Schechner is the vice president of Kirkus Indie.