When the animated movie Nimona arrives on Netflix June 30, fans of the original webcomic Nimona And the graphic novel it collects will immediately notice massive changes in the story. The style of humor has changed radically, even keeping some of the specific jokes. The film’s retro-futuristic world – a mix of sci-fi technology and medieval culture – is somewhat similar to that of the book, but has much more structure and history, with a greater emphasis on the ruling class. The second protagonist, whose name has changed significantly from Ballister Blackheart to Ballister Boldheart, is a much softer and helpless character in the film, and his story is vastly different.
On a press day leading up to Nimona‘s release, writer-artist ND Stevenson explained that all of those changes seemed necessary, but none of them mattered as much as keeping the title character as she was originally written.
“During the adjustment, I knew things were going to change,” Stevenson said in a presentation streamed live to select press outlets. “But it was always very important to me that Nimona herself remains the center of this story, and that the things that made her have not been removed or sanded down or simplified too much.”
Nimona, a mysterious shape-shifter who arrives at Ballister’s secret fortress and demands to be his sidekick after being framed for a villainy, is the crux of both the book and the movie version of the story. While she’s given a much clearer backstory in the movie, she’s still the book’s most recognizable character, both in looks and personality.
Image: Netflix
“One thing that I think is really important about this story to me — and it was really important to see in the movie — was the darkness at the heart of it,” Stevenson said. “Nimona isn’t just quirky, she’s not just fun, she’s not just a cool lead. She has a lot of fear and a lot of pain in her heart, and it comes out as anger. I found that very cathartic at the time.”
Stevenson, who has come out as transgender since the beginning Nimona in 2012 as an art school project, only recently realized how much Nimona’s powers to change her own shape were an unconscious transfantasy. At its Substack, I am fine. I am fine. Just understandStevenson recently posted a very funny and self-effacing cartoon blog about looking back at the strip and how he wrote about it at the time without realizing what he was expressing about himself. And in his 2020 memoir The fire never goes outhe collects diary strips from the period, recording his mental health and self-expression issues, which he channels into the original Nimona.
“I was looking for an outlet for my emotions and I felt like I couldn’t really express them,” Stevenson said on press day. “But I was able to do that through her. At the end, she becomes this monster – the monster everyone has told her she is. And she’s like, You know what, you want a sample? You have one. Here I am. That was something I really had to see. And it was kind of a hard sell for a female character, then and now.
While the expression of that idea in the movie is radically different from that in the book, emotionally it comes from the same place. “They are absolutely staying true to that and have brought that to life,” said Stevenson. “They went even further, to show that she is not a problem to be solved. She is not one to be fixed. You don’t have to understand her to love her. And I think that’s going to mean so much to so many people. The book is dedicated to monster girls. And I think there are so many monster girls and boys out there who will see themselves in her.
Image: ND Stevenson via Substack
Stevenson’s demand that Nimona remain recognizable in the film extended to aspects of her character design, color scheme, and movement. “One of the things that really mattered to me was her body type,” he said. “She’s chubby and curvy, but she’s never been sexualized and she’s non-conforming.” She just has her own unique style. She chooses to look like this. And so that was something I really wanted to make sure of – however many times [the story] could change in the adaptation, that that was something that held true.
“It was very emotional for me to see her come to life, and see her this way and be like, That’s her. That’s Nimona. That’s this character that got me through so many hard times as a young personStevenson said. “It was such a power fantasy for me. And I think a lot of kids will feel the same way. She cannot be locked up. It cannot be limited to any form. […] So I’m really, really excited that kids can see themselves in that power fantasy.
Nimona arrives on Netflix on June 30.