Interview with Kelly Thompson on Jem and the Holograms

Hey, this is Kelly Thompson over... Hey, this

is Kelly Thompson, writer of IDW's Gem in the

Holograms, and you are about to have a truly

outrageous time here at the Geekcast Radio Network.

Hello and welcome to the truly outrageous crossover

interview here inside the pull bag on Showtime

Synergy. I am TFG1 Mike and joining me are my

Misfit Girls, Lady Rec, hello. Hello. And Beatles

Diva, hello. Aloha. Today we have the pleasure

of welcoming Jim and the Holograms writer Kelly

Thompson. Hi Kelly, how are you? Hi, I'm good.

Thanks for having me guys. Thanks for agreeing

to be on. Yeah, it was touch and go after the

Shana situation. Yeah. I wish somebody would

go back and actually time that out to see how

long I actually went on about that. Altogether,

it was like 10 minutes nearly. Oh, come on. You're

exaggerating. No, no, no. I remember the conversation.

the second round i said i was listening to the

cast and i go move on already into the open room

so it had to be a long time so you know listen

we all have our things you have a thing with

shana's hair i don't know what it's about it

was lopsided it was supposed to be like that

it was you know it's the side ponytail yeah it's

asymmetrical it's like a thing yeah You know

what? I'll even give you the issue five. I mean,

I still think it looks great. I think it looks

great, but that's not my favorite of Shayna's

many hairs. But you really undermined your credibility

by complaining about four where it looked amazing.

So we really had no legs to stand on by the time

we got to five. Oh, that's funny. And the funny

thing is, in six, people will not be able to

see this until, well, as of this recording and

interview, you wouldn't be able to see this,

but when this interview goes live this coming

Friday, issue six of Gem in the Holograms from

IDW Publishing will already be out. In the Showtime

scene, her hair actually looks pretty damn good.

It does, I have to agree. Do you mean because

it always looks good? Correct. Okay. It's just

hair, for heaven's sakes. Well, I don't know

if that's fair in a book like Gem, where it's

like 40 % hair. It's reasonable that it's a big

deal, but I think their hair is amazing. I also

just, you know, I mean, Sophie is not really

doing podcasts right now, so she can't really

come on here to defend herself, so I'll defend

her in her stead. But, you know, I don't know

if you guys have... I'm sure you've realized

like how many different outfit changes, makeup

changes, hair changes for that many main characters

in that many issues. Like it's insane. So, you

know, not everyone can be your favorite one.

Does she have like a, like a primer? Now that

you're talking about it. What she really should

probably do, and I'm sure she doesn't have, maybe

I should do this and give it to her for Christmas,

is make a database of everything she's used so

far so she can quickly look at it and be like,

oh, I've already done that. I've got to do something

different. Or, okay, we'll go back to revisit

that. I like that. She grabs a lot of stuff online.

She looks at a lot of fashion. She looks at a

lot of hair. over Tumblr and Pinterest and all

that stuff and draws from all that stuff for

inspiration. Um, she sometimes definitely gets

stuck and you know, every once in a while I'll

get an email and she's like, I am out of outfits.

Someone has to help me. And so I'll send her

a bunch of stuff I find, but you know, mostly

it's just her drawing from life and making it

go. It's pretty amazing. Oh, Sophie does an amazing

job. Amazing. That is absolutely cool. I love

it. I love it. It's incredible. You know, when

she did the outfits for the first issue, I didn't

realize we hadn't really talked about it. And

I didn't realize she was going to do sort of

riffs on their original outfits. And I was so

excited. And I just thought that was like such

a great callback. You know, I mean, she'd already

done all this amazing work to sort of update

them, you know, for sort of a modern audience

while still sort of retaining the flavor of what

they were originally. And so that was just sort

of like. above and beyond to me that she's like,

I'll take these outfits and I'll sort of reinterpret

them. And I love that. So awesome. So getting

started here, growing up, where did you grow

up and had you always wanted to get into writing

and writing for comics specifically? Um, no,

I grew up. I was born in California. And I lived

there till I was about six. Then I lived in Colorado

till I was about 14. And then I came to Utah.

And I was here until the moment I could leave

for college. And I ran away. Utah is very beautiful,

but it's not really for me. And so I went to

school for a while, and then went to LA after

school. And now I live in New York. And I always

wanted to be a writer, but I really didn't know

about comics as a medium until I was about 15

or 16. I had read Archie's, which I would always

beg my mom for, and I was obsessed with them.

So you could sort of see the comics. bug had

already bitten me before i really knew what it

was but you know i had never seen a comic book

store i had never seen other comics that weren't

archie's so i didn't sort of have an understanding

of them As a medium, it was just Archies were

Archies, you know. So it wasn't until I saw the

X -Men animated cartoon in the 90s when I was

15 or so that I was like, what is this? And I

was sort of obsessed with it. And then my brother,

a couple weeks later, came home with a comic

book. sort of that he saw at the mall and he

was kind of jumping up and down because it had

Storm from the cartoon on the cover. He's like,

look, look, it's the girl from the cartoon. And

I was like, what is this? What is this magic?

And I opened it up and that was it. And, you

know, it was sort of, I'm not a very good artist,

but at the time when I was 15, I thought maybe

I'd be an artist or a writer when I was a kid.

And so, you know, when I grew up, maybe I would

do that, but I didn't really think I have what

it took to be a painter. And I wasn't sure I

had what it took to be a novelist, but like this

thing was sort of magically something I loved

and also something that was merging writing and

art in an interesting way. And I became obsessed

with it and sort of never looked back. Interesting.

That is fantastic. Thanks. It's worked out okay.

It took a while to get here, but it's worked

out all right. It was worth it in the long run.

Yeah. So. That being said, and all of that, what

made you choose to go to the college that you

went to? What was it? Savannah? Savannah College

of Art and Design. They have a sequential art

program. And at the time that I went, they were

the only school that had a sequential art program.

I mean, there were art colleges like the Andy

Huber School and stuff like that, or the Joe

Huber School. But the only college at the time

that really offered a sequential art program

was SCAD. So I transferred there after two years

at University of Arizona. And it was because

I loved comics. Yeah, I mean, my parents were

like, what are we doing? Who lets their child

go to college to study comic books? But they

were skeptical but supportive. So I was very

lucky. Oh, that's good. Yeah. That's good. Would

you say a college education is required for what

you do then? No, absolutely not. 100 % no. I

mean, there are things I learned that I hope

make me a better storyteller, but there are absolutely

things you could learn just from reading very

good comics and very bad comics and paying attention

to them and reading a few of the really great

books out there that break down kind of comic

storytelling. Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics

is... a great primer that can teach you almost

everything you need to know to be honest so no

offense to scad which i loved and had a great

time and i'd never turn in my experience for

that but you didn't need it at all it in no way

helped me break in it in no way gave me the contacts

i needed to like do this it didn't do any of

that um i think it gave me some confidence about

what i knew and that i knew i could tell stories

this way but no you absolutely don't need it

Yeah. How did you break into the comic industry

now that you mention it? Very long and slow.

You know, I started. So I went to SCAD for a

couple of years and then I went to LA and I was

sort of your typical post -college broke, hated

my job kind of thing. And I wrote a superhero

novel, which I thought about doing as a comic.

It's called The Girl Who Would Be King. I thought

of doing it as a comic, but it seemed more interesting

to turn it into prose because I wasn't seeing

a lot of superhero stories in prose. So in some

ways that pushed me even further away from comics

because I was busy with this novel business.

And I did that and I was successful at that.

But that took a long time as well. I mean, that

was five years of like working on that and trying

to get that out there and everything. And while

I was doing that, I started blogging when it

became sort of a thing. I got Brian Cronin, who

runs Comics Should Be Good. I came to his attention

through something, probably me bitching about

something. And he gave me a platform to start

She Has No Head on Comics Should Be Good. And

so that gave me a pretty big audience, and I

started writing about comics. I don't really

call myself a journalist, but, you know, I was

writing op -ed and essays and things like that

about stuff I loved and stuff that I thought

was problematic both. And it's, you know, through

that and through Twitter and everything, you

know, I would occasionally have people I really

admired reach out to me about something I wrote

or, you know, and so I started to become friends

with more people and know more people. And, you

know, in the background, like the novel was being

published. And then I was working on pitches

for comic book stuff I wanted to do. And I think

when it started to break free was I partnered

up with. the artist Meredith McLaren, who's insanely

talented, to do my first graphic novel, which

was Heart in a Box. And I was able through, and

I mean... I had a couple connections, but mostly

they ended up not. I mean, it ended up being

almost a blind submission. I think we got in

more from someone at Dark Horse knowing Meredith's

work and thinking she was good and Meredith saying,

oh, well, actually, we have a pitch. You know,

here it is. And so it was sort of how we got

in. It ended up sort of having nothing to do

with me. And it took about a year, but we finally

got approved from Dark Horse to do that. And

that is actually finally coming out. this September

in print. Nice. I think that that having work,

even though it wasn't out yet, you know, I had

a PDF that I could send to people and be like,

listen, I mean, and that was definitely something

that happened with Gem. Even though I hadn't

done a lot of work, I could send them my novel

to show them that I did know how to write superheroes

and things of that nature. And then I could send

them, you know, 100 pages of a graphic novel

that wasn't published yet and be like, look,

I know what I'm doing. I know I don't have a

lot of published credits yet. And that was sort

of what helped. you know, heart in a box has

got, has been really well received by everyone

who's looked at it. And I think it was what helped

people go, okay, it's all right that she hasn't

written a million comics. She knows what she's

doing and she's going to write a million comics.

We're just going to get her first. Exactly. I

love that. I think, I think with anything, once

you, once you. get your foot in the door it's

a lot easier to start yanking it open by force

and things tend to snowball a little bit um just

naturally once you've got something especially

if it's something that's being well received

and that looks as great as gem does and so that

sort of started to break things open but it's

still a very slow process i mean i got the gem

gig a year ago um about almost a year ago and

a lot's happened since then but you know it's

Comets is a very slow moving animal, you know,

takes, takes a lot of time. Did you celebrate

when you found out that you got the job? I was,

I was over the moon because, you know, Sophie

and I wanted it so bad because it was gem. But

for me, it was also super tied to. yes, someone's

actually going to pay me to do this, you know,

as an actual job. And this is really my break.

I mean, the heart in a box was almost done and

it was maybe going to come out in six to nine

months, but you know, it wasn't out there. I

wasn't established. So they were taking a big

risk on me. I mean, I think we all know that

Sophie partnering with Sophie was sort of my

ace in the hole because she's so talented, but

you know, it was a huge, it was an amazing thing

because not only did we get to do gem, but. I

was a huge, it was like my break in, you know,

and I was getting to do it with Sophie and it

was such a, it was such a bit of trust for them

to give me. I mean, not only to write the book,

but you know, revamping a 30 year old property

can be very tricky. And so it was, uh, they put

a lot of trust in me and I am very grateful for

it. Awesome. Because I have to ask this question

to everybody because this is a comic podcast

after all. DC, Marvel, or other company? Which

way do you lean? I don't know. I mean, Image

is obviously doing incredible creator -owned

stuff. I love their work. I'd like to do something

with them. That said, I think some of their stuff...

could use some more oversight. I mean, you know,

you've got your sagas and your Lazaruses and

things like that that are just like perfect,

beautiful books. But then, you know, sometimes

I'll pick up something and I'm like, I feel like

they weren't really watching the ball on this

one. Quality control is a little off here. So

that happens every once in a while. Gosh, I mean,

DC's got so many iconic characters. I love them.

Dark Horse has so much good stuff. IDW, I feel

very like loyal to them. Boom is doing really

exciting stuff. I mean, I don't know. I mean,

but at the end of the day, am I Marvel? I mean,

I sort of cut my teeth on the X -Men. They'll

always be like my first love. So I don't know.

Might be, might be Marvel at the end of the day.

Well, I had another question, but you already

answered it, but talking about comics, what are

your favorite comics that you're currently reading

right now? I love, love, love Gotham Academy.

I think it's, I think it's so funny and smart

and beautifully drawn. And I think that it's

a really great, you know, I worry about that

book all the time because I don't think it gets

the numbers it deserves. And, but I just think

it's such an innovative needed change over there,

you know, not, not because it should, everything

should be like Gotham Academy, but just because

more variety is good, you know, everything shouldn't

be. dark and dreary. There's room for Gotham

Academy and everything else. I like their new

Batgirl. I really never thought I'd read a Barbara

Gordon Batgirl book because I'm a diehard Cascade

Batgirl fan, but they've done really great things

with it over there. I think Unbeatable Squirrel

Girl is one of the best books anyone's doing

anywhere. It's so funny. It's so funny and smart

and weird and great. I just love it. I read your

article on Comic Book Resources about that. I

was so happy when I saw you write that article.

I'm like, yay, she's a fan too. Thank you. Yeah,

I just read that article this morning. So I was

like, oh, that's so cool. Yeah, I would definitely

say that's one of my first reads. every week

when i get it as it's at the top of the pile

for sure i just wonder what marvel's gonna do

now that they're rebooting the whole thing again

i don't i doubt i doubt something like squirrel

girl that feels like it's working and it seems

to have good support from marvel and from the

fans i doubt much will change at all it's probably

just so you're just saying that they're just

oh hey a new number one so we can up sales because

that's what's happening there Most of their stuff

that they're doing upcoming September, October,

November, they're pretty much number one -ing

everything again. I think it's very hard to pick

up with what issue would it be of Squirrel Girl

8 or 9 or something. It's very hard to pick that

up after a five -month hiatus. So I don't really

think there's anything wrong with the number

one. I mean, I know that as comic book fans,

you know... I've sort of moved away from caring

that much about continuity. Like there was a

time when that mattered a lot to me and there

was a time when renumbered bothered the crap

out of me. But I think the. the thing that I

can't deny is that I feel like we're getting

more interesting, more innovative stories from

it. And so if those have to be smaller, shorter

runs, or they have to have more of a season approach

or have endings to them, I'm okay with that.

You know, I mean, young Avengers was what, 15.

issues and it was it was brilliant and amazing

and if that's how long it can last either because

of sales or because the creators have other things

they have to do then that's how long it can last

and you know as a writer there's nothing more

daunting than the ongoing unending story so there's

something to be said for stories that actually

come to close you know So the number ones don't

really bother me. I mean, like, I don't care

what they call Unbeatable Squirrel Girl so long

as it's basically the same thing it was, you

know, before Secret Wars. I don't care. Oh, it's

Amy. Amy, you got a question? I was going to

say, I've read that you've been on a few podcasts

and that you've started with, that you were on

one with some friends. Can you tell us which

ones? Well, I ran Three Chicks Review Comics

with Sue, who runs DC Women Kicking Ass, the

Tumblr, and a very popular Twitter account. So

I created Three Chicks Review Comics. I brought

on Sue and our friend Maddie Bupree, who's a

lovely Canadian lass. And we did it for a while.

Maddie eventually had to take a... take a step

back um she was doing a lot of school and work

and she couldn't keep it up um and we were going

to replace her with someone else so the so the

title made sense but eventually we were like

nah we'll just start having on guests so we started

having on guests and it was sort of a format

change and um I missed Maddie desperately but

man we had some great interviews and I met some

great creators that way and you know it was it

was pretty amazing the people you'd I mean Everyone

that came on our cast was really nice and lovely

and did a great job. But there were certain people

you really vibe with. And that's always really

fun. And, you know, I built some really great

connections through that, which was an unexpected

bonus. That's awesome. That's awesome. And you

also know, I'm not sure I want to verify this

because I thought, oh, this is kind of cool,

too, because I found some of your articles on

CBR. Do you write for them as well? Yeah, no,

I do. She Has No Head is now bi -weekly. It started

out as a weekly column on Comics Should Be Good,

which is the blog of CBR. So I created She Has

No Head, and I sort of made a minor name for

myself doing that. And I still do it now, but

it's coming to a point where I probably have

to step back from it just because of the fiction

writing I'm doing is sort of taking precedence.

There's always been a bit of a conflict of interest

there because right out of the gate, I started

meeting people and connecting with people. It

becomes this weird thing of like, oh, well, I

know that creator. I love their work. I want

to talk about their work, but is it weird that

I sort of know them now? It's always been a little

weird that way, but it's gotten much worse now

that I'm working for more publishers. Eventually,

I did reviews also. I did over 500 reviews for

CBR. to eventually stop doing that because you

know it was like it's weird when you're you're

reviewing something but you're also becoming

a writer yourself that's very weird but then

also there's like a legitimate thing where I

had a list of publishers that I felt like I couldn't

review because I was either pitching to them

or working for them and I knew that I could could

be unbiased about it, but you know, you, you

gotta be fair to the reader. And, and, uh, so

I had this long list and finally I was like,

you guys, there's like no one I feel like I can

in good confidence and good conscience review.

So I got to step, step back, but yeah. Well,

you write a lot of strong female leads and you

actually got onto one of my personal favorites,

Captain Marvel. So what would you say the biggest

difference between writing for a superhero and

like a pop star for Jim and the Holograms is?

I actually don't think it's that different because

there's so many similarities between, you know,

maybe a, maybe a normal pop star story would

be pretty different, but Jem is so super heroic

in that she has a secret identity and she has,

you know, and there's all this sort of larger

than life stuff with the holograms and with the

concerts and everything that I don't actually

think it's that different. I mean, you know,

less actiony. punching and kicking i suppose

but uh you know especially with the misfits stirring

up trouble you still end up with a little bit

of action anyway so still get the punching and

kicking there yeah yeah i don't really think

it's that different i mean for me writing about

superheroes um it's just about writing about

any character right it's just like what makes

this character beat and then all the other stuff

is just kind of the decoration that goes around

it right yeah well out of all the characters

that you helped create who would you say you

relate to the most oh man i mean relate to the

most or is my favorite i mean aja is like my

favorite gem character for sure and so you throw

shoes at people when they try to wake you up

i have that is That is a straight from life experience

written into the comic. I was only 15 at the

time, but yes, I was known to throw things, including

shoes, at my brother if he tried to come in and

wake me up because I was a grouchy as crap teenager.

Yeah, so Aja is definitely my favorite. Sophie

and I have many arguments because she struggles

the most with Aja's hair. She was joking the

other day. She's like, oh, you know, in our next

arc, we should kill Aja. And I was like, kill

Aja? I was like, I'll kill you. I was like, I'll

kill Blaze. I'll kill anybody. Just get away

from Aja. She was just joking, though, because

she has Aja hair problems, which I find hilarious

because I think Aja's hair is always really cool.

I love the, I think Chris Sims called it like

the Sonic the Hedgehog look like early on when

it was bigger and spikier, which I loved. So

I'm a big fan. sounds like we can you guys could

write a a melodrama behind the scenes about the

hair oh god you don't even you don't even uh

fly on the wall with sophie and i would be uh

an interesting situation or maybe get us uh defriended

by everyone we know just because you know a lot

of a lot of things happen in private that that

uh maybe you shouldn't happen Sophie loves controversy,

so she's a big fan of finding out what all the

scoops are. I don't care for it much myself,

but Sophie's pretty hilarious, so you kind of

got to go with it. You guys work well together,

though. Yeah, we were friends before. Um, so,

I mean, we're sort of text every day kind of

level of friends. So, uh, I would say the texting

went up considerably once we started working

on gem, but yeah, I mean, we were always good

friends. So that's, uh, yeah. I saw that back

and forth. Was it last week or last weekend?

Obviously by the time this airs, but something

about a movie. Oh yeah. I was watching and I

was like, what movie are you watching? Yeah.

Sophie, Sophie loves bad movies. And she has

many categories of bad movies. I'm not particularly

fond of them, but she sometimes live tweets them.

And so she and I had been talking about live

tweeting. a bad movie and then i think i said

we should be drunk and so we were then yes so

that we were then drunk live tweeting uh i frankenstein

yeah which was truly a terrible movie oh that's

awesome you get always um at least any time that

that i have seen at least on twitter anybody

there where there's alcohol and reviewing involved

it's always going to be fun It was a good time.

Sophie doesn't have much tolerance, so she hasn't

been drinking for long, though. So next time

we do it, I need to start drinking like an hour

before we start so that we'll be on the same

level. That's funny. Well, you talked earlier

about the girl who would be king. They made an

announcement about a movie. Is there any updates

about that? There sort of are, but I don't really

know what I'm allowed to say. I think you said

enough right there. Yeah, I guess I can say that

the option ran out on the first thing, but the

producers who optioned it the first time were

talking to... other backers, kind of larger studios,

which was always the plan. And then sort of the

option ran out around the time when that deal

was coming together. And so the deal ended up

sort of switching hands, but keeping some of

the same people involved, which I think is sort

of the best case scenario. So we do have a new

signed deal, and I hope there will be maybe some

news about what's happening with that later.

Because this is something like Hollywood needs.

Because it's such a good story and it's something

unique. And that's what I want to see on the

movie screen. I think it'd be awesome. Yeah,

I think we might be shifting to TV. I mean, The

Girl Who Would Be King is... very difficult property

to do as a movie as someone who not that I'm

the best screenwriter of all time but I've tried

to write it twice and I mean I've done it but

I don't think it's a great screenplay and in

large part it's because you know it has these

dual first -person narratives of Lola and Bonnie

and they don't actually spend that much time

on the screen together so in order to fit it

into two or two and a half hours whatever it's

you you really have to cut away every time it's

starts to sort of get interesting it's a little

it's a little complicated but a tv like a short

run tv season you know six ten episodes or something

might be a really good way to address some of

the complications of it um and i'd love to see

it i'd love to see it on the big screen i'd also

love to see it on the small screen i mean i think

you know superheroes are having an incredible

super fun heyday but women are really still not

being represented. I mean, even as we start to

get more interesting female characters, we're

still not seeing them in the same power set.

I mean, people talk a lot about how excited they

are about Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman finally

headlining their own movie. It's not just about

the headlining to me. To me, it's about actual

powers, right? Like, I love Black Widow. I think

Scarlett Johansson has done an incredible job

with that role. I think the fact that we don't

have a Black Widow movie is a crime against humanity.

I'm 100 % on for Black Widow. But the reality

is she's just a super highly trained badass.

Like, she can't punch a building in half or whatever.

And I just think that we're ready to see female

superheroes who can do that thing. I mean, the

same is true of Jessica Jones. I love Jessica

Jones. Alias is one of my favorite books, and

I'm super excited for her Netflix series. And

who knows how much power we're going to see her

have, because as anyone who knows Jessica Jones,

they know that even though in Alias she acts

as a PI and she doesn't really use her powers,

she does actually have powers. But, you know,

she's not a traditional... I'm going to punch

someone out of the sky or, you know, whatever.

And I just think we're really ready for that.

And I think that would be a really great thing

about the girl who would be King making it to

a movie theater or a TV screen is that these

are women with. a ton of power they're complex

they're interesting but they're also complete

powerhouses you know and let's see it you know

let's actually you know let's not put deborah

wool in the in the little sidekick love interest

category let's see her punch a building in half

come on right i want everything i'm i'm very

greedy in this way well it's just because we

haven't gotten it as women yeah well In comics,

there has been a lot of focus on getting more

female leads into comics. Do you think this is

a trend that's going to continue or do you think

it's going to die off eventually? I mean, I think

it'll ebb and flow like anything. I think that,

you know, that was what I was writing about a

little bit in that Unbeatable Squirrel Girl article

I wrote. Like, I want to believe that, you know.

We did an interview with Marjorie Liu when I

was back doing Three Chicks. And she is an incredible

writer and a really smart lady. And she said

a lot of interesting things about when we were

talking about the industry and the way it shifts.

And one of the things she said was that she thought

it was going to take a real game changer to make

people sit up and take notice. And I think we

have seen those things in the last... five years

less than five years you know the success of

of books like smile that show that there are

real women's dollars on the table for a variety

of kind of comics when you see superhero comics

like ms marvel you know do crazy success and

beyond you know win hugos and things like that

like so i think we're seeing it i think comics

is a little bit fickle you know how much changes

stay is hard to know i mean i find it very encouraging

that the that the thor with a female lead in

the role is you know, is selling much better

than the old Thor. I think these are encouraging

things, but you know, books still get canceled

all the time. I worry about, I swear to God,

I wake up every morning and worry about Gotham

Academy because I just, I don't hear enough people

talking about that book. It's always hard to

know what the sales are these days. And I just

think it's so special and amazing. And I, and.

And I think that it's great that it's non -marquee

characters, right? It's like, here's new characters

you haven't seen before. And yeah, Batman shows

up every once in a while, but no, it's these

new characters you don't know. And I want there

to be a place for that in comics. It doesn't

mean we have to not have Batman, but I'd like

to see both. And, you know, so I worry about

that kind of stuff. I worry about, you know,

I was desperately sad that She -Hulk was canceled.

Oh, that was heartbreaking. That was a comic.

funny, smart, just together, a lot of punching,

but jokes. And I don't know, it was just really

great. And, you know, I think there were some

sort of stutters with it. A lot of people had

trouble with the guest artists that came on for

a little bit and things like that. But, you know,

you never know what's going to go and what's

not going to go. So I think we've seen real change.

I think we were headed towards actually a pretty

dark place. even, you know, just five plus years

ago. And I think somehow we really reversed that

and turned it into something super positive with

the female characters we're seeing and some of

the variety of styles, books like Hawkeye and

Daredevil, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Ms. Marvel,

Gotham Academy, The New Batgirl. These things

are all different than what we were seeing five

years ago. And I think that that's great. I hope

it'll stay. I never quite know. I don't know.

Well, as a creator, how have things changed lately

for female creators? Is it good? Is it bad? Where

do you see the industry going for the ladies

of the industry? I mean, I can only speak from

my own personal experience. I mean, I think as

a trend, we still don't have nearly enough women,

especially at the big two, but in general. There's

insanely talented women out there, and I don't

know what happens. They're just not visible enough

in the places that they're looking for creators.

I'm not sure. But we're still really behind on

that point. That said, my experience has been

very positive. I have sort of very little doubt

that being a female creator, I feel like that

helps me right now. I feel like... If you do

good work, they're interested in a female creator

because they're trying to be more diverse and

because they're trying to, you know, represent

more voices and probably on some level because

they're tired of getting dinged on it from a

PR standpoint, I'm sure. Nobody wants to be seen

as a female creator or a male creator or a gay

creator or a black creator. We just want to be

creators. I assume. I know that's how I feel.

That said, I know my work is good. That's awesome.

If you need female writers and because of that

I get to pitch, I don't care. I know my pitch

is good. And I'd put it up against anyone else's.

That's awesome. I think it's sort of a mixed

bag. You know, I want to compete on the same

level. At the same time, if being a woman helps

me get my foot in the door so that I can compete

on that same level, then I guess I'll take it,

right? Sounds good. I don't think anybody can

blame you for that either because who doesn't

want to get their foot in the door? Yeah. Well,

and I think that it's an industry that has typically

been very boys club, very male centric. And so,

you know. it's a little affirmative actiony to

be like, okay, well, yeah, we do need this. So

we'll look at you, but I still only expect to

be hired if my work is as good or better than

the other people. So, yeah. Well, if you had

a choice to work on any comic, what would you

like to give a go at? Kate Bishop. Nice. Yeah.

Or Cassandra Cain, but I've sort of given up

that dream. So, well, maybe someday, but. I'll

be about 105, it seems like. You never know.

That's true. You never know. Things could really

change. Think of it this way, Kelly. If IDW and

DC can team up for a Batman Teenage Mutant Ninja

Turtles crossover, I'm sure they can figure out

a Cassandra Cain gem crossover. Yeah, but I don't

want to write Cassandra Cain that way. I want

to write Cassandra Cain in her own freaking book.

That's what she deserves. That's what fans need.

That's what we want. That's really the only way.

I mean, I guess I would write her if I had to

in some other cast, but that's really the only

way I want to tackle her is in her own book,

to be honest. So she and Kate Bishop are probably

both top of my list. And I have one last question

in this section for myself. Any plans for a Storykiller

sequel? Yes. Yes. I wanted to run it this fall.

But the problem is, in addition to just being

very busy with other pitching and comics work,

there's a thing which probably only people who

run a Kickstarter know about, which is if you

run your Kickstarter and you can't finish out

the majority of your expenses by the end of the

year, you can really get killed on the taxes,

right? So if I raise $30 ,000 in 2015, but then

I don't do most of my shipping until 2016, I'm

really screwed. And so because of that and the

other busy stuff I've been doing, I've had to

push it to, it'll be either February or March

of 2016 with shipping in May. That's the plan.

The other thing is I'm moving cross country and

the place I'm moving to will be much better for

shipping and that's not going to be able to happen

until 2016. So anyway, but I'm hard at work on

it, among other things. I'm very excited to get

it out there and I feel very bad that it's taken

so long. It's understandable. I also have, for

anyone that might be listening who backed the

Kickstarter, the novella, I swear to God, I haven't

thought about it. We're working on it. I hope

it'll be out by Halloween. Oh, nice. Awesome.

You talk about a lot of the influences that you've

had inside comics. Have there been any influences

outside of comics? In your writing? I'm sure

there definitely are. But I can't think of any.

Oh, my God, that's the worst. Nobody ever asked

me that. That's the reason why I put it in there.

Everybody always asks me about comics. I don't

know. You know, I'm notorious for not liking

other YA novels. It's sort of a problem I have.

It's sort of a big black mark. Well, there are

some out there that are. Yeah, it's a big black

mark on me. But I will say that I think the Hungry

M's trilogy is. sort of exceptional. I think

it's kind of amazing. in all ways, including

the fact that the third book is really like weird

and risky and a lot of people don't like it,

but I sort of like it for being weird and risky.

I agree. I absolutely agree with you. My only,

my only problem with three is that PETA is my

favorite character. And of course he's both in

it less and all messed up and not PETA -ish.

So that's frustrating for me, but like, I appreciate

what she's doing there. I appreciate, you know,

that there's a real focus on post -traumatic

stress. that you do not see in even grown books,

but YA especially, you know, they're really quick

to skip over that kind of stuff. I love that

she didn't pull punches there. But, you know,

it's one of those things where she was successful

enough by the time that they were doing that

that she was sort of, I'm sure, allowed to do

what she wanted, even if it was sort of unconventional.

So you've got to give credit, I guess, where

credit's due to the popularity of the book kind

of buying her that freedom. I also love Battle

Royale because I hate it when people are like,

oh, Hunger Games, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

You can love them both. They're completely different.

They're completely different books. They're completely

different books that share a very similar one,

one, one very similar thread. They have completely

different executions and styles. They're wildly

different and I love them both. And if I could

never hear that again about either of them, that

would be great. But yeah, I've had trouble with

other YA stuff. I tend to read more, but I wouldn't

really call it influences. I mean, like, I read

a lot of strange stuff. I mean, like, you know,

I'll read John Scalzi's Red Shirts, which I thought

was super interesting and fun and smart. And

then I read The Bird Box, and now I'm forgetting

the name of the author. One of my favorite short

story collections is called Delicate Edible Birds.

None of those things sort of go together, so

I don't know. I guess my reading is a little

all over the place. I also read a lot for research,

especially for Storykiller. I read a lot of 1950s

sci -fi stuff for the new Storykiller book, and

so my reading is sort of all over the place.

So I guess I don't have very great novel. influences.

It's interesting. I'm going to have to think

about that. Thank you. I'm glad I asked you a

question that most people don't ask, but I always

kind of take it as that pretty much anything

and everything can influence you and everything

that you do. So sometimes it could be that it

could be this, this week and you know, something

else next week. And then all of a sudden, Oh,

wow. I made this connection here that I didn't

realize that actually that makes an influence

on me as well. So yeah, you never know. I mean,

I think that's incredibly true. I mean, I think

I read John Scalzi's Lock -In and that gave me

a great idea for a comic book pitch I wanted

to do that was totally unrelated. Like I was

only in like the first pages of his book and

I was like, oh, what about this thing? And I

like shot off in the other direction and had

nothing to do with his book. But it was just,

yeah, it was just what the triggers are. Right.

I mean, you know, it's just weird. The things

that trigger you to think of that stuff. Awesome.

I get, come on. I've already, you've already,

you're there. Scratch that. I can't talk today.

Okay. You're really good friends. It seems like

with, with Sophie. And I've heard that sometimes

in the industry, it's sometimes it's about who,

you know, the relationship bonds that you make

that help. you know, make your work in comics.

So what is your take on that? I think that's

very true. I think it's a small industry and

you have to be very careful about, um, I don't

know, like if, if my work is as good as someone

else's work and someone else is a pain for that.

editor or or he or she is late or he or she is

not enjoyable to work with I mean it's an easy

call isn't it like who you want to work with

again um you know if you're if you're exceptionally

talented uh and you're like above and beyond

which some people are then I suppose you can

get away with some more bad behavior but few

of us are that exceptionally talented most of

us are just working hard and trying to make stories

and so it serves you to be pleasant and enjoyable

and And I don't really understand people who

don't want to be pleasant and enjoyable because

this is what you're doing. These are the people

that you're supposed to like the most and be

excited by and love their work and everything.

And so but yes, I think I think you're very served.

And I think word spreads very quickly in our

small industry of people who are difficult to

work with or, you know, people who don't. kind

of deliver on their promises or who are, you

know, notoriously late or repeatedly. So, yeah,

I mean, I think it does matter for sure. Awesome.

I sort of drove my artist on Heart in a Box,

Meredith, crazy to the point that people were

talking about, should we do Heart in a Box 2?

Like there was some sort of vague talk about

it. And I was like. don't think meredith's ready

to work with me again i mean she loves me she

loves me and we're friends and i hope she'll

work with me eventually but after finishing heart

in a box which was a really tough job i think

she was like yeah we could spend some time apart

that wouldn't be bad just a little break it's

all a vacation for a little bit yeah let's just

see other people for a little while the break

of speech Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, go ahead. I was

going to say, do you think that it's like one

of those things that you have to have like type

that type of synergy with, with a group, with

a writer artist as they work on a, on a, is it

more important for it to be on a creative creator

owned titles or. Well, I mean, I think creator

owned titles, there's definitely. I don't know.

I mean, there's definitely more of a feeling

of like, we're doing this for the love. I mean,

like for example, heart in a box, which I'm in

no way dinging dark horse. This is just how comics

work. Unfortunately, they're not. You know, they

don't have a lot of money. It's expensive to

produce comics. You never know what the audience

is going to be, especially for an offbeat graphic

novel like Heart in a Box. So, you know, that

doesn't come with some huge advance that's making

anybody rich. I mean, we gave all of our advance,

except for I had already invested a little bit

of money paid to Meredith to do the pitch. So

we gave all the money for the advance to Meredith,

except for what I had already invested. We reimbursed

me for that. that and we did that because the

script was basically done I had already written

it and you know I had written it in my free time

and it was a slog and that's just the way it

is but I wasn't you know she was then going to

have to go and do uh penciling inking colors

letters all of it right and she was going to

have to do that in her spare time because the

advance wasn't even giving her all the advance

wasn't going to be enough to pay her to live

you know so there's a certain amount of you know

now hopefully heart in a box will do really well

and you know we have ownership of it so we have

the back end and maybe someone wants to make

it into a movie someday and we get more money

and that's great but initially especially i think

there's definitely with creator own like you

really have to love it if you're going to do

it because it's It's your free time or it's taking

away from the work for hire that brings you a

paycheck that pays your rent. So I think there's

a different demand there. But I mean, at the

end of the day, making comics is making comics.

And if you're not happy with the people you're

working with, it's not a good time. Like it's

a really hard thing to make good comics. There's

a lot of moving pieces. There's a lot of, you

know, Sophie and I, especially on on IDW and

on Carol Corps, I've been very lucky in those

experiences where there hasn't been a lot of

editorial interference or a lot of people saying,

oh, no, you can't do this. You can't do that.

But, you know, that happens a lot for both valid

and not valid reasons. And so you really everyone's

got to be like pleasant. Otherwise. you're just

in for a hellish ride. You know, I've been very

lucky. Everyone I've worked with has been really

a complete doll. I've had no bad experiences

so far, so I'm sure I'll be due eventually, but

knock on wood. Yeah. Speaking of dolls, let's

get to the truly outrageous Gem of the Holograms

questions. Take it away, Nicole. Okay, I'm going

to get the difficult question out of the way

here first. Oh, boy. Okay, wait, wait, wait.

I need to preface this because I know what she's

going to ask you. Oh, no. Everyone, just keep

in mind, Kelly's opinion is Kelly's opinion.

It doesn't mean that your opinion is more valid

than hers. It doesn't mean that, oh, my God,

it's going to bomb. It doesn't mean, oh, my God,

it's the end of the world. Okay, go ahead. Okay,

as the creator on Jim, what are your views and

hopes for the movie that's going to come out

in October? I mean, you know, I'll be honest,

and this is probably a very disappointing answer

for everyone. I just don't know that much about

it. I mean, I've seen the same trailers everyone

else has seen. You know, nobody sent me the script

to read. I didn't go to a premiere. Nobody sent

me a secret link so I could see it. So I don't

really know anything. And I mean, I think that's

probably a good thing because we're doing our

own thing and they should be very separate things.

So, I mean, listen. from what i've seen do i

like what we're doing better of course it's what

we chose to do so obviously we think it's like

the way to go but you know i'm i am the last

person to say that reinterpreting something I

mean I can't say reinterpreting something is

a bad thing like I I think they from what I've

seen it looks like they had a very clear idea

of the way they wanted to package it and what's

important to them about the story and you know

I see a lot of um I see a lot of crossover I

mean even though we're doing something very different.

There are crossovers too. I mean, you definitely

see a downplay of, you know, there's no sort

of starlight girls or like running a business

or whatever. And, you know, I took a lot of that

out in large part too, because I just didn't

feel it was very realistic for 20 something women.

I mean, I'm in my thirties. I can't run a foundation

and be a rock star. Like it just, you know, it

didn't seem that relatable for a, you know, a

20 early 20 something women. So, um, and I don't

think as some people say, I don't think it did.

diminishes them or makes them less impressive

or capable. I think it's just a slightly more

realistic take about what a 22 year old can do.

And so, you know, these are obviously young characters.

I think the only thing about the preview that

really bothered me was I didn't, Shana and Aja

felt sort of very secondary. I mean, we didn't

even hear their name in the first trailer and

they sort of didn't seem, like they were sisters

in the same way. That's really important to me

from the show. I think that's my only real solid

complaint is that that's really important to

me. And I didn't really feel like that was there,

but who knows what's in the actual movie. I have

no idea. Do you plan on seeing it? I'm sure because

everyone and their child is going to ask me if

I saw it. So I probably am going to have to see

it or else. I mean, I don't know. I guess the

other way to go is to just not see it in case

I don't like it. I don't know. But I'm planning

to see it, yes. So we'll see. Were you a fan

of Jim growing up? I was. I was a super fan.

I mean, I think I was a bit on the young side,

although not that young. But, you know, I watched

all those 80s cartoons. I loved them all. And

Jem was really unique to most of the other ones

I was watching. I mean, with the exception maybe

of She -Ra, you know, it was all women all the

time. Like, even the supporting cast. Like, you

know, it's just wall -to -wall women. And it

was fascinating in that way. And, you know, I'm

sure as a kid I wasn't aware that that's what

I was responding to. But in retrospect, it's

easy to see why I was like, oh, this is great.

This is for me. These other things are just sort

of for me in like sort of a token way. Like,

oh, here's Scarlett. She's amazing. You know,

connect to her on G .I. Joe. And I did. But this

had so much variety in that way. And that was

amazing. Plus, you know, fashion, fame, glitter,

all that. What girl wouldn't want to hang out

and, you know, listen to that? Not that I'm saying

that that's anything bad for those girls that

did it, you know, that were like, hey, I'm totally

not into that. I think that was even I mean,

I I liked even as a kid, I liked Aja the best.

And it was because a little bit, at least because

she was the tomboy. And I think I was a little

bit more tomboyish back then. So I liked the

glamour and the glitter and all of that. And

I was into it. But it was nice to see even within

that frame. There were a variety of characters,

you know? Yeah. Well, with the comic, I'm finding

that a lot of guys are hesitant in reading Gem

because they feel it's mostly geared towards

the female market. What would you like to say

to male comic book readers out there about Gem?

Well, you know, I have to say, I mean, I'm not

discounting your experience. I'm sure that's

coming from somewhere. But I've actually had

a really good experience with dudes reading it.

Straight and gay alike. I've seen a lot of excitement

over it. But I do encounter every once in a while

you get the review that starts with, you might

think this is for girls or, you know, but try

it anyway. Or I thought this was for girls, but

try it. And I'm like, come on. I mean, I just.

you know, that whole mindset irritates me in

the same way that I don't think Iron Man or Wolverine

should be for boys. They're just for people,

you know? I mean, listen, if you hate pink, then

yeah, you're going to have trouble with gem,

but it's got a lot of pink on it. But I mean,

I just think at the heart of any story, right.

It's about people. It's about what motivates

people, what moves them, what. excites them and

and disappoints them and um so we're just trying

to tell some emotionally resonant stories which

is hard to do in 20 pages when you've got like

10 main characters but you know we're trying

our best and i i find them really lovable and

relatable i've teared up a few times at our comic

and my boyfriend was like you know you wrote

this right i'm like whatever It's like, shut

up. It's not even about my writing. It's just

about everything. I love them. I love the holograms

so much and how much they care about each other.

And then Sophie draws them so cute and so supportive.

And I can't help but be moved by them sometimes.

Sophie makes great expressions too. She's the

best. I was going to say, it shows that you're

really connecting with all the characters too,

which is a really good thing for a writer. If

you're not emotional because you love your characters

so much and that they're touching you as much

as you're writing them. then you're not the right

person for the job. But if you are, then that's

fantastic because it just means that they're

real to you in your mind and your mind has made

them real. And because of that, you can make

them resonate. And that's exciting for me to

hear. Yeah, there was a moment when, I don't

know if I was reading, I think it was probably

in issue three because that's my favorite cover

with the holograms doing the selfie, which I

just love them so much in that shot. And there

was something. there was something that triggered

when I was looking at that book and you'll like

this because it relates to the movie. It was

something then that I realized I felt real ownership

of them, um, as a creator and like this really

strong connection to them because it was something

I thought about with the movie and I was like,

Oh my God. they're going to be my girls. And

it was the first time I'd like been like, my

girls are going to be on the screen. And it was

this really powerful moment for me of like realizing

how attached I was to them. That's so cool. Yeah,

it was, it was pretty awesome. You know, when

I was, when I got hired to do it, it was one

of those things where, and I've said this before,

where I couldn't even think about what they were

asking me to do sometimes. Cause it was sort

of like looking into the sun, like the responsibility

seemed too immense. If I look directly at it,

like knowing how much people loved it and knowing

how much sort of responsibility I had to like

do it justice, but also update it. Like I sort

of just had to like keep my head down and try

and do it because. it was it was such it seemed

like too big for me sometimes to look at it and

now when i look back i'm like i don't know how

i got through that but i'm glad we're over that

and i'm so i'm so attached to them that i just

write them now they just come very naturally

and i don't have to worry about that whole looking

at the sun thing that's awesome that's cool i

remember in issue one i um i wasn't even out

of the comic book store yet And I had got to

the page where Synergy tells Aja the code, and

the code is 7963749. And I was like, that has

to be a Tommy Two -Tone reference. You guys are

silly. It spells Synergy. Oh. Well, there you

go. That's awesome. That's awesome. I think that's

what I did. I mean, it's great that it sounds

like that. I mean, I knew when I typed it out

that it did sound like that, but it definitely

spells Synergy. Oh, that's good to know. Okay,

so we know your favorite. Which is not a great

code if Synergy's name ever gets out. We should

probably look into changing it, but just, you

know. So we know that Aja is your favorite hologram.

Who's your favorite misfit? And honestly, let's

see, Aja is my favorite hologram, but there's

no doubt that Kimber is the most fun to write.

She's so, like, you know, she's the youngest,

so she's sort of out of control all the time,

and she's unreasonable, and she's, like, so moved

by her emotions, and, like, you know, the wind,

the breeze blows, and, like, Kimber moves to

the side. And that's really fun to write. And

she doesn't ever hold back, which is great, although

Aja doesn't really hold back either. But I sort

of... I know Stormer is, like, Sophie's favorite,

and I love her design, and I love Stormer in

the cartoon, but Stormer's actually not my favorite

to write. You know, she's so good. She's so good.

It's more fun to cut loose with Pizazz, who is

just ridiculously over the top. I love her so

much. And I've really gotten into, and I feel

like Jedha and Roxy have definitely like been

shunted to the side a little bit comparatively.

It's just the nature of so many characters, but

I sort of love them as this like weird. Right.

Like they're sort of always together in my mind.

They live together now. I mean, nobody has told

me that that can be what it is, but in my mind,

they're roommates and they like do everything

together. And they're like, they're only best

friends with each other. Like, you know, cause

nobody else will put up with them. So, I mean,

there are, there are things I like about all

of them. Pizazz is probably the most fun to write

though. I love her little skulls. Was that your

idea, the little skulls? There was, we definitely,

I wanted it to be, was it skulls initially that

I wanted? I mean, we all, I always wanted it

to be. icons for her when we couldn't cuss because

I knew we wouldn't be able to do the cussing

that I wanted to do and so I want I think the

first one I said was I was like okay well we

can't say the bad word but can we do like a little

pile of poop like can she have that in her word

in her word balloon And, and John was like, no,

no way. That's no way that's going to go through.

So I had to come up with what are some other

things that could be. And I think skull was very

quickly something I was like, well, what about

that? And he was like, yes, that's approved.

And then of course, Sophie took it like to such

a better level than I had ever imagined. Like

I was just picturing like a little drawn skull,

but of course they're like these crazy life of

their own skulls. They're amazing. I love them.

They're like a character. Yeah. On the embodiment

of the skull at times. Yes. Well, now that the

first arc of the comic is finished, can you give

us any insight to what new characters might be

coming into the comics for the next few issues?

Yes. In the next arc, which is 7, 8, and 9, we're

going to get Tech Rat is in 7. Oh, yay! So is

Eric Raymond. And we'll see more of Craig, who

we introduced in 5, but we did not... Oh, we

were wondering about that. I knew that was Craig.

Yeah, we didn't name him, but that's definitely

Craig, and he'll be in issue... I think he's

in 7, 8, and 9, actually. Maybe it's just 7 and

9. I could be misremembering. So, yeah, we'll

see all of them. And then issue 10 is sort of

going to be... They're calling it the Rio issue.

I don't really think that's accurate. It's more

like a Rio's POV issue with another guest artist.

And then Sophie will be back. There's also going

to be a holiday special in December drawn, I

believe, by Amy Meberson. And then Sophie will

be back for the new arc. I'm dying to say the

name of the arc, but I can't do it. Please, please,

come on. I can't, I can't. Come on, give us the

exclusive. I can't, I can't. I'll get in so much

trouble. We'll have her tell us off there, folks,

and you'll just never know. So that'll be in

January, which is sort of perfect. It's the live

lizard. New year. It's the live lizard. Right.

No, I, when we. Which issue was it? Was it issue

three or four? Whenever they get to the trailer.

I think it's actually five when they see the.

Yeah. Right. When they get to the trailer and

they have the sign, as soon as I saw the preview

for that, I'm like, Amy, look, your favorite.

The Limp Limp is on the list. They're in the

comic on issue six. Such like the worst band

name ever. I know, I know. But there's just something

really kitschy about it that I find funny. Oh,

yeah. No, no. I mean, that's why we put it in

for sure. Like, it's such a great reference.

We probably should have made all of them. We

probably should have put another band. But I

sort of, I knew we were only going to be able

to show one. And so I didn't really want to tease

another band that we weren't going to show. ninjas

of loretta was my fake band so yeah that was

that was that was a good reference to the the

cartoon the limp lizards we got a kick out of

that i loved how sophie you guys have read issue

six so i love how sophie did their music looks

different than than misfits and gem which is

so great all of the music how sophie does that

stuff it it's so I don't want to say it's eclectic.

I want to say it's more electric. Cause it just,

I find, and this is just me personally. I do

find it a little hard to read the lyrics, but

I get the gist of it overall, but it just looks

so great. I guess to me, the lyrics are sort

of less important. I mean, I put a lot of effort

in them, so I don't want anyone to think we phoned

it in, but it's more important to me that the

music feels. has a specific feel through color

and style and icons and that you get a vibe for

that you know because we're working at a big

disadvantage by not having actual audio so but

you know that was in our original pitch how to

do how we wanted to do the music and i think

the entire you know it it it mattered it's mattered

through the first five issues but issue six was

where we intended to pay that off in the scene

where the sort of misfits music fades out and

the gem music takes over like that was always

the goal to make that a very visual thing uh

at the end of six so and i'm really happy with

how that worked out it was a really good payoff

do you guys have the Well, as the writer, I'm

sure you have all the lyrics from all the songs

so far, right? That I've done? I do. But in fairness,

because I'm not a musician, I would say that

some of them aren't completely finished. I mean,

there's definitely like more than you've seen

on the page. And we repeat some of the stuff

that we like better. I mean, I talked to someone

else on a podcast about, you know, the songs

themselves aren't as rhymey as they feel in the

book. that cadence because you don't have the

beat the rhyming music seems to flow a little

better um so the songs themselves aren't quite

as rhymey as you as you kind of get the feeling

of in the in the issues but yeah we have them

um i wouldn't say all of them are 100 complete

but yeah i've got them all the reason why i ask

is because at least for the gym song specifically

uh -huh maybe you could ask britta See if she'll

sing a few. The reason why I bring this up is

because as of right now, and hopefully by the

time this airs, on Samantha Newark's website,

SamanthaNewark .com, she is running a special

in her store for a pre -order for a signed copy

of issue number six from her and Patricia Alice

Albright, the voice of Pizazz. And they've also

put together, I actually tweeted it to Sophie,

they've put together a CD that comes with that

issue six of the best lines from the first six

issues of the comic where Samantha and, yeah.

That's awesome, yeah. Yeah, no, I'm in pretty

close touch with Samantha. I knew she was doing

it. She's awesome. Yeah, I mean, I think the

problem with that is that lyrics are only half

of that, right? I mean, there's no music written.

I mean, I think Sophie and I would be lying or

I won't speak for Sophie. I would be lying if

I said I'm slightly disappointed that some fans

haven't taken upon themselves to make the music.

Just, you know, there's a lot of really talented

people out there who are way better with music

than I am, who might be able to turn them into

awesome things. And I think the lyrics are pretty

fun and cool. And yeah, so. Fans should definitely

do that, you guys. I don't know what you've been

doing with your time. Throwing the gauntlet down.

Anybody that hears this is going to be like,

ah, challenge accepted. Well, because we're talking

about the music, when you're writing, is there

any type of music that goes on through your head

when you're writing about the rehearsals and

concert scenes? And I was going to say, do you

listen to anything in particular while you're

writing to get inspired for those scenes? Yes,

I do. I have a Misfits playlist and a Gem playlist

that are separate that I don't use all the time.

But especially if I'm having trouble getting

into something, I'll use it to help me get in

the mindset. For me, again, I'm not a musician

at all. I'm not even musically inclined. It's

sort of embarrassing how much I'm not musically

inclined. So the only way for me to figure out

how to write music for this was... to just get

inside the character's head. And I've written

some poetry before, like every failed writer,

right? Writes poetry at some point. And so, you

know, lyrics are basically poetry. So I would

just try and get into the frame of mind of the

character and of, you know, not only who this

character is and what they're about, but what

kind of music they think they're trying to write,

like what for, what's going on with them. And

that really comes out a little bit in issue seven

with Stormer. But the. So, yeah, I. The only

way for me to figure out how to do it was to

do it that way. Like, okay, I'm Kimber now. What

kind of song does Kimber want to write? What's

she thinking about? Who is she? You know, what's

important to her? And that's the only way I was

sort of able to do it. I try not to talk about

specifically what I think they sound like because

I don't want my personal music tastes or whatever

to... to sway people. I sort of like the idea

that they sound like whatever you want them to

sound like. I mean, the only thing I tend to

say is that to me, they're, they're not that

different because they, you know, their looks

are quite different. So you would think that

they have a much different sounds, but to me,

they have to cross over. Otherwise, why are they

competing? Right. They have to be going for the

same audience. So there has to be. enough crossover

that the same people who would listen to the

misfits would listen to gem so to me gem is like

a slightly yeah to me gem is slightly softer

more commercial more pop sound and the misfits

are a little bit edgier and like and and part

of me loves that about the misfits that they're

sort of you know it's not that gem aren't playing

exactly what they want to play this is the music

they love they're putting together music they

love they're not some kind of sellouts to commercial

music or anything it just so happens that what

they like and the sound they're creating is a

little more accessible to a larger population

whereas what the misfits want to do has slightly

edgier slightly less commercial vibe right so

they they sort of even though they're an incredible

band and led by an incredible, you know, performance

driven front woman, they struggle a little bit

because it's a less commercial sound. Like, so

to me, they're not that different. It's almost

like the difference between Fever Ray and The

Knife, which is the same artist. I don't know

if you're familiar with those bands, but the

same lead singer, but two different sounds, two

different bands. So sort of interesting. Well,

I want to talk to you about the looks of the

gals. Jed is even a different race from the cartoons,

and the gals all have different body types instead

of just cut -out dolls. Was that your choice,

or was that something IDW decided on, or is that

one of your pitches to IDW? Well, I think they're...

couple different questions there the race thing

for jetta was something that was in our original

pitch if they had told us no it wouldn't have

been the end of the world but i mean we got that

from the rock gem site that has all the great

information about gem that you could ever want

and that it was originally christy mark's plan

to make jetta a black woman and that they they

didn't go for that back then um so we wanted

to sort of quote unquote fix that And it's great

because, you know, the show was all about diversity

and the comic is all about diversity too. So

it's great that all the misfits aren't white

now. I'm very happy with how that looked out.

Also, Jetta's design is frigging incredible.

Oh, I love her. It's amazing. One of my favorite

panels Sophie's drawn of the whole thing is when

they, in five, when they see the misfits. When

Kimber is like, Jericho, the misfits. And they

look and they're all just walking through the

crowd. And the Jetta is pushing some random woman

out of the way. It's amazing. It's like my favorite

thing ever. Someone on Tumblr was like, out of

the way, peasant. And I was like. Whoever that

is should be writing this book because I wish

I'd written in that line. So anyway, so that

was always in the pitch. That was something Sophie

and I agreed to from the outset. You know, another

part of the pitch was that we wanted Kimber and

Stormer to be gay and that we were going to sort

of push on diversity in all these ways. I don't

think we were explicit about. that Sophie was

going to draw them with different body types

and that that was going to be important to us.

I guess I just hope, in fact, that wasn't in

the pitch at all. And the two drawings that she

did to give an idea of the style and the music

and the vibe were of Pizazz and Jem, who are

very sort of quote unquote traditionally Western

beauty standards attractives. So sort of, I guess

it could have taken them by surprise. I guess

I assumed that they knew Sophie's work, which

has always been. very into diverse body types

and looks for women, especially. So it was always

going to be that way. Like there was no way Sophie

was going to draw like eight thin. women you

know it's just never gonna happen um we didn't

talk much about it i mean you can't i can't control

sophie even if i wanted to but i mostly i mostly

wouldn't want to anyway um we occasionally fight

about hair but other than that i mean i just

let her do whatever she's gonna do i love that

you hair you fight about hair yeah well i didn't

i didn't want i was a dead set on rio not having

the mullet And I wanted it short. She sort of

did it. She sort of did it. But in the end, she's

like, this one's more fun for me to draw. And

I don't care if you like it. And I was like,

fine. And I loved Roxy's sort of, I call it the

Wolverine, right? From her old fan designs that

she did several years ago. So I wanted Roxy to

have the Wolverine. And I really like what she

ended up doing, but I still miss the Wolverine.

Now it makes that whole mullet comment that I

gave to you on Twitter make so much more. It's

a big thing right there. Um, so yeah, I, um,

I mostly just let her go. I mean, like I am a

heavier girl. So if you had left it to me, I

never would have designed Stormer to be such

a big girl because I always worry about like,

I'm projecting my own stuff. So I'm really glad

that I'm not involved because that design is

amazing. And how much would that, how much would

that have designed meant to me as a 15 year old

kid who did not look right? quote unquote right

to what I thought I was supposed to look like

and I think that Stormer's one of the sexiest

characters in the whole book not that we're supposed

to be sexy but you know I think she's gorgeous

and I love that it doesn't matter what size she

is and I love that Kimber is this tall gangly

you know whatever and that she goes for sort

of her complete opposite and I don't know so

you know Sophie puts so much thought into all

that stuff and And I'm sure she would also say

that she puts no thought into it at the same

time that she cares about that. She also is just

trying to keep herself from being bored and she

finds it boring to draw the same thing over and

over again. Oh, the designs are amazing. There's

not one I could complain about, really. I just

love it. And Clash, she's even like almost really

skinny. Yeah. Crazy skinny. And I'm just like,

but there's people out there that's like that.

It's like, yeah, awesome. That's so many different

varieties. I love it. It's amazing. It's amazing.

I mean, is there any other book, unless it's

a Sophie book that looks, that has that much

diversity, especially when it comes to body type?

I don't think there's any. See, I'm like you,

I wish I would have seen, cause I'm a bigger

girl too. I wish I would have seen that. growing

up more. This girl is a bigger girl and she's

a rock star. She's got the love interest. She's

got a great big love story. Nobody ever mentions

her weight. The same way that the holograms never

tell Kimber to eat a sandwich, nobody ever tells

Stormer maybe she shouldn't eat something. It's

just not about that. It's one of my favorite

things about The Misfits, though it's not on

the page, that they know Stormer's like the most

talented one in the group, except for pizzazz

is obviously very talented, but she knows that

Stormer's like the real, you know, the songwriting

talent, whatever. And they respect her and they're

into her and they don't care what she looks like.

I mean, you know, you better look fierce for

the show. Like, but you know, we don't care what

size you are. You just got to be good. You know,

it's one of those. ways in which the misfits

even though they come off as more villainous

sometimes like they're not bad people they just

have problems we all have problems it's very

true i was gonna say i really really love the

fact that in issue six we get a lineup of exactly

what they all look like next to each other and

i was just like i i was really having a moment

with that because i thought wow you know how

often do you see that in a comic book with that

many girls that you see the difference in the

variety and all of that. And I, I maybe, you

know, maybe it is that Sophie that, that is just

doing it because she doesn't want to be bored.

But I'm just so grateful for that, to be honest.

And I'm sure I'm not the only woman that would

be out there to say that. No, I think a lot of

women feel that way. I think it's a lot of the

success of the book is people being excited,

you know, because I think I think you'd have

to have people have to be excited about seeing

that finally, because otherwise you'd hear a

lot more frustration with the fact that they

don't look like the original show. And but I

think that that's just such a powerful need for

people to see people like them in different.

And to see, you know, a lot of times when you

see people like normal people or people like

people who might be reading a comic book, they're

in the background or they're not attractive or

they're whatever. I mean, these are rock stars

and they're beautiful and they're all different.

And it's a big deal. And listen, Sophie does

it in large part because she doesn't want to

be bored, but she also cares about that stuff

a lot. I mean, I think she doesn't like... Think

about it like it's a term paper. She doesn't

approach it that way. She approaches what's fun

for me. What do I like? What do I want to see?

What do I want to read? But that stuff absolutely

matters to her. I don't mean to downplay that.

I wasn't thinking it that way either. No, no,

no. Just be clear. You have to watch everything

you say when you're in an interview and all that

because it could be taken out of context. You

never know. That's true. one last odd question

for you for myself. So I read an interview when

you were doing story killer, one of your favorite

parts was doing the weapons. If you could give

the cast a gem in the holograms weapons, what

would that be? That's an awesome question. That

is an awesome question. Um, man, I feel like

Aja, I don't know if you guys, some of these

are going to be digging deep, but I feel like

Aja would have, um magic soul sword just like

disappears she could teleport with it it sort

of like changes sizes it's awesome i feel like

she'd be super into that that would fit her very

well um i feel like You know, Shayna is very

much like a sci -fi and fantasy girl. She loves

Star Wars and things like that, so maybe she'd

have a laser blaster kind of thing. I feel like

Pizazz would be perfect for the Ravenclaw, or

the Satanclaw, which is in that article I was

writing about, which is a magic... thing that

goes on your hand that gives you superpowers

and I don't know sometimes when people use it

they yell Satan Claw which makes it way more

fun I feel like I mean Jerika is very not sort

of violent and aggressive so I almost feel like

she'd be sort of a shield character you know

Captain America's shield or something so that

you could still use it as a weapon but it's really

more defensive than anything else gosh I'm doing

a whole thing with Roxy and Jetta being boxers.

So maybe they should have something boxing related.

God, Kimber, what would Kimber have? These are

really good questions. If you had sent me. No,

no. Kimber should have Harley Quinn's giant mallet.

That is good. That's really good. I could totally

see that. I could totally see that. For Roxy

and or Jed, all I can think of is one of them

is some sort of arrow character, and they have

the boxing glove arrow. That would be good. I

don't know if they've got the patience and discipline

to learn that, but I love the visual. The visual

is very good on that, though. So I don't know.

I guess I'll leave Stormer out. I don't know.

What would Stormer have? I'll have to think about

it. Electric eclairs? Sorry. I think maybe we're

like a wand person or a scepter. Yeah, a wand

does sort of feel right for her. You're right.

You're right. Someone just asked Sophie on Twitter

what Harry Potter houses they would all be in.

And Sophie was like, I don't really follow Harry

Potter, so I don't know. And I was like, well,

I'm not a diehard fan, but I can do better than

that, Sophie. So I assigned them. I was sort

of hoping that I wouldn't end up putting most

of the misfits in Slytherin, but they did mostly

end up there, unfortunately. Let's see. It was

Gryffindor for Kimber and Blaze, Hufflepuff for

Jerika, Jem, Shayna, Stormer, and Rio, Ravenclaw

for Aja, Techrat, and Craig, Slytherin for Pizazz,

Jetta, Roxy, Clash, and Eric. Nice. Heavily weighted

towards Slytherin, I guess. There's nothing wrong.

That's my favorite house. They've got Snape.

Come on. It's true. It's true. But you know what's

funny? Doing that made me think that Kimber is

sort of the Harry Potter of the series in a way

because Kimber, I was like, she's either Gryffindor

or Slytherin, which is like the Harry Potter

thing, right? Yeah. In the end, I was like, she's

too good to be Slytherin, so we'll let her go

over. She's Gryffindor, which is the reason why

she's in Gryffindor, right? Exactly, exactly.

I've seen in the six months that the book has

been going, I'm a member of one of the open gem

groups on Facebook, Gem and Friends. I've seen

a lot of people complain and complain and complain

about how Oh, my God. Jerrica doesn't have stage

fright. She never had stage fright in the cartoon.

Blah, blah, blah. The way I looked at it when

I first initially saw the first announcement

of the book and the initial storyline when it

came out and was announced, I was like, okay,

well, they're adding something to the character.

And Jerrica is not, even though metaphysically

she is Jem, because let's face it, it's just

a hologram. they are two different characters.

They should have somewhat two different personalities.

So what is your talk? Talk to us a bit about

the stage fright. I'm trying to play peacemaker

to some of these people. Sure. I would ask, why

don't you ask them to do this exercise? Ask them

to go back and watch the opening episode of the

show. Okay. And then have them write a short

story. about why they become gem and holograms

because i love the original show and it was geared

towards it's a children's cartoon okay but the

reason for gem to exist is paper thin in the

cartoon now we all accept that because that's

a certain amount of just the suspension of disbelief

it's like Why can Batman do all the things he

can do and he doesn't die? I mean, he's just

a human man. He can't jump off a 60 foot story

building and survive. Like that's ridiculous.

How come Superman can do this or that or whatever?

Like it's, it's part of comics is the suspension

of disbelief. You have to buy into the concept.

Okay. And. That's true of Jem. It's true of anything.

And I have no problem with the cartoon for that.

But if I'm going to go in and deconstruct it

and make it something a little more believable

and realistic and also something that can still

appeal to young kids, but that's palatable and

emotionally investing and relatable for also

adults, because we want both those audiences,

there has to be a really grounded reason for

Jem to exist. Having an alternate identity. especially

in a social media age, is far too complex and

stressful to do unless there's a really good

reason for it. And the reason that I found was

that Jerrica has to need it in some way. And

she didn't need it in the cartoon. It's just

not really there. I mean, there's sort of a thing

about because of the... I guess the argument

you could make in the cartoon is that because

Jerika is part ownership of Starlight, she wouldn't

have been able to perform in with the holograms,

and they wanted to perform to win the money.

It's very thin. It's very wobbly. And that's

fine. That's fine. We all love it. We all buy

into it. But as a writer, to break it down, I

had to build on something a little stronger than

that. And when I was going into the characters,

it seemed obvious that the best way to tie Jerrica

to Jem in an important way was for her to really

need Jem. And a way to have her really need Jem

was to have her have all these things she wanted

be living behind fear. Which is true for so many

of us. No matter how powerful we are, we all

have things that we want that we're held back

from having because of fear. And how we conquer

that fear dictates our whole lives. And so for

Jerika, she's suddenly presented with a sort

of magical solution to her problem. To me, that's

fascinating. It's fascinating to see what she

does with it. It's fascinating to see how it's

going to unravel on her or how it won't, how

it will force her to really accept herself if

she wants her things and to really eventually

move past Jem so that Jem doesn't have to be

a shield for her so that she can more. She can

more flawlessly integrate those two sides of

herself and become a fuller, better, more complete

person. Those are interesting things, and those

are things that are interesting as a writer to

approach, but they're also just highly relatable

things for all of us in life. I mean, we're all

not incredible rock star secret persona people,

but we all have those same kind of problems at

different levels, and that makes her very relatable

to me. But I will say, it sounds like you and

I have a little bit different. I don't see Jem

and Jerika as two different people at all. I

agree that the cartoon treats it that way in

large part because Jerika quickly becomes sort

of a sidebar and Jem is sort of the star. So

we see Jem all the time and it's just sort of

Jem is a separate thing. I'm not really approaching

it that way, which maybe that upsets some people.

To me, Jem is a disguise for Jerika. Gem is something

that allows Jerika to do what she needs to do

and the things she wants to do and to achieve

her dreams. But it's still Jerika underneath,

for good or ill. And so to me, the balance in

the comic is more about... How does someone like

Jerika, how does anyone manage to create another

persona and continue fooling people and continue

maintaining that highly stressful dual life?

And what does that do to your personality? Does

it split it? Does it start to turn you into different

people? What what happens to you as a person

if you live this dual life? So, I mean, those

are the things I'm really interested in, which.

are you know maybe not exactly what gem fans

want i don't know old time you know people who

want it to be the same i don't know what to tell

you like i mean from issue one to now with issue

six being out in the first arc being done i have

not i mean obviously in the podcast reviews there

are little nitpicks but overall i think you've

done a stellar job translating what Christy set

out to do 30 years ago. Thank you. And you guys

have updated it to a point where it still is,

you know, that nostalgia for us who grew up with

the show, but it's also telling a new story for

everybody else. Speaking of secrets, and I know

you probably won't answer this. Amen to everything

you guys just said. Sorry. Go ahead. I know you

probably will not answer this in case it comes

up later, but... For longtime fans of the short

-lived Showtime Synergy podcast, we basically

review every single Gem in the Holograms cartoon

episode. And we'll miss Nicole over there. Yeah.

You know exactly where I'm going with this. I

know where you're going with this. She has major,

major issues with Rio in the cartoon and the

whole secret thing. So let me ask you this in

context of the cartoon, not the comic. Would

you be for or against Rio finding out the secret

identity? I don't actually mind talking about

this as it relates to the comic because I have

a huge problem with Rio on the show as well.

Unless I get fired, I have no intention of doing.

a romance between jericho's two identities and

rio it makes everyone out to be an i i i just

i don't like it for anyone it's it's it's doubly

duplicitous of jericho right it's the only thing

that the only good thing to me that comes out

of that that weird triangle is the weirdness

That couldn't really be fully explored. I'm sure

if Christy was doing a different cartoon for

an older generation, she might've delved into

this because the fact that it's there at all

tells me that she found it really interesting.

I say that without ever having spoken to her

specifically about this thing, but the whole

Jerrica becoming jealous of herself and all of

that, that to me is fascinating. And that to

me plays more into the kind of stuff that we're

trying to do, but I don't intend to do that through.

The love triangle. I see their relationship,

the Jerrica, Jem, Rio relationship, more like

Superman, Lois Lane, Clark Kent. Except for Lois

Lane thinks Clark Kent is great and thinks that

Superman is kind of a dick. And so Rio's not

into Jem. He just sees her as another diva. He

sees the Holograms as a really talented band

and Jerrica as really talented. Jem as someone

who has a great presence but who's not really

there for them and he's come to care for them

but but it but part of the secret to me and I

hope that I don't know Nicole you tell me but

to me I feel like we bought ourselves a little

time by making Jerrica and Rio knew a new relationship

because the cartoon and I understand why they

had to do these things, but like, and I understand

why they felt they had to keep the mystery going,

but the fact that they've known Rio their whole

lives, it seems like he could have been trusted

with the secret. And so it makes everyone look

bad. To me, he's new in their lives. I mean,

like I had them say it on the page because I

wanted to be clear about it where Shane is like,

maybe we should just tell them. And I was just

like, we just met him. Like, what are you talking

about? Because yeah, in the cartoon, it's just

like, okay. Because there's other people in the

cartoon that knew about, you know, the dual identity,

but they couldn't tell someone that was. like

you said grew up with them and it's just yeah

rio hates liars so we can't no i'm not i'm not

doing any of that don't get her started kelly

we'll be here for another two hours if you get

her started yeah i can't i can't promise that

everyone's gonna let me do it the way i want

but i've had conversations with john our editor

about um Rio is eventually going to find out

as far as I'm concerned, if I have my way, he's

going to find out. It's not going to be immediately

because there's just a lot of stuff to juggle,

not because we're trying to tease it out for

some crazy amount of time. But like, I mean,

he and Jem have spent very little time on the

same in the same room together. They're going

to have their sort of most extended conversation

in Jem nine. And that's going to. I think move

us forward a little bit. I would say maybe at

the end of Sophie's arc, we'll be drawing towards

him finding out or them telling him or us getting

somewhere there. I don't intend to extend it

out indefinitely to me, you know, there's, there's

a great thing in, there are a lot of cool things

to be explored, even in doing it the way that

we're doing it, where. you're falling for someone

and they don't really like your secret identity.

That's supposed to be like, quote unquote, the

best of you. Right. And that's weird. And so

I like them some elements of that, but there

are plenty of elements we can also play with.

If he finds out like, how weird is it to date

someone who has a separate identity that you're

not crazy about? And like, what are the stresses

that that puts on a relationship and things like

that? So, I mean, I don't know, nothing is set

in stone, but I don't intend to draw it out forever.

No. And I don't intend for Rio to be a, I mean,

I would like to have him kick a plant because

that's hilarious. But, you know, I don't intend

to be, you know, cheating on Jericho with her

other identity. And, you know, one of the things

I hate most about that, and it's just like a,

you know, again, it was a cartoon geared towards

children. They had to finish it up in 22 minutes

every week. Like it has a lot of different demands

and the kind of storytelling we're doing. So

I'm not trying to. I'm not trying to be critical

of the storytelling demands they have, but to

me, one of the worst things about the love triangle

from the show is what it says about the holograms,

right? Because if your sister's boyfriend is

flirting with and making out with and whatever,

the lead singer of your band when your sister's

not around and none of you are telling her or

none of you are telling Rio I mean like we know

we know she doesn't need to know but like Rio

doesn't know that what does Rio think about the

holograms that they just think it's okay that

he's cheating on their sister with the front

woman from their band it's sort of grotesque

and like everyone just sort of skips over it

because it's not something you can address in

a children's cartoon but it would not be appropriate

in our book that's not how our holograms would

behave like I could hug you right now really

this is everything that I have complained about

and I was going to save this for the end of the

show but thank you for writing Ryo to the point

where I don't want to kill him I actually like

Ryo in the comic Every time I see him on the

cartoon, I really just want to drown him in the

nearest bucket. He didn't get the best story.

It's true. It's true. Well, I hope I'll keep

it up. I remember Sophie and I, one of our few

arguments was she told me I was writing Rio creepy.

And I got all offended. I was like, listen, I've

gone out of my way to make him not creepy and

to make him playful and real. And she's like,

well, he's just so aggressive. I was like, well,

aggressive doesn't mean creepy. He's very confident.

Like, leave him alone, Sophie. I'm on your side

with this one. Thank you. Thank you. I like what

I'm hearing too. So I'm in here. I'm not, I'm

jumping in that boat with you too. You bring

up some really, you bring up some really good

questions that I thought I never really thought

of it like that. I was like, Oh gosh, wow. Yeah.

I mean, you know, you try and revamp something

that's really beloved and that has a lot of history

behind it. And you know, you very quickly find

yourself underwater to make. mechanics work and

anytime you have to take someone else's work

especially when it's beloved you know and sort

of keep the spirit of it but still take it apart

and turn it into something a little different

it's you know it's very complicated and I think

any writer you know I'm sure some people could

have done it better than me I'm sure many people

could have done it worse as well it's you know

it's a tough thing no matter what position you're

in so yeah You guys are doing it beautifully.

It's, it's, it's coming across very nice. I loving,

I'm, I'm not just speaking on my hand. I'm sure

that everybody else feels exactly the same way

too. So, yeah. Oh, thank you so much. It sounds

like not in, in Mike's Facebook group, but there

are several people in that group and I'm not

going to single them out. Cause I don't know.

I don't remember them off the top of my head,

but there's several different people are like,

Oh, my God, the comic and the movie are so not

what I grew up on. That's kind of the point,

people. Yeah, yeah, it really is. Listen, I mean,

you know, when we were first... on it and everything

and people heard about it and were mad or were

happy or all these different things. I mean,

you know, there were a ton of people that literally

wanted the storyline to pick up where it had

left 30 years ago. And I just don't know what

those people are thinking. Like, you can't, you

can't do that. Like, yes, there would be a tiny

little niche audience. uh you know that's not

only the people who are still interested in that

property 30 years later but then a niche of that

because it's the people who are interested in

comics and then a niche of that it's the people

that have even found out about that you have

to make something that can be accessible to a

new generation and i mean i guess that's what

upsets me the most about it i mean i tried we

both tried our best to keep the spirit of gem

because we love gem and we wanted the important

things to still be there but I definitely approached

it as, like, I hope the fans will love this.

I really do. I hope they'll find a new version

of this that they can love. But I want a new

generation of gem fans. Like, that's how it lives

on. And that's one of the biggest problems regular

mainstream big comics have, right, is that they

cater to this aging audience. We need new blood.

We need new blood. And it's the best -case scenario

if we can have old blood and new blood. I'm not

saying the old blood's worthless, but we need

them both in order to survive and thrive. And,

you know, I wish people would understand that

you couldn't pick up you couldn't possibly pick

up 30 years later in a new medium with the same

story. It just, you know, it doesn't work. And

to those people, I say, just let it let it be.

Let it let it tell a story. And then if you're

going to be that complicated about it, let it

let it get its 12 issues out and then try and

come back to it and see if there's something

new about it that resonates to you, because that's,

you know. There you go. I mean, we're already

through the first story arc. Yeah. And, you know,

we're to the point now where I was never hesitant.

I was never hesitant about the fact that there

was going to be a Gem comic. I think where I

got hesitant was that teaser that IDW put out.

Mm -hmm. That was the classic look. Mm -hmm.

And then I saw Sophie's. actual designs. I don't

have a problem with any of Sophie's designs at

all. And I didn't back then when I, but I just

think that a lot of people might've, Oh, so we're

going to get classically drawn and colored gem

and you know, that kind of thing. And honestly,

picking up the story 30 years later, I'm sorry.

You cannot pick up a gem comic book, start issue

one with Bonnie still trying to find her dad.

Cause that was the very last episode. I know.

I know. I can't do that. Uh, just, uh, Amy, what's

your next one there? My next one was, now that

we're talking about challenges, what has been

the biggest challenge to writing Gem in the Holograms?

I think it's definitely what we just said. It's

to not, you know, to update something and make

it new reader friendly and try and capture a

new generation to fall in love with Gem, but

to not, you know, alienate or offend the old

Gem fans. I mean, you know, I'm an old Gem fan.

I care. a lot about those characters i care a

lot about their stories um and so for me it was

just about finding what's the core of those characters

and like translating them and fortunately i had

a great partner in sophie so that was made a

lot easier but you know it's like here's a to

me a sort of microcosm example is seeing fans

complain about kimber being gay right because

they're like well she was the most boy crazy

of all of them and i was like yeah and now she's

the most girl crazy of all of them like it's

still the same kimber we just she just has a

different orientation yeah she just says she's

still the flirt she still had 60 000 girlfriends

you know storm we happen to be meeting her at

a time when she's met stormer who's sort of been

like a sort of game changer of a person for her.

That's, that's sort of forcing her to grow up

and like not really be as much of a flirt anymore.

And Stormer is very much not that flirty character.

She's more of like the serial monogamous type.

Right. So, but to me, it's like, you know, that

still maintains. what's Kimber about Kimber,

right? It just has a small tweak to it to, you

know, so, so now instead of the Sean's and what's

his, what's the other Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, whatever,

she's got the stormers and the, you know, whoever

else we sprinkle through her past. Right. And

that's still Kimber. It's just with a, with an

up, with a, with a slight tweak, but that's been

the struggle is, you know, I don't, I don't,

I don't, I don't want, even though I get frustrated

with the diehard fans who say those kinds of

things, I want all of them to love it. Like it

definitely, it makes me sad when they don't,

because I feel like they're not giving it a chance

because I feel like they would, if they really

opened their hearts, they would find the same

characters they love just in a new shade. But

you know, but I, I can't, I can't make them love

it. So what are you going to do? Just write well.

Exactly. Last week I actually had an opportunity

to interview John, John Barber from IDW Publishing.

And I asked him about the person that dared him

to print the negative letter. Oh, yeah. Oh, so

hilarious. All right. I love that he did the

negative letter. I want the negative letter.

I did, too. I want to see the negative letter,

if only to show a contrast. And because the negative

stuff sometimes incites the other people to,

like, then write in other positive things. So,

you know. Exactly. Endless cycle. All right.

So as far as the cartoon goes, what is your favorite

hologram song and what is your favorite misfit

song? Misfits song, absolutely making mischief.

Best song of the whole thing. I think my favorite

gem song, I don't know. I sort of go back and

forth, but I like the, oh my God, now I forget.

Is it Music is Magic? No. Music is Magic. But

that's not it. That's not the one I'm thinking

of, though. Broadway Magic? No, no, no. I just

did it in an interview the other day. Twilight

in Paris? No. Oh, my God. I can't believe I'm

botching this. I sort of go back and forth, and

sometimes I forget. I think Sophie's is glitter

and gold, but then I'm like, no, that's not mine.

That's Sophie's. What am I thinking of? It must

be Music is Magic. I guess that's going to be

my official answer for good or ill. All right.

We're going to take a quick musical break. We'll

be back after this. Hey, this is Samantha Newark,

and you're listening to the truly outrageous

podcasters of the Geekcast Radio Network. remembered

your song kelly i did like a dream like a dream

that's my favorite gem song awesome all right

so folks that musical interlude meant that it

is spoiler time we're going to be asking kelly

about the upcoming annual gem the holograms annual

and we're going to ask her a bit about issue

seven so if you don't want to hear any of this

stuff depending on what she can reveal to us

um You can basically just stop the show right

here. So this is spoilers, you've been warned.

The annual, like I mentioned a moment ago, I

had talked to John, and you've got, the reason

why I thought it was five stories is because

you've got five different artists doing the stories.

Jen Bartell, Agnes Garbowska, Ariel, I'm going

to screw up her last name, Jovalanos. That would

be my guess. I actually don't know either. I

mean, that's one of the things of dealing with

everyone via email. You often don't say their

names. Right. Amy Meverson and Rebecca Isaacs

are all on art for the annual. Now, the one thing

when, like, I nearly fell out of my chair when

John said Amy's name because to this point she'd

only done covers for you guys. And I'm like,

ooh, yay, I get to see her art in the actual

book. That's going to be awesome. Yeah. What

can you tell us about the stories in the annual

that are coming out? Well, so Amy Meberson draws

the, she only has four pages in this. She basically

draws the intro that gets us into the, that sort

of operates as the device, right, for the idea.

But she is drawing the holiday special. So you'll

get more Amy Meberson in July. So the device

is sort of a, I don't know. I don't know if you

guys are familiar with Buffy, but there was an

episode that was their very weird season finale

one year where they all go to sleep. They're

all keyed up after a battle and they go to sleep

and they all have these separate dreams and something

sort of infecting their dreams and causing them

to, you know, whatever. So we sort of took that

device of like, it's the holograms right after

they've come back from the events of issue six.

And they're all keyed up and they're going to

watch a movie and then they immediately fall

asleep. And so then we see four hologram dreams.

And, you know, they all have sort of layered

meanings and things, but they're all really fun.

And they're all based around 80s properties.

So you have Kimber, Kimber dreams, Kimber dreams,

gem babies, which is like a Muppet babies. And

it's very Kimber. And Aja has a sort of apocalyptic

thing. And Shana's dream is called Shana Wars.

And Jerika's is sort of the weirdest one, but

it's actually turned out to be one of my favorites,

which is a Teen Wolf sort of dream, which if

you're familiar at all with Teen Wolf, it actually

has a lot of... crossover similarities it's kind

of shocking i'm gonna love this that's why that

makes sense of the cover now with the whole gem

babies because it's very chibi yes yes so agnes

agnes is drawing the gem babies um rebecca isaacs

is on the aja apocalyptic story uh gem bartell

did shana wars and ariel jovelanos i don't know

uh did the gem wolf story I'm so excited. That's

going to be awesome. You know, I feel very mixed

about annuals as a creator and as a reader. As

a reader, I often feel like they sort of feel

like phoned in and they're like cash grabs and

they don't matter to everything else that's going

on. And while technically you could skip this,

for the very savvy reader, there are some hints

about things that are coming. And I think all

of the pieces, even though they're short, kind

of eight or nine pages each, they all teach you

a little bit about characters, you know, about

what's going on in these women's lives, what's

going on for these. characters what they're dealing

with and subconsciously kind of how they're dealing

with it but it's also just really fun and funny

and i don't feel like it's a cash grab or a phone

in at all i mean we talked about doing it i think

i sort of brought it up like oh do we want to

do this and And John was like, oh, let me ask

if they're into it. And then I was like, because

I only want to do it if I have a really great

idea. But I happen to have a really great idea,

so I think we should do it. So that was how it

came about. I mean, that's sort of how the holiday

special came out, too, was I was just thinking.

And I was like, oh, my God, it would be so great

to draw that or to have someone draw that. I

wonder if we can do that. So, yeah, I feel really

excited about it, actually. And we didn't really

do it on purpose, but it turned out to be an

amazing group of women. one of the two colorists

is, uh, Joanna LaFuente. So, um, yeah. So it's

just like, you know, it's great to have so many

women creators involved and get women creators,

some paid work and let them all take a toe dip

into gem. Like it was a really great experience.

I'm really excited about how it came out. So

for those, you know, basically who may or may

not be wondering the way I look at it now is

issues one to six is season one. You know, do

it like a TV. No, seriously. Sure. Do it like

a TV series. Issues one to six are season one.

You've got the annual as kind of like a summer

breather, even though it's not coming out in

the summer. And then issues seven to nine, which

is the viral three -parter arc. And the only

reason why I know that name is because the solicits

have already been out. And then is the holiday

special going to fall after viral or after issue

10? It's going to fall the same month as 10.

So it will be after viral. I don't know if it'll

be before 10 or after 10. I don't know. It'll

probably depend on, I sort of suspect it'll be

before 10 because John's asking for that script

before he's asking for the script for 10, but

it probably depends on the artist's schedule.

And then, of course, publishing schedule as well,

because that could always throw a loop in there

as well. Yeah. I mean, you can think about it

as seasons if you like. That's sort of fun. I

tend to think of things in the form of trades,

like how they're going to get collected. So 1

through 6 is getting collected in October, and

then... The second trade will be Emma's seven,

eight, nine, plus this special issue 10 with

a special artist. And then I assume they'll put

the holiday special in there as well. And I don't

know if they will collect the annual in there

or not. Like I have no idea how that works. So,

but that way it would be a similar, it will either

be five or the equivalent of seven issues. So

it'll be similar to Sophie's arc. And then we'll

have another six issue arc for Sophie. So. Right.

Right. Okay, so the viral, the next arc, the

story arc for issue 789 viral, what can you tell

us that hasn't already been revealed? Is there

anything that you're allowed to tell us or anything

you kind of want to tease people with? I think

that we do, we bring Aja and Shana a little bit

to the forefront as you start to see their subplots

develop. Aja sort of dating Craig. And what that

sort of means for her and Shana sort of struggling

with some decisions in her own personal life.

If you know the show, you probably know what

I'm talking about. So since you mentioned that,

I'm sorry to interrupt you. But since you mentioned

that, are we going to see Anthony Julian at all?

I mean, eventually I would certainly like to

give Shana a romantic subplot like everyone else.

I think her career stuff is a little more important

first. I also am probably, I mean, if I have

my way, he's not going to be a producer. I just,

that's a little weird. It's a little weird. I'd

rather make him like a design student, you know,

or maybe someone she meets when she's not. with

the holograms necessarily I don't know we'll

see it's a little far out but yeah I would certainly

like to give her a romantic subplot as well she

sort of references it in this viral arc like

everyone's sort of pairing up and she's sort

of like kicking herself in the butt that maybe

she needs to like get back out into the dating

scene so um also I can think of with Aja and

Craig is just Craig better not let her drive

Aja should drive everywhere. Oh, God. If you

want a demolition derby through every city, yeah.

That's one of the things that if you, one of

my biggest pet peeves of the show is when it's

the, when it's there, doing the NASCAR thing,

Pizazz and Gem, and every time I watch it, I'm

like, that should be Aja. This is bullshit. Bull.

Jem never drives. She shouldn't be in that seat.

Such a diva. Always gotta be the star, Jem. Stealing

the show. Yeah. She's even stealing the name

of the show. It's all about her. I don't think

that isn't gonna come up. So, yeah. So, yeah,

I mean, Kimber is taking... I mean, there's still

some stuff with Kimber, definitely, and Stormer,

but... you know, their relationship being on

the rocks after the events or sort of over after

the events of six is like, you know, are they

going to get back together? Can they repair this?

Like, what's the deal? So we'll be dealing with

that. We'll be doing sort of. pushing a little

bit on Rio and Jerrica. Like they're sort of,

you know, having too many fights about this gem

stuff already. And so what's that going to mean?

There's going to be a really big house party.

Nine is probably my favorite issue I've written.

I think it's a really ambitious, complicated

issue. And I'm sure Emma wants to kill me a little

bit, but if she can pull it off, which I know

she can, it's I think it'll be really rewarding.

So. And then I think I told you guys 10 is sort

of a Rio's perspective issue a little bit. So

we'll learn a little bit more about Rio. But

more than learning about Rio, we'll learn sort

of how he views everyone else. Or that's the

intent. I haven't written it yet. So I guess

we'll see. But that's the hope. As long as we

have some sort of scene in the viral arc between

Tech Rat and Pizazz where he says, Don't touch

my stuff. I'll be happy. I can't wait to see

more Tech Rat. That's going to be awesome. I

love Tech Rat. Tech Rat is a hilariously fun

character to write. There are some Halloween

costumes involved in this arc. And someone whose

name starts with a P has bullied the people she

knows into wearing specific costumes. And nobody

is really happy about it. And it's really fun.

And I love it. So we'll see. you guys bring so

much joy each month reading this comic I have

so much I mean I have so much fun telling we

can't let this get back to John but I was like

it's really hard to ask for a raise because I

would write it for free we can't let them know

that but I love it I love doing it All right.

Wrapping up here, would you like to inform the

fans of where they can interact with you online?

The easiest place to find me is probably Twitter,

which is at 79 semifinalist. You can also find

me on Tumblr, 1979 semifinalist .tumblr .com.

And that's my website, too, 1979 semifinalist

.com. So that's where I am. Awesome. Are you

going to be going to any conventions in the near

future and appearances and all that? Unfortunately,

not the near future. Because I'm moving, things

have been a little crazy. I really wanted to

go to Emerald City, but it's the same month that

I'm going to be moving, so I don't think it's

going to work out. Maybe later in the year there

will be some things, but I'm definitely, I know

it sounds ridiculously far out, but I'm definitely

planning stuff for late 2016 or early 2017. So

I know that seems really far, but there's just

a lot that's going to happen this coming year.

So I don't know. We'll see. Cool. Cool. All right.

I wanted to save this for last because I know

it's not going to cause any controversy, but

it just doesn't seem right. And I want you to

explain to me, because on Twitter you said it

just isn't logical. Oh. Why is the rock and roaster

not logical to be in the comic? Come on. Okay.

So. I mean, think about it. And again, this sounds

like I'm dissing the cartoon and I'm not. The

reason the Rockin' Roadster is in the cartoon

is because it's a toy line and they need to sell

a car, okay? It makes no freaking sense. That

there's a car already there that has the name

Jem on it. Unless you want to come to the conclusion

that their dad orchestrated everything, which

I don't like because that takes agency away from

all the characters. I want to give the characters

more agency. I don't want that their dad came

up with Jem and got them a car and got them all

the clothes and all the instruments and all the

whatever. I want them to do those things on their

own. To me, the car makes no sense. They can

have a car. later if they want but they don't

need it they have a van in which they use for

their music and they have individual cars i'm

sure maybe they don't all have their own but

they probably do they live in a big fancy house

they probably have their own cars each of them

uh we've at least seen jerica's car there's no

reason to have a rock and roadster it doesn't

carry their instruments they're a real band like

why would they have that now will gem at some

point which is really Jerrica go out and get

a sports car because Jim quote unquote needs

like an identity and a car. And will that cause

conflict among the sisters that Jerrica has gone

out and bought an expensive car that you can

call the roadster if you want. Like that to me

is a more realistic, plausible thing that has

real stakes. There's no reason for there to be

a car. Plus, I moved the cave into the basement

and you can't get a freaking car out of there.

So what are you going to do? I agree. I agree.

I think I might have brought that up at one point.

It's got Gem on already. I hate what it has that

on there. It drives me crazy. And I don't like

that all those clothes are there, too, because

that takes away what Shana brings to the table,

you know? Listen, again, I've talked about this

a bunch. There's totally different story demands

for what they were doing for Jem as a cartoon

that had to appeal to kids. You've got to get

a lot of information across quickly. I have no

problem with the show. I love the show. I love

that it sometimes doesn't make sense. But when

I'm rebuilding something that has to work for

a 40 -year -old person and a 12 -year -old person,

and I have to... make it sit on a bedrock so

that I know that it all makes sense so that I

can go back to it. You know, I have to make sure

all that stuff makes sense. Yeah. That doesn't

mean Rio can't kick a plant. That doesn't mean,

that doesn't mean Jim can't turn into a surfboard

at some point, which I really hope we can find

a way to work in. Cause that's one of my favorite

weird gem things of all time is when she turns

into that surfboard, you know, we can still have

the zany elements, but. it's all gotta be based

on something that makes sense. And to me, the

rock and roadster sort of makes no sense and

takes agency away from, you know, it's, it's

more of a fantasy of, Oh, dad left us all this

cool stuff. And I just don't find that as character

interesting as. we made this cool stuff or we

created it or we're going to do it. And it's

also not as controversial or as high stakes as

Jerrica went out and with the advance money bought

a sports car for Jem and didn't get everyone's

approval on it. You know what I mean? Like those

are more interesting things to me than, oh, look,

here's magically a car that won't carry any of

our instruments. So it's worthless to us. But

that also makes really good conflict between

the characters. Yes, exactly. Exactly. Conflict

is always good. I'm sorry, Mike. Maybe you should

have a little funeral for the Rockin' Roadster.

It's okay. Issue 5's sub -cover did it for me

anyway. There you go. I heard you talking about

that at the beginning of the cast, and I was

like, oh, he's going to hate the Rockin' Roadster.

Alright, we would like to thank Ms. Thompson

for taking this long time to chat with us here.

Thank you so much. You're amazing and awesome.

Thank you. Thank you for indulging me. I sometimes

get carried away. So do we. Here in this latest

interview here inside the pull bag on Showtime

Synergy for the Geekcast Radio Network.