Interview with Kelly Thompson on Writing 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 geek cast 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 Rek. Hello. Hello. And Beatles

Diva. Hello. Aloha. Today we have the pleasure

of welcoming Gem 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

Shayna situation I Wish somebody would go back

and actually time that out to see how long I

actually went on about that cuz I was like ten

minutes nearly 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 Shayna'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 was great. I think it looks great. But that's

not my favorite of Shayna's many hairs. But you

really undermine 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. And and the funny thing is in six in the

People will not be able to see this until as

of this recording an interview You wouldn't be

able to see this But when this interview goes

live this coming Friday issue six of Jim the

holograms from IDW publishing the art 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 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, but I it's reasonable that

it's it's a 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. True. 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 and 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. Tumblr and Pinterest and all that

stuff and draws from all that stuff for inspiration.

She sometimes definitely gets stuck and 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 mostly it's just her drawing from life and

making it go. It's pretty amazing. Oh, Sophie

does an amazing job. Amazing job. 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 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? No, I grew

up, I was born in California and I lived there

until I was about six. Then I lived in Colorado

until 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 Archies, 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 story. I had never seen other comics that

weren't Archie's, so I didn't sort of have an

understanding of them. medium it was just Archie's

were Archie's 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 loved

it. 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 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 OK. Took a while to get

here, but it's worked out all right. It was worth

it in the long run. Yeah. 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 there

were art colleges like the Andy Cuber School

and stuff like that, or the Joe Cuber 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. 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

they're 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. 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 and now that

you mention it? very long and slow You know I

started So I went to SCAD for a couple 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 what it became

sort of a thing and got Brian Cronin who runs

comic should be good. I came to his attention

through something probably me bitching about

something and And he gave me a platform to start

she has no head on comic 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 saying, 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. I think that having work, even though

it wasn't out yet, I had a PDF that I could send

to people and be like, listen. 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 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 alright 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 gonna get her first 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 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 Jim. 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 gonna 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 a, they put a lot of trust in me and

I am very grateful for it. Awesome. Because I

have to ask this question everybody because this

is a comic podcast after all DC Marvel or other

Company who's your which way do you lean? I don't

know. I mean, I don't really I mean image is

obviously doing incredible creator own 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 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. you know, dark and dreary. There's room for

Gotham Academy and everything else, you know.

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. 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 oneing everything

again. I think it's very hard to pick up with

what issue would it be of Squirrel Girl, I don't

know, eight or nine 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. There

was a time when that mattered a lot to me, and

there was a time when renumbered bothered the

crap out of me. 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 OK with that. 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

Um, so, so I don't, the number ones don't really

bother me. I mean, like, I don't care what they

call unbeatable squirrel girls, 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, uh, that you were on one

with some friends. Um, can you tell us which

ones? Yeah, 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 Bupri, who's a lovely

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

eventually had to take a Take a step back. She

was doing a lot of school and work and she couldn't

keep it up And we were gonna replace her with

someone else So the so the title made sense,

but eventually we were like, yeah, we'll just

start having on guests so we started having on

guests and it was sort of a format change and

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.

So. 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 a it's now bi -weekly It started out

as a weekly column on comic should be good, which

is the blog of CBR so I run I created she has

no head and I sort of Made a round with it my

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 the fiction writing I'm doing is sort

of taking precedence and it also You know, there's

always been a bit of a conflict of interest there.

Like, because right out of the gate, I started

meeting people and connecting with people. And

so 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? So it's always been

a little weird that way, but it's gotten much

worse now that I'm working for more publishers.

You know, I eventually I did reviews. Also, I

did over 500 reviews for CBR and I have I had

to eventually stop doing that because, you know,

it was like, my list - It's weird when you're

- Yeah, well my list of publishers - You're reviewing

something, but you're also becoming a writer

yourself, so. Yeah, 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

got to be fair to the reader. And, and 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, in 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 a pop star

for Jim and the Holograms is? 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 gem is so Super heroic and that she has a

secret identity and she had 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 action II punching and

kicking, I suppose, but, you know, especially

with the misfits stirring up trouble, you still

end up with a little bit of action anyway, so.

You 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, 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.

So yeah, that. Yeah, so Aja is definitely my

favorite. Sophie and I have many arguments because

she struggles the most with Aja's hair. She was

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 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 Sonic the hedgehog

look like early on when it was bigger and spikier

which I loved so I'm a big fan Sounds like you

guys could write a melodrama behind the scenes

about the hair. Oh, God. You don't even fly on

the ball with Sophie and I would be an interesting

situation, or maybe get us defriended by everyone

we know just because, you know, a lot of things

happen in private that maybe shouldn't happen.

Oh, now I didn't know. Sophie loves controversy

so she's she's a big fan of like finding out

what all the scoops are so I don't I don't care

for it much myself but Sophie's pretty hilarious

so you kind of got to go with it yeah we were

friends before So, I mean, we're sort of text

every day kind of level of friends. So, I would

say the texting went up considerably once we

started working on GEM, but yeah, I mean, we

were always good friends. So, yeah. So that back

and forth was it last week or last weekend obviously

by the time this airs but Something about a movie.

Oh, yeah, it's 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

drunk live tweeting I Frankenstein, which was

truly a terrible movie. That's awesome. At least

anytime that I have seen, at least on Twitter,

anybody 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. Basically, 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 the same 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 some maybe some news about

what's happening with that later. This is something

like Hollywood needs. because it's such a good

story and it's something unique and that's what

we i want to see on the movie screen i think

would be awesome yeah i think um we might be

shifting to tv i mean the girl who would be king

is a 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 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,

10 episodes or something might be a really good

way to address some of the complications of it.

And I'd love to see it. I'd love to see 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...

And I just think that we were 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 power,

she does actually have powers. But you know,

she's not a traditional I'm gonna 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 M. Wohl 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. 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 Lu 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 gonna 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,

the success 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 do crazy success and win

Hugo's and things like that. So I think we're

seeing it. 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 is

selling much better than the old Thor. I think

these are encouraging things, but books still

get canceled all the time. I swear to God, I

wake up every morning and worry about Gotham

Academy because 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 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.

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 gonna go and what's not

gonna 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 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 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 or I assume I know that's how I feel

That said I know my work is good. So If you need

female if you know if you need female writers

and because of that I get to pitch I don't care.

I know my pitch is good. So and I'd put it up

against anyone else's so you know, I Think it's

sort of a mixed bag like You know, uh, I want

to I want to compete on the same level at the

same time If 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 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 action -y

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 a hundred and five, it seems like. You

never know. You never know. You never know. Things

could really wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait. 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 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 story

killer 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, I'm

very excited to get it out there and I feel very

bad that it's taken so long. it's understandable.

It's understandable. I also have for anyone that

might be listening to Back 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. Yeah. Awesome.

Yeah. So, you're talking 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. Yeah,

it's a big black mark on me. But I will say that

I think the Hungriam'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

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.

uh 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 and uh I love that

she didn't pull punches there. But 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 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 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. You know, one of my favorite

short story collections is called Delicate Edible

Birds. Like, 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.

You know, I read a lot of 1950s sci -fi stuff

for the new Storykiller book, and so my reading's

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. Most people

don't ask. But I always kind of take it as that

pretty much anything and everything can influence

you in everything that you do. So sometimes it

could be that. It could be 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, 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 shut 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 are you we've already

used that 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 is 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. I don't know, like 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? You know

if you're if you're exceptionally talented 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. But yes, 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 people who don't. kind of deliver

on their promises or who are 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? There was some sort of

vague talk about it and I was like... I 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. We just need 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 digging Dark Horse. This is just how

comics work, unfortunately. They're not a...

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. 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 gonna have to go and do penciling, inking,

colors, letters, all of it, right? Yeah, she

was gonna 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 IDW and on Carolcore, 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 or 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.

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, knock on

wood. Speaking. Speaking of dolls, let's get

to the truly outrageous Gem and 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. OK, go ahead. OK, 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, I 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 are doing our

own thing and they should be very separate things.

So, oh, 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 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 30s. 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 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

Shayna 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 know 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 this is for me. These other things

are just sort of for me and like sort of a token

way like, oh, here's Scarlett. She's amazing.

You know, connect to her on GI Joe. And I did.

But this had so much variety in that way. And

it was amazing. Plus, you know, fashion, fame,

glitter, all that. What girl what girl wouldn't

want to hang out? 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. Well, I

think that was even I mean, I I liked even as

a kid, I liked 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 on reading Jem 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 Jem? 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.

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 gonna 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 disappoints

them. And 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 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. So. So if you

know if you expressions to oh, she's the best.

Yeah It shows that you're really in can you know

it really connecting with all the characters

too Which is a really good thing for a writer

if you if you're not emotional Because you love

your characters so much and that they're touching

you as much as you know, you're writing them

then then you're not the right person for the

job. But if you are, then that's 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 that's exciting for me to hear. Yeah,

there was a moment when I was reading, I think

it was probably an issue three, because that's

my favorite cover with the 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 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

gonna be my girls and it was the first time I'd

like been like my girls are gonna be on the screen

And it was this really powerful moment for me

of like realizing how attached I was to them.

That's 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 because

it was sort of like looking into the sun. Like

the responsibility seemed too immense if I looked

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 an issue one.

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.

Cool. That's a good insight to know. OK, so we

know your favorite. Which is not a great code

if Synergy's name ever gets out. They should

probably look into changing it, but just, you

know. So we know that Asha 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. Like, 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 Pizzazz, who

is just ridiculously over the top. I love her

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

like Jetta 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. duo 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 because nobody

else will put up with them so I mean there are

there are things I like about all of them pizzazz

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, 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? And John was like, no, no

way. There'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. It takes

on the embodiment of the skull at times. Yes.

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. We're going to

get it 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. Ooh. And we'll see more of

Craig, who we introduced in five, but we did

not introduce him in five. 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 seven, eight and

nine, actually. Maybe it's just seven and nine.

I could be 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

explosive. 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 liberalism.

New year. It's the liberalism. Right. No, I...

When we... Which issue was it was it issues three

or four whenever they get to the trailer? It's

actually five 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

is on the list They're in the comic on issue

six Such like the worst band name ever. I know,

I know, but it'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. And. Ninjas of Loretto is my fake

band. So, you know, that was a good reference

to the cartoon. You guys have read issue six,

so I love how Sophie did. Their music looks different

than then this fits and jam, which is so great.

All of the music, how Sophie does that stuff.

It's so. Don't want to say it's eclectic. I want

to say it's more electric Because 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 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've 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 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 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 write 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

rhymy as They feel in the book. I mean because

you is 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 rhymy 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 gem songs 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 Pizzaz. 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.

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. There's no music written. So.

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 playlists I have a Misfits playlist

and a gem playlist that are separate that I 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 You know 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 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 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 taste

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, 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 Jim 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 sort of, even though they're an incredible

band, and led by an incredible performance -driven

front woman, they struggle a little bit because

it's a less commercial sound. 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, let's 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 bodies types instead of just

you know, cut out dolls You know, was that was

that something that was that your choice or was

that something IDW decided on or is that one

of your pitches? 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 Kristy Mark's

plan to make Jetta a black woman and that they

didn't go for that back then. 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 friggin incredible. Oh,

I love her design. 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

Jim and when Kimbers 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 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, they so that was always

in the pitch. That was something Sophie and I

were 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

gonna draw them with different body types and

that that was gonna 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 pizzazz and gem who are very sort of

quote -unquote traditionally Western beauty standards

attractive 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 gonna be that way. Like there

was no way Sophie was gonna 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 We

occasionally fight about hair. But other than

that, I mean, I just let her do whatever 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 that whole mullet

comment that I gave to you on Twitter makes so

much more. There'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 design 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 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

whatever, and that she goes for sort of her complete

opposite. And I don't know, Sophie puts so much

thought into all that stuff. 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 So the designs are amazing.

I was just gonna say someone I could complain

about really I just love it and clash. She's

even like almost really skinny like Yeah, crazy

to that. Does that crazy skinny and I'm just

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

that. It's like, yeah, it's so 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 it because

I'm a bigger girl, too. I wish I would have seen

that. growing up more, you know, this girl, this

girl's a bigger girl, and she's a rock star.

Yeah. And she's nobody ever. She's got the love.

She's got a great story. Nobody ever mentions

her weight like, you know, the same way that

the holograms never tell Kimber to eat a sandwich.

Nobody ever tells Storm or maybe she shouldn't

eat something like it's just not about that,

you know. And I it's one of my favorite things

about the misfits, you know, though it's not

on the page that they know stormers like the

most talented one in the group except for pizzazz

is obviously very talented but she knows the

stormers 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. Very true. I was going

to 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 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 kinds. of people and to 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 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 she doesn't like Think about it.

Like it's a term paper. She doesn't approach

it that way. She approaches it was 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 know and yeah, I wasn't taking it that way

either Realize just be clear. Yeah You have to

watch everything you say when you're an interview

and all that because it could be taken out of

context One last odd question for you, for myself.

So I read in an interview when you were doing

Storykiller, one of your favorite parts was doing

the weapons. If you could give the cast a gem

in the hologram's weapon, what would it be? That's

an awesome question. That is an awesome question.

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 Magic soul sword just

like disappears you could teleport with it. It's

sort of like changes sizes It's awesome. I feel

like she'd be super into that that would fit

her very well I feel like You know Shayna is

very much like a sci -fi and fantasy girl like

she loves She loves you know Star Wars and things

like that. So maybe she'd have a laser blaster

kind of thing I feel like pizzazz would be perfect

for the Ravenclaw which are the Satan claw which

is in that article I was writing about which

is a it's 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 Jerrica

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

a box boxing related God Kimber what would Kimber

have? These are really good questions if you

had sent me Kimber should have Harley Quinn's

giant mallet 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 that leaves

Stormer out. I don't know, what would Stormer

have? I 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 someone just asked Sophie on Twitter what

what Harry Potter houses they would all be in

and Sophie was like I don't really I don't really

follow Harry Potter so I don't know and I was

like well I'm not a die -hard fan, but I can

do better than that Sophie 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. It was Gryffindor for Kimber and

Blaze, Hufflepuff for Jerika Jem, Shayna, Stormur,

and Rio, Ravenclaw for Aja, Techrat, and Craig,

Slytherin for Pizazz, Jediroxy, Clash, and Eric.

Heavily weighted towards Slytherin, I guess But

you know what's funny it's doing that made me

think that Kimber is sort of the Harry Potter

of the 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?

In the end, I was like, she's too good to be

Slytherin, so we'll let her go over. She should

choose 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've seen a lot. I'm a member of one of

the open group, 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. Jerika 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 was

announced, I was like, okay, well, they're adding

something to the character. And Jerika is not,

even though metaphysically she is Jem, because

let's face it, it's just a hologram, but... 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. OK. And then have them write a short story.

about why They become gem in the 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 part of comics is the suspension of disbelief.

You have to buy into the concept, okay? And...

That's true of gem. 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

gem 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

Jem, for Jerrica, she's suddenly presented with

a sort of magical solution to her problem. And...

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 Jerrica as two different people at

all. I agree that the cartoon treats it that

way in large part because Jerrica 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 Jerrica. Jem 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

Jerrica, 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 Jim fans

want? I don't know old time, you know people

who wanted 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 Jem and the Holograms cartoon

episode. And, well, Miss Nicole over there. 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 Jerica's two identities and

Rio. It makes everyone out to be an asshole.

I just I don't like it for anyone. It's it's

it's doubly duplicitous of Jerica, 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 Christie was doing a different cartoon

for an older generation, she might have 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 the love triangle that's I see I see their

relationship the Jericho gem 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 gem. He doesn't he just sees her

as another diva he sees the holograms as a really

talented band and Jericho is really talented

and Gem 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 him. And I was just like, we just met

him. Like, what are you talking about? We can't

tell him this. I'm so happy for that. Because,

yeah, in the cartoon it's just like, OK. 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 real hates liars

so we can't know I'm not I'm not doing any of

that. Don't get her started 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 Rio's 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 in the

same room together. They're going to have their

sort of most extended conversation in Jem 9.

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 a great thing and 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 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 him 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 on 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 real 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 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. I could hug

you right now, really. This is everything that

I have complained about. And I was going to say

this for the end of the show, but thank you for

writing Rion to the point where I don't want

to kill him. I actually like Rion 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 he didn't get the best 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

have 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. Awesome.

I like what I'm hearing too, so I'm jumping in

that boat with you too. You bring up some really

good questions that I thought, I never really

thought of it like that. I was like, oh gosh,

wow. You try and revamp something that's really

beloved and that has a lot of history behind

it and 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 is, 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, um, in Mike's Facebook group, but

there are several people in that group and I'm

not going to single them out because 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. Anyway, listen, I mean,

you know, when 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. 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 is 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. Cause 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, well, 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 that was the classic look. 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 have been Oh So we're gonna get

classically drawn and colored gem and you know

that kind of thing right 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 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. And so for me, it

was just about finding what's the core of those

characters and translating them. And fortunately,

I had a great partner in Sophie, so that was

made a lot easier. But 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 stormers 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 shawns and uh what's his what's the other

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 Don't

I don't I don't I don't want even though I get

frustrated with the die -hard fans who say those

kind 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 can't I can't make them love

it So what are you gonna do? Last week I actually

had an opportunity to interview John, John Barber

from IDW Well Wishing, and I asked him about

the person that dared him to print the negative

letter. I love that he did the negative letter.

I want the negative letter. 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 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 the is it is it music of

Matt music is magic No, music is magic, but that's

not it. That's not the one I'm thinking of so

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 gonna

take a quick musical break. We'll be back after

this Hey, this is Samantha New York and you're

listening to the truly outrageous podcasters

of the geek cast 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 gonna be asking Kelly about the upcoming

annual Gemini Holograms annual and we're gonna

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 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 Just

because you've got five different artists doing

the stories Jen Bartel Agnes Garbowska Ariel

I'm gonna screw up her last name Joe Villanos

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, so. 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 gonna 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 for the idea. But she is drawing

the holiday special. So you'll get more Amy Meberson

in July. She so so the device is sort of a. I

don't. 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 gonna 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 Shayna's dream is called Shayna Wars

and and Jerica'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 going to love this.

That's why that makes sense of the cover now

with the whole Gem Babies because it's very chibi.

Yes, so Agnes is drawing the Gem Babies. Rebecca

Isaacs is on the Aja apocalyptic story. Gem Bartel

did Shana Wars and Ariel Jovalanos, I don't know,

did the Gem Wolf story. 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 savoury 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, 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 you know, 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 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 so, yeah,

I feel really excited about it, actually. And

it's we didn't really do it on purpose, but it

turned out to be an amazing group of women, even

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,

do it like a TV series. Issues one to six are

season one. You get 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 gonna 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, so... Publishing schedule as well because

that could always throw a loop in there as well

Yeah, I mean I tend 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 gonna get like collected so

one through six is getting collected in October

and then The second trade will be Emma's seven,

eight, nine, plus this special issue ten 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 bring Aja and Shayna 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 Shayna

sort of struggling with some decisions in her

own personal life. If you know the show, you

probably know what I'm talking about. 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 Shayna 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. 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 get back out

into the dating scene. So also I can think of

with Aja and Craig is just Craig better not let

her drive. I just should drive everywhere. Oh,

if you want a demolition derby. 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 that doing the NASCAR thing because

as a gem and I every time I watch it, I'm like

that should be Aja. This is bullshit. Jim never

drives. She shouldn't be in that seat. Always

got to be the star, Jim. Stealing the show. Yeah.

She's even stealing the name of the show. It's

all about her. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think that

isn't going to come up. So yeah. So yeah, I mean,

Kimber is taking, I mean, there's still some

stuff with Kimber, definitely Ann 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 Ten 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 TechRat

and Pizzaz where he says, Don't touch my stuff!

I'll be happy. Well, I can't wait to see more

TechRat. That's going to be awesome! I love TechRat.

TechRat is a hilariously fun character to write

and... 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. I, you know, 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 Semi -Finalist. You can also find

me on Tumblr, 1979semi -finalist .tumblr .com,

and that's my website. It's too, 1979semi -finalist

.com. So that's where I am. Awesome. Are you

going to be going to any conventions in the near

future, any 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 gonna cause any controversy but it just

doesn't seem right and I and I want you to explain

to me because on Twitter you said it just isn't

logical oh why is the rockin' roaster not logical

to be in the comic 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. We've at least seen Jerika'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 Jem at some point? which is really Jerika,

go out and get a sports car because Jem quote

unquote needs like an identity and a car. And

will that cause conflict among the sisters that

Jerika has gone out and bought an expensive car

that you could 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 gonna do? I

agree, I agree. I think I might have brought

that up at one point. It's got Gem on already,

you know? I hate how 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 Shayna brings to the table, you know? You

know, listen, again, we've talked about this.

I've talked about this a bunch like there's totally

different story demands for what they're doing

for Gem 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 Gem can't turn

into a surfboard at some point, which I really

hope we can find a way to work in because 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 got to 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 gem 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 here's magically

a car that won't carry any of our instruments.

So it's worthless to us. But that also makes

a conflict between the characters. So yes, exactly,

exactly. I'm sorry, Mike. Maybe you should have

a little funeral for the Rock and Roadster. It's

okay. Issue five 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 Rock and Roadster.

All right, we would like to thank miss Thompson

for taking this long time 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 geek cast radio

network