Interviews 

Multiversity Comics Presents: Kelly Sue DeConnick

By | February 15th, 2012
Posted in Interviews | % Comments
Photo by Ed Peterson

This week we’ve offered you a bevy of great interviews (see: Nick Pitarra, Joelle Jones), and today we continue our interview series with a sit down with Kelly Sue DeConnick, writer of one of our favorite mini-series of last year, Osborn: Evil Incarcerated, as well as the final Supergirl arc and the Castle graphic novel.

Click behind the cut as we discuss Portland, manga and comics, Osborn, Castle, Supergirl, and the mysterious future.

You’re part of a huge community of comic creators in Portland, with an inner circle that includes people like Matt Fraction, Brian Bendis and any number of other top names who live in or visit PDX at any given time. What do you think it is about the city that makes it such a popular place for creative types?

We moved here, mostly, because it’s insanely beautiful. The cost of living is higher than it was in Kansas City, but significantly lower than New York, San Francisco, or Austin–all places we discussed at one point or other. And the community…the fact that this is such a comics town, full of readers as well as creators, was definitely a big part of our deciding to come here.

For you as a writer, do you find that living in such a vital and vibrant creative community pushes you?

Well, I’m much more productive here that I was in Kansas City. But, I mean, we also had a lovely comics community in KC — Steven Sanders, Tony Moore, B Clay Moore, Christopher Sebela, Ande Parks, etc. I adore those folks. It’s not like we were hurting for creative company.

I suspect the shift for me has to do with timing–a large part of my time in Kansas City was spent adjusting to motherhood–and hitting a mile marker age-wise that no longer allows for dawdling, or being precious. Shit or get off the pot, as they say. (“They,” being people far less posh then ourselves, right?)

Previously, you translated a lot of Manga for American audiences. For you as a writer, what did that teach you in terms of crafting your own stories? How did you get into doing something like that?

If it’s cool with you, I’ve told the story of how I got into doing manga a gazillion times, so I’m going to skip it. (I think it’s relatively easy to find online.)

What did teach me? Hm. Well, if it’s okay to pat yourself on the back, I’ve written a lot of dialogue. A lot, a lot. Well more than 10,000 pages. So… I think I’ve gotten pretty good at crafting dialogue.

You know it’s dangerous to make sweeping generalizations about manga [I’ve made a few in the past–Japanese comics tend to be more fashion-conscious, which I appreciate, and they have their own tropes, so they can feel wildly new and off the rails to new American readers as we struggle to find the three act structure to which we’ve grown accustomed], so it’s hard to say something about “manga” taught me how to put my own stories together. I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m dodging the question–that sincerely is not my intent–but Japanese comics are still comics, you know? I mean, what did working on other people’s comics teach me about putting my own comics together? I guess it helped me refine my tastes–but I’m not sure I’d say it did that any more than reading 10K pages of comics would.

There’s the practical matter of learning to manage publishing deadlines–but I feel as though you’re looking for a more profound answer than that. I wish I had one to give you!

Moving on from manga, you currently have quite a handsome resume in the world of superhero comics. What is it about superheroes and their adventures that you find appealing? What can superhero stories accomplish that, say, Manga can not?

Dude. I like you so much, but I have to ask you to reconsider your ideas about manga. “Manga” means comics. That’s it. They’re just comics from Japan. So, you just asked me what a particular genre can accomplish that the medium cannot. The question doesn’t make sense. Follow? Akira is manga. Astroboy is manga. What can American superhero comics accomplish that Japanese comics cannot…? Come on.

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I suspect you’re conflating shojo with manga and that makes me want to pop you upside your head–in a loving, motherly way. I don’t want to put words in your mouth, though, so instead of resorting to violence, how about I answer the first part and give you a chance to rephrase the second, okay?

What do I love about superhero comics? Well, I’m a five foot tall woman with a short temper who has always kind of looked like a child. I am RIFE with power fantasies. I also have a theater degree and an alcoholic tendency toward spectacle. What draws me to superheroes is probably the same thing that draws me to opera, melodrama, Commedia dell’Arte, Shakespeare, Greek mythology… I think it’s a lizard brain thing. Jungian archetypes in four colors. Humans crave this sort of storytelling, it’s just that as modern men and women we have a broad variety of ways in which to consume it. What draws my son to Teen Titans is the same brain-wiring that drew my grandmother to Days of Our Lives.

You were the writer of one of our absolute favorite mini-series of 2010-2011 in Osborn: Evil Incarcerated. With the “Osborn in Oz” motif of the book, how did it feel to tackle one of Marvel’s most notorious nut jobs?

It felt GREAT. I love me some Norman Osborn. The scariest thing about Norman is that he’s crazy in a way that kind of makes sense. Like, if I squint, I can sort of see where he’s coming from.

I should maybe worry about that. I don’t know.

Given the high profile nature of Osborn and his need for a segue between Crazy Point A and Crazier Point B, where did your story evolve from? Did you know what was going to happen to the character after your story?

I did not know what they’d do after, no! It’s been incredibly fun for me to watch Osborn get the band back together.

My story evolved from Steve Wacker giving me Osborn in HBO’s OZ as a starting place. To that I added my own fascination with the Special Containment Center off the coast of Seattle and ideas about power. After that it was just trying to make all the puzzle pieces fit.

Given the nature of the character, was there anything in particular you looked to for inspiration in writing Osborn?

The animal kingdom. I read a lot about hierarchies in nature for research. (You have no idea how tempted I was to use the Honey Badger.)

The book also saw Warren Ellis returning to the character with artist Jamie McKelvie for a back-up story. How did their back-up initially come about? Is that something you particularly worked on or suggested, or just a happy accident that helped flesh out the supporting cast of your book?

It was suggested–by Alejandro or Steve, I’m not sure–that we could have a backup giving some additional background on one of the new characters. I think I suggested asking Ellis? And then I believe–and it’s been a while now, but I think this is how it went down–I sent Ellis my list of characters and he chose June. I don’t remember how Kitten got attached, but I adore him so everything was spiffy. (Did you catch the Kieron Gillen cameo in that story?)

Ellis is both a hero and a friend so I could not have been happier to have our names on the same book. (He’s also the guy who gave me my Osborn take — he told me that Osborn’s scariest when he’s the most sane — and that was it, that gave me everything I needed.)

Recently, two of the characters you created – Ai Apaec and Dr. June Covington – have re-emerged, with both characters in the New Dark Avengers and Apaec having a short Spider-Island stint. How does it feel to watch these creations of yours move on and come to life in the work of others?

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IT’S SO COOL.

It’s embarrassing to admit how validated I feel by that.

On that same note, how does it feel to have Brian steal two of your characters for his own nefarious purposes?

That son of a–!!

Nah, Brian’s doing me a favor. Don’t be fooled for a minute.

The other major release from Marvel with your name on it last year was the Castle graphic novel, Deadly Storm. How did that project come together, and how was it co-writing a book with Brian? What about the character and story appealed to your writing sensibilities?

I can say without an ounce of fudging that I was a huge Castle fan before I got the gig. That was, in fact, how I got the gig. Brian was on it 1st, and when they offered him the opportunity to bring on a cowriter, he thought of me precisely because I had given him so much shit for getting a book I wanted. I was teasing, of course–Brian is on a whole other level, I mean, Brian and I are not competing for jobs or anything. But yeah, when he told me about the gig, I was like, “you bastard!”

He’s great to work with. He doesn’t have a lot of notes, but when he does have something, he’s always right. I think we’re well-suited to partnership because we’ve got complementary skill sets. Brian is really good at seeing the big picture; I struggle with that. I am very detail oriented; Brian… Not so much. (Dude cannot spell. Like, at all. But he’s a goddamned genius where story structure is concerned, so who cares? That’s what spell check is for, right? I’m off on a little bit of a tangent here, but Brian’s my Obi-wan right now. I’m working on… a thing that I can’t talk about… and I have been doing a lot of research with specific regard to how to kick off a series. Fraction said it and he’s absolutely right — Bendis writes the best first issues in the industry. I just reread the first ALIAS and it’s so good, so tight, I want to punch myself in the face. …That reaction might not make sense to anyone but me. Sorry.)

Anyway it’s the tone of Castle that I especially love. And the chemistry between the two leads. Oh! And the glorious women. Castle really does well by the women in that cast. Are all unique and interesting, so much more dimensional unusual TV fare.

With his “more modest James Bond” mentality, what is it about the character of Derrick Storm that appeals to you?

James Bond, huh? That’s interesting. That’s not where I would go. The way Brian and I always talk about it he starts as Jim Rockford and becomes Jason Bourne.

Either way he’s incredibly charming. There are worse things than spending a day at work with Nathan Fillion’s voice in your head.

In working on the Castle book, given that this was a pretty meta “adaptation of a book within a show based on other books,” how did the two of you craft this story? How closely did you work with the Castle writing staff on this project?

I wasn’t in on the initial planning but I have spoken to Andrew Marlowe, and I have to tell you he’s one of the nicest gentlemen you could ever hope to meet. He’s creatively generous – do you know what I mean by that? I mean, he has this thing that he’s created, it’s wonderful and I think the temptation would be to control it to death — or, I don’t know, maybe I’m just a big control freak and that’s what my temptation would be. But he’s smarter than me. And he controls what matters, and he makes a point very quickly of giving you the space you need to tell your story. He picks up on little things too–I’ve only had the one phone conversation with him, but I suspect he has a very happy writers room. I got off that call feeling very supported, energized, excited.

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That’s kind of an amazing thing to do in one phone call.

Speaking of collaboration, I’ve read on your site about your biannual work meetings with Matt, but it draws the question — would you ever work collaboratively on a book with him? Or do you plan to?

We’ve never talked about doing a book together but we have talked about pitching a television show together or possibly writing a spec script together. I think it’s definitely something we’d like to try at some point, schedules just won’t allow for it right now.

To just throw caution to the wind a bit, if Castle: Deadly Storm — in all its wonderful meta-existence and glory — were to receive its own adaptation, and Nathan Fillion wasn’t available to play Storm, who would you pick for the role?

Oh man… George Clooney is too old unfortunately. And Ryan Gosling doesn’t have the right build. You want an actor like that; someone who can really let you in. I think that’s what it is about Nathan Fillion–he lets you in. He lets you see his vulnerability.

Boy, that’s tough. I’ll wake up in the middle of the night tonight with the perfect idea but right now I got nothin’.

Over on the other major side of superhero comic books, you were the last person to write Supergirl before the DC reboot. Matt made this joke several times on Twitter, but how did it feel to write a Supergirl story so good, DC had to relaunch its entire line knowing it couldn’t compete?

Oh you boys.

On that same line of thought but on a more serious note, how did it feel to write the last Supergirl story of an era?

It was a bittersweet honor I guess.

We read that you initially were offered a chance to pitch DC on a reboot title yet chose not to. How did you decide to pass on that opportunity, and before you did, had you come up with any ideas that you found attractive?

No, no–I’m an idiot. I turned it down as soon as I found out how quickly they needed it. I didn’t even make them tell me what the title was–so I never even got to entertain the notion!

The whole thing was so awkward. You don’t generally go around telling people what you were asked to pitch on or that you were asked to pitch–it’s not good form. But I was so uncomfortable hearing my name bandied about on the Internet in that whole wave of reaction to the lack of female creators in the 1st wave of the relaunch. “They should’ve talked to Kelly Sue! They should’ve talked to Marjorie!” Well… They did. Anyway I was trying to help, but I probably ought to have kept my mouth shut.

This is a lesson I have to learn over and over again.

In terms of writing, do you feel any overall preference in the characters you choose to work with? For example, if given the choice over working more with Supergirl, Sif or Rescue, or more of Osborn and the Funky Bunch, which do you feel you would lean more towards?

Osborn, no doubt. Sif, after that. I prefer characters short fuses. I love Kara and Pepper, but given my druthers, I’m drawn to the quick twitch.

What does 2012 hold for Kelly Sue?

Oh man, I wish I could tell you! Things are happening, but they’re not mine to announce. I’ve got 5 things lined up, but I have to leave it at that.


Matthew Meylikhov

Once upon a time, Matthew Meylikhov became the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Multiversity Comics, where he was known for his beard and fondness for cats. Then he became only one of those things. Now, if you listen really carefully at night, you may still hear from whispers on the wind a faint voice saying, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not as bad as everyone says it issss."

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