Tag: Graphic Novel

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Queer Comics: Emily Corn- A Graphic Novel of Cosmic Proportions and Personal Discoveries

Ever since Page Wooller announced they would be releasing the next book in the Emily Corn series at Providence QTZ Fest I have been excited to discuss with them how this journey started.

In a world oversaturated with superhero sagas and dystopian dramas, Page Wooller and Ali Vermeeren’s graphic novel, “Emily Corn“, emerges as a refreshing comet in the vast universe of graphic literature.

The Uncharted Journey of Emily Corn

At the heart of this tale is Emily, a character shrouded in mystery and isolation. Raised in seclusion, Emily’s journey is not just about discovering the world but also about self-discovery and breaking free from the confines of a shielded life. The revelation of a secret propels the story into a high-stakes adventure where Emily’s acceptance of her identity becomes crucial for the survival of Earth itself.

A Rich Tapestry of Art and Storytelling

Vermeeren’s artwork is a visual feast, a blend of shadow and light that perfectly encapsulates the dual themes of darkness and enlightenment prevalent in the story. The black and white palette underscores the eternal struggle between good and evil, making each panel a piece of art worth pondering over.

Accessibility: A Small Hurdle in the Digital Age

For those opting for the e-book format, be prepared for a bit of zooming in and out. The small text can be a strain on the eyes when read on a smartphone. However, this minor inconvenience does not detract from the overall experience, especially given the engaging narrative and striking visuals.

Conclusion: A Must-Read for Graphic Novel Enthusiasts and Beyond

“Emily Corn” is not just a graphic novel; it’s a journey of magic, identity, and the complexities of growing up. It’s a testament to the power of storytelling and how it shapes our understanding of ourselves and others. While there are areas where the narrative could have been more nuanced in its representation, the novel remains a significant contribution to the genre.

To those who have yet to delve into the world of graphic novels, let “Emily Corn” be your gateway. To the seasoned aficionados, add this to your collection and revel in the magic that Wooller and Vermeeren have so vividly brought to life.

For those who haven’t met Page, they are somewhat of a modern Renaissance person. A writer, dancer, painter, farmer and activist, musician, and previously wrote text books. Page is … an experience.

And Now on to the interview!!!!!

Damon: Have you had a big presence at Conventions (ie. Flame Con.)? Either way, how has it been interacting with your fans, whether in person or online?

Page: Due to our release date being in early 2020 during COVID, being a big presence at conventions was not a possibility for us. We instead contacted stores, a radio station in Australia and a few reviewers who wrote about the comic. Most contact with fans happened through Facebook, one person messaged about the excitement they had in getting a non binary comic book for their child who identified as being non binary, they said it would be a welcome distraction from all that was going on with COVID. Just reaching even one child and giving them hope that there are non binary characters in comics made me feel like I had a purpose.

Damon: How does your personal identity and experiences as an LGBT individual influence your creative process and the stories you choose to tell?

Page: My stories I draw heavily from my own experiences and identity as a non binary/ gender fluid human. There are times when I have felt totally alone with my feelings. This is another reason I felt like a story like this needed to be written, in order to reach those who have felt as alone as I have during my process of finding my identity. On one hand I don’t feel welcomed into the gay world and on the other hand I don’t feel welcomed into the straight world, so I’ve learnt to start creating my world, through stories.

Damon: Can you walk us through your typical creative process? How do you develop ideas, create characters, and bring your stories to life on the page?

Page: Mmm, my process is pretty complex, I start with a general frame work and then begin to gather scattered pieces of ideas from my head, small detailed experiences and creative ideas that I feel would fit into the plot of the story. At this time I’m never quite sure as to when these glimpses into my mind will occur, so I carry a note book and pen everywhere I go, scribbling down the ideas as fully as I can. Next I randomly transfer these scribblings onto the computer, in no particular order. The process then continues into ordering the sequences of the story into a streamline tail that runs smoothly from beginning to the end. This is then read and re read, edited and re edited until its clean and then I transfer it chunk by chunk into a graphic novel script for the illustrator to then work from, which gives a detail description of what occurs on each page, how many panels per page, characters in each panel and what’s being said by whom and so on.

Damon: Are there any specific comic book artists or writers who have influenced your style or storytelling approach? How have they inspired you?

Page: So many influences, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Marion Zimmer Bradly, Ann Rice, and Edgar Allen Poe to name a few. The main way these artists have inspired me is by the way they touch my visual thinking. I have dyslexia and one gift it gives me is the ability to see in images rather than words. Dimensions and form grow from words. All these artists have fueled this skill.

Damon: How do you envision your work impacting readers, particularly those who identify as LGBTQ+? What messages or emotions do you hope to convey through your stories?

Page: I hope to paint a clear depiction of how aspects of my own psyche have formed over the years as a child with an extreme imagination and a flare for the extravagant. I have never stopped learning and growing as we live in a world of adult absolutes. I love changing and finding out new things and this child like enthusiasm to uncover new things, like the ability to write while also having dyslexia which I only discovered in my fourties’ should never leave us. I hope the readers gain a reconnection to that inner child before the worlds rules of rational thinking took over and sensible choices were made over fun and adventurous ones.

Damon: Who is your favorite Federation Captain, and why?

Page: Ooo, I love this question, what a great one to finish on. I would have to say Janeway. I like powerful intelligent women who are in charge as role models that challenge male dominated characters. When I grew up there were very few gay role models in fictional stories and on the tv, so, I turned to women as my main arena of selected models. Women that stood against the overpowering male dominant stigma. Women who weren’t afraid to feel emotions and express them in the face of being opposed by with anger, violence and manipulation. It gives me goose pimples just thinking about it.

Good choice page …. good choice.

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Interview with Claire Lordon, author of One in a Million

CLAIRE LORDON is an American-Canadian illustrator, designer, and author who creates children’s books, comics, surface designs, murals, maps, and greeting cards for a number of companies. She earned her BFA in illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. She lives in Vancouver, Canada.  

I had the opportunity to interview Claire, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Sure! I am an illustrator and author and upcoming graphic memoirist. My book One in a Million came out October 10th. I am an American-Canadian illustrator, designer, and author living in Vancouver, Canada. I create children’s books, comics, surface designs, murals, maps, and greeting cards for a number of companies.

My work is inspired by my lifelong spirit for adventure, a love of the outdoors, and an enthusiasm for travel. I enjoy long distance running, hiking, kayaking, lacrosse, curling, and snowboarding.

My pronouns are she/they.

What can you tell us about your debut book, One in a Million? What was your inspiration for the book?

My book One in a Million is a graphic memoir about when I was a teen dealing with mysterious health symptoms. I wanted to create the book I needed as a teen.

I’m going to use third person to talk about my book because this happened to me in the past.

In the book Claire tries to balance being a normal teenager with all sorts of new symptoms she had at the time such as weight gain, depression, insomnia, and more. Eventually she is diagnosed with a brain tumor, specifically Cushing’s Disease.

What are you hoping readers will take away from One in a Million?

I hope readers take away empathy and an understanding that the person next to you may be going through a health battle and you can’t tell by looking at them. I also want readers to learn what it’s like to live with an illness that’s a medical mystery. I also hope that readers that are going through tough a medical diagnosis or health issues to know that they are not alone, especially teens.

As creatives, how did you become drawn to the graphic novel/comics medium, especially graphic memoir?

I’ve been reading comics ever since I was a kid. I remember being so happy read Calvin and Hobbs and Tintin books when I was young. I really became drawn to graphic novels when I took a comics class in college. I was introduced to graphic memoir through Smile and El Deafo. Non-fiction, autobiography, and memoirs have always been some of my favorite books. When I discovered books like Fun Home, Maus, and Hey, Kiddo are memoirs but in graphic novel format I was very eager to read them.

How would you describe your artistic/creative background?

It all started when I was three and announced to my parents that I was going to be an artist when I grew up. Flash forward and I graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in illustration. I didn’t realize until my last semester that where my art really shines is when it is geared towards children. Because of this I didn’t actually take the children’s book class at RISD. A couple years after graduation I took a children’s book class with the School of Visual Arts continuing education program. Since then I have written and/or illustrated six picture books and one board book. I also work on a variety of illustration projects with numerous clients.

How would you describe your illustration/writing/creative process?

For books I’m definitely a text before sketching person. For One in a Million I approached it by creating a rough outline. After that I sketched a couple pages and wrote out a very detailed rough outline that was pitched to editors. From there I worked on finishing the text and thumbnails. Then I broke the text into pages and did rough thumbnails (small sketches smaller than a business card) to figure out the layout of the book. After a couple edits I moved onto sketching the whole book. When that was approved I moved onto final art and then adding color. Phew!

Growing up, were there any stories in which you felt touched by/ or reflected in? Are there any like that now?

I definitely felt reflected in books because I am white. I am thankful that my parents surrounded me a rich diverse set of books to learn about others’ experiences. I do wish there had been more books when I was young about people being non-binary or asexual, especially how non-binary is such a wide range. Thankfully there are books like that now!

As s creatives who or what would you say are some of your greatest creative influences and/or sources of inspiration?

My inspiration comes from everything. I try to read a variety of books from board books all the way to adult with a mix of non-fiction and fiction. I’d say the outdoors, nature, and traveling are big influences too. My past is also a big influence as I try to create things my past self would love. I also try to make work that makes people smile as I know art or books can really make a positive difference when I have been through tough times.

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but wish you were asked (as well as the answer to that question)? 

How long did the whole book making process for One in a Million take?

From rough outline to being published it took six years. I’m thankful I had so much time to make this book the absolute best it could be. It was so hard trying to narrow down all the events in this eight-month period of my life because so much happened. The book could have easily been twice as long. In the end editing out events that didn’t move the story helped make the book stronger.

Are there any projects you are working on and at liberty to speak about?

I’m in the early stages of plotting a picture book/easy reader (I haven’t quite decided which one best fits the story yet). I also have a picture book that I need to a text edit before starting working on a book dummy.

What advice would you give to other aspiring creatives, especially those hoping to work on their own graphic novels one day?

Read, read, and read some more. Read a wide variety of books including books that aren’t graphic novels. Find a critique group or buddy who can give you honest feedback on your work. Keep making work and find ways to share it, including social media. Also, take a look at Scott McCloud’s books Understanding Comics and Making Comics.

Finally, what books (comics included)/authors would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT, particularly those focusing on similar themes as yours, such as chronic illness?

Before I began working on my book and while I was working on it I read many memoirs, graphic novels, and graphic memoirs. Below are some of the best that I read:

Epileptic by David Beauchard

Parenthesis by Élodie Durand

Lighter Than My Shadow by Katie Green

Stitches by David Small

Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan

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Interview with Sage Cotugno, Author of The Glass Scientists

S. H. Cotugno is a queer and mixed-race Victorian horror nerd born and raised in
Los Angeles, California. They are a director, writer, and storyboard artist in the
animation industry and have previously worked on projects such as Gravity Falls,
The Owl House, and Star vs. the Forces of Evil. The Glass Scientists will be their first
published graphic novel. You can see more of their work by following them on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok (@arythusa).

I had the opportunity to interview S. H., which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself? 

Thank you so much for inviting me! I’m an animation director and comics creator who has worked on shows such as The Owl House, Gravity Falls, and Star vs. the Forces of Evil. My debut graphic novel series The Glass Scientists will be published by Penguin Random House in a three-volume series starting October 2023.

What can you tell us about your latest project, The Glass Scientists: Volume One? What was the inspiration for this story?

The Glass Scientists is a reimagining of classic gothic science fiction set in a world of bubbling potions and misunderstood monsters. It follows the story of Dr. Henry Jekyll as he works to create a safe haven for mad scientists in the heart of London, where they can defy the laws of nature in peace. But everything changes when a mysterious stranger arrives, shattering all of Jekyll’s carefully laid plans and threatening to expose his darkest secret. 

I have been obsessed with the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde since I was in high school. As a mixed-race, bisexual, and nonbinary person, I’ve always been drawn to stories about characters caught between two worlds. I can’t think of a character who embodies that experience more than Dr. Jekyll, a man so desperate to fit himself into the boxes society laid out for him that he literally splits his soul in two. Like, same, dude. 

As a creative, what drew you to the art of storytelling, specifically within the comics/ graphic novel medium?

I came to comics through anime! In middle school, I needed to know what was going to happen next to my favorite Yu-Gi-Oh! character, Yami Bakura, so I started reading the imported manga from my local Japanese bookstore. (I couldn’t read the words, but I could glean the general gist of the story from staring longingly at his beautiful, evil face.) 

But I didn’t start making my own comics until I embarked on my first full-time job as a storyboard artist on Gravity Falls. Gravity was a wonderful experience, but I missed getting to tell my own stories, like I had done while making student films. It seemed impossible to make my own animated show (having now developed four shows, can confirm: yeah, it’s super hard!). But it seemed slightly-less-impossible to create my own comic, so I decided to take the plunge. 

In addition to being a graphic novelist, you are also known for your work in animation, most recently working on The Owl House. As a fan of the show myself, I would love to hear more about your experience working for the show if you’re interesting in sharing them?

The Owl House was such an extraordinary show to work on! I learned a ton from the incredibly talented and hardworking crew Dana assembled, especially my fellow directors Stu Livingston and Aminder Dhaliwal. Now that the show has finished airing, it’s been amazing to see how much they’ve accomplished, especially in the realm of LGBTQ+ representation. It takes an incredible amount of courage, perseverance, and downright stubbornness to get an honest-to-God gay kiss into an American animated TV show, but hopefully their hard work will open the gates for the queer creators who follow after them. 

How would you describe your creative process?

For me, storytelling is a testing ground for reality, a place where I can play around with different identities and viewpoints before I’m ready to claim them for myself.

It took me a long time to come out as bisexual–and even longer to come out as nonbinary–in part because I was always questioning my own thoughts and feelings. I’d think: “You’re not gay, stop obsessing over yourself and focus on something that really matters,” or: “You’re not really trans, you’re just overthinking things, as usual.” 

But in fiction, I didn’t have to interrogate every moment of my life leading up to that point. I could explore the queer relationship between Jekyll and Lanyon (a big focus of volumes two and three) and the backstory to my transmasc werewolf character, Jasper, just because I felt like it. And I felt like it because, for all my second-guessing, some quiet, authentic part of me knew what I wanted all along.

I guess that means my creative process is “listen to your heart??” That’s so embarrassing to say out loud! Oh well, I guess I’d just better own it . . .

For those curious about the process behind a graphic novel, how would you describe the process?

My process might be a bit unusual because The Glass Scientists was originally posted as a weekly webcomic over the course of eight years. The challenge of writing a story over such a long period of time is that you’re committing to the way you saw the world at the moment you first wrote it. I see the world pretty differently as a 33 year old than I did when I was 25, so I had to find ways to make the story feel true to me at both stages of my life. 

Not that I’ve been doing massive overhauls this whole time, but I’ve made some significant changes when something just didn’t feel right:

For instance, since The Glass Scientists incorporates a lot of famous characters of late Victorian literature, I originally thought I should include Sherlock Holmes. I had this vision of depicting Sherlock as this severe, gorgeous lesbian effortlessly dissecting my characters’ defenses, but when it came time to actually write her, I had to admit that I just wasn’t that big of a Sherlock Holmes fan, and trying to fake it would be a disserve to the real fans out there. Plus, from a story economy POV, it made more sense to replace Holmes with a character I already knew I wanted to introduce later in the story. 

As a creative, who or what would you say are some of your greatest creative influences and/or sources of inspiration?

I’ve always been drawn to stories that take a playful approach to classic literature. In the hyper-specific realm of “reimaginings of classic sci-fi,” I love the stageplay adaptation of Frankenstein by Nick Dear. The way it streamlines the cast down to Frankenstein and his monster throws their fraught relationship into stark relief, and Danny Boyle’s directing in the 2011 production makes the story feel so fresh and modern. 

I also love queer stories in historical settings. I went absolutely feral the first time I read A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue. You couldn’t get me to shut up about it. It even made me reconsider–and eventually rewrite–the ending I had in mind for the main couple in The Glass Scientists. 

Growing up, were there any stories in which you felt touched by/ or reflected in? Are there any like that now?

There wasn’t a lot of LGBTQ+ representation when I was growing up in the ‘90s, but I have a soft spot for shows that weren’t explicitly queer but had a certain vibe, like Ouran Host Club. It might not seem like Good Representation™ in today’s landscape, but for a closeted teen who still had a lot to unpack, real queer characters would have been way too scary for me to engage with directly. I think this kind of media can be an important stepping stone for folks who are still questioning. 

At the same time, I’m glad there are more opportunities nowadays to tell stories unambiguously for and about LGBTQ+ people. Recently, Abigail Thorne’s The Prince hit me square in the chest with its playful yet deeply empathetic depiction of a closeted trans woman told through the lens of Henry IV.

What are some of your favorite elements of writing/illustrating? What do you consider some of the most frustrating and/or challenging? 

My favorite part about comics is that I get to write a story that’s just for me! When I started in animation, it was incredibly difficult to get a series greenlit unless it was a show for young kids or an adult sitcom like Family Guy. (Streaming has expanded those categories a bit, but not by much.) I knew that trying to fit my story into one of these narrow categories would render it unrecognizable, so I never seriously considered pitching it. Because of this, I was free to write exactly the way I wanted to, without having to cater to the whims of focus groups or studio mandates. That experience has been vital for building my confidence as a storyteller. 

The most frustrating part about comics is how long they take to draw! I’m not saying that writing isn’t hard work, but in terms of pure man-hours, drawing outweighs writing ten to one. Granted, my setting isn’t doing me any favors. The Victorians couldn’t design a single chair leg without adding twenty little swirlies and clawfoots to it. Last night I turned to my partner and said, “I’m setting my next story in IKEA.” Nothing but straight lines and sleek Scandinavian design, baybeeee! 

Aside from your work, what are some things you would like readers to know about you?

I’m a huge nerd about medical history, and my favorite part of medical history is (surprise, surprise) the Victorian era, that special period of time after the invention of modern technology but before the invention of modern safety regulations. There were so many ways to die, from wearing the color green, to working in a bakery, to having any kind of surgery beyond basic limb amputation. (Especially if you had the misfortune of being alive during the decade or so between the introduction of ether as an anesthetic and the discovery of germ theory.)

People say it’s hard to time-travel if you’re anything besides a straight white cis man–which is true–but I take solace in the knowledge that there are plenty of eras straight white cis men wouldn’t want to time-travel to, either.

What advice might you have to give for other creatives, particularly aspiring comic book writers/artists?

Embrace your cringe! I was so afraid of looking cringe-worthy as a teenager that it makes me, well, cringe. I regret that I never had a phase where I bought all my clothes from Hot Topic and made rainbow wolf-sonas with spiky sidebangs who cried blood tears while listening to Linkin Park. I love that episode of Mortified where the guest reads her wildly anatomically-incorrect Harry Potter slash fanfiction. I would have learned so much from writing something ridiculous like that! Instead I wrote these very mature, carefully structured, distantly snarky songfics that never had satisfying endings because I was afraid to commit to anything. 

Don’t avoid doing something you love out of fear that you’ll look back at yourself and cringe. You’re going to do that no matter what! But you’ll learn a lot more if you just do the thing you wanted to do in the first place.

Are there any other projects you are working on and at liberty to speak about?

I wish! Animation is such a slow process, especially if you’re trying to develop and pitch your own shows. I haven’t been able to talk about a project I’ve worked on in years!

But–and this may be cheating a bit–I have been creating new merch for The Glass Scientists pre-order campaign: enamel pins, bookplates, bookmarks, that sort of thing. Before starting TGS, I ran the Kickstarter for a prequel comic called Bleeding Heart and had to make all of the rewards for the campaign, as well as the book itself. It’s been fun to stretch that muscle again. The world of traditional publishing can be so big and overwhelming, so I’m glad to have a small but tangible part I can take on myself. Plus, I get to hand-package them for the fans who pre-order the book. I love being able to give that personal touch! 

Finally, what LGBTQ+ books/authors would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT?

I just finished reading Molly Ostertag’s Darkest Night, a masterfully-crafted graphic novel about depression and childhood trauma in the traditional of magical realism. I had the honor of reading an early draft of the comic a while ago, and it’s been so inspiring watching it evolve and grow over time.

I’ve been excited to read Mari Costa’s Belle of the Ball ever since they first started posting sketches of the three main characters . . . I don’t even remember how long ago! Mari has a talent for crafting juicy queer relationships that will have you hooked after a single page.

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Interview with Ellen T. Crenshaw, Artist of Stacey’s Mistake: A Graphic Novel (the Baby-Sitters Club #14)

Ellen T. Crenshaw is the creator of the New York Times bestselling Baby-sitters Club graphic novel adaptation of Stacey’s Mistake by Ann M. Martin. She is the co-creator, with Colleen AF Venable, of Kiss Number 8, which was nominated for an Eisner Award and longlisted for a National Book Award. She is also the creator of What Was the Turning Point of the Civil War?, a Who HQ graphic novel. When she’s not making comics, Ellen loves playing video games, hiking with her dog, and deconstructing movie plots with her husband.

I had the opportunity to interview Ellen, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Thank you for having me! I’m Ellen T. Crenshaw, a cartoonist and illustrator. I worked for years as an editorial illustrator and a studio freelancer for children’s media development, but now I almost exclusively make comics and graphic novels. Journey is the best video game I’ve ever played. My favorite movie is Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. This past spring I drove 3,000 miles with my husband, cat, and dog from California to Massachusetts, where we now live!

What can you tell us about your latest project, The Baby-sitters Club: Stacey’s Mistake: A Graphic Novel and how did you get involved in illustrating for The Baby-sitters Club series?

Stacey’s Mistake is the 14th book in the Baby-sitters Club graphic novel series. Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, Dawn, Jessi, and Mallory all visit Stacey in New York City for a big baby-sitting job, but the girls clash with Stacey’s New York friends and her city life. There’s lots of big emotions, and loving depictions of NYC sights.

I got involved with the BSC graphic novels when my agent came to me with interest from the series editor, Cassandra Pelham Fulton. I was a Baby-sitters Club reader when I was a kid, so I couldn’t have been more excited!

Did you have any previous connections to The Baby-sitters Club series before working on this project?

I read my older sister’s hand-me-down copies of the original series when I was little. The two of us watched the ‘90s tv show on PBS, and to this day we can both sing the theme song. My niece also read the graphic novels when she was in middle school. It means a lot to me that my family and I have such ties to the series and my work on it now is something I can share with them. (I’ve actually consulted my sister a handful of times for advice and input on my adaptations!)

As an author, what drew you to the art of storytelling, particularly comics?

My mom instilled in me a love of grammar, and she was basically my first writing teacher. When my dad got home from work he would read with me, and my favorites were always a book of Hans Christian Anderson tales and the daily newspaper comics. I’ve always loved cartoons, too—so much that baby-me wished Toon Town was a real place—and I was constantly drawing my favorite characters. I was in elementary school when I started making my first comic books with friends, drawn on computer paper and stapled into booklets. Comics are just so accessible as a storytelling medium, it was only natural as someone who loved both writing and drawing to keep doing it.

As a comic creator, you are known for another queer fan-favorite, Kiss Number 8. Could you tell us what it was like working on that project?

Thank you! Kiss Number 8 was what made me decide to try out for my first graphic novel. Before then I was making short comics for myself and small-press anthologies. Reading Colleen’s script was transformative; I felt so strongly for those characters and the story, I wanted with my whole body to be the one to draw it. The balance of humor and drama was right up my alley, and thankfully First Second thought so too! The process was exceptionally hard for me, though, because making short comics is a sprint while a graphic novel is a marathon. The hours were grueling. (They still are!) Colleen was a real champion for me throughout; she gave me so much encouragement. When it was done, she gifted me a crocheted trophy! I’m so lucky to have collaborated with her, and our book is one of my proudest efforts.

How would you describe your creative process in general?

It seems to change with every project, but one thing is consistent: I avoid my desk for as long as possible. I go for walks, I take the dog to the beach, I play games, I read, I come up with ideas in the shower. I’m on the couch with my sketchbook, laptop, or iPad—sometimes all three—while I write a script and begin sketches. The rest of my process is usually some combination of traditional and digital tools, my favorite being ink on paper.

What are some of your favorite elements of making comics? What do you consider some of the most frustrating and/or challenging? 

As I said, ink on paper is my favorite. By that point, all the meticulous planning is over and it’s just me and my brush, guiding those lines, making textures, delighting in happy accidents. I can lose myself in the story and characters.

Pencils are challenging for me. They can be really tedious. It’s when I’m drawing endless perspective lines, poring over reference. There’s still an element of fun—especially when I’m taking photos of myself for posing—but it’s the most eye-melting, back-breaking part of my process.

As a creative, who or what would you say are some of your greatest creative influences and/or sources of inspiration in general? 

A single influential moment that changed my entire creative life was when my college professor, the late great Robert Jay Kaufman, told me that I should convey more emotion in my characters’ hands. I took that to heart and I’ve since built a whole reputation of drawing expressive hands!

In general, I’m inspired by projects in which I get to research and learn new things. I’ll always prefer narrative fiction, but I appreciate any chance I get to do a historical piece that requires a trip to the library archives.

Growing up, were there any stories in which you felt touched by/ or reflected in? Are there any like that now?

I mostly read my sister’s hand-me-down books growing up, my favorite among them being Anne of Green Gables. The first book of my own I remember loving was Totally Disgusting! by Bill Wallace, in which an uptight, scared little kitten learns to loosen up and be brave. I was a nervous kid and I wanted to be adventurous like Anne Shirley, but I think I felt more like Mewkiss the kitten.

Nowadays I’m really into historical fiction, adventure, and stories that explore the spectrum/question the boundaries of womanhood. I really enjoyed the Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden and Circe by Madeline Miller. I’ll read and reread This One Summer by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki from now until the end of time.

I’m also dabbling in horror, and Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Mass tv series especially moved me as a formerly religious person. I talk about it constantly.

Many creators would say one of the most challenging parts of writing a book is finishing one. What strategies would you say helps you accomplish this?

Deadlines help a ton, haha! Honestly, a looming due date is mostly what keeps me moving forward. Finished is better than perfect.

Aside from your work, what are some things you would want others to know about you?

I laugh exceptionally loudly and if you’re one of my neighbors I sincerely apologize.

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but that you wish you were asked (as well as the answer to that question)?

Q: What’s your favorite cookie, and would you like one?

A: White chocolate macadamia nut, and yes, please and thank you.

What advice might you have to give for other aspiring creatives?

Find your people and hold ‘em tight. Community is everything. The support you’ll give and receive, how you’ll influence each other; it’ll make you a better person and artist.

Are there any other projects you are working on and at liberty to speak about?

I’m in the middle of two more Baby-Sitters Club graphic novel adaptations: Kristy and the Walking Disaster and Jessi Ramsey, Pet-Sitter.

Finally, what books /authors (LGBTQ+ or otherwise) would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT? 

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan is wonderfully romantic and adventurous and turns the whole idea of a “chosen one” on its head.

I grabbed this series for work reference and I instantly fell in love with it: Cross Game by Mitsuru Adachi. It’s baseball manga, completely out of my wheelhouse, and I love it.

Header Photo Credit Matt Boehm

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Interview with Emma Steinkellner, Creator of Nell of Gumbling: My Extremely Normal Fairy-Tale Life

Emma Steinkellner is an illustrator, writer, and cartoonist living in Los Angeles. She is a graduate of Stanford University and the illustrator of the Eisner-nominated comic Quince. She is the author and illustrator of The Okay Witch graphic novel series.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Thank you! I’m a writer, illustrator, and cartoonist in Los Angeles, CA and I love making comics for young readers. I remember how much it meant to me to get completely absorbed in a fun book at that age and it’s really great to be able to make the books I would’ve wanted to read then now.

What can you tell us about your latest project, Nell of Gumbling: My Extremely Normal Fairy-Tale Life? What was the inspiration for this book?

This book is the illustrated journal of Nell Starkeeper, an (as she would put it) extremely normal 12-year-old kid living in the magical land of Gumbling, where her friends are fairies, unicorns, and Thumbkins and the history of the town is full of real-life fairy tales. When I sat down to come up with an idea for a new series, I thought about the kind of stuff I liked to read as a kid and I remembered how fascinated I was by fairy tales and I thought it would be fun to write a book of original fairy tales in comic form. Then, as I came up with those tales, I realized it would be cool if they all took place in the same land. And then, a couple of ideas later, I centered the story on the point of view of one kid in that land! 

Can you give us any trivia (that hasn’t already been given) about the characters from , Nell of Gumbling: My Extremely Normal Fairy-Tale Life?

There are a lot of fairy tale archetypes I play around with in this book: fairies, unicorns, witches, thumb-sized people. And I wanted to really set my imagination free as I designed these types of characters that have existed in plenty of other tales before. In the case of Nell’s unicorn frenemy Voila Lala, I smushed together a couple of design inspirations. First off, the unicorns are really more like unicorn-centaurs with human heads and torsos (no noses though, they smell through their horns!). And Voila in particular is really inspired by koi fish and candy corn, which you might be able to see in her overall color palette. And I keep the fairies’ wings in this world colorful but semi-transparent. That’s inspired by some colorful tissue shapes my older sister had on her window in our house growing up. I used to love the way the light came through those.

As a creative, what drew you to the art of storytelling, particularly to the realm of comics/graphic novels and fantasy?

 I love writing and I love drawing but I REALLY love putting them together. Even when I’m drawing context-less doodles in my sketchbook, I’m always kind of imagining a story for them. And even when I’m writing a text-only story, I’m tempted to draw some of the characters and settings. So comics and graphic novels really are the perfect form for me. And as for fantasy, I’ve always been drawn to whimsical genre stuff like that, as a reader/viewer and as a creator. And I think magic pairs perfectly with middle grade/coming of age stories, which can be full of such unique and strong emotions.

How would you describe your artistic background?

I come from a family of writers! My parents worked as writing partners, my older brother and sister both write. It would have been pretty impossible for me to stay away from writing. Good thing I didn’t want to! But I knew I didn’t want to only write. I loved performing, improv, singing and dancing, and drawing. And when I was around 14, I started to really focus on drawing and put my whole self into it. And the more I drew, the more confident I got, and the more I found that my passions for writing and illustration really support each other.

How would you describe your creative process?

Since I’m both writer and illustrator, I’m in conversation with myself a lot. A lot of people ask me what comes first when I’m making a graphic novel: the writing or the drawing? And the answer is…sort of both. While I’m outlining the script, sometimes I’ll come up with some moments, places, costumes, characters, or objects that I need to sketch out. By designing some of those visual elements, I get a better idea of how to write about them when I write the script (which is the next step). Once I’ve written the script, and revised it with my editor, it’s time to pencil the whole thing. That means I sketch out every page (in Photoshop), then we edit those sketches, I refine them to turn them into the final linework, and I add color! The whole thing takes about a year-ish.

As a creative, who or what would you say are some of your greatest creative influences and/or sources of inspiration?

I try to find inspiration all over the place. But for Nell of Gumbling, I kept coming back to a couple books that I couldn’t put down as a kid. The Amelia books by Marissa Moss and the epistolary books by Kate and M. Sarah Klise. It’s not hard to see how the humor and inventiveness of those books have stuck with me since 2002 when you read Nell. 

Growing up, were there any stories in which you felt touched by/ or reflected in? Are there any like that now?

Growing up a cis, white girl, I didn’t really have any shortage of characters I could point to and go “oh look, it’s me” (Amelia from those Amelia books was one of them, she even had my exact haircut). Not every kid gets to feel that that often, although thankfully there has been a lot of progress in children’s literature and we now get a lot more diverse, inclusive stories created by writers and illustrators who write from their own personal experiences.

What are some of your favorite elements of writing/illustrating? What do you consider some of the most frustrating and/or challenging? 

With this particular book, I’ve loved writing from the point of view of my main character. It’s pretty natural to sink into her voice because that was totally how I wrote in my journals as a kid. So I just love being in that state of flow where I might as well be writing in my own diary. There are special pages of the book where I’ll really sink into the illustration too, really finely-detailed pages like the map of Gumbling or the 2-page spread of the Feszht festival (Feszht is the winter holiday in Gumbling). But those are also a lot of hard work. So it can take a long time to get everything right. And I’m not the most patient person, so that can be tough. But ultimately, it’s always rewarding to slow down and focus so I can make something a little more special. 

Aside from your work, what are some things you would like readers to know about you?

Truthfully, I put so much of the stuff that I’m made of into my work, you can find a lot of  it there. Like the reason soup is such an important part of the regional cuisine of Gumbling? I love soup! 

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but that you wish you were asked (as well as the answer to that question)?

I haven’t been asked much about the Gumbling Tales yet and I had so much fun with them. Since my initial goal for this book was to create an illustrated book of original fairy tales, the core spirit of it is kind of in Nell’s illustrated Gumbling tales in the back of the book. It was a challenge to come up with stories that had the vibe of fairy tales, but weren’t actual retellings of any tales. I do think of each Gumbling tale as having a few similar existing tales that are “cousins” to it, however. Like, The Soupman’s Wish, the Gumbling tale of a soup vendor who gives a lonely ghost some hot soup and is granted a wish in return— that is a cousin to any story of a kind character showing generosity to a supernatural being and getting something in return (Aladdin and His Magic Lamp, Diamonds and Toads, The Wishing Pearl, etc.)

What advice might you have to give for other creatives?

Journal! It feels so good to get what’s in your head down on paper, whether that’s your daily feelings, long term goals, reflections, or ideas for new stuff. Having a repository to put all that stuff in my brain helps me focus and gives me perspective. I guess this wouldn’t be beneficial to creatives only, but I find it very helpful creatively.

Are there any other projects you are working on and at liberty to speak about?

I just finished the second book in the Gumbling series! So you should look out for that later next year. And I’m starting on a third one. I’m very excited about both of them.

Finally, what books/comics would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT? 

Twins by Varian Johnson and illustrated by Shannon Wright is so sweet and fun. Anything by Vera Brosgol. I love Jen Wang’s graphic novels too. 

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Interview with Archie Bongiovanni, Author of Mimosa

Archie Bongiovanni is a comics artist and illustrator who focuses on making work that’s gay and good. They’re the cocreator of the award-winning A Quick and Easy Guide To They/Them Pronouns and the creator of Grease Bats, a serialized comic about two queer BFFs navigating dating and late-stage capitalism. Bongiovanni’s the author of History Comics: Stonewall, and their work has appeared in The New Yorker, the Nib, Vice, and Autostraddle. They live in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I had the opportunity to interview Archie, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT. Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Hi! My name is Archie Bongiovanni, I’m a cartoonist living in Minneapolis. I make comics that are gay and good. My books include (but are not limited to) A Quick And Easy Guide To They/Them Pronouns, Grease Bats, History Comics: The Stonewall Riots. I’ve been published in The New Yorker, The NIB (r.i.p.), and Autostraddle. I also make queer merch, zines and more which can be found in my shop.

What can you tell us about your latest graphic novel, Mimosa? Where did the inspiration for this story come from?

Mimosa is about four queer BFFs in their mid and late thirties as they navigate growing older without a heteronormative script! I was inspired by getting older myself and realizing that my thirties don’t look at all like I expected. I was taught growing up that you’d reach adulthood by landing a steady job, having a retirement account, buying a house, raising a family, etc etc. Instead, I found me and my fellow pals in their thirties with roommates, multiple jobs, and families that look very different from the iconic straight family two-parent household. I wanted to draw a bunch of friends balancing all these aspects while also trying to keep their friendships intact.

How did you find yourself getting into storytelling, particularly comics/graphic novels? What drew you to the medium?

I’ve ALWAYS loved comics. I have a high school diary entry where I write about wanting to be a comic artist. I love the way the brain works when filling in the blanks between images and words. The text can say one thing but the character’s expression can read differently and I think that’s where the magic is. I adore facial expressions and find comic characters able to showcase complex multilayered emotions with just a few lines and when it lands, it feels magical! I was never fully satisfied with writing, I love the pacing that panels allow in a story. So far my comics are all slice-of-life because I find the daily aspects of our lives incredibly interesting and complicated.

For those curious about the process behind a graphic novel, how would you describe the process?

There’s not a single way to create a graphic novel, but for me, I started with just a concept. I wanted to draw about a group of friends in their thirties because I wanted to draw characters that grew and aged with me. I then focused on the individual characters and developed them deeply. I think a lot about what the characters would want to say out loud but can’t, what they can’t quite admit to themselves. That’s where the juicy parts of the story lie! From there I wrote an outline and pitched it to my editor who I met briefly at a comic convention. I got some feedback and changed the outline and once it was accepted, I wrote the script. Scripting is the hardest part for me. The script can read as bland but once it’s in an image, it can shine with life, but it needs to be written to be critiqued and edited. Thumbnailing, penciling and inking flows a lot smoother! After it’s done, there’s a lot of waiting and behind-the-scene details to hammer out (cover designs, book designs, book copy, etc) that are both exciting  and tedious at the same time!

As a creative, who or what would you say are some of your greatest creative influences and/or sources of inspiration?

Honestly, it’s zine-makes and independent comic creators! I don’t feel influenced by a single creator or author. I get compared a lot to Alison Bechdel (a high compliment I don’t take lightly!) but I didn’t read any of Bechdel’s work until I was already drawing comics. I love seeing what people put out on their own, with their own money. A zine is made from nothing but desire and an energy to create and I love seeing what people come up with.

Growing up, were there any stories in which you felt touched by/ or reflected in? Are there any like that now?

I grew up reading Archie comics but I didn’t really feel reflected in them. I liked that they were funny and had regular kids featured in them. I couldn’t get into superhero comics at all despite trying. I discovered manga as a high school student and fell in love with the way the comics focused on emotions, feelings and growing up.

I really connected with the book My Body Is Yours. It’s a memoir featuring zines, intense vulnerability and self-exposure, cruising and exploring the different ways to exist in a body.

Besides your work as a creative, what are some things you would want readers to know about you?

While some of my work is for young adults and kids, I as an individual, am not–yet that doesn’t negate my ability to create work or promote work for a YA audience. I have a YA graphic novel I wrote coming out in 2024 that I am very excited by! I have a lot of fun on my instagram and recommend folks follow me there–just note it’s NSFW! I contain multitudes.

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but wish you were (and the answer to that question)?

I wish someone would ask me about my love of creepy dolls! I have a small but growing collection of dolls that I believe to be haunted. My newest doll, who I’ve named Veronica, is a three-foot curly-haired self-standing doll that I put right behind my TV. She’s always watching.

What advice would you give to any aspiring creatives out there?

I’m currently working on my next graphic novel, aimed at adults, that I’m really excited about. It takes place in a fictionalized version of my hometown in rural Alaska. I’m also currently looking for comic writing freelance jobs as I recently wrote a graphic novel (mentioned above!) that’ll be out in 2024 and found it to be such a cool experience!

Advice is hard because everyone is trying to do and create different things so I don’t think there is any blanket advice that would work for everyone. For me, it was helpful to re-define what success looks like and really naming what exactly was important to me while working in the industry. Is it a livable wage? Was it accolades? Was it the ability to tell my stories without being censored? Or maybe the most important thing are the relationships I have outside of my creative output so ensuring my work allows me to have the brainspace to engage with my community?  Doing this helped me decide where to focus my energy and ensure I wasn’t constantly comparing myself to others. I’m also, because I created my own standards of success, very successful! 

Finally, what LGBTQ+ books/comics would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT?

I really loved the mix of simplicity and complexity in Woman World by Aminder Dhaliwal. I also loved Stone Fruit by Lee Lai, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, and literally every comic Silver Sprocket publishes.

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Interview with Eunnie, author of If You’ll Have Me

Eunnie is a Korean-American illustrator based in Washington. She loves exploring relationships through her art and writing, and finds much joy in the portrayal of queer intimacy. When she’s not cooking up new stories, Eunnie spends her time napping, watching video essays, and collecting hoodies in every color. Follow her @eunnieboo

I had the opportunity to interview Eunnie, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Hi, I’m Eunnie, and I’m a lesbian illustrator and cartoonist. I love drawing and writing character interactions, watching animated films, and singing, especially while I work. Happy to be here!

What can you tell us about your debut graphic novel, If You’ll Have Me? What inspired you to create this project?

If You’ll Have Me is a YA sapphic romcom about two girls named Momo and PG. It’s a quiet love story about communication and intimacy, inspired by the sweet, fluffy feelings of shoujo manga and my own desire to see a queer college romance.

Can you give us any trivia (that hasn’t already been given) about the characters from If You’ll Have Me?

Oh I love this! Yes.

Momo:

  • the type to carry everything in her bag or purse—she’s always extra prepared when she goes out
  • loves RPGs, but will usually avoid first-person games because they tend to give her motion-sickness
  • played the flute in high school band

PG:

  • fell out of a treehouse and dislocated her right wrist when she was young—she became left-handed because of this
  • secretly hates spiders but will never admit it because she likes being Momo’s knight in shining armor
  • would probably be interested in audio engineering

How did you find yourself getting into storytelling, especially comics/graphic novels? What drew you to the medium?

I’ve always liked telling stories, whether it be in conversation, writing, or art, but whenever I drew an illustration, I’d often feel like one picture wasn’t enough! Comics seemed like the next logical step, especially since I was already a fan of manga and webcomics. The fact that you can just pick up a pencil and create a world all your own, with endless opportunity to fill it with everything you love… It’s so exciting and so good.

How would you describe your art background?

I’ve been drawing ever since I was little. Around seventh grade, my brother gave me my very first tablet, and I became obsessed with digital art. When I was in high school I started seriously considering it as a career. I went to art college, got a degree in design, and now I work full time as a production artist for a small game company.

How would you describe your creative process?

On a typical illustration, I tend to jump around a lot. I’ll start coloring before I’m done inking, or I’ll have multiple WIPs up so I can constantly be doing whatever I’m most interested in. For my graphic novel, I had to focus on one part of the process at a time, so that was a bit of a challenge, mentally!

As a creative, who or what would you say are some of your greatest creative influences and/or sources of inspiration?

I’m constantly inspired by the artists I follow and the stories I read. I have a special place in my heart for indie comics—ShortBox Comics Fair is coming up soon, and that’s always such a treat. Music is a big source of inspiration for me, too. I often find myself wishing that I could make others feel the way a song makes me feel. I want my art to evoke emotions like that.

Growing up, were there any stories in which you felt touched by/ or reflected in? Are there any like that now?

I can’t recall any stories that spoke to me in terms of my identity, so I think the closest answer might be A Series of Unfortunate Events. At the time, I felt it really grasped the unfairness of being a child, and having adults dismiss or belittle you because you’re young. Nowadays, I think My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness captured a lot of feelings I had as well, about sexuality, anxiety, and self-doubt.

Besides your work, what are some things you would want readers to know about you?

It might not be apparent in my art, but I do enjoy horror! I’m too much of a weenie to watch most horror movies (unless I know literally everything that’s about to happen), but I like watching in-depth reviews and reading scary stories. I think it’s a genre that deserves more recognition.

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but wish you were (and the answer to that question)?

So this isn’t really a specific question but I just wanted to talk about games because I keep hearing about Baldur’s Gate 3 and I’m like, do I need to get this? I don’t know if I’d be any good at D&D, but I’ve always been curious about it. The character creation is so intriguing to me. Disco Elysium has also been on my radar, and I’m dying to pick up Ghost Trick and River City Girls 2, but there’s still favorites I want to revisit, like Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing and Splatoon… Ahh! I miss playing games.

Are there any other projects you are working on or thinking about that you are able to discuss?

I’m currently writing the script for my second YA graphic novel! It’s another sapphic romance, and it’s going to be a bit more serious in tone—something more fantastical and dramatic. I still have a long way to go, but I’m really excited. I can’t wait to share more, in due time.

What advice might you have to give to aspiring creatives, especially those interested in working on their own graphic novels one day?

Wow there’s so much I could say, but for brevity’s sake: If you want to get into traditional publishing, you’ll need multiple sources of income or some kind of support system in place. The reality is, if I tried to live off the first quarter of my book advance alone, I wouldn’t have been able to afford rent. I got by because I had another job with a steady paycheck and health insurance, and friends who looked out for me. I think artists tend to deal with this sort of thing because we love what we do so much… but it’s still labor. And until the conditions in these industries improve, you’ve got to take care of yourself.

Finally, what LGBTQ+ books/authors would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT?

I’m personally fond of the Kase-san series by Hiromi Takashima. It’s just so sweet and gives me the most fluttery feelings. More recently, I started reading She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat by Sakaomi Yuzaki, and I’ve been enjoying that too!

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Interview with Cynthia Yuan Cheng

Cynthia Yuan Cheng is an illustrator and cartoonist who creates funny, bittersweet stories centered on connection, identity, and belonging. When not at a desk, you can find Cynthia laughing at manga or eating a good meal with friends. Cynthia lives in Los Angeles.

I had the opportunity to interview Cynthia, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Hi! My name is Cynthia Yuan Cheng, I’m a cartoonist and illustrator, and I love telling stories that make people laugh and cry! Thank you for having me!

What can you tell us about your latest project, Mary Anne’s Bad Luck Mystery and how did you get involved in illustrating for The Baby-sitters Clubseries in general?

Mary Anne’s Bad Luck Mystery is the 13th installment in The Baby-sitters Club graphic novel series. The story is kicked off when Mary Anne receives a mysterious chain letter in the mail– the club members try to figure out who sent the letter, and spooky shenanigans ensue! I enjoyed the spooky Halloween moments in this book, and getting to sprinkle in some horror-comedy moments throughout the story.

I met my editor, Cassandra, during my senior portfolio review at my art school (Maryland Institute College of Art, MICA), and she kept me in mind a few years down the line when the series was looking for a new adapter.

Did you have any previous connections to The Baby-sitters Clubuniverse before working on this project?

Aside from recognizing the vast popularity of the original novel series and the graphic novel adaptations, I actually didn’t have any previous connection! I’d been a big admirer of all the previous (and upcoming) adapters, but I’m very fresh to the world of BSC, so I’m really grateful to my editor and the team at Scholastic who trusted my vision with adapting the book and provided great guidance along the way.

How did you find yourself getting into comics? What drew you to becoming an artist?

I’ve drawn comics and created art since my elementary school days, and loved reading manga and graphic novels all throughout my life. I wasn’t always interested in pursuing comics and art professionally, but I guess I couldn’t resist that love for storytelling! I’m very grateful to have a career in creating comics and art.

What advice might you have to give to aspiring artists/comic book creators, to both those who draw and those who don’t?

Make sure you’re always having fun with your projects! Comics require so much labor and time, so any project you’re committing to should be something you’re excited about and can genuinely enjoy the process of.

Also, explore interests outside of comics— it’ll enrich your storytelling and make your voice more unique!

What are some of your favorite elements of making comics? What do you consider some of the most frustrating and/or challenging? 

I love thumbnailing, especially when it comes to a funny scene. Crafting the comedic timing is a lot of fun for me, and it’s always satisfying when the joke lands successfully.

Regarding the challenges, I’m still new to creating full-color comics and have lots of growing to do there. I’m so grateful to Hank Jones and Braden Lamb whose color work made Mary Anne’s Bad Luck Mystery come to life. I really admire colorists whose coloring work adds so much mood and depth to the overall story!

Aside from your work, what are some things you would want others to know about you?

I’m relocating to New Jersey soon, really close to NYC! I’m so excited to explore the creative scene there and better familiarize myself with the thriving indie comics scene on the East Coast.

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet and wish you were asked (and your answer to that question)?

I don’t really get asked about my hobbies and interests outside of art and comics, even though I love talking about it. I love bouldering, trying new restaurants, and hanging out with my friends! I believe strongly in a work-play balance, so I try to get out and play and goof around often. It’s great.

Are there any projects you are working on and at liberty to discuss?

I’m currently working on a YA graphic novel memoir with First Second, tentatively titled Win. It’s about my time in high school playing American football on the boys’ team, and centers on gender and (toxic) masculinity. I don’t want it to sound too heavy; I ultimately think of it as a hopeful story about chasing your dreams. I’m really looking forward to getting this story out in the world some day!

Finally, what LGBTQ+ books/authors would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT?

So hard to choose, but my most recent favorites are the manga short story To Strip the Flesh by Oto Toda and indie comics by Kimberly Wang. I’m also deeply excited for the graphic novel Firebird by friend and cartoonist Sunmi, which came out on July 18th!

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Interview with Mari Costa, Author of Belle of the Ball

Mari Costa is a Luso-Brazilian cartoonist with a bachelor’s degree in Character Animation. She’s in love with creating stories and populating them with people who have very messy interpersonal drama. Some of her work includes Life of Melody, The Demon of Beausoleil, and Belle of the Ball.

I had the opportunity to interview Mari, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Happy to be here! I’m Mari! I’m luso-brazilian, currently based in Porto! I love fashion, cute things, the colour pink, telling stories and making people happy! My Sun is in Cancer.

What can you tell us about your latest project, Belle of the Ball? What was the inspiration for this story?

There wasn’t so much a concrete inspiration as there was just the desire to play around with familiar tropes and character archetypes and make them my own! I got the idea in my head during a family holiday that I wanted to make characters that represented different high school stereotypes and from doodling them in my sketchbook and putting them in all kinds of situations I eventually developed them into something that could later be shaped into a fully-fledged story with an actual plot and stakes and all that stuff!

Can you give us any trivia (that hasn’t already been given) about the characters from Belle of the Ball?

Ooh! Now you’re asking the right questions, I love random character trivia! Let’s do one for each.

Gina is the oldest of the girls! At the beginning of the story, she’s the only one of them who is already 18 (Belle and Chloe turn 18 as the plot progresses, though I couldn’t tell you their exact birthdays without doing some very deep thinking ahaha). This is mostly reflected in how she assumes she’s the most mature person in the room at any given time.

Chloe speaks fluent Japanese (don’t ask her to read or write it, though), but because the only people she communicates with in it are her grandparents and she doesn’t consume a lot of untranslated media her dialect is super stiff and formal.

Belle actually has been in a lot of different clubs along her high school career. She’s been in creative writing, anime, yearbook (to get closer to Regina, which she failed at) and D&D. However, you will not find a single scrap of photographic proof of any of this having taken place.

Also, everyone is welcome at any time to shoot me an ask on tumblr or an email if they want specific character trivia. I love ruminating on my little paper dolls.

As a creative, what drew you to the art of storytelling, particularly to the realm of comics/graphic novels?

You’d be surprised at how much easier it is to draw a background or character than it is to describe it. I’ve managed to transition into prose over the past couple years, but for most my life I really struggled with description when writing while dialogue always came to me very naturally. From then, I could either get into scriptwriting for radio (prohibitively difficult for a Brazilian preteen) or I could copy my favourite mangakas and draw little comics in my roughed up sketchbook. I chose the latter and the rest is history!

How would you each describe your creative process?

Vaguely chaotic and mostly inside my head unless I truly need to commit it to paper ahaha.

In general, I’m a pretty visual and visceral person, so I keep my notes extremely brief and extremely undecipherable to most people but myself and some keen-eyed editorial until it’s time to actually start drawing. I know a lot of people write scripts before they lay out their pages for comics, but I just can’t do it without becoming verbose or forgetting about the visual minutiae that’s meant to make comics so engaging!

As a creative, who or what would you say are some of your greatest creative influences and/or sources of inspiration?

Everyone says this, but it’s for good reason! I’m greatly inspired by Ghibli movies and magical girl/fantasy anime. My favourite author is and will forever be Diana Wynne Jones. As for comics, manga did play a big role in my personal development as an artist and I’m forever grateful to names like CLAMP and Peach-PIT especially, but if it weren’t for Gigi DG’s Cucumber Quest webcomic, I don’t think I’d be giving this interview today.

This might be a bit of a call back, but an older work of yours I’ve really enjoyed in the past was your comic, Life of Melody. Could you talk to us about the inspiration for that story?

I swear to the high heavens this is true: I watched Kung Fu Panda 3 and got unreasonably mad it wasn’t more about the odd couple co-parenting between Po’s two dads.

That’s it. That was the inciting incident that made me want to write about an odd couple who’s forced to co-parent a child and eventually develop a blossoming romance.

Growing up, were there any stories in which you felt touched by/ or reflected in? Are there any like that now?

Hmm, this is a tough one. I don’t think so, off the top of my head? Not that there weren’t any stories out there about lesbians or growing up the awkward, nerdy kid, but I can’t remember deeply resonating with anything I had access to! I’ve always loved stories, but mostly it’s been as a third party observer into a window of different experiences (which is also good! You don’t have to relate to works all the time!).

Currently, though, there’s so much more on the market that seems catered specifically to the kind of person I am and would like to see in media, it’s really heartwarming! One recent example is I read the first couple volumes of She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat and it really tugged at my gay little heartstrings how much of a dream relationship the main couple has! I, too, like to cook (and frequently, I like to eat. We contain multitudes).

What are some of your favorite elements of writing/illustrating? What do you consider some of the most frustrating and/or challenging? 

I just love drawing people! Character work is some of the most rewarding kind of work I can do! I love drawing bodies and faces acting and emoting. For that same reason, when writing, dialogue is my favourite part! Honestly, my dream project to work on would actually be a character illustrator for a visual novel (please get at me).

On the other hand, if I never have to draw a car again, it’ll be much too soon. I’m pretty awful at giving inorganic environments/objects a personality. I have heard practice makes perfect, though, so I might give that a shot sometime.

Aside from your work, what are some things you would like readers to know about you?

Oh, but isn’t an aura of mystery just so much more appealing?

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but that you wish you were asked (as well as the answer to that question)?

Yes, I would love a million dollars.

(Alternatively: I think lesbian media should be allowed to be way more messed up than it is, as a treat.)

What advice might you have to give for other creatives?

Everyone knows all the platitudes about doing what you love and sticking to your guns, so here’s something more practical: It’s better to have a finished work than a perfect WIP that lives inside your head. Especially if you’re like me and crave validation. It’s okay to cut corners and it’s okay if some parts of your work look messy or rushed, so long as you’ve managed to put out something that you’re overall proud of sharing at the end of the day!

Also, stay hydrated.

Are there any other projects you are working on and at liberty to speak about?

When am I not working on other projects! I’m very much a storytelling shark in the sense that I’m pretty sure if I ever stop allowing stories and concepts to run around the hamster wheel in my brain I’ll shut down entirely.

That being said, my current darlings are The Demon of Beausoleil, which you can find being crowdfunded by Hiveworks right now and is an M/M gothic story about a half-demon exorcist and his reluctant bodyguard exorcising baddies around their city.

Forgive-Me-Not is a bit more distant in the horizon, but it’s another graphic novel being published by First Second about a changeling and the princess she’s replaced at birth working together to prevent a political coup.

And next year I’ll be coming out with my first ever Big Words Prose Novel called Shoestring Theory, about a royal wizard who goes back in time to stop his husband, the king, from becoming a despot (by murdering him). A real eclectic mix!

Finally, what LGBTQ+ books/authors would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT? 

She Who Became the Sun and The Darkness Outside Us are two books I’ve read recently that changed my brain chemistry so completely I’ll be seeking compensation for emotional damages. If you’re looking for recent comic reads, The Moth Keeper and A Boy Named Rose also come highly recommended from yours truly!

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Things That Made Me Gay: O Human Star

Hello friends, enemies, fans, critics and everyone in between.

This blog is a slightly different format from my others and will be more vulnerable and probably missing some of my usual snark. (I am working to finish several other blog posts, but perfectionism can sometimes be rough. Some of you may be wondering what my blog posts look like before all the editing, but trust me).

So I know that Michele has already interviewed the amazing Blue Delliquanti here and again here – but rather than focusing on the author, I just wanted to discuss briefly how this comic impacted me on a personal level.

So there I was, a fairly new member of the Queer community, realizing only the year before that I was Bisexual, and only having dated anyone other than women for a few months, when I found myself deployed, out at sea, for significantly longer than the entirety of the run of Firefly – with little to do after standing watch and working. I couldn’t work out, because nobody knew how Covid spread at that point and the gym in the ship were shut down, and it was easily 115 degrees Fahrenheit outside.

During deployment I challenged myself to only consume media created by non cishet white men, for the entire year I was gone. While I initially thought it would be challenging in the sci-fi and fantasy realm, I soon had my eyes opened. I discovered so much more in the genres than what I had previously seen featured on the shelves of the big box book stores.

So, I had read a lot of great reviews of ‘O Human Star’ and decided to give it a try. Several weeks later (being out to sea reminding me a great deal of the very first Compact Disc (ask your parents kids) where I had to ride my bicycle to get a money order and mail it in then wait 6 weeks – the struggle was real) I got my copy.

Initially reading along, it resonated with me, but I wasn’t sure why. Much like the protagonist, Alastair Sterling, I had an amazing mustache which always got lots of commentary and was clearly the envy of everyone … or so I told myself each day in the mirror.

See, look how well I did masculinity! And I’m on a boat!

Anyway, things began to resonate as I read through the story, which I highly recommend. You can read it here for free, but also support the artist please.

And by the time we got to the final image, I thought (and very very spoilers ahead so stop reading this and go read literally the entire comic right now if that bothers you)

… Oh, of course. Anyone would become a beautiful woman if they could just swap out their robot body for one they designed. That makes total sense.

So, two years of reading, self work, and therapy later I came out as Trans Femme/ Non-Binary, and very recently began my transition. Look how happy I am now!

FlameCon 2023, and the costume was my wonderful partner’s idea, and she did all the work, I just showed up and looked pretty

Looking back, this is all less surprising that I initially thought. The book that originally made me question my sexuality to begin with was actually Sissy by Jacob Tobiah .

So young people, be gay and do comics. Parents, comics and fandoms won’t turn your kids gay or trans etc, but seeing positive representation will definitely make their lives better.

Until next time, gay space cowboys (redundant?) ….

Damon (they/them)