February 27, 2025 • 62 mins
We’re all living in a world gone geek, and this episode is no exception! Buckle up, because we’re diving into an awesome conversation with the super talented Stephanie Williams, writer for DC and Marvel. She’s here to share her journey through the comic book universe, from her indie roots to breathing new life into iconic characters like Nubia and Wonder Woman. It’s time to geek hard or go home, folks! Plus, we’ll chat about the importance of diversity in comics, the challenges of imposter syndrome, and the exciting future stories Stephanie has in the pipeline. So grab your headphones, and let's goooooooo!
Links referenced in this episode:
Donate to see Jeff shave his head for pediatric cancer research:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
We're all living in a worldGone Geek.
It's time to geek hard or go home.
The podcast is real.
Here's your host, Grounded Geek.
Hey, everybody. Welcome to abrand new episode of World Gone Geek.
The podcast is real becausehere we are. I'm Jeff, AKA Grounded
(00:23):
Geek, and I'm solo right nowbecause due to some technical difficulties,
the actual intro and outrothat we record recorded can't be
used in this episode for somereason. So here I am doing the intro
outro without my good friendsand confidants, Utah and Aaliyah.
They are not here,unfortunately, but they are in this
interview that you're about tosee. So don't worry, they're still
(00:44):
here and they'll be back infuture episodes. But for tonight,
I'm recording the intro andoutro so that we can get this episode
out to you. This greatinterview with none other than the
iconic Stephanie Williams,writer for DC and Marvel. You're
going to love this interview.You're going to want to check it
out. Before we do that, I dowant to thank Sony Pictures for helping
bring this episode to lifewith a new movie that they've got
(01:06):
out called One of Them Days.Now. It is certified fresh and verified
hot on Rotten Tomatoes rightnow, and it's available in theaters
and on digital. Kiki Palmerand Sza stars best friends and roommates
Drew and Alyssa, and they findthemselves in a comical race against
the clock after Alyssa'sboyfriend blows the rent money. With
(01:27):
eviction looming, they'll dowhatever it takes to stay afloat
and keep their friendshipintact. You don't want to miss One
of Them Days from SonyPictures Home Entertainment on Digital
Now. Rated R. And we're goingto try to give away a copy of that.
All you have to do to get adigital copy of that or at least
be eligible to win a digitalcopy. Go to our Instagram page, scroll
(01:48):
through the profile when yousee Kiki Palmer and Sza in one of
the pictures there. I didn'ttake that picture. That's not a.
That's not a normal Instagrampicture. It's actually the poster
from this movie. I don't knowthem, so I never took that picture.
But it is available there.You're going to see it. Click on
that picture like and comment.And that is where we will draw a
(02:08):
winner from to decide who'sgoing to get that digital copy. So
go check out that film today.Check out our Instagram at World
Gone Geek like and comment andyou have a chance to win the Movie,
one of them days from SonyPictures Home Entertainment. Another
thing I want to make sure thatwe mention, as most of you know,
if you followed us at all, youknow, world gun geek, really, really
(02:29):
passionate about using ourpowers for good. Right? We want to
do charity work, we want to doother types of philanthropy things
that we can use our geekpassions to, to make a difference
in the world. And last time wedid that was back in November. We
did extra life 24 hour videogame marathon to raise money for
Rainbow Babies and Children'sHospital. Well, in just a few days
(02:51):
on March 7, I will be for the14th time shaving my head in honor
of St. Baldrick's Day. Andthat's the St. Baldrick's Foundation.
Foundation that raisesabsolutely crucial funding for pediatric
cancer research. You will besurprised that how little federal
money goes to pediatric cancerresearch. The cancer research is
(03:14):
very important across theboard and there is federal funds
that are taking care of that.But our most vulnerable group of
patients are obviouslychildren and they unfortunately get
the least amount of funding.And so it's crucial that St. Baldrick's
and some of these otherorganizations are raising funds that
are actually findingtreatments and cures. And if you've
(03:35):
watch the show at all orlisten to the podcast or know me
personally, you know that wedealt with that during the pandemic.
My daughter was diagnosed withcancer. Thank God she is cancer free
today. And that is reallybecause there are treatments that
exist because of the type offunding that St. Baldrick's is involved
in. So March 7th, shaving myhead for St. Baldrick's. You can
(03:58):
be a part of that two ways.One, if you're in the Cleveland area,
love for you to come out toRainbow Babies and Children's Hospital.
You can sign up, shave yourown head, raise some money and, and
in solidarity with the kidsthere, you know, go bald for a cause.
That's what I'm going to do.If not, you can donate and we'll
have that in the show notes, away for you to donate to that cause
(04:22):
to see the hair go. Probablydoing most of the beard too. If,
if we can raise enough. I amtaking bids. If somebody wants to
bid on the beard. I'minterested to see how much we can
raise just to get rid of thewhole beard. Actually, I take it
back. There's no way my wifewould let me do the whole beard,
but I can get rid of most ofit. Like, we'll go down really far.
This is my beard grown out forSanta over the December month. It's
(04:46):
time. It's time for it to go.If you donate, we could. We could.
We could see that happen. SoMarch 7St. Baldrick's, check it out.
Show notes. There's a link.You can donate there or coming out
to Rainbow and join us forthat great event. I'll be emceeing
again. 14 years in a row thatwe've done this, and I'm not going
to stop. I'm not going to stopuntil there's no hair up there left
(05:09):
to shave, which right now,it's crazy. I mean, look at this.
It's. It's going crazy. Youguys got to donate so that hair goes
away. So please do that. ButI'm going to keep shaving it as long
as there's hair to shave oruntil there is no more cancer, whichever
comes first. So we'll see whathappens there. But it's a great cause.
Check it out. All right, let'sget right into this episode because
(05:32):
I'm so excited to present itto you again. It's Stephanie Williams,
and it's going on right now.Today, we're thrilled to be joined
by comic writer StephanieWilliams, whose groundbreaking work
at DC Comics has breathed newlife into beloved characters. Mythologies.
Known for her compelling workon Nubia and the Amazons and her
contributions to the WonderWoman universe, Stephanie has established
(05:52):
herself as a vital voice inmodern comics, bringing fresh perspectives
and rich storytelling to theAmazonian mythology. From her start
in indie comics and becoming aprominent voice in mainstream comics,
she's helped reshape andexpand the DC universe in exciting
new ways. Please welcomeStephanie Williams. Welcome to the
show.
Hello. That is one hell of anintro. Thank you.
(06:14):
No. Hey, I am so grateful andso excited. I've been so pumped.
In fact, one of the mainreasons I told you we canceled this
interview before and pushed itout because two. Two reasons. One,
I had some stuff going on, butalso both of them couldn't make it.
And I wanted them to be herefor this because I think this is
going to be. I think you'reone of the coolest guests we've ever
(06:37):
had on the show. And I'mreally excited to talk to you and
get to know more about you fora little. For a little backstory,
a little history for thesefolks. So I bumped into you at Fan
Expo Cleveland here, and youwere. You were. Had copies of Nubia,
Queen of the Amazon.
Yeah.
For sale here, and you werenice enough to sign it. So I got
(06:59):
a little signed copy. Thislittle. My YouTube usually just show
and tell that today I get todo it.
Yeah.
It's your turn, Stephanie. Butif you notice, also Jay Lee.
Yeah.
Because that artwork isphenomenal. Is that not just, like,
a gorgeous cover?
It is like, my very first,like, big, Big Con was Emerald City,
and I was sitting next to JayLee, and this is. I think I only
had, like, maybe one anubiaout at the time, and he was just
(07:22):
such a sweet guy. And Iremember exchanging information with
the woman that was workingwith him, and I was like, yeah, if
he's ever interested in acover, not thinking that anything
would actually happen. Andthen something happened. I was like,
oh, thank you so much, Jaylee,for making this beautiful cover.
He's. He's an amazing artist.
He sure is. Even better thanone of my favorites. He's truly one
(07:42):
of my favorites. One of theguys. I got tons of autographs. I
got other stuff from him aswell when I was there, so it was
fantastic to just combine. Igot to talk to you and. And find
out about this new comic. Solet's start from the beginning, though.
I want people to kind of get asense of. Of who you are. Obviously,
you're. You're working. Youwrite independently. Beads. You're
(08:04):
doing some stuff for DC in.Not just anything in dc, but one
of the top three. The big three.
Yeah.
Of the DC universe. And Iguess that's the big three, right?
Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.
Yeah, those are the big.
There are others that are, youknow, people think are cool, but
that's. Those are the three.Everybody knows. I mean, Green Lantern,
(08:26):
Marvel fan.
Never been a huge fan.
I don't wanna. I'm gonna makepeople mad. I've never been a huge
fan of Green Lantern. It'sjust. I don't know what it is. I
like him. I just. The power isweird to me. Like, he could just
make anything with a ringanyway. But the big three, I love
those guys. And so. But I havenot been hugely familiar with Wonder
(08:46):
Woman until actually meetingyou and finding out what you're doing
with the comic and thedirections that you've taken it.
And then I went through andread, like, the. Your. The entire
run that you've done for that.Also found out that you wrote one
of the stories and one of myother favorite comics, which is the
(09:06):
Alien franchise. Oh, amazing.What? Blood. Sorry to say. Blood,
Sweat and tears.
I mean, it could be, but whiteand red. White and blood.
Red. That's what it is. Red,white and blood. Thank you. It's
my. It's one of My favorites.And I couldn't think of the name
of it. I mean, the Alienfranchise. Not that particular, but
yeah. And so literally after Igot home from fan expo, I, you know,
(09:31):
I realized that you were inthat comic too. And I should have
brought that to have yousigned. So I was like, dog, that's
all right. Anyway. But you gotinto comic writing in a fairly unique
way. Tell people what you weredoing before all of this started
happening for you.
Yeah, so I was an electronmicroscopist. Some big science title
(09:53):
name, but. Exactly. We workedalongside pathologists and other
researchers. And basically youcame in for like a biopsy or, um,
let's say clinical trials werelike being ran. Then, you know, I
would get your tissue and thendo all this amazing stuff in this
micro, in this machine calledan ultra microtome. So very hand
(10:15):
eye coordinated type of thing.And then I would take pictures. Uh,
so I was an artist before Iwas a writer. Um, there was a lot
of medical pictures, uh, and Iactually took some pretty damn good
pictures too. So Duke, I wasdoing that and then slowly transitioned
to freelance writing on theside. So writing for like Syfy, Wire,
(10:36):
Nerdist, IGN and all thoseplaces. Like, I would literally read,
like read and also write inbetween experiments, which was a
nice thing. And eventually Iended up leaving that job. As much
as I loved it, my boss suckedand she was not retiring anytime
soon. So it was either me orher. And I was like, well, I guess
it's gonna have to be me. So Iended up leaving and just really
(11:01):
trying to focus on thefreelance writing as much as I could.
So I worked like a little parttime job and then ended up leaving
that and like driving Lyft sothat I could pay for the comics that
I started having commissionother artists to make. And I ran
a kickstarter for LivingHeroes and that like fully funded
at the top of 2020 before thepandemic kicked off. And the next
(11:25):
thing I knew, by the end ofthe year, Marvel had finally knocked
on my door and said, hey, doyou want to take part in this anthology
for Black History Month? I waslike, I absolutely do. So I wrote
a two page Monica Rambeaustory. And then I think the week
that that came out, I actuallyspoke to the editor at DC about Wonder
Woman and had no idea that Iwould be writing Nubia. I just thought
I was doing like an anthologything. And yeah, next thing I knew,
(11:49):
doing like a whole comicseries, which was quite the transition
because before I were doing alot of, a lot of one to four page
comics. Nothing that was like20 pages or anything like that. But
the little stuff did pay off.
That's. That's awesome. Andbefore we get. I mean, obviously
I want to talk about WonderWoman, but tell. Tell people about
Living Heroes.
Oh, yeah, yeah. Sorry. Daddyjust kind of glossed over that. Living
(12:12):
Heroes was something that cameto me while I was smoking a little
weed and rewatching LivingSingle and reading the Phoenix saga
at the same time. So all ofthis is going on, and I got to the
part where Misty Knight andJean Grey like their roommates, but
(12:34):
Jean Grey dies, and thePhoenix Force, like, the Phoenix
Force isn't paying rent, andrent is expensive, even back then.
So I thought about where wouldMisty live? And I remember Storm
had ties to Harlem thanks toher father. So I was like, what if
she owned a brownstone? Andthen Misty moved in and then it just
all kind of came together. Andof course, because she. Hulk is so
(12:57):
very obviously Maxine becausethey're both lawyers and they both
eat a lot too, so that madesense. And next thing I knew, I hit
up Aaron O'Neal Jones to seeif she would be interested in putting
this together, and she was. Weput out one page. It did very well.
Uh, we put out a second pageat the top of the new year in 20.
(13:17):
Yeah, 20. 20. And then nextthing I knew, I was putting together.
Putting together a Kickstartercampaign. I didn't know what the
hell I was doing, but I justknew I was hoping that people would
fund the project, and they did.
So are you. Are you. Are youbasically waiting for the call from
Disney now for the animated?
You know, I have tried topitch Living Heroes since now working
(13:39):
with Marvel as like aninfinity comic or something, and
so far, no, But I'm hopingone. Or I'll just take the idea and
like, you know, just dosomething different with it. Get
rid of their characters andjust. And, you know, insert my own.
Because I think the. Theappeal there for a lot of folks is
just this meeting of twodifferent worlds. So, you know, this
(13:59):
very popular black sitcom andcharacters that they're familiar
with. So I can always createnew characters and they'll still
have that familiarity ofLiving Single.
Yeah, yeah, that's reallygood. But. And I imagine there's
rights involved.
Absolutely.
If they did want to do a.
Show like that, I mean, Disneyowns everything, so they. They own
Fox, which has Living Single,so I. Someone could figure something
(14:21):
out. It's true.
You're right. So it's.
It would be so easy. It be soeasy for somebody.
It's all coming together. Youknow, I'm, I'm, I'm. I got my hopes
up for you. I think that wouldbe hilarious.
Thank you.
Fantastic. But would it belive action or would be animated?
I would love animated. That'salways. Yeah, you could just get
away. Well, not get away withanything, but I just feel like for
(14:44):
the physical comedy that Iwould like to see in this animation
would be best.
What if you got some of theoriginal actresses to voice the characters?
That would be amazing.
That'd be incredible.
Erica Alexander, like, voicingshe Hulk, like. Yes, give me that.
Queen, like Tifa voicingMonica Rambeau. Yes, give me that.
Yes. I want it. I want it now.
(15:06):
We need to all. We need. Weneed to all speak it and manifest
it, because this is hilarious.
Yeah, well, you know, oncethis episode airs and then everybody
in the world will know and getthe correct. Nobody watches this.
But. But no, that's fantastic.But yeah, so I can't. And it's just.
To me, it just blows my mind.Like you, you know, you're literally
(15:27):
writing a couple of pages forMarvel and the next thing you know,
Wonder Woman is now. And tellme a little bit about how that felt.
Let's go even further back.
Yeah.
So obviously, like, when didyou. Thanks, Utah, for the demonstration.
You're welcome. When did youfirst start getting into comics?
Like, was Wonder Woman some.Some. Something that you read back
(15:49):
in the day? Like, what wasyour first entry in the comics?
So my entry into comics wasactually the Sunday funnies and then
from there the Dollar Treeused to sell actually really good
quality books. They kind of donow, really. You could find anything
from like these little booksthat they would have, like all the
Jurassic park dinosaurs, theywould have like X Men, all the heroes,
(16:12):
all the villains, and theyalso would have these compilation.
These like compendiums ofSunday funnies. And Hagar the Horrible
was one of them. I don't likeseven. So I, I just picked this up
just randomly just to getsomething and I, I just read it,
but none of the jokes landed.I was. Why would I know these things?
(16:33):
But I just knew that I likelooking at it. So from there, then
came some Marvel stuff. Andagain, not even at a comic book store.
This was at a thrift shop thatI picked this issue up at. And it
was like Avengers 371 or 361,but in it we're in the middle of.
(16:54):
I don't know what they gotgoing on, but there's the Black Knight,
Cersei and Crystal, they got,like, this throuple thing going on
because Black Knight issupposed to be with Cersei, but that's
really just a thing thatthey're doing because he really loves
Crystal. Vision is there, andhe's been set to factory reset the
factory mode. So he's whiteand sad, or doesn't know that he's
(17:16):
sad, but he's trying toprocess these feelings because, oh,
Vision, him and Wanda are,like, not together anymore. It's
a mess. But I bring it upbecause I think that was the moment
that I saw superhero comics.And I was like, oh, this is kind
of like the soap operas thatmy grandmother and my mom enjoy,
but they're wearing spandex.Like, I can. I know what this world
is like. So that got me onboard. And then finally, Archie Comics
(17:39):
sealed the deal for me becausethey had the Archie Digest at the
front at the grocery store,and it was easy for me to just pluck
it and put it in between theeggs and go about my business. So
that's kind of how I ended upgetting into comics.
Location, location, location.
Never at a. Never at a comicbook store. It's funny, I didn't
actually start shopping atcomic book stores until I was in
(18:02):
my 20s and, like, late 20s at that.
So when they offered youWonder Woman, like, how much of that
mythology did you alreadyknow? Like, did you have to go back
and, like, read tons of, like,what was your preparation for that?
I read so much, and I didn'tjust read DC stuff. So I started,
of course, with Joyce Perez,because I felt like that was the
(18:22):
transition from the Amazonslooking pretty homogenous and by
that very white to we'refinally seeing some more, like, color
diversity on that island.Also, just George and his team, they
just had just such a beautifulunderstanding of the Amazons and
who they are. And I. And Ifigured if I was going to have to
write something about Nubia,that I didn't want her to be a carbon
(18:44):
copy of Diana. So I need tofind out, like, well, who are the
Amazons at their core? And Ifelt like his run best depicted that.
And then, of course, on toGreg Rucka. I did read some John
Byrne, because I know. But,man, that guy and his art. And when
it comes to fashion, it justpulls me in every time. So a little
(19:06):
bit of that. And then outsideof comics, Madeline Miller's Cersei.
That is something that Icannot praise enough. That is a book
that was recommended to me byA friend named Aaron Reese. And he's
like, I just think that youshould read this because you will
find some way to, like, applythis to what you're working on. And
I did, because in that book,the women are, you know, protagonists,
(19:27):
antagonists, everybody inbetween. And I knew that for Nubia
and her Amazons, like, thisstory was gonna take place all in
Themyscira. So what does thestory look like that includes Greek
mythology where women are thecenter of that story. And Madeline
Miller Cersei just reallydrove that point home for me. I also
(19:50):
watched 300, not for anyinspiration, but I think just to
kind of, like, I don't know,get myself in the mind frame of that.
I watched Troy for the firsttime. I had never seen Troy, so that
was an interesting watch. And,you know, what's his name? Oh, wow.
Why am I forgetting his name?He used to be married to Jennifer
(20:13):
Aniston. Mr. And Ms. BradPitt. Red Pit. Yes. Wow.
As Achilles.
Really, really hot in that. Sothat washing. Because of that.
He was a good Achilles.
Yeah, yeah, he was a goodAchilles. And I think, like, I reminded
me of playing Hades. Iprobably went back. I'm pretty sure
I had my. My husbandredownload, God of War. So, like,
(20:35):
I. I love that. I justabsorbed as much as I could. And,
of course, I don't ever needan excuse to watch Justice League
or Justice League Unlimited,but that gave me an excuse to go
back and rewatch thoseepisodes, specifically the ones that,
like, really focus on Diana.So it was a lot of me doing whatever
I could to just kind of takeas much inspiration as I could and
(20:59):
apply it to Nubia and the Amazons.
That's awesome. So I guess,you know, obviously, one of the great
things about Nubia is it doesprovide. You talked about how homogenous
Wonder Woman used to be. Notjust Wonder Woman, let's just face
it. Comics.
Comics. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So what does it mean to you toknow now that this character is so
(21:24):
prominent in D.C. for younggirls now that maybe when they were
7 that they can reach out on athrift store shelf and maybe find
media now?
It is great, because I justfound it fascinating that she was
a character that wasintroduced so long ago and really
could have been this premierecharacter for dc, and then they just
(21:45):
kind of moved on to Vixen andwhoever else. So to, like, have her
come back, the goal there wasto have her not go back on the shelf.
Because I'm like, we're notgonna put in all this work. Just
for her to get shelved again.So it means mission accomplished.
And that, you know, it wasn'ttoo crazy. The ideas that we had
and the direction and how towrite Nubia was the correct one.
(22:07):
And it was to not make herlike just Diana 2.0. Like, we already
have a Diana. She's amazing.So there can be other women that
are just as important, asamazing as her, that come for the
mascara. And I think Nubia isan excellent example of that. So
hopefully we'll get some more,you know, Artemis, Donna, Troy. Hell,
(22:28):
I want to know more aboutPhilippus, so more of them, more
prominence outside of just,you know, the women that live on
the island that Diana comes from.
Right, right, right, right.
And in that. That run that youdid, therefore, you actually introduced
a new Wonder Girl as well.Yeah, and she's. She. Several weeks
(22:52):
ago, but she's like, Brazilianor something like that. Yeah. Was
that.
So that Yara Floor is JoelleJones creation. So she, you know,
so during the time when I tookover or started writing Nubia, like
Yar Fl. Her, I think her. Herrun was just kind of like, really
getting going. And the samething with Becky and Michael, who
(23:14):
were writing Wonder Woman, themain title at the time. So I don't
know, like, it all just kindof weirdly worked out that Nubia
got kind of shoehorned ininto, like, these newer Amazons that
are being introduced, becausethe exposita where Yara Flor comes
from, that's all brand new.And I think it was really great to
see that. Hey, there areAmazons that are not just want the
(23:35):
mascara. Of course we have theVon and Migdal who have always been.
But to have the escositathere, and, like, they're on a whole
nother continent that. I don'tknow. Like, I thought that was really
cool. We're really broadeningthings up and showing that, you know,
it's. There are Amazons andthey're everywhere, so you should
be careful.
Yeah, I like that.
(23:56):
And that was news to me, too.Like, I. Like I said, I mean, I'm
a Marvel guy through andthrough. Like, just from beginning,
make my Marvel. Always loveMarvel 100%. But I've always loved
Batman. Yeah, he's the one DCcharacter that's just like, I'm obsessed
with. So it's Marvel and thenthere's Batman and then Superman,
(24:17):
sort of. Because, I mean, Ilove Christopher Reeve. I was. I
mean, I was a kid when thatmovie came out, so I'm, you know,
Utah and I are old. If youhaven't noticed we're older than
Nubia. We saw that. Exactly.Actually, you're right.
Yeah. Nubia. I didn't realizethis. 73.
Yeah, 1973.
I had no idea she was around for.
No idea that there were. Imean, like, I didn't know much about
(24:41):
Wonder Woman at all. And soreading your run in the comics kind
of gave me this whole neweducation on who these characters
were. It was, I thought, agreat entry point for folks who have
never really dealt with Amazon.
Yeah, thank you.
You're introducing a ton ofcharacters at once. So I was a little
like, oh, my gosh. Yeah, we'reall these people.
There's so many more.
(25:02):
Yeah. But you did such a greatjob of, like, by the end of it, like,
I knew, like, what. Who thefactions were and how they felt about
each other and then. And Iwatched them sort of kind of come
together because of the. Idon't want to spoil things for people.
I'm ready yet because of the,you know, the events that are taking
place and. And, you know, theyhave to stand together for certain
(25:23):
things. And anyway, yeah, Ithought it was great. As someone
who, again, admittedly, is notnecessarily. I mean, I started to
say I'm not a Wonder Womanfan, but, man, I love Lynda Carter.
Wonder Woman back in the day.Well, I mean, but that was Wonder
Woman. To me, that's that TVshow. I wasn't into the comics, but
now. Now I'm interested. Like,there's a. There. That's a world
I didn't know was so deep and,like, just full of mythology and
(25:47):
lore. It's really cool.
And hopefully I feel like D.C.is continuing to, like, give focus
to that area, especially withabsolute Wonder Woman. And, like,
what Kelly Thompson is doingwith that, what Count Tom King has
been doing with the currentWonder Woman run, and the fact that
every time I see, like, a newrandom page posted from DC Comic,
I see Nubia in it. And it'snot just Wonder Woman comics. Like,
(26:10):
I think she popped up in GreenLantern once. Flash, all these other
spaces, which I'm like, yes,this is what should be happening.
Yeah. And will that be harder,though, now that she's Queen like,
that she's gotresponsibilities back on the island.
She won't be able to wanderaround the world.
Like, well, it could be for afew of the. That I pitched to D.C.
(26:31):
and how to continue and showher kind of balancing that and taking
inspiration from Colts run ofBlack Panther and just the way that
that character's been treatedyes, There are many things that she
could get into even thoughshe's queen. And I don't know, eventually
I see that maybe not her,well, her remaining queen, but like
(26:52):
other things happening whereshe gets something similar to like
a Wonder Woman title. Okay,it'd be nice. We'll see. I don't
want to spoil something Ihaven't written yet. But, you know.
Or has she written it?
Or has she. Yes.
I'm curious. So like, what isyour writing process? You know, we've
spoken to a lot of authors onthis, like throughout our podcast,
(27:17):
and they all have differentthings. Like they might wake up at
5 o'clock in the morning andjust, you know, exercise. Exercise
their writing brain. But yeah,I'm curious, like, what is your writing
process? How and how did youkind of get into that? Have you always
been writing?
So I've always been writing,but it was like as a fun on the side
(27:37):
thing. Like I was somebody whowas doing fanfic before I knew it
was fanfic. And I mean, like,I really didn't know, like December
to remember commercials, wherethe car commercial. I think I wrote
a fanfic once about one of thefamilies. I was like, well, what
are their lives? Like, sorandom than writing on the side.
(28:00):
But because I didn't, I don'tknow, like one, it was a hobby and
two, I didn't really think itwas something that I could make a
career out of because it wassomething that was not stressed to
me that you could make acareer out of it. Um, so I went throughout.
I love science, so I just wentthat route. And I would have to write
things for that, but it's morelike, you know, rigid and logical.
So. So it was, I was stillwriting, but in a very in the box
(28:24):
way. Uh, so when I finallystarted writing writing, it was actually
after having my son. I waslike, oh, you know, like, let's get
back to the creative writing.I was like, you've brought life into
this world so you canabsolutely go back and do this other
thing while you're workingfull time. Uh, so my writing process
then was chaotic. It waswhenever I could. Um, so sometimes
(28:46):
it would be a 3am thing or mewaking up early or again, like me
writing at work. And then whenI left my job and I started doing
full time writing, it wasstill chaotic. Cause I hadn't learned
my lesson yet and I was stillwriting whatever. But the last year
and a half, two years now myprocess is pretty much I start the
(29:07):
day listening to lo fi music.I don't know why. Like, it just gets
me where I need to go. Um, Ido work out sometimes in the morning.
So on those days that I do,like, I try to. I try to write as
soon as I get back home tokind of use those endorphins to get
me through. But I don't workthe weekends anymore. At least I
(29:27):
try not to. But my first threeyears I worked, I think I even worked
on my birthday. I just couldnot get away from my keyboard. But
now it's just more of a. Iknow that I'm not always gonna feel
like doing it, but becausedeadlines need to be met, bills need
to be paid, I gotta figure outhow to, like, create a muse. And
(29:48):
sometimes that muse isliterally, girl, this has to be done.
So finish it. And knowing thatthe first draft is gonna be ugly.
So now it's just like sittingdown and just writing as much as
I can. And if I finish it andit looks ugly, that's fine. That's
why my editors are there and.Or even I go back through myself
and reread it and edit beforeI send it off. So it's a lot more.
(30:12):
There's a little bit more of astrategy now than just all willy
nilly. Like, it was likesometimes I would write while I was
cooking. It was just whenever.Oh, yes, don't do that anymore. Not
recommend.
Not recommend.
No.
So what has been yourexperience? I mean, obviously I got
(30:33):
to meet you at Fan Expo. What.What has that experience for you
been like? I know that you'vebeen on a lot of shows. I've been,
you know, I follow me onInstagram. I see that you, you know,
you're going to thesedifferent shows and stuff. What is,
you know, meeting the fanshave. What has that been like for
you?
It's amazing because it helpson the days where I'm just kind of
like, f this, I don't want todo it anymore. Because, like, what
(30:55):
am I doing this for? Because Idon't know, like, I'm dealing with
somebody being a jerk on theInternet or just frustrating period
because, like, rejection.
I'm sorry.
Yeah, right. No, it's okay.But like, you know, rejection is
the name of the game here. Sosometimes you're wondering, like,
well, damn, do I suck? Orlike, like, is, am I, Am I all right?
(31:16):
But going out and going to thecons is a nice reminder that 1. People
are reading my work. And evenif it's just one person that comes
up to me and says, hey, like,I really love what you did or like,
this literally changed mylife. Like, that, to me, means so
much. And I try to, you know,so that on the days where I'm just
(31:37):
like, I do not want to dothis, I'm like, no, it is a blessing
to be here. I've worked hardto get here, and it's worth it. Also,
it's just really cool to beout and talking with folks who. This
year, I made a bigger dealabout walking around the cons. When
I'm there, a lot of times Ijust sit at the table because I don't
(31:58):
want to miss anyone. But Imade a conscious effort to be more,
I guess, active at the con,which was great because I got to
walk around and, like, meetother creators, buy their stuff.
I don't, like, I just actuallyget the con experience because before
I was writing professionally,I like to go to conventions and,
like, just be there. And now,because it's a working thing, a lot
(32:20):
of times I'll kind of forgetthat. So it's been nice to just kind
of get around and just connectwith people and actually be in community,
which, I don't know, like, Ifeel like that's what conventions
are supposed to be.
Yeah, 100%, totally.
Yeah. Yeah. And you mentioned,you know, jerks on the Internet,
so. And I feel like, you know,I want to bring that up because one
(32:41):
of the things that. That webelieve here at worldgun Geek, like,
what we're trying to promoteis positivity in the community. You
know, there are going to bethings that we don't agree on. We
don't have to all, like, thesame things. But, you know, fandom
should be about celebratingthe things we do, like, together,
not just not joining togetherto denigrate the things we don't
like. What is that? That's notfandom. That's the opposite. And
(33:05):
so I wonder, like, you know,obviously, you know, you just said
you have dealt with, you know,idiots on the Internet. What kind
of reception? Or how do youdeal with the folks out there who
apparently think that, youknow, behind the keyboard, they can
say whatever they want aboutwhatever it is and share that kind
(33:28):
of, you know, vitriol on the Internet?
Most of the time, I ignore it.It's like block and go. But every
now and again, like, you'llcome across something that just either
catches you on a bad day orjust kind of hurts your feelings
because you're human. And inthose times, like, I'll just either
screenshot, show a friend tomy husband or whoever and just kind
(33:51):
of talk about it that wayinstead of going off on the Internet
or kind of giving that personthe attention that they're seeking.
Because that doesn't reallyserve me. It serves them because
now, you know, they got eyeson them, and they can continue to
say whatever it is they'resaying. But I often try to remind
myself that, well, if theycould do it, then they would be doing
(34:12):
it, but they're not. And Idon't mean that in, like, a cocky
sort of way, but, like, youhave no idea how hard it is to get
one single issue of a comicout. And this thing that you're nitpicking
is, like, low on the totempole and also insignificant. And
if you only knew just howdifficult it is to just get one story
(34:35):
out, let alone many of them,you would probably. I don't know,
like, you would have a littlebit more respect. But I think that's
asking too much of anybody today.
On today's Internet,especially online.
Yes. Actually had a guy who.Over at Harold's Kind, I was on a
panel with Jean Ha and ColleenDuran and learned that her name was
(34:58):
not Duran Duran, both me andJean Ha. But anyway. And he. It was
a Wonder Woman. It was aWonder Woman panel, whatever. So
we talked, and I talked aboutNubia and, like, my inspiration and
everything. So the very nextday, the guy comes to my table, and
he's like, you know, I have totell you that you completely changed
(35:19):
my mind about Nubia. And,like, I want to get some books. And
he was like, you know, I'mnot. He's like, I'm a little embarrassed
to admit this, but when DCannounced that this book was happening,
I just kind of thought it wasa cash grab. And I'm like, well,
they're a business, soanything they do is a cash grab.
Everything's a cash grab.
I get what you mean. And youthought. And he also thought that
it was just like, a blackwoman, a black Wonder woman or Diana
(35:44):
2.0 situation. And then afterlistening to me talk about the character
and just inspiration and allthese other things, he was like,
oh, well, like, I didn't knowany of that. And like, well, of course
you wouldn't have known any ofthat because you didn't take the
time out to actually findthat. But I'm glad you were able
to get that that got throughto you during, you know, the panel
or whatever. He ended upbuying, like, almost everything off
(36:07):
of my table, which was pretty phenomenal.
But that's incredible.
Yeah. And I told him, like,you know, I appreciate your honesty
and like, I feel like it'd benice if we could have more conversations
about this because while Ithink you could have done your due
diligence to like not makethat assumption, I do understand
why you did make thatassumption. Because, you know, we're
having conversations todayabout how some of the anthology for
(36:31):
the anthology stories thatcome out through in different heritage
Munch. So you know, your blackhistory, your aaip, you know, Latin
heritage, all of those, all ofthose that come out even during Pride
Month. And we don't see thesecreators again after they've been
tapped for these anthologiesand they just kind of disappear and
it's like, wait, I thoughtthis person was like really, like
(36:52):
really talented, but they godisappear just like those characters
of color. So I get it. I getwhy you would think this was a non
serious thing. But I'm gladthat I was able to change your mind.
And you show improved withyour wallet and that means everything,
right?
Well, also, you got, you got,you got. I've got to give him kudos
(37:13):
to owning up to it too becausevery often you're going to get these
people who don't admit thatthey're wrong or learn something.
And the fact that he came upto you face to face.
Yeah.
Actually had thatconversation. I think it means a
lot to me hearing it. So, Imean, the fact that you're changing
(37:34):
minds that way, even if a oneby one, that's fantastic.
Yeah. It's some of the folksthat come up to me sometimes and
tell me how much they likeenjoy my work or nubia. I'm just
like, wait, really? BecauseI'm also in the south, so like I'll
do some conventions in likeSouth Carolina and there's one that
I do called Power Comic Conand it's a Florence, South Carolina,
(37:54):
really nice city. But likethere are a bunch of trucks outside
that are lifted. We got flagson them and all of that. And like
you have these big burly whiteguys and they'll come up to me and
they'll be like, yeah, Ireally love your work on Newbie.
I'm like, oh, well, all right.Well, thank you. That is good to
know. But like, pleasantsurprise. Yeah, a little surprise.
(38:18):
But if anything that is justshow improved to me that people just
want a good story. And ifcreators are allowed to and given
the support to like deliverthat product and get it out to the
masses and explains and letthe masses know, like this is what
it is, then there could be somuch more success for A lot of these
books that end up not doingwell because they're not Batman.
(38:40):
They're not. And I don't meanno shade. They're not Batman or they're
not Iron man or, or Thor or,you know, or whatever. Like, people
want. People just want goodstories. Yeah.
Yeah, I love that.
And I love Batman.
Yeah, right. Who doesn't? He's amazing.
He's the best in dc.
Yeah.
(39:00):
The. The crazy thing aboutwhat you just shared there, though.
To me, what I think is the,the real, you know, like a real important
thing was that you had an, anactual conversation.
Yeah.
You know what I mean? There'sjust not enough of that. You know,
like, we get on the Internet,like I said there, people are behind
the keyboards and say whateverthey want. They can go on, you know,
(39:22):
Twitter and Instagram orwhatever, and they can comment and
say all the things they wouldnever say to your face. You know
what I mean? And I just.That's, that's where I think most
of the issue. I mean,everybody's leaving Twitter and a
lot of it's political to me.It's. It's not even political.
It's just you can't talk to anybody.
Do. Yeah. Is argue or, or postmemes. Like, there's no conversations
(39:46):
taking place over thereanymore. So that's kind of why I'm
not really posting as muchover there, things like that. But
I love that, like youliterally had a face to face conversation
with someone and it wentexactly as I would expect it to.
If it's face to face. Right.You can actually share. You see expressions,
you understand context andclues. And I love that. I think it's
(40:10):
amazing. And that's again, Ithink why conventions are so important.
They're so great. You justnever know who you're going to meet.
And I don't mean that in acelebrity way. Like, of course you
don't know that, but it's justthe regular everyday people who are
just like you and they justtell you, hey, like this one thing
you did, this random thing youdid, like, it got me through my day.
(40:32):
And like that, that issomething that I will never take
for granted. And the abilityto, like, go out and connect with
those people is something thatI always cherish. So if I get invited
to a con, I am almost alwaysgoing because I live for those moments.
Love it. Love it.
So we've seen comics, youknow, Newbie is a great example of
(40:54):
how they are becomingincreasingly diverse and inclusive
in recent years. Although,like I said, 1973 she's first introduced,
and then we barely even see orhear from her over the ensuing decade.
But now we're starting to seea little bit more of that. And as
someone who's helpedcontribute to that evolution, how
(41:16):
do you see the industrychanging or. Or what steps do you
think still need to happen if.If there are for the industry to
kind of, you know, get overthat hump and be more inclusive?
I think it's just so manydifferent layers.
Where to start?
(41:39):
Well, I mean, of course,inviting diverse voices on to talk.
I mean, to write charactersother than the ones that they can
most identify with. Um, youknow, I think, I don't know, like
an N.K. jemisin writingBatman. I would love to read something
like that. Um, but, you know,just for. For these main characters,
(42:01):
because a lot of times, youknow, you get brought in and you're
scared. Like, are they onlygoing to call me for Black History
Month, or are they only goingto call me to write this one black
character? Brian Stelfries.I've been on several panels with
him. Stellar guy, amazingartist. But I remember one of the
things that he said that hedidn't become the black artist until
he worked on Black Panther,which I found fascinating because
(42:24):
he's right. Everything thatBrian had did prior to that, if you
didn't know that Brian stuff,Freeze was a black guy, you just
would have just assumedsomething else because of the diversity
of different things that he'sworked on. And then after Black Panther,
he was like, yeah. That's whenI started getting called up more
specifically for to do, like,to draw this black character or to
(42:47):
work on this book with a blackcast and things like that. I'm like,
well, yeah, like, that's.That's pretty. Pretty real. And for
a lot of us, that's theexperience you're wondering, because
I know for me, like, writingNubia, it was like, is, will Nubia
be the only thing that Iwrite? Or will I, like, will I go
like, I want to write Vixen?Do not get me wrong, but will it
just be Nubia? Will it just beVixen? Will it just be Storm? Or
(43:09):
whatever? And thankfully, ithasn't. I have gotten a chance to
write those characters, but ithasn't just been that. And to me,
that is a sign that if myselfpreachy Preeti Chibar, she's written
Spider man novels and I thinkis, like, right now doing an Agatha
(43:29):
Harkness infinity comic rightnow on Marvel. Like, nice. And she
is a woman of color. Like,more of that. Please, like, is Tom
King, you know, doing whathe's. What he is in Wonder Woman?
Yes, and no shade to Tom, butit'd be nice if there was, you know,
someone else writing WonderWoman who was a woman and preferably
(43:50):
like a woman of color to justkind of give this other perspective
on these. On this character.So I'm not saying that, like, you
know, let's get all the oldwhite guys out because some of them
are really cool, Greg Ruckerincluded. And I hope that he does
not hear this and me referringto him as old guy, but, you know,
just whatever is for GregRucker is amazing. But more just
(44:15):
put us on books that are notwhat people are expecting. I think
Justina Ireland is going to betaking over for Amazing Spider Man.
Like, I think she's the firstblack woman to ever write a spider
man. Well, not a Spider mancomic, but like an ongoing thing.
So that's pretty cool.
Yeah, I love what you said,too. It's like, it's not to replace
(44:40):
these. These people, but it islike you said it is to give a different
perspective because there aresome things that specifically women
of color can just touch onthat I mean, even men of color might
not.
Yes.
(45:01):
Give a good perspective on.You know, it doesn't necessarily
have to just be, you know,white women or white men, but, you
know, any side, really. So Ilove that. Just giving a different
perspective. Some. Sorry.
I mean, thank you for the cat.
(45:21):
Was like, just like, yeah, I agree.
That's right. Shout out byGenesis. Excellent.
But no, and, like. And I'vehad conversations with. Been in the
room with some of these guysthat I consider greats, too. And,
like, some of them will eventell you, like, yes, like, you know,
I've had my time in the sun.It's time to let some other fresh
(45:42):
voices in. So those guys Ireally appreciate because they do
either step to the side or,you know, suggest and say, hey, I
know you want me to write thisthing, but I know this other creator
who would probably be betterand, you know, more fresh voice.
So, like, let me bring themin. Mark Wade did that for me for
the Batman Superman World'sFinest anthology. Well, it was. Ended
(46:07):
up being an anthology, but itwas the annual. So I got to write
Bumblebee's origin story inthat or a new one for. And also for
the Absolute Power, becauseMark was like, I don't know what
to do with these Amazons, sobring Stephanie, which I appreciate
it.
I love that. That's fantastic.
The first step to recovery isyou know, recognizing that you have
(46:30):
a problem.
So.
Yeah, so I don't know what todo with these things.
I love it. That's great.
One of the things that I loveabout following you on Instagram
threads and stuff is that youshare a lot of this kind of behind
the scenes thoughts andfeelings about being, you know, a
freelance writer and stufflike that. So, I mean, if anybody's
(46:50):
out there listening and wantsto be a comic writer, you know, the.
What is it? Blue sky has yourstarter list now. It's like, I think
Stephanie should be on therefor. If you're trying to be a comedy
writer, she should be one ofthose on the list. But comedy writer.
Well, also.
Yes, hold on a second, hold ona second. You know, I mean, Living
Heroes is pretty common comedy.
Exactly. I. But I didn't wantto limit it to just comedy because
(47:12):
obviously comic is what I'mgonna say. But anyway. But I love
some of the stuff that you'veshared on there. So if, if there,
you know, are people out therewho. Aspiring comic writers, what
kind of advice would you givethem? What do you think would have
helped you back when you firststarted? I noticed you share a lot
(47:32):
of books and things like thatthat helped you and writers and stuff
like that.
I mean, it's just the mostunsexy thing ever. But like actually
write the thing. You can'tjust, you can't think a thing into
existence. And as simple asthat sounds, you would be amazed
at people not doing what it isthey want to because they, they're.
(47:55):
You're thinking about thewhole time. The whole entire time.
I mean, I still do that. Um,but my advice would be to write it
down. I don't care how ugly itis. It's better that it is ugly and
out than stealing your mindand objectively pretty, because we
don't know. It's just in yourmind. Like it's. That's the echo
chamber right there. So it'slike, get it out and just kind of
(48:19):
go from there. Because you canonly get better also by doing the
thing. And you have toactively do it. And if you're a writer
who can't draw, like myself, Ican draw some things, but not enough
to like do a comic. And youwant to pair up with an artist. Like,
understand, like this is workthat they're doing, so they should
be compensated fairly. Sofigure out what that is, is. And
(48:42):
if the thing is, is that you,you know, you can't afford it. Well,
no, of course you can't afforda 20 page book. But maybe you can
afford a page or two pages orthree. One that makes it not such
a huge commitment for thatartist and also not such a huge commitment
for yourself because, I don'tknow, you're fresh into this. You
might wake up one day and yousay, you know what, I don't want
(49:03):
to write this 300 page epicanymore. And you're 100 pages in.
Then what?
Simple, Then what?
It is okay to start small. Itis okay to start simple and then
build to complexity if youwant to do that. But you know that
one page story, you neverknow. Like you do 20 of those and
then look, now you got awhole, like a whole zine you can
(49:25):
put together and you canpresent them, present them at comic
conventions, show them toeditors. All of these things you
need to have work there sopeople can actually know that you
can do the thing. You justdon't think you can do the thing.
Yeah, that reminds me, Iforget who said this, but I remember
(49:48):
there's a quote that I alwaysthink back to when I'm starting something.
It's like you don't know howgood something is until you actually
try it, actually do it. And Ithink that a lot of times, you know,
people have fears as to it'snot going to be good. I don't think
anybody's going to care. Butyou don't know that until you actually
do the thing.
No.
(50:08):
And then have something toshow. And so, yeah, I think, I think
that's a big first fear, firststep for a lot of people than to
hear someone in your positionsay, look, you just gotta just do
it.
Yeah.
And find out.
You just have to find out.Like, you would be amazed at the
stuff that I've done where Iliterally had no idea what I was
doing. I just had an idea anda dream and a pen and I like kind
(50:31):
of made it, kind of made ithappen. Because even like with living,
Living heroes, again, like Ihad never ran a Kickstarter before,
I didn't know what I wasdoing, but I knew that what I could
do is go look at otherKickstarters that were successful,
kind of see like what they didif I was able to like contact that
person, ask them questions. Sothat's the other thing. Like we live
(50:54):
in an age where you canprobably easily find answers to your
questions. And it's aboutasking the right questions, um, to
get the answer that you want.And that just requires you doing
the work, which again is notsexy. But it is so important.
It's A truth. Yeah, yeah.
(51:14):
And one of the big questionsthat I. I think I have, and it probably
ties into what you're saying,but you know, imposter syndrome,
you know, even like fear,doubt, things of that nature.
Right.
Failure.
Like. Like. Yeah.
Can you speak a little bit tothat for anyone that's listening
as well? Because they're allreal things. Especially when you're
(51:35):
absolutely a writer or evenjust an artist, creative in general,
and then people trying to takeyour art, wanting people to take
your art seriously.
I'm so sorry. No, it's okay.
Don't apologize for your cats.
No, don't ever apologize foryour cat.
Never apologize.
Literally. Okay.
Right.
This is at mom is. I'm gonnalist Genesis as one of our co hosts.
(52:00):
I think we. I think it's abouttime. I think she's saying something.
Every time I talk. She's right there.
But anyway. Yeah. I would say,unfortunately, that imposter syndrome
is probably never going toleave you. Like, there'll be some
variation of it. I still dealwith it and I've gotten better about
managing it. And it's thewhole damp. You do damp you don't.
(52:23):
So either I'm going to beatmyself up about not doing the thing,
or I'm gonna do the thing, andthen people will try to beat me up
for actually doing it, but atleast it's done. And imposter syndrome.
Look, especially for comics.Yes, let's take comics serious. But
also coming from a job where Iactually literally had to do, make
(52:46):
sure I did my job right orsomebody's life, you know, hung in
the balance of it. This isn'tthat. It is make believe. And we
should be having fun with ourmake believe stories. So that imposter
syndrome, you're feeling like.No, like it's a. It's. It's make
believe. So work past that.And I know that's easier said than
(53:08):
done, but, like, you literallyjust have to put it out there. And
if people boo you, then theyboo you. But, like, at least they
have something to boo. Right?
Right.
At least you did the thing.
You did the thing. And like,you'll hopefully, if you decide to
stick around, you'll getbetter at it, but you just won't
come out the gate. Perfect. Idon't think anybody has ever come
(53:31):
out the gate perfectly. Maybethere's a couple, but we don't talk
about those. Maybe, bro, like,they're sitting by themselves. Maybe,
bro, they're sitting by themselves.
So, looking ahead, what kindof stories do you still wanna tell
I know you said Vixen was oneyou'd love to write on. Are there
(53:52):
any dream projects orcharacters you're hoping to work
with?
Yeah, Big Barda and Mr.Miracle will be at the top echelon
of that. I got to write Bardabriefly in the story that I wrote
with Nubia for the Prideanthology. But, like, I love big
Barda and Mr. Miracle, so Iwould love to write something, either
a miniseries or whatever, withthem. Justice League of Antarctica.
(54:16):
Which is silly, but Idiscovered how funny they are for
a book that I wrote where,like, I cover all this. Well, as
many strange and unsung allstars of the DC Multiverse. So, like,
peacemakers in it, King Shark,Creature, commandos, all of that.
But I want to write someJustice League of Antarctica. Nort
(54:38):
is the leader of that team.They get shipped off to Antarctica.
Penguins, of course, are whatthe big bads in that. But I want
to do something new. Theydon't have to go to Antarctica, but
I just kind of want to puttogether this ragtag team, you know,
led by Nord, and it's likethese failed superhero slash villains.
And then lastly, that would beiconic, the thing. The other thing
(55:05):
that I want to write. Iactually might end up writing that.
I'm supposed to get an answerback this week. So when this podcast
episode goes up, I'll send youthe little asterisk. Like, remember
that thing I couldn't mention?Well, I'm actually doing it now,
so. Yes.
Yeah.
Gotcha. Very cool. Yeah. Allright. Well, and it's funny you say
(55:26):
all those kind of unsungcharacters. You know, the guy running
the DC film universe rightnow, James Gunn.
James Gunn.
I know he wrote the Four.Four. My book. Before anyone even
knew he was. I didn't evenknow he was going to be. Just kind
of worked out.
Well, how about that?
So almost. So, like, with KiteMan. Kite Man's in that book. Kite
(55:47):
man has his own show. GoLighter is in the. In the show with
him. She's also in that book,Creature of Commandos, of course.
Like, they got their ownthing. And, like, that's so funny.
Yeah. There's been a bunch ofother characters from this book that
are showing up now in the DCmovie universe. So James Gunn, if
you're listening to.
This, let me send it right to him.
(56:11):
Yeah, send it directly to him.
I'll DM him.
Thank you.
What is it? Justice League ofAntarctica coming.
It might be happening. I havetalked to as many editors at DC about
this. To the point now, like,they thought it was A joke. But now
they know that I'm serious. SoDoc Schneider. I got Doc on board.
(56:32):
He said he would. He woulddraw it if I ever got a chance to
do it. I just want to. That'sall. I. Just let me do that, and
I'll leave it alone for a little.
I so. I so want this tohappen. This whole Justice League
of Miss. I think it's gonnaend of Misfit island and Arctic.
Oh, my God.
I'm gonna. I'm gonna. I'm veryclose. There's one more. One more
editor I gotta like. It's likethe Pokemon thing where you gotta
(56:55):
go through.
You gotta catch them all.
So one. One more.
Oh, that's fantastic. Oh, I'mso looking forward to this.
So if people want to followyou, you know, I mentioned already
that you have Instagram andthreads and stuff. Tell. Tell folks
how they can get in touch withyou or follow you or find more information
about you.
(57:15):
So, of course, Instagramthreads. Steph. Underscore. I underscore.
Will I have a website.Ystuff.com. so that's W-H Y-S-T-H.com.
i'm on Blue Sky. I don't knowwhat that long handle is, but if
you search Stephanie Williamsor Stephen Williams, you should find
(57:36):
me. I'm pretty sure I've beenadded to some of the comic starter
packs. And don't hold me tothis, but by the time you listen
to this, dear listeners, Ishould have a newsletter out, but
if I don't, just noprocrastination. Got the best of
it for sure.
She said no comprehension.
(57:56):
Yeah, you've got a lot ofimportant things to write about.
Justice League of Antarctica.You know you've got more newsletters.
The last thing we expect you.
Yes, yes, that. On. On top ofthat. And my kid is out of school
all this week, so.
All week. Oh, man.
They get the entire week off.So I.
All of Thanksgiving.
(58:17):
Wow.
Yeah. I gotta go see Wicked,Moana 2 and probably go to Alley.
Yeah.
And Gladiator 2.
Gladiator 2. Yeah. There'sgoing to be a busy week from Mario
Kart.
I just saw Wicked last onThursday Is fantastic.
We're going to see it. We'reseeing it next week.
Yeah, I am. I don't want tosee it. My father started my son
(58:41):
on musicals, which is just sorandom. He took him to see the Wonka
movie last year. And then Lao.Lao Crocodile. And that's who I should
get to see. Yeah, that's who Ishould Make. Take him to see wicked.
I said 2 hours and 40 minutes.
Yeah.
It's a long First. First half.
It's only the first half of the.
Well, of the. Of this. Yeah.They're coming out with part two,
(59:02):
and in the musical, part twois a shorter one, so I don't know
how they're gonna make a whole movie.
Yeah.
And then Hamilton will be backin June.
No, no, I don't wanna. I'mtrying to keep him away from him.
Listen, I saw it for the firsttime this summer. I cried literally
from start to finish.
He's not gonna throw away his shot.
Yeah, just bring him.
(59:24):
You can't keep him away fromHamilton. That's. That's at least.
No, I think a friend of mineis very close to introducing him
to Hamilton. I just said,okay, well, if you do that, I'm shipping
them off to where you are.
If you do that, you're takingcare of him.
Yeah. Because only on so manymusicals I can. I can go. I can withstand.
(59:45):
So, yeah, so I'll be. Beseeing Wicked.
Okay.
So resigned.
That's the best.
That's. I felt.
That's like the. I thinkthat's a. I mean, pretty.
Sure I'll have a good time,but it's just the, you know.
Yeah.
(01:00:05):
I don't want to be there.
Stephanie, thank you so muchfor hanging out with us tonight.
I cannot tell you how much Iappreciate it. I've been looking
forward to this interview andit's just been a joy to spend time
with you.
Yeah.
No, thank you all again, somuch for having me.
And that was our interviewwith Stephanie Williams. We were
so excited to have her. She'samazing. We're gonna have her back
(01:00:29):
again. Especially since, Idon't know if you noticed, she talked
about whenever this episodecomes out that she hoped to have
a newsletter ready to go.Well, that's available. We're gonna
have that in the show notestoo. You're gonna be able to figure
out how to go and subscribe toher newsletter. It's awesome. There's
two of them have come outalready. It's a great, great newsletter.
(01:00:50):
She has lots of cool insights.You're gonna love that. You can also
follow her on socials, as shesaid in the. In there. And you can
also find the newsletterthrough that as well. But another
cool thing is coming up thismonth here in Cleveland is fan Expo.
That's March 21st through the23rd. We're going to be there. Some
of us are going to bewandering around getting some video
(01:01:13):
interviewing some folks, sowe'd love to see you. If you see
a World Gone Geek T shirt,make sure you stop by and say hello.
Stephanie is going to be thereas well. She's got a booth. Make
sure you go there, meet her,get her to sign some comics. Again,
you just saw the interview.You can go see her in person right
there at Fan Expo. It's goingto be a great time, so make sure
(01:01:34):
to go check it out if you'rein the area. Want to thank you guys
for watching this episode orlistening if you're on the podcast.
We are so grateful for youguys if you're not already. If you're
new to our podcast, you'rehearing this for the first time.
Make sure you follow us atWorldGungeek. Pretty much all the
places that are going on rightnow. So Blue sky, we've got Tick
(01:01:55):
Tock. Don't post a ton butwe're trying to now Instagram, Facebook,
that's all for this episode.We but we're so appreciative of you
guys. Please follow andsubscribe everywhere that you can.
We will see you guys nexttime. Take care.
We're all living in a worldGone Geek.
It's time to geek hard or go home.
The podcast is real.
Here's your host, Grounded Geek.
Hey, everybody. Welcome to abrand new episode of World Gone Geek.
The podcast is real becausehere we are. I'm Jeff, AKA Grounded
(00:23):
Geek, and I'm solo right nowbecause due to some technical difficulties,
the actual intro and outrothat we record recorded can't be
used in this episode for somereason. So here I am doing the intro
outro without my good friendsand confidants, Utah and Aaliyah.
They are not here,unfortunately, but they are in this
interview that you're about tosee. So don't worry, they're still
(00:44):
here and they'll be back infuture episodes. But for tonight,
I'm recording the intro andoutro so that we can get this episode
out to you. This greatinterview with none other than the
iconic Stephanie Williams,writer for DC and Marvel. You're
going to love this interview.You're going to want to check it
out. Before we do that, I dowant to thank Sony Pictures for helping
bring this episode to lifewith a new movie that they've got
(01:06):
out called One of Them Days.Now. It is certified fresh and verified
hot on Rotten Tomatoes rightnow, and it's available in theaters
and on digital. Kiki Palmerand Sza stars best friends and roommates
Drew and Alyssa, and they findthemselves in a comical race against
the clock after Alyssa'sboyfriend blows the rent money. With
(01:27):
eviction looming, they'll dowhatever it takes to stay afloat
and keep their friendshipintact. You don't want to miss One
of Them Days from SonyPictures Home Entertainment on Digital
Now. Rated R. And we're goingto try to give away a copy of that.
All you have to do to get adigital copy of that or at least
be eligible to win a digitalcopy. Go to our Instagram page, scroll
(01:48):
through the profile when yousee Kiki Palmer and Sza in one of
the pictures there. I didn'ttake that picture. That's not a.
That's not a normal Instagrampicture. It's actually the poster
from this movie. I don't knowthem, so I never took that picture.
But it is available there.You're going to see it. Click on
that picture like and comment.And that is where we will draw a
(02:08):
winner from to decide who'sgoing to get that digital copy. So
go check out that film today.Check out our Instagram at World
Gone Geek like and comment andyou have a chance to win the Movie,
one of them days from SonyPictures Home Entertainment. Another
thing I want to make sure thatwe mention, as most of you know,
if you followed us at all, youknow, world gun geek, really, really
(02:29):
passionate about using ourpowers for good. Right? We want to
do charity work, we want to doother types of philanthropy things
that we can use our geekpassions to, to make a difference
in the world. And last time wedid that was back in November. We
did extra life 24 hour videogame marathon to raise money for
Rainbow Babies and Children'sHospital. Well, in just a few days
(02:51):
on March 7, I will be for the14th time shaving my head in honor
of St. Baldrick's Day. Andthat's the St. Baldrick's Foundation.
Foundation that raisesabsolutely crucial funding for pediatric
cancer research. You will besurprised that how little federal
money goes to pediatric cancerresearch. The cancer research is
(03:14):
very important across theboard and there is federal funds
that are taking care of that.But our most vulnerable group of
patients are obviouslychildren and they unfortunately get
the least amount of funding.And so it's crucial that St. Baldrick's
and some of these otherorganizations are raising funds that
are actually findingtreatments and cures. And if you've
(03:35):
watch the show at all orlisten to the podcast or know me
personally, you know that wedealt with that during the pandemic.
My daughter was diagnosed withcancer. Thank God she is cancer free
today. And that is reallybecause there are treatments that
exist because of the type offunding that St. Baldrick's is involved
in. So March 7th, shaving myhead for St. Baldrick's. You can
(03:58):
be a part of that two ways.One, if you're in the Cleveland area,
love for you to come out toRainbow Babies and Children's Hospital.
You can sign up, shave yourown head, raise some money and, and
in solidarity with the kidsthere, you know, go bald for a cause.
That's what I'm going to do.If not, you can donate and we'll
have that in the show notes, away for you to donate to that cause
(04:22):
to see the hair go. Probablydoing most of the beard too. If,
if we can raise enough. I amtaking bids. If somebody wants to
bid on the beard. I'minterested to see how much we can
raise just to get rid of thewhole beard. Actually, I take it
back. There's no way my wifewould let me do the whole beard,
but I can get rid of most ofit. Like, we'll go down really far.
This is my beard grown out forSanta over the December month. It's
(04:46):
time. It's time for it to go.If you donate, we could. We could.
We could see that happen. SoMarch 7St. Baldrick's, check it out.
Show notes. There's a link.You can donate there or coming out
to Rainbow and join us forthat great event. I'll be emceeing
again. 14 years in a row thatwe've done this, and I'm not going
to stop. I'm not going to stopuntil there's no hair up there left
(05:09):
to shave, which right now,it's crazy. I mean, look at this.
It's. It's going crazy. Youguys got to donate so that hair goes
away. So please do that. ButI'm going to keep shaving it as long
as there's hair to shave oruntil there is no more cancer, whichever
comes first. So we'll see whathappens there. But it's a great cause.
Check it out. All right, let'sget right into this episode because
(05:32):
I'm so excited to present itto you again. It's Stephanie Williams,
and it's going on right now.Today, we're thrilled to be joined
by comic writer StephanieWilliams, whose groundbreaking work
at DC Comics has breathed newlife into beloved characters. Mythologies.
Known for her compelling workon Nubia and the Amazons and her
contributions to the WonderWoman universe, Stephanie has established
(05:52):
herself as a vital voice inmodern comics, bringing fresh perspectives
and rich storytelling to theAmazonian mythology. From her start
in indie comics and becoming aprominent voice in mainstream comics,
she's helped reshape andexpand the DC universe in exciting
new ways. Please welcomeStephanie Williams. Welcome to the
show.
Hello. That is one hell of anintro. Thank you.
(06:14):
No. Hey, I am so grateful andso excited. I've been so pumped.
In fact, one of the mainreasons I told you we canceled this
interview before and pushed itout because two. Two reasons. One,
I had some stuff going on, butalso both of them couldn't make it.
And I wanted them to be herefor this because I think this is
going to be. I think you'reone of the coolest guests we've ever
(06:37):
had on the show. And I'mreally excited to talk to you and
get to know more about you fora little. For a little backstory,
a little history for thesefolks. So I bumped into you at Fan
Expo Cleveland here, and youwere. You were. Had copies of Nubia,
Queen of the Amazon.
Yeah.
For sale here, and you werenice enough to sign it. So I got
(06:59):
a little signed copy. Thislittle. My YouTube usually just show
and tell that today I get todo it.
Yeah.
It's your turn, Stephanie. Butif you notice, also Jay Lee.
Yeah.
Because that artwork isphenomenal. Is that not just, like,
a gorgeous cover?
It is like, my very first,like, big, Big Con was Emerald City,
and I was sitting next to JayLee, and this is. I think I only
had, like, maybe one anubiaout at the time, and he was just
(07:22):
such a sweet guy. And Iremember exchanging information with
the woman that was workingwith him, and I was like, yeah, if
he's ever interested in acover, not thinking that anything
would actually happen. Andthen something happened. I was like,
oh, thank you so much, Jaylee,for making this beautiful cover.
He's. He's an amazing artist.
He sure is. Even better thanone of my favorites. He's truly one
(07:42):
of my favorites. One of theguys. I got tons of autographs. I
got other stuff from him aswell when I was there, so it was
fantastic to just combine. Igot to talk to you and. And find
out about this new comic. Solet's start from the beginning, though.
I want people to kind of get asense of. Of who you are. Obviously,
you're. You're working. Youwrite independently. Beads. You're
(08:04):
doing some stuff for DC in.Not just anything in dc, but one
of the top three. The big three.
Yeah.
Of the DC universe. And Iguess that's the big three, right?
Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.
Yeah, those are the big.
There are others that are, youknow, people think are cool, but
that's. Those are the three.Everybody knows. I mean, Green Lantern,
(08:26):
Marvel fan.
Never been a huge fan.
I don't wanna. I'm gonna makepeople mad. I've never been a huge
fan of Green Lantern. It'sjust. I don't know what it is. I
like him. I just. The power isweird to me. Like, he could just
make anything with a ringanyway. But the big three, I love
those guys. And so. But I havenot been hugely familiar with Wonder
(08:46):
Woman until actually meetingyou and finding out what you're doing
with the comic and thedirections that you've taken it.
And then I went through andread, like, the. Your. The entire
run that you've done for that.Also found out that you wrote one
of the stories and one of myother favorite comics, which is the
(09:06):
Alien franchise. Oh, amazing.What? Blood. Sorry to say. Blood,
Sweat and tears.
I mean, it could be, but whiteand red. White and blood.
Red. That's what it is. Red,white and blood. Thank you. It's
my. It's one of My favorites.And I couldn't think of the name
of it. I mean, the Alienfranchise. Not that particular, but
yeah. And so literally after Igot home from fan expo, I, you know,
(09:31):
I realized that you were inthat comic too. And I should have
brought that to have yousigned. So I was like, dog, that's
all right. Anyway. But you gotinto comic writing in a fairly unique
way. Tell people what you weredoing before all of this started
happening for you.
Yeah, so I was an electronmicroscopist. Some big science title
(09:53):
name, but. Exactly. We workedalongside pathologists and other
researchers. And basically youcame in for like a biopsy or, um,
let's say clinical trials werelike being ran. Then, you know, I
would get your tissue and thendo all this amazing stuff in this
micro, in this machine calledan ultra microtome. So very hand
(10:15):
eye coordinated type of thing.And then I would take pictures. Uh,
so I was an artist before Iwas a writer. Um, there was a lot
of medical pictures, uh, and Iactually took some pretty damn good
pictures too. So Duke, I wasdoing that and then slowly transitioned
to freelance writing on theside. So writing for like Syfy, Wire,
(10:36):
Nerdist, IGN and all thoseplaces. Like, I would literally read,
like read and also write inbetween experiments, which was a
nice thing. And eventually Iended up leaving that job. As much
as I loved it, my boss suckedand she was not retiring anytime
soon. So it was either me orher. And I was like, well, I guess
it's gonna have to be me. So Iended up leaving and just really
(11:01):
trying to focus on thefreelance writing as much as I could.
So I worked like a little parttime job and then ended up leaving
that and like driving Lyft sothat I could pay for the comics that
I started having commissionother artists to make. And I ran
a kickstarter for LivingHeroes and that like fully funded
at the top of 2020 before thepandemic kicked off. And the next
(11:25):
thing I knew, by the end ofthe year, Marvel had finally knocked
on my door and said, hey, doyou want to take part in this anthology
for Black History Month? I waslike, I absolutely do. So I wrote
a two page Monica Rambeaustory. And then I think the week
that that came out, I actuallyspoke to the editor at DC about Wonder
Woman and had no idea that Iwould be writing Nubia. I just thought
I was doing like an anthologything. And yeah, next thing I knew,
(11:49):
doing like a whole comicseries, which was quite the transition
because before I were doing alot of, a lot of one to four page
comics. Nothing that was like20 pages or anything like that. But
the little stuff did pay off.
That's. That's awesome. Andbefore we get. I mean, obviously
I want to talk about WonderWoman, but tell. Tell people about
Living Heroes.
Oh, yeah, yeah. Sorry. Daddyjust kind of glossed over that. Living
(12:12):
Heroes was something that cameto me while I was smoking a little
weed and rewatching LivingSingle and reading the Phoenix saga
at the same time. So all ofthis is going on, and I got to the
part where Misty Knight andJean Grey like their roommates, but
(12:34):
Jean Grey dies, and thePhoenix Force, like, the Phoenix
Force isn't paying rent, andrent is expensive, even back then.
So I thought about where wouldMisty live? And I remember Storm
had ties to Harlem thanks toher father. So I was like, what if
she owned a brownstone? Andthen Misty moved in and then it just
all kind of came together. Andof course, because she. Hulk is so
(12:57):
very obviously Maxine becausethey're both lawyers and they both
eat a lot too, so that madesense. And next thing I knew, I hit
up Aaron O'Neal Jones to seeif she would be interested in putting
this together, and she was. Weput out one page. It did very well.
Uh, we put out a second pageat the top of the new year in 20.
(13:17):
Yeah, 20. 20. And then nextthing I knew, I was putting together.
Putting together a Kickstartercampaign. I didn't know what the
hell I was doing, but I justknew I was hoping that people would
fund the project, and they did.
So are you. Are you. Are youbasically waiting for the call from
Disney now for the animated?
You know, I have tried topitch Living Heroes since now working
(13:39):
with Marvel as like aninfinity comic or something, and
so far, no, But I'm hopingone. Or I'll just take the idea and
like, you know, just dosomething different with it. Get
rid of their characters andjust. And, you know, insert my own.
Because I think the. Theappeal there for a lot of folks is
just this meeting of twodifferent worlds. So, you know, this
(13:59):
very popular black sitcom andcharacters that they're familiar
with. So I can always createnew characters and they'll still
have that familiarity ofLiving Single.
Yeah, yeah, that's reallygood. But. And I imagine there's
rights involved.
Absolutely.
If they did want to do a.
Show like that, I mean, Disneyowns everything, so they. They own
Fox, which has Living Single,so I. Someone could figure something
(14:21):
out. It's true.
You're right. So it's.
It would be so easy. It be soeasy for somebody.
It's all coming together. Youknow, I'm, I'm, I'm. I got my hopes
up for you. I think that wouldbe hilarious.
Thank you.
Fantastic. But would it belive action or would be animated?
I would love animated. That'salways. Yeah, you could just get
away. Well, not get away withanything, but I just feel like for
(14:44):
the physical comedy that Iwould like to see in this animation
would be best.
What if you got some of theoriginal actresses to voice the characters?
That would be amazing.
That'd be incredible.
Erica Alexander, like, voicingshe Hulk, like. Yes, give me that.
Queen, like Tifa voicingMonica Rambeau. Yes, give me that.
Yes. I want it. I want it now.
(15:06):
We need to all. We need. Weneed to all speak it and manifest
it, because this is hilarious.
Yeah, well, you know, oncethis episode airs and then everybody
in the world will know and getthe correct. Nobody watches this.
But. But no, that's fantastic.But yeah, so I can't. And it's just.
To me, it just blows my mind.Like you, you know, you're literally
(15:27):
writing a couple of pages forMarvel and the next thing you know,
Wonder Woman is now. And tellme a little bit about how that felt.
Let's go even further back.
Yeah.
So obviously, like, when didyou. Thanks, Utah, for the demonstration.
You're welcome. When did youfirst start getting into comics?
Like, was Wonder Woman some.Some. Something that you read back
(15:49):
in the day? Like, what wasyour first entry in the comics?
So my entry into comics wasactually the Sunday funnies and then
from there the Dollar Treeused to sell actually really good
quality books. They kind of donow, really. You could find anything
from like these little booksthat they would have, like all the
Jurassic park dinosaurs, theywould have like X Men, all the heroes,
(16:12):
all the villains, and theyalso would have these compilation.
These like compendiums ofSunday funnies. And Hagar the Horrible
was one of them. I don't likeseven. So I, I just picked this up
just randomly just to getsomething and I, I just read it,
but none of the jokes landed.I was. Why would I know these things?
(16:33):
But I just knew that I likelooking at it. So from there, then
came some Marvel stuff. Andagain, not even at a comic book store.
This was at a thrift shop thatI picked this issue up at. And it
was like Avengers 371 or 361,but in it we're in the middle of.
(16:54):
I don't know what they gotgoing on, but there's the Black Knight,
Cersei and Crystal, they got,like, this throuple thing going on
because Black Knight issupposed to be with Cersei, but that's
really just a thing thatthey're doing because he really loves
Crystal. Vision is there, andhe's been set to factory reset the
factory mode. So he's whiteand sad, or doesn't know that he's
(17:16):
sad, but he's trying toprocess these feelings because, oh,
Vision, him and Wanda are,like, not together anymore. It's
a mess. But I bring it upbecause I think that was the moment
that I saw superhero comics.And I was like, oh, this is kind
of like the soap operas thatmy grandmother and my mom enjoy,
but they're wearing spandex.Like, I can. I know what this world
is like. So that got me onboard. And then finally, Archie Comics
(17:39):
sealed the deal for me becausethey had the Archie Digest at the
front at the grocery store,and it was easy for me to just pluck
it and put it in between theeggs and go about my business. So
that's kind of how I ended upgetting into comics.
Location, location, location.
Never at a. Never at a comicbook store. It's funny, I didn't
actually start shopping atcomic book stores until I was in
(18:02):
my 20s and, like, late 20s at that.
So when they offered youWonder Woman, like, how much of that
mythology did you alreadyknow? Like, did you have to go back
and, like, read tons of, like,what was your preparation for that?
I read so much, and I didn'tjust read DC stuff. So I started,
of course, with Joyce Perez,because I felt like that was the
(18:22):
transition from the Amazonslooking pretty homogenous and by
that very white to we'refinally seeing some more, like, color
diversity on that island.Also, just George and his team, they
just had just such a beautifulunderstanding of the Amazons and
who they are. And I. And Ifigured if I was going to have to
write something about Nubia,that I didn't want her to be a carbon
(18:44):
copy of Diana. So I need tofind out, like, well, who are the
Amazons at their core? And Ifelt like his run best depicted that.
And then, of course, on toGreg Rucka. I did read some John
Byrne, because I know. But,man, that guy and his art. And when
it comes to fashion, it justpulls me in every time. So a little
(19:06):
bit of that. And then outsideof comics, Madeline Miller's Cersei.
That is something that Icannot praise enough. That is a book
that was recommended to me byA friend named Aaron Reese. And he's
like, I just think that youshould read this because you will
find some way to, like, applythis to what you're working on. And
I did, because in that book,the women are, you know, protagonists,
(19:27):
antagonists, everybody inbetween. And I knew that for Nubia
and her Amazons, like, thisstory was gonna take place all in
Themyscira. So what does thestory look like that includes Greek
mythology where women are thecenter of that story. And Madeline
Miller Cersei just reallydrove that point home for me. I also
(19:50):
watched 300, not for anyinspiration, but I think just to
kind of, like, I don't know,get myself in the mind frame of that.
I watched Troy for the firsttime. I had never seen Troy, so that
was an interesting watch. And,you know, what's his name? Oh, wow.
Why am I forgetting his name?He used to be married to Jennifer
(20:13):
Aniston. Mr. And Ms. BradPitt. Red Pit. Yes. Wow.
As Achilles.
Really, really hot in that. Sothat washing. Because of that.
He was a good Achilles.
Yeah, yeah, he was a goodAchilles. And I think, like, I reminded
me of playing Hades. Iprobably went back. I'm pretty sure
I had my. My husbandredownload, God of War. So, like,
(20:35):
I. I love that. I justabsorbed as much as I could. And,
of course, I don't ever needan excuse to watch Justice League
or Justice League Unlimited,but that gave me an excuse to go
back and rewatch thoseepisodes, specifically the ones that,
like, really focus on Diana.So it was a lot of me doing whatever
I could to just kind of takeas much inspiration as I could and
(20:59):
apply it to Nubia and the Amazons.
That's awesome. So I guess,you know, obviously, one of the great
things about Nubia is it doesprovide. You talked about how homogenous
Wonder Woman used to be. Notjust Wonder Woman, let's just face
it. Comics.
Comics. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So what does it mean to you toknow now that this character is so
(21:24):
prominent in D.C. for younggirls now that maybe when they were
7 that they can reach out on athrift store shelf and maybe find
media now?
It is great, because I justfound it fascinating that she was
a character that wasintroduced so long ago and really
could have been this premierecharacter for dc, and then they just
(21:45):
kind of moved on to Vixen andwhoever else. So to, like, have her
come back, the goal there wasto have her not go back on the shelf.
Because I'm like, we're notgonna put in all this work. Just
for her to get shelved again.So it means mission accomplished.
And that, you know, it wasn'ttoo crazy. The ideas that we had
and the direction and how towrite Nubia was the correct one.
(22:07):
And it was to not make herlike just Diana 2.0. Like, we already
have a Diana. She's amazing.So there can be other women that
are just as important, asamazing as her, that come for the
mascara. And I think Nubia isan excellent example of that. So
hopefully we'll get some more,you know, Artemis, Donna, Troy. Hell,
(22:28):
I want to know more aboutPhilippus, so more of them, more
prominence outside of just,you know, the women that live on
the island that Diana comes from.
Right, right, right, right.
And in that. That run that youdid, therefore, you actually introduced
a new Wonder Girl as well.Yeah, and she's. She. Several weeks
(22:52):
ago, but she's like, Brazilianor something like that. Yeah. Was
that.
So that Yara Floor is JoelleJones creation. So she, you know,
so during the time when I tookover or started writing Nubia, like
Yar Fl. Her, I think her. Herrun was just kind of like, really
getting going. And the samething with Becky and Michael, who
(23:14):
were writing Wonder Woman, themain title at the time. So I don't
know, like, it all just kindof weirdly worked out that Nubia
got kind of shoehorned ininto, like, these newer Amazons that
are being introduced, becausethe exposita where Yara Flor comes
from, that's all brand new.And I think it was really great to
see that. Hey, there areAmazons that are not just want the
(23:35):
mascara. Of course we have theVon and Migdal who have always been.
But to have the escositathere, and, like, they're on a whole
nother continent that. I don'tknow. Like, I thought that was really
cool. We're really broadeningthings up and showing that, you know,
it's. There are Amazons andthey're everywhere, so you should
be careful.
Yeah, I like that.
(23:56):
And that was news to me, too.Like, I. Like I said, I mean, I'm
a Marvel guy through andthrough. Like, just from beginning,
make my Marvel. Always loveMarvel 100%. But I've always loved
Batman. Yeah, he's the one DCcharacter that's just like, I'm obsessed
with. So it's Marvel and thenthere's Batman and then Superman,
(24:17):
sort of. Because, I mean, Ilove Christopher Reeve. I was. I
mean, I was a kid when thatmovie came out, so I'm, you know,
Utah and I are old. If youhaven't noticed we're older than
Nubia. We saw that. Exactly.Actually, you're right.
Yeah. Nubia. I didn't realizethis. 73.
Yeah, 1973.
I had no idea she was around for.
No idea that there were. Imean, like, I didn't know much about
(24:41):
Wonder Woman at all. And soreading your run in the comics kind
of gave me this whole neweducation on who these characters
were. It was, I thought, agreat entry point for folks who have
never really dealt with Amazon.
Yeah, thank you.
You're introducing a ton ofcharacters at once. So I was a little
like, oh, my gosh. Yeah, we'reall these people.
There's so many more.
(25:02):
Yeah. But you did such a greatjob of, like, by the end of it, like,
I knew, like, what. Who thefactions were and how they felt about
each other and then. And Iwatched them sort of kind of come
together because of the. Idon't want to spoil things for people.
I'm ready yet because of the,you know, the events that are taking
place and. And, you know, theyhave to stand together for certain
(25:23):
things. And anyway, yeah, Ithought it was great. As someone
who, again, admittedly, is notnecessarily. I mean, I started to
say I'm not a Wonder Womanfan, but, man, I love Lynda Carter.
Wonder Woman back in the day.Well, I mean, but that was Wonder
Woman. To me, that's that TVshow. I wasn't into the comics, but
now. Now I'm interested. Like,there's a. There. That's a world
I didn't know was so deep and,like, just full of mythology and
(25:47):
lore. It's really cool.
And hopefully I feel like D.C.is continuing to, like, give focus
to that area, especially withabsolute Wonder Woman. And, like,
what Kelly Thompson is doingwith that, what Count Tom King has
been doing with the currentWonder Woman run, and the fact that
every time I see, like, a newrandom page posted from DC Comic,
I see Nubia in it. And it'snot just Wonder Woman comics. Like,
(26:10):
I think she popped up in GreenLantern once. Flash, all these other
spaces, which I'm like, yes,this is what should be happening.
Yeah. And will that be harder,though, now that she's Queen like,
that she's gotresponsibilities back on the island.
She won't be able to wanderaround the world.
Like, well, it could be for afew of the. That I pitched to D.C.
(26:31):
and how to continue and showher kind of balancing that and taking
inspiration from Colts run ofBlack Panther and just the way that
that character's been treatedyes, There are many things that she
could get into even thoughshe's queen. And I don't know, eventually
I see that maybe not her,well, her remaining queen, but like
(26:52):
other things happening whereshe gets something similar to like
a Wonder Woman title. Okay,it'd be nice. We'll see. I don't
want to spoil something Ihaven't written yet. But, you know.
Or has she written it?
Or has she. Yes.
I'm curious. So like, what isyour writing process? You know, we've
spoken to a lot of authors onthis, like throughout our podcast,
(27:17):
and they all have differentthings. Like they might wake up at
5 o'clock in the morning andjust, you know, exercise. Exercise
their writing brain. But yeah,I'm curious, like, what is your writing
process? How and how did youkind of get into that? Have you always
been writing?
So I've always been writing,but it was like as a fun on the side
(27:37):
thing. Like I was somebody whowas doing fanfic before I knew it
was fanfic. And I mean, like,I really didn't know, like December
to remember commercials, wherethe car commercial. I think I wrote
a fanfic once about one of thefamilies. I was like, well, what
are their lives? Like, sorandom than writing on the side.
(28:00):
But because I didn't, I don'tknow, like one, it was a hobby and
two, I didn't really think itwas something that I could make a
career out of because it wassomething that was not stressed to
me that you could make acareer out of it. Um, so I went throughout.
I love science, so I just wentthat route. And I would have to write
things for that, but it's morelike, you know, rigid and logical.
So. So it was, I was stillwriting, but in a very in the box
(28:24):
way. Uh, so when I finallystarted writing writing, it was actually
after having my son. I waslike, oh, you know, like, let's get
back to the creative writing.I was like, you've brought life into
this world so you canabsolutely go back and do this other
thing while you're workingfull time. Uh, so my writing process
then was chaotic. It waswhenever I could. Um, so sometimes
(28:46):
it would be a 3am thing or mewaking up early or again, like me
writing at work. And then whenI left my job and I started doing
full time writing, it wasstill chaotic. Cause I hadn't learned
my lesson yet and I was stillwriting whatever. But the last year
and a half, two years now myprocess is pretty much I start the
(29:07):
day listening to lo fi music.I don't know why. Like, it just gets
me where I need to go. Um, Ido work out sometimes in the morning.
So on those days that I do,like, I try to. I try to write as
soon as I get back home tokind of use those endorphins to get
me through. But I don't workthe weekends anymore. At least I
(29:27):
try not to. But my first threeyears I worked, I think I even worked
on my birthday. I just couldnot get away from my keyboard. But
now it's just more of a. Iknow that I'm not always gonna feel
like doing it, but becausedeadlines need to be met, bills need
to be paid, I gotta figure outhow to, like, create a muse. And
(29:48):
sometimes that muse isliterally, girl, this has to be done.
So finish it. And knowing thatthe first draft is gonna be ugly.
So now it's just like sittingdown and just writing as much as
I can. And if I finish it andit looks ugly, that's fine. That's
why my editors are there and.Or even I go back through myself
and reread it and edit beforeI send it off. So it's a lot more.
(30:12):
There's a little bit more of astrategy now than just all willy
nilly. Like, it was likesometimes I would write while I was
cooking. It was just whenever.Oh, yes, don't do that anymore. Not
recommend.
Not recommend.
No.
So what has been yourexperience? I mean, obviously I got
(30:33):
to meet you at Fan Expo. What.What has that experience for you
been like? I know that you'vebeen on a lot of shows. I've been,
you know, I follow me onInstagram. I see that you, you know,
you're going to thesedifferent shows and stuff. What is,
you know, meeting the fanshave. What has that been like for
you?
It's amazing because it helpson the days where I'm just kind of
like, f this, I don't want todo it anymore. Because, like, what
(30:55):
am I doing this for? Because Idon't know, like, I'm dealing with
somebody being a jerk on theInternet or just frustrating period
because, like, rejection.
I'm sorry.
Yeah, right. No, it's okay.But like, you know, rejection is
the name of the game here. Sosometimes you're wondering, like,
well, damn, do I suck? Orlike, like, is, am I, Am I all right?
(31:16):
But going out and going to thecons is a nice reminder that 1. People
are reading my work. And evenif it's just one person that comes
up to me and says, hey, like,I really love what you did or like,
this literally changed mylife. Like, that, to me, means so
much. And I try to, you know,so that on the days where I'm just
(31:37):
like, I do not want to dothis, I'm like, no, it is a blessing
to be here. I've worked hardto get here, and it's worth it. Also,
it's just really cool to beout and talking with folks who. This
year, I made a bigger dealabout walking around the cons. When
I'm there, a lot of times Ijust sit at the table because I don't
(31:58):
want to miss anyone. But Imade a conscious effort to be more,
I guess, active at the con,which was great because I got to
walk around and, like, meetother creators, buy their stuff.
I don't, like, I just actuallyget the con experience because before
I was writing professionally,I like to go to conventions and,
like, just be there. And now,because it's a working thing, a lot
(32:20):
of times I'll kind of forgetthat. So it's been nice to just kind
of get around and just connectwith people and actually be in community,
which, I don't know, like, Ifeel like that's what conventions
are supposed to be.
Yeah, 100%, totally.
Yeah. Yeah. And you mentioned,you know, jerks on the Internet,
so. And I feel like, you know,I want to bring that up because one
(32:41):
of the things that. That webelieve here at worldgun Geek, like,
what we're trying to promoteis positivity in the community. You
know, there are going to bethings that we don't agree on. We
don't have to all, like, thesame things. But, you know, fandom
should be about celebratingthe things we do, like, together,
not just not joining togetherto denigrate the things we don't
like. What is that? That's notfandom. That's the opposite. And
(33:05):
so I wonder, like, you know,obviously, you know, you just said
you have dealt with, you know,idiots on the Internet. What kind
of reception? Or how do youdeal with the folks out there who
apparently think that, youknow, behind the keyboard, they can
say whatever they want aboutwhatever it is and share that kind
(33:28):
of, you know, vitriol on the Internet?
Most of the time, I ignore it.It's like block and go. But every
now and again, like, you'llcome across something that just either
catches you on a bad day orjust kind of hurts your feelings
because you're human. And inthose times, like, I'll just either
screenshot, show a friend tomy husband or whoever and just kind
(33:51):
of talk about it that wayinstead of going off on the Internet
or kind of giving that personthe attention that they're seeking.
Because that doesn't reallyserve me. It serves them because
now, you know, they got eyeson them, and they can continue to
say whatever it is they'resaying. But I often try to remind
myself that, well, if theycould do it, then they would be doing
(34:12):
it, but they're not. And Idon't mean that in, like, a cocky
sort of way, but, like, youhave no idea how hard it is to get
one single issue of a comicout. And this thing that you're nitpicking
is, like, low on the totempole and also insignificant. And
if you only knew just howdifficult it is to just get one story
(34:35):
out, let alone many of them,you would probably. I don't know,
like, you would have a littlebit more respect. But I think that's
asking too much of anybody today.
On today's Internet,especially online.
Yes. Actually had a guy who.Over at Harold's Kind, I was on a
panel with Jean Ha and ColleenDuran and learned that her name was
(34:58):
not Duran Duran, both me andJean Ha. But anyway. And he. It was
a Wonder Woman. It was aWonder Woman panel, whatever. So
we talked, and I talked aboutNubia and, like, my inspiration and
everything. So the very nextday, the guy comes to my table, and
he's like, you know, I have totell you that you completely changed
(35:19):
my mind about Nubia. And,like, I want to get some books. And
he was like, you know, I'mnot. He's like, I'm a little embarrassed
to admit this, but when DCannounced that this book was happening,
I just kind of thought it wasa cash grab. And I'm like, well,
they're a business, soanything they do is a cash grab.
Everything's a cash grab.
I get what you mean. And youthought. And he also thought that
it was just like, a blackwoman, a black Wonder woman or Diana
(35:44):
2.0 situation. And then afterlistening to me talk about the character
and just inspiration and allthese other things, he was like,
oh, well, like, I didn't knowany of that. And like, well, of course
you wouldn't have known any ofthat because you didn't take the
time out to actually findthat. But I'm glad you were able
to get that that got throughto you during, you know, the panel
or whatever. He ended upbuying, like, almost everything off
(36:07):
of my table, which was pretty phenomenal.
But that's incredible.
Yeah. And I told him, like,you know, I appreciate your honesty
and like, I feel like it'd benice if we could have more conversations
about this because while Ithink you could have done your due
diligence to like not makethat assumption, I do understand
why you did make thatassumption. Because, you know, we're
having conversations todayabout how some of the anthology for
(36:31):
the anthology stories thatcome out through in different heritage
Munch. So you know, your blackhistory, your aaip, you know, Latin
heritage, all of those, all ofthose that come out even during Pride
Month. And we don't see thesecreators again after they've been
tapped for these anthologiesand they just kind of disappear and
it's like, wait, I thoughtthis person was like really, like
(36:52):
really talented, but they godisappear just like those characters
of color. So I get it. I getwhy you would think this was a non
serious thing. But I'm gladthat I was able to change your mind.
And you show improved withyour wallet and that means everything,
right?
Well, also, you got, you got,you got. I've got to give him kudos
(37:13):
to owning up to it too becausevery often you're going to get these
people who don't admit thatthey're wrong or learn something.
And the fact that he came upto you face to face.
Yeah.
Actually had thatconversation. I think it means a
lot to me hearing it. So, Imean, the fact that you're changing
(37:34):
minds that way, even if a oneby one, that's fantastic.
Yeah. It's some of the folksthat come up to me sometimes and
tell me how much they likeenjoy my work or nubia. I'm just
like, wait, really? BecauseI'm also in the south, so like I'll
do some conventions in likeSouth Carolina and there's one that
I do called Power Comic Conand it's a Florence, South Carolina,
(37:54):
really nice city. But likethere are a bunch of trucks outside
that are lifted. We got flagson them and all of that. And like
you have these big burly whiteguys and they'll come up to me and
they'll be like, yeah, Ireally love your work on Newbie.
I'm like, oh, well, all right.Well, thank you. That is good to
know. But like, pleasantsurprise. Yeah, a little surprise.
(38:18):
But if anything that is justshow improved to me that people just
want a good story. And ifcreators are allowed to and given
the support to like deliverthat product and get it out to the
masses and explains and letthe masses know, like this is what
it is, then there could be somuch more success for A lot of these
books that end up not doingwell because they're not Batman.
(38:40):
They're not. And I don't meanno shade. They're not Batman or they're
not Iron man or, or Thor or,you know, or whatever. Like, people
want. People just want goodstories. Yeah.
Yeah, I love that.
And I love Batman.
Yeah, right. Who doesn't? He's amazing.
He's the best in dc.
Yeah.
(39:00):
The. The crazy thing aboutwhat you just shared there, though.
To me, what I think is the,the real, you know, like a real important
thing was that you had an, anactual conversation.
Yeah.
You know what I mean? There'sjust not enough of that. You know,
like, we get on the Internet,like I said there, people are behind
the keyboards and say whateverthey want. They can go on, you know,
(39:22):
Twitter and Instagram orwhatever, and they can comment and
say all the things they wouldnever say to your face. You know
what I mean? And I just.That's, that's where I think most
of the issue. I mean,everybody's leaving Twitter and a
lot of it's political to me.It's. It's not even political.
It's just you can't talk to anybody.
Do. Yeah. Is argue or, or postmemes. Like, there's no conversations
(39:46):
taking place over thereanymore. So that's kind of why I'm
not really posting as muchover there, things like that. But
I love that, like youliterally had a face to face conversation
with someone and it wentexactly as I would expect it to.
If it's face to face. Right.You can actually share. You see expressions,
you understand context andclues. And I love that. I think it's
(40:10):
amazing. And that's again, Ithink why conventions are so important.
They're so great. You justnever know who you're going to meet.
And I don't mean that in acelebrity way. Like, of course you
don't know that, but it's justthe regular everyday people who are
just like you and they justtell you, hey, like this one thing
you did, this random thing youdid, like, it got me through my day.
(40:32):
And like that, that issomething that I will never take
for granted. And the abilityto, like, go out and connect with
those people is something thatI always cherish. So if I get invited
to a con, I am almost alwaysgoing because I live for those moments.
Love it. Love it.
So we've seen comics, youknow, Newbie is a great example of
(40:54):
how they are becomingincreasingly diverse and inclusive
in recent years. Although,like I said, 1973 she's first introduced,
and then we barely even see orhear from her over the ensuing decade.
But now we're starting to seea little bit more of that. And as
someone who's helpedcontribute to that evolution, how
(41:16):
do you see the industrychanging or. Or what steps do you
think still need to happen if.If there are for the industry to
kind of, you know, get overthat hump and be more inclusive?
I think it's just so manydifferent layers.
Where to start?
(41:39):
Well, I mean, of course,inviting diverse voices on to talk.
I mean, to write charactersother than the ones that they can
most identify with. Um, youknow, I think, I don't know, like
an N.K. jemisin writingBatman. I would love to read something
like that. Um, but, you know,just for. For these main characters,
(42:01):
because a lot of times, youknow, you get brought in and you're
scared. Like, are they onlygoing to call me for Black History
Month, or are they only goingto call me to write this one black
character? Brian Stelfries.I've been on several panels with
him. Stellar guy, amazingartist. But I remember one of the
things that he said that hedidn't become the black artist until
he worked on Black Panther,which I found fascinating because
(42:24):
he's right. Everything thatBrian had did prior to that, if you
didn't know that Brian stuff,Freeze was a black guy, you just
would have just assumedsomething else because of the diversity
of different things that he'sworked on. And then after Black Panther,
he was like, yeah. That's whenI started getting called up more
specifically for to do, like,to draw this black character or to
(42:47):
work on this book with a blackcast and things like that. I'm like,
well, yeah, like, that's.That's pretty. Pretty real. And for
a lot of us, that's theexperience you're wondering, because
I know for me, like, writingNubia, it was like, is, will Nubia
be the only thing that Iwrite? Or will I, like, will I go
like, I want to write Vixen?Do not get me wrong, but will it
just be Nubia? Will it just beVixen? Will it just be Storm? Or
(43:09):
whatever? And thankfully, ithasn't. I have gotten a chance to
write those characters, but ithasn't just been that. And to me,
that is a sign that if myselfpreachy Preeti Chibar, she's written
Spider man novels and I thinkis, like, right now doing an Agatha
(43:29):
Harkness infinity comic rightnow on Marvel. Like, nice. And she
is a woman of color. Like,more of that. Please, like, is Tom
King, you know, doing whathe's. What he is in Wonder Woman?
Yes, and no shade to Tom, butit'd be nice if there was, you know,
someone else writing WonderWoman who was a woman and preferably
(43:50):
like a woman of color to justkind of give this other perspective
on these. On this character.So I'm not saying that, like, you
know, let's get all the oldwhite guys out because some of them
are really cool, Greg Ruckerincluded. And I hope that he does
not hear this and me referringto him as old guy, but, you know,
just whatever is for GregRucker is amazing. But more just
(44:15):
put us on books that are notwhat people are expecting. I think
Justina Ireland is going to betaking over for Amazing Spider Man.
Like, I think she's the firstblack woman to ever write a spider
man. Well, not a Spider mancomic, but like an ongoing thing.
So that's pretty cool.
Yeah, I love what you said,too. It's like, it's not to replace
(44:40):
these. These people, but it islike you said it is to give a different
perspective because there aresome things that specifically women
of color can just touch onthat I mean, even men of color might
not.
Yes.
(45:01):
Give a good perspective on.You know, it doesn't necessarily
have to just be, you know,white women or white men, but, you
know, any side, really. So Ilove that. Just giving a different
perspective. Some. Sorry.
I mean, thank you for the cat.
(45:21):
Was like, just like, yeah, I agree.
That's right. Shout out byGenesis. Excellent.
But no, and, like. And I'vehad conversations with. Been in the
room with some of these guysthat I consider greats, too. And,
like, some of them will eventell you, like, yes, like, you know,
I've had my time in the sun.It's time to let some other fresh
(45:42):
voices in. So those guys Ireally appreciate because they do
either step to the side or,you know, suggest and say, hey, I
know you want me to write thisthing, but I know this other creator
who would probably be betterand, you know, more fresh voice.
So, like, let me bring themin. Mark Wade did that for me for
the Batman Superman World'sFinest anthology. Well, it was. Ended
(46:07):
up being an anthology, but itwas the annual. So I got to write
Bumblebee's origin story inthat or a new one for. And also for
the Absolute Power, becauseMark was like, I don't know what
to do with these Amazons, sobring Stephanie, which I appreciate
it.
I love that. That's fantastic.
The first step to recovery isyou know, recognizing that you have
(46:30):
a problem.
So.
Yeah, so I don't know what todo with these things.
I love it. That's great.
One of the things that I loveabout following you on Instagram
threads and stuff is that youshare a lot of this kind of behind
the scenes thoughts andfeelings about being, you know, a
freelance writer and stufflike that. So, I mean, if anybody's
(46:50):
out there listening and wantsto be a comic writer, you know, the.
What is it? Blue sky has yourstarter list now. It's like, I think
Stephanie should be on therefor. If you're trying to be a comedy
writer, she should be one ofthose on the list. But comedy writer.
Well, also.
Yes, hold on a second, hold ona second. You know, I mean, Living
Heroes is pretty common comedy.
Exactly. I. But I didn't wantto limit it to just comedy because
(47:12):
obviously comic is what I'mgonna say. But anyway. But I love
some of the stuff that you'veshared on there. So if, if there,
you know, are people out therewho. Aspiring comic writers, what
kind of advice would you givethem? What do you think would have
helped you back when you firststarted? I noticed you share a lot
(47:32):
of books and things like thatthat helped you and writers and stuff
like that.
I mean, it's just the mostunsexy thing ever. But like actually
write the thing. You can'tjust, you can't think a thing into
existence. And as simple asthat sounds, you would be amazed
at people not doing what it isthey want to because they, they're.
(47:55):
You're thinking about thewhole time. The whole entire time.
I mean, I still do that. Um,but my advice would be to write it
down. I don't care how ugly itis. It's better that it is ugly and
out than stealing your mindand objectively pretty, because we
don't know. It's just in yourmind. Like it's. That's the echo
chamber right there. So it'slike, get it out and just kind of
(48:19):
go from there. Because you canonly get better also by doing the
thing. And you have toactively do it. And if you're a writer
who can't draw, like myself, Ican draw some things, but not enough
to like do a comic. And youwant to pair up with an artist. Like,
understand, like this is workthat they're doing, so they should
be compensated fairly. Sofigure out what that is, is. And
(48:42):
if the thing is, is that you,you know, you can't afford it. Well,
no, of course you can't afforda 20 page book. But maybe you can
afford a page or two pages orthree. One that makes it not such
a huge commitment for thatartist and also not such a huge commitment
for yourself because, I don'tknow, you're fresh into this. You
might wake up one day and yousay, you know what, I don't want
(49:03):
to write this 300 page epicanymore. And you're 100 pages in.
Then what?
Simple, Then what?
It is okay to start small. Itis okay to start simple and then
build to complexity if youwant to do that. But you know that
one page story, you neverknow. Like you do 20 of those and
then look, now you got awhole, like a whole zine you can
(49:25):
put together and you canpresent them, present them at comic
conventions, show them toeditors. All of these things you
need to have work there sopeople can actually know that you
can do the thing. You justdon't think you can do the thing.
Yeah, that reminds me, Iforget who said this, but I remember
(49:48):
there's a quote that I alwaysthink back to when I'm starting something.
It's like you don't know howgood something is until you actually
try it, actually do it. And Ithink that a lot of times, you know,
people have fears as to it'snot going to be good. I don't think
anybody's going to care. Butyou don't know that until you actually
do the thing.
No.
(50:08):
And then have something toshow. And so, yeah, I think, I think
that's a big first fear, firststep for a lot of people than to
hear someone in your positionsay, look, you just gotta just do
it.
Yeah.
And find out.
You just have to find out.Like, you would be amazed at the
stuff that I've done where Iliterally had no idea what I was
doing. I just had an idea anda dream and a pen and I like kind
(50:31):
of made it, kind of made ithappen. Because even like with living,
Living heroes, again, like Ihad never ran a Kickstarter before,
I didn't know what I wasdoing, but I knew that what I could
do is go look at otherKickstarters that were successful,
kind of see like what they didif I was able to like contact that
person, ask them questions. Sothat's the other thing. Like we live
(50:54):
in an age where you canprobably easily find answers to your
questions. And it's aboutasking the right questions, um, to
get the answer that you want.And that just requires you doing
the work, which again is notsexy. But it is so important.
It's A truth. Yeah, yeah.
(51:14):
And one of the big questionsthat I. I think I have, and it probably
ties into what you're saying,but you know, imposter syndrome,
you know, even like fear,doubt, things of that nature.
Right.
Failure.
Like. Like. Yeah.
Can you speak a little bit tothat for anyone that's listening
as well? Because they're allreal things. Especially when you're
(51:35):
absolutely a writer or evenjust an artist, creative in general,
and then people trying to takeyour art, wanting people to take
your art seriously.
I'm so sorry. No, it's okay.
Don't apologize for your cats.
No, don't ever apologize foryour cat.
Never apologize.
Literally. Okay.
Right.
This is at mom is. I'm gonnalist Genesis as one of our co hosts.
(52:00):
I think we. I think it's abouttime. I think she's saying something.
Every time I talk. She's right there.
But anyway. Yeah. I would say,unfortunately, that imposter syndrome
is probably never going toleave you. Like, there'll be some
variation of it. I still dealwith it and I've gotten better about
managing it. And it's thewhole damp. You do damp you don't.
(52:23):
So either I'm going to beatmyself up about not doing the thing,
or I'm gonna do the thing, andthen people will try to beat me up
for actually doing it, but atleast it's done. And imposter syndrome.
Look, especially for comics.Yes, let's take comics serious. But
also coming from a job where Iactually literally had to do, make
(52:46):
sure I did my job right orsomebody's life, you know, hung in
the balance of it. This isn'tthat. It is make believe. And we
should be having fun with ourmake believe stories. So that imposter
syndrome, you're feeling like.No, like it's a. It's. It's make
believe. So work past that.And I know that's easier said than
(53:08):
done, but, like, you literallyjust have to put it out there. And
if people boo you, then theyboo you. But, like, at least they
have something to boo. Right?
Right.
At least you did the thing.
You did the thing. And like,you'll hopefully, if you decide to
stick around, you'll getbetter at it, but you just won't
come out the gate. Perfect. Idon't think anybody has ever come
(53:31):
out the gate perfectly. Maybethere's a couple, but we don't talk
about those. Maybe, bro, like,they're sitting by themselves. Maybe,
bro, they're sitting by themselves.
So, looking ahead, what kindof stories do you still wanna tell
I know you said Vixen was oneyou'd love to write on. Are there
(53:52):
any dream projects orcharacters you're hoping to work
with?
Yeah, Big Barda and Mr.Miracle will be at the top echelon
of that. I got to write Bardabriefly in the story that I wrote
with Nubia for the Prideanthology. But, like, I love big
Barda and Mr. Miracle, so Iwould love to write something, either
a miniseries or whatever, withthem. Justice League of Antarctica.
(54:16):
Which is silly, but Idiscovered how funny they are for
a book that I wrote where,like, I cover all this. Well, as
many strange and unsung allstars of the DC Multiverse. So, like,
peacemakers in it, King Shark,Creature, commandos, all of that.
But I want to write someJustice League of Antarctica. Nort
(54:38):
is the leader of that team.They get shipped off to Antarctica.
Penguins, of course, are whatthe big bads in that. But I want
to do something new. Theydon't have to go to Antarctica, but
I just kind of want to puttogether this ragtag team, you know,
led by Nord, and it's likethese failed superhero slash villains.
And then lastly, that would beiconic, the thing. The other thing
(55:05):
that I want to write. Iactually might end up writing that.
I'm supposed to get an answerback this week. So when this podcast
episode goes up, I'll send youthe little asterisk. Like, remember
that thing I couldn't mention?Well, I'm actually doing it now,
so. Yes.
Yeah.
Gotcha. Very cool. Yeah. Allright. Well, and it's funny you say
(55:26):
all those kind of unsungcharacters. You know, the guy running
the DC film universe rightnow, James Gunn.
James Gunn.
I know he wrote the Four.Four. My book. Before anyone even
knew he was. I didn't evenknow he was going to be. Just kind
of worked out.
Well, how about that?
So almost. So, like, with KiteMan. Kite Man's in that book. Kite
(55:47):
man has his own show. GoLighter is in the. In the show with
him. She's also in that book,Creature of Commandos, of course.
Like, they got their ownthing. And, like, that's so funny.
Yeah. There's been a bunch ofother characters from this book that
are showing up now in the DCmovie universe. So James Gunn, if
you're listening to.
This, let me send it right to him.
(56:11):
Yeah, send it directly to him.
I'll DM him.
Thank you.
What is it? Justice League ofAntarctica coming.
It might be happening. I havetalked to as many editors at DC about
this. To the point now, like,they thought it was A joke. But now
they know that I'm serious. SoDoc Schneider. I got Doc on board.
(56:32):
He said he would. He woulddraw it if I ever got a chance to
do it. I just want to. That'sall. I. Just let me do that, and
I'll leave it alone for a little.
I so. I so want this tohappen. This whole Justice League
of Miss. I think it's gonnaend of Misfit island and Arctic.
Oh, my God.
I'm gonna. I'm gonna. I'm veryclose. There's one more. One more
editor I gotta like. It's likethe Pokemon thing where you gotta
(56:55):
go through.
You gotta catch them all.
So one. One more.
Oh, that's fantastic. Oh, I'mso looking forward to this.
So if people want to followyou, you know, I mentioned already
that you have Instagram andthreads and stuff. Tell. Tell folks
how they can get in touch withyou or follow you or find more information
about you.
(57:15):
So, of course, Instagramthreads. Steph. Underscore. I underscore.
Will I have a website.Ystuff.com. so that's W-H Y-S-T-H.com.
i'm on Blue Sky. I don't knowwhat that long handle is, but if
you search Stephanie Williamsor Stephen Williams, you should find
(57:36):
me. I'm pretty sure I've beenadded to some of the comic starter
packs. And don't hold me tothis, but by the time you listen
to this, dear listeners, Ishould have a newsletter out, but
if I don't, just noprocrastination. Got the best of
it for sure.
She said no comprehension.
(57:56):
Yeah, you've got a lot ofimportant things to write about.
Justice League of Antarctica.You know you've got more newsletters.
The last thing we expect you.
Yes, yes, that. On. On top ofthat. And my kid is out of school
all this week, so.
All week. Oh, man.
They get the entire week off.So I.
All of Thanksgiving.
(58:17):
Wow.
Yeah. I gotta go see Wicked,Moana 2 and probably go to Alley.
Yeah.
And Gladiator 2.
Gladiator 2. Yeah. There'sgoing to be a busy week from Mario
Kart.
I just saw Wicked last onThursday Is fantastic.
We're going to see it. We'reseeing it next week.
Yeah, I am. I don't want tosee it. My father started my son
(58:41):
on musicals, which is just sorandom. He took him to see the Wonka
movie last year. And then Lao.Lao Crocodile. And that's who I should
get to see. Yeah, that's who Ishould Make. Take him to see wicked.
I said 2 hours and 40 minutes.
Yeah.
It's a long First. First half.
It's only the first half of the.
Well, of the. Of this. Yeah.They're coming out with part two,
(59:02):
and in the musical, part twois a shorter one, so I don't know
how they're gonna make a whole movie.
Yeah.
And then Hamilton will be backin June.
No, no, I don't wanna. I'mtrying to keep him away from him.
Listen, I saw it for the firsttime this summer. I cried literally
from start to finish.
He's not gonna throw away his shot.
Yeah, just bring him.
(59:24):
You can't keep him away fromHamilton. That's. That's at least.
No, I think a friend of mineis very close to introducing him
to Hamilton. I just said,okay, well, if you do that, I'm shipping
them off to where you are.
If you do that, you're takingcare of him.
Yeah. Because only on so manymusicals I can. I can go. I can withstand.
(59:45):
So, yeah, so I'll be. Beseeing Wicked.
Okay.
So resigned.
That's the best.
That's. I felt.
That's like the. I thinkthat's a. I mean, pretty.
Sure I'll have a good time,but it's just the, you know.
Yeah.
(01:00:05):
I don't want to be there.
Stephanie, thank you so muchfor hanging out with us tonight.
I cannot tell you how much Iappreciate it. I've been looking
forward to this interview andit's just been a joy to spend time
with you.
Yeah.
No, thank you all again, somuch for having me.
And that was our interviewwith Stephanie Williams. We were
so excited to have her. She'samazing. We're gonna have her back
(01:00:29):
again. Especially since, Idon't know if you noticed, she talked
about whenever this episodecomes out that she hoped to have
a newsletter ready to go.Well, that's available. We're gonna
have that in the show notestoo. You're gonna be able to figure
out how to go and subscribe toher newsletter. It's awesome. There's
two of them have come outalready. It's a great, great newsletter.
(01:00:50):
She has lots of cool insights.You're gonna love that. You can also
follow her on socials, as shesaid in the. In there. And you can
also find the newsletterthrough that as well. But another
cool thing is coming up thismonth here in Cleveland is fan Expo.
That's March 21st through the23rd. We're going to be there. Some
of us are going to bewandering around getting some video
(01:01:13):
interviewing some folks, sowe'd love to see you. If you see
a World Gone Geek T shirt,make sure you stop by and say hello.
Stephanie is going to be thereas well. She's got a booth. Make
sure you go there, meet her,get her to sign some comics. Again,
you just saw the interview.You can go see her in person right
there at Fan Expo. It's goingto be a great time, so make sure
(01:01:34):
to go check it out if you'rein the area. Want to thank you guys
for watching this episode orlistening if you're on the podcast.
We are so grateful for youguys if you're not already. If you're
new to our podcast, you'rehearing this for the first time.
Make sure you follow us atWorldGungeek. Pretty much all the
places that are going on rightnow. So Blue sky, we've got Tick
(01:01:55):
Tock. Don't post a ton butwe're trying to now Instagram, Facebook,
that's all for this episode.We but we're so appreciative of you
guys. Please follow andsubscribe everywhere that you can.
We will see you guys nexttime. Take care.
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