An interview with Kelly Thompson about the Powerpuff Girls, Eisner Awards, and Scarlett vs Black Widow

Powerpuff Girls is making its return to comics with a brand-new series from Dynamite Entertainment (issue one in shops now!), and Eisner-award winning writer: Kelly Thompson (Birds of Prey, Scarlett, Black Widow) is writing it!. Kelly joins Badr in Ep. 434 for a conversation about sugar, spice, and everything that's nice, and talks about what fans can expect from her iteration of Cartoon Network's titanic trio. She also shares her thoughts on leading the 2024 Eisner Award nominations, recaps how a tenacious email to Kelly Sue DeConnick got her foot in the door, dishes out writing advice, and explains who would win in a battle between super-spies: Scarlett O' Hara and Black Widow!

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Transcript

An interview with Kelly Thompson about the Powerpuff Girls, Eisner Awards, and Scarlett vs Black Widow - The Short Box Podcast Ep. 434

00:01
Intro plays

01:53
Yo Short Box Nation welcome back and thanks for tuning in today. Thanks for being here If you're new welcome to the show My name is Badr and this is the short box Podcast the comic book talk show that brings you the best conversations about Comic books with the people that put their blood sweat and tears in the making them and today I'm joined by one of the most Accomplished most respected. I mean, there's a bunch of adjectives I could throw out and they'd all be appropriate in this case, but

02:20
We are joined by Kelly Thompson today, and she's been absolutely crushing it since she hit the scene in 2014. She's an Eisner Award-winning writer who's got a list of writing credits longer than a CVS receipt. Hear me out. She's written on popular titles and iconic characters like Jim and the Holograms, Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Hawkeye, West Coast Avengers, and that's all, that's just scratching the surface in terms of her Marvel credits. She's also written on Sabrina the Teenage Witch for Archie Comics.

02:47
She's also no slouch in the creator-owned department with novels and graphic novels like The Girl Who Would Be King and Heart in a Box just to name a few. She's also got creator-owned comics like The Kull and Black Cloak, both of which are nominated for Eisner Awards this year. And she doesn't seem like someone that rests on her laurels because if you step into your local comic shop right now, you'll see her name on three monthly titles right now, including the new Scarlet series from Skybound which is part of their new Energon Universe line.

03:16
She's also writing an incredible run on Birds of Prey for DC Comics, which is also nominated for an Eisner this year. And starting today, she's also writing the new Powerpuff Girls comic series for Dynamite Entertainment. Can I get a hallelujah from my fellow people that grew up on Cartoon Network and Powerpuff Girls. This is some exciting news. She's drawing the series alongside artist Paulina Ganesho. Powerpuff Girls issue one is available at shops right now or by the time you hear this episode.

03:46
Kelly's on the show today to talk about what she's writing, her creative process, and to talk about what it feels like to be nominated for not one, not two, nor three, but five Eisner nominations at this year's Eisner Awards, which is the most nominations anyone's got this year. So without further ado, Short Box Nation, let's welcome Kelly Thompson to the show. Hey, Kelly, welcome to the show. That's quite an intro. I love it. I'd like to have that every morning.

04:18
You're a pretty good motivator. Look, you made it really easy. Yeah, I mean, I think I will ding myself. I will go ahead and be a little harsh on myself for one glaring oversight. That's not mentioning that you're the co-creator of the most adorable shark in all of comics. I'm talking about Jeff, the land shark. So yeah, you made it incredibly easy. Your website, I feel like such a nerd talking about websites and things, but I...

04:44
like a good website as someone that works in marketing and has got to look at websites all day, your website is great. And you've got a solid bibliography of all of your work. I was curious, how do you keep yourself organized? Is that a running list that you personally keep track of or do you have an assistant that helps you out with that type of stuff? God, this assistant thing is coming up a lot. It makes me feel like it is high time to get on it.

05:09
But mostly I'm just delighted that you like my website because I built it all on my own in my free time via Squarespace. Plug to Squarespace. I just think they have really easy tools. They made it really easy. I wanted a new web store and was trying to get away from what I had going on. So I just built it up over there. I think the bibliography, I mean I did do it all myself, but I mostly stole it from one that I had made for myself on Tumblr.

05:39
try to remember to flush it out and update it like once a year to stay on top of it. But I will say that someone on my sub stack asked me recently, they're like, hey, you should do like a, like a bibliography post. It's like about all the stuff you ever did. And I was like, actually, it's a really good idea. And I started working on it. And yeah, the draft has been sitting in my drafts for like a year because it's incredibly time consuming to do something like that. And also while you're doing it, you're like, wait, how big of a narcissist am I?

06:08
This is about PR and about your career, but also is it good to write about yourself all day in a blog post? So, you know things you got a question that would be a good way to have an assistant I could be like, yeah. Yeah, we need to do this you write about me all day Not better. Honestly, it's not better. That's I guess like how often do you go back to like your old work? Like is there any

06:32
Particular title or comic that like you kind of go back to every now and then and if you do go back to your old Stuff like what are you looking for if you ever like have like that kind of retrospective moment? I think I do go back more than most writers that I know A lot of them won't read anything they write I that doesn't work for that doesn't work for me because while I have full respect for that and I understand why people have That I do think part of my process to getting better is looking at old stuff

06:59
and seeing, I mean, nine times out of 10, my feeling on old stuff, although I hope it won't be true when I look at my stuff from now, but I, you know, it always, and I think it's a common complaint of most writers that you overwrite. Especially if you're as lucky as I have been to have really great artists, you should be pairing back your writing. You don't need it. I mean, comics is a merging of words and pictures, and if your other...

07:28
is doing their part of the job, then you don't need to explain what's in their image and focus on other parts of the story. I think we kind of get lost in that sometimes. And listen, sometimes the art isn't up to the job, it can't handle that and you need to bring in some heavy lifting on the writing. It's all about a balance, but nine times out of ten when I look back at my old stuff, it's oh, I should have cut that.

07:55
Even the, and I think it's, you know, it's a kill your darling situation. They always talk about that with writers. Like you don't want to cut stuff that you think is funny or clever or, you know, emotionally engaging or whatever, but you often don't need it all. You know, it's hard to not be close to the material. And I think in comics, it's sort of a blessing and a curse that it's so fast, right? Because you don't have a lot of time to sort of overwork it and overthink it.

08:23
and get mired down in that process and become too precious with it. At the same time, you really do have to do it and move on. And there's not as much time maybe for refinement or trimming down or killing those darlings that maybe would make it read a little easy. Well said. Spoken like a true master. And I don't think there's any hyperbole in saying that because you could just look at this year's Eisner nominations, which I hinted at in the intro. You were nominated for five.

08:51
different categories, which is the most out of anyone in this year's nominations. You're nominated for best continuing series with Birds of Prey, best limited series for The Cole, best new series for Black Cloak, best humor publication for It's Jeff, the Jeffers number one, and best writer overall for everything I just named and then some, which I find interesting that every single category is a different title. I think sometimes like you'll see like the same title being...

09:18
nominated for a different kind of award. Is there a particular category that maybe means a little more to you than say the others, not to discount the others, but maybe a particular category that you're most proud of when you hear this list? It's gonna feel like such a cop out to be like, I love all my babies and I'm sorry, but I'll just hit them really quickly of like why it's hard to pin one down. I think...

09:44
Of course, as a writer, it's hard and all that narcissism I have inside. It's hard not to want the best writer one. It feels more about me than about a particular work. And so that feels like a compliment that you want, an achievement that you want in your career. But I do really love the individual awards because I like that those aren't just about me. They're about so many things. They're about a team. And so like...

10:11
I'm inclined to say that things like the Kull and Black Cloak are most important to me because they're creator-owned things that me and Meredith McLaren in the case of Black Cloak and Mattie Adilias in the case of the Kull, we built them together. They're like our blood. And so those feel the most powerful, but I'd be lying if I said it wouldn't feel great to get an Eisner for the Birds of Prey team, me and Leo and Jordy.

10:40
Because like that was my one of my first, that was my first nomination was for Hawkeye working with those guys. So to have been able to come back together five ish, six, eight years later, I can't do the math and like be working on something else that we really love and like have that be recognized again. It just really helps it feel like a dream team scenario. Um, on Jeff, I mean, everybody, everybody loves Jeff. It's hard not to love Jeff. I do feel like, um,

11:09
That's a rough category. I mean, humor publication, we don't have any words. Like it's, you know, it's hard to win in the humor publication when you can't use words. But I think that really goes to the credit of GuriHiru. They're so incredible at reinterpreting, at interpreting my scripts. And after doing so much Jeff together, I do feel like we really, despite not speaking the same language, we really understand each other. We speak the comics language together.

11:38
They speak Japanese, I speak English, but together we speak comics and we speak Jeff. And they just get it. Like I've said before, sometimes I'll turn, I always like the scripts I turn in for Jeff because they always feel like a fun cartoon, but I'm always happier with some than others. And so sometimes I'll turn in one that I'm like, that's not my favorite.

11:58
Honestly, by the time Guri and Hiro were done with it, it's my favorite. They just know how to draw all the best stuff out of it. It's really a joy to work with them. It's a joy to work with all the collaborators that we were able to get these nominations on. I feel very lucky. It was a really hard year for me financially and as I transitioned between doing Just Work for Hire to doing a combo, it was a big struggle financially and stressful.

12:27
You know, getting those nominations is like, God, it's such a, it's such a vindication. And I particularly feel grateful about it because, you know, we all have hard years and you don't always get rewarded for them. And so it was really nice for the universe to go, Hey, you work really hard, but here you go. We recognize that you work really hard, you know, have these nominations. So it was nice. Damn right. I really appreciate the honesty in that. You know,

12:53
Recognition shouldn't be the only thing any of us do any type of artistic thing for, but it is nice to know, especially considering when you look at the lineup of other creators that got nominated. I mean, you're in great company in all of these categories, I think, in the entire Eisners. Unfortunately, yes. Unfortunately, you go, yeah, maybe we really got a chance. We got all these nominations. Then you go look at the list and you go...

13:22
Oh, they're going to kill us. Oh no, no. So yeah. You know, I won't even jinx it. I won't even say what I wanted to say, but all I know is I have a feeling you're going to walk away with at least one, if not two, three, four, or five. All right, look, like I said, these are some solid. I will say that the negative person in me, which is way more percentage of myself than I'd like it to be, was like, oh yeah, awesome. Five nominations. That's so cool. And then...

13:51
Like literally the next thought that the negative part of me slid in, they were like, man, it sure would be embarrassing to lose all five, wouldn't it? And I was like, oh man, don't think about that. So I hope we'll get at least one. No, for sure. We're thinking happy thoughts. All right. On the topic of writing, there's a quote from you on your Wikipedia that says that you've been writing for as long as you can remember. And I was curious, like, do you remember the first thing that you wrote that you felt like,

14:20
I might have something here. Does anything stand out from those early years? I think there were a couple moments along the way where a teacher particularly encouraged me or something where I don't really remember the work being particularly great to my mind, but someone else saw something in it, which I think sometimes that carries more weight, especially when you're young, that someone else can see something.

14:47
So when I was in seventh grade, something like that happened. And also when I was in eighth grade, something like that happened. And then I also had a creative writing teacher in high school that was pretty encouraging of me. And I got a few things published in like our literary magazine or things like that. But then I had a, then I had a professor, an English professor at the school I ended up going to. Just I sort of had like a general.

15:14
focus, I was maybe going to be art or English, something like that. And that dude was so not impressed with me. And it was debilitating. I really I almost bailed on the whole thing because I just, you know, you're just not, you're just not sure yourself. And when someone who seems like they know more than you do is like, I am unimpressed with you, you're like, oh, shit, you know, it's it's a scary moment. And I'm very lucky that I sort of had some other signals that

15:43
So I can't say that anything that I did when I was young was particularly great or notable. I just know I was not only into writing but into quote unquote publishing very young because one of my early memories that's around writing is when I must have been about six, I was writing these stories about mermaids. But I was not just writing the stories. I was making like a construction paper cover.

16:12
And then I was cutting out the cover on the center to make like a die cut with a drawing of a mermaid inside. Like what six-year-old understands a die cut cover and is like trying to recreate it. So it wasn't just about writing the story. It was about like wanting to share it with people and like talk about it and like have an object. So I think all those kinds of things that I still really love today were really evident back then. And I'm glad I have those like.

16:39
mermaid artifact memories so that I can pinpoint them, you know? Yeah. So it was more like that. Kelly, at the age of six, my mom was actually taking all of these scissors out the house because she was afraid I would die from cutting myself or my brothers, which has happened a couple of times. It was rough. Girls get to play with scissors. We were reasonable. We're more reasonable. Good call on my mom.

17:04
Yeah, you guys can't be trusted. Kelly, what's the earliest memory that you have in terms of comic books? Did you grow up with comics in the house? What got you into the fandom? No, it's sort of a miracle I found comics. Nobody in my family, except for my grandmother, is really artistic. And none of them are. My mother's a very big reader, but not a very big collector. She's not into any nerd stuff. All the books she read, from the library.

17:33
Like we didn't have a big library at home, she would always go to the library. So that stuff was really not around me. Uh, there were some weirdly, we had three volumes of Far Side comics, which probably developed my sense of humor more than anyone is content with. Um, so that probably had some weird, uh, fundamental foundational, uh, Kelly's brain growth thing.

18:00
with these far side comics because there just wasn't a lot of that comic stuff around and I really did gravitate toward it. So until I was a teenager and discovered the X-Men cartoon and the subsequent comics that my brother and I discovered together, prior to that it was just Archies. And the reason for that was because when I was a kid you could find them in the grocery store and so you didn't have to have a comic book store around. I didn't even know comic book stores existed until I was a teenager or a preteen maybe.

18:29
And so it came to me in a strange way, but I was fanatical about those Archies. I used to drive my mother crazy begging her for them. And I'm sure I just look like every little brat that wants every little thing they see. But I think in retrospect, it was, I was really aggressive about it because it was the only place I was finding that specific thing. And I wanted all of it greedily. I wanted my hands on all of it because I didn't know that like, and I always say that I'm a little bit of a slow learner.

18:59
Was there a comics rack somewhere in the shop, somewhere in the grocery store? Probably, or in the convenience store, or maybe there was even a comic store in town. But I just didn't, I wasn't really thinking outside myself enough like that. I don't know. Maybe that has to do with you're thinking about your own creative worlds and so you're not problem solving your own. I don't know. Well, not only that, but the Archies, if your grocery stores were in like mind growing up, like, I mean, even to this day,

19:25
The Archies are right by the snacks, the candy, the chips at the checkout. I had a pretty wild, I mean, a very intense Archie phase before I ever got into Marvel comics and superhero stuff. My mom actually stopped, back to my mom, my mom actually stopped taking me to the grocery store because I would absolutely drive her insane because I'd be like, can I get a Digest? Can I get a Digest? Can I get an Archie Digest? Yeah. That was for sure. For sure. So for you, there must have been some sweet kind of like...

19:54
full circle kind of poetic-ness to it when you had the opportunity to write Sabrina the Teenage Witch then? Like, did it mean like something real special to you to be able to have that opportunity? Yeah, I was really excited. That really felt like, and also my mom was sort of weirdly excited about it because she could have, she didn't care about superhero comics and those really overran my older childhood, right? And so it was sort of fun for her to see.

20:23
that this Archie thing was still something I loved and that now I was doing it for a living. I think it was like a real full circle sort of thing for her. How do your parents feel about your career path now? Does your family understand that you're Kelly Thompson? In the comic book world, five time, Eisenhower award-winning Kelly Thompson, five time nominated. Do they have a grasp on your career and the weight it holds?

20:52
I think they do, but I'm not sure it really holds that much weight. I mean, like I love it. Now you're just counting yourself way too much. Come on. I mean, my life is just normal and it's full of like struggle. And like I was saying, like I had a really rough financial year. I had like the worst financial year of my life last year. So like, it's hard to be like, oh, I'm so important or whatever when you've got like a lot of things in your life that are humbling you and you're like, wow.

21:18
haven't figured this out yet. So I have plenty in my life that I have not figured out. Being sort of niche famous is weird and there are perks to it, but there are downsides as well. You have to worry about things like people stalking you online, but you're not rich, so you can't totally feel more protected. Not that anyone can totally protect themselves from anything, but I would feel more protected if I had more.

21:48
assets to do that. But I do think, I think the thing I value the most is like sort of my reputation and the respect. I work really hard and I try to make sure that always comes through in the work and I'm glad that that's, that people have responded to that and it matters a lot to me that I've built this career sort of out of nothing. So I value it intensely but

22:17
I think it's dangerous to feel, I don't know, like a celebrity. I don't, it just doesn't really jive with like who I am and how things are in my life. It's, but again, I do think that struggling in some way, whatever it is, it will, it will keep you a bit humble, which is not a bad thing. For most people, what I do can't buy me a hamburger.

22:40
Yeah, if you put me in the right crowd, yeah, they would pay me to come and talk to them and sign things and stuff. So it's like all a matter of perspective, right? Yeah, if you were to put it out there right now, hey, buy me a hamburger when you see me at San Diego Comic Con, you will be sick of hamburgers by the time the first day is over. All right. Sticking to your early years.

23:02
I saw that you graduated from SCAD, which is Savannah School of Art and Design. So, Savannah is like a two-hour drive from Jacksonville. And I know that you got a degree in sequential storytelling. And I've always been curious, by the time you finish that course and you get that degree, what have you learned? What is that whole program like?

23:30
I guess how did that help you in your career? Like in hindsight, do you look back and are you like, I'm glad I, you know, because I've heard the horror stories about scat and just how difficult it is and you know, how immersive and time consuming it is. Like, do you look back and you're like, man, I'm glad I, you know, went to school for this. Or do you feel like, you know, maybe in another life, I could have, you know, accomplished what I accomplished without schooling. Okay. Here's what I'm going to say. Hit it. I had a really great time at SCAD. I wouldn't change any of that.

24:03
I came from a position of privilege where I not only got a partial scholarship, but my parents were basically footing the rest of that bill. I mean, they took out loans and stuff, but I mostly didn't have to carry that. I mean, I worked when I was in school and I contributed and I bought my own car to get around and things, but I didn't come out of that with $200,000 in school loans. I would feel very differently.

24:30
about my time at SCAD if I came out of there with $200,000 in loans, because you absolutely do not need to go to school to do what I do. You can read all the comics you can get your hands on. You can read Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics. You can teach yourself. You can... There are... One of the great things about the web and social media...

24:57
is that a lot of these people are out there offering tutorials, offering classes. I mean, Brian Michael Bendis, you can take a class directly from Brian Michael Bendis or Scott Snyder through their sub stacks. Like, so you can get access to the people that can tell, that can teach you the small things that seem so hard, like how to submit and what format to use for a script, like all those things that seem like they're hidden. I think you can find them now.

25:23
without school, that understanding comics book, they'll teach it to you in school. It's the best tutorial around. Another thing I would say if you're trying to learn especially how to write, but it would be helpful for art too, I suppose, is that one of the greatest things I did was becoming a reviewer because breaking down why a book works, why it doesn't work, and how, and how to duplicate that or not duplicate it yourself, you can teach yourself all of that. It's all there to be found.

25:53
Being a voracious reader of comics and really thinking about them and analyzing them and breaking them down can teach you everything you know how to be a comic book creator. There's no maybe it's different as cat now but nobody made some incredible introductions that i couldn't have lived without or something none of that happened but what i will say is.

26:16
I wanted to go to college and it was an incredible college experience. I was only there to a little over two years, I think, because I transferred from a university. But I loved it. I wouldn't trade it for anything because I wanted to have a college experience. So if you're looking for a college experience and you've got the cash or a scholarship and you want to do comics, I think SCAD is a great place to go. Savannah is an incredibly beautiful city. They have camp in Atlanta too now. If you can handle the humidity and the flooding.

26:45
You're good. I mean, and you've got the money. I met so many, many of my best friends in the world are people who I met at SCAD. It's fantastic. But if you don't have those things available to you or, and or you don't care about having a college experience, then you don't need it. You can do this without it. Absolutely.

27:06
That is so well said. And I almost tried to go off the top of the head of all these SCAD alumni. I know that work in comics, but I don't want to embarrass myself because I know that list is very long, but I appreciate you making a case for and against like, you know, formal education and training. Like thank you for sharing that. What would you say was your like welcome to comics moment? Like, when did you know like, Hey, I'm in this industry now. I'm not just, uh, you know, looking, uh, I'm not.

27:33
looking from the outside in, I'm in it. Do you recall that moment that you felt like, okay, I'm here now, time to really put in the work? I think once I got the gem book, I was like, I'm tenacious as fuck, I'm not letting this go. There we go, hell yeah. I was like, all right, the foot's firmly in the door, I've wedged it open, here's my shot, and I was not gonna fail, and I didn't. And really quick, for anyone that might not be familiar, that gem in the Holograms series came out in

28:02
2014 from IDW? Well, I started working on it in 2014, but it started being published in 2015. OK, OK. And the only thing I'd done prior to that was a short that Stephanie Hahn drew in a womanthology, a charity thing. So a thing I wasn't paid for, but was good experience as far as connecting me to both other women who were making comics and to get a feel for the industry and everything. And the only other thing.

28:32
had done Heart in a Box with Meredith McLaren, my artist on my collaborator on Black Cloak, we had started and I had written all of Heart in a Box, she was still drawing it when we got when I got the gem gig. And so it ended up because graphic novels take so long to make that ended up coming out after gem started. Okay, but gem, but gem was the first published thing that came out that I was paid for and

28:59
It was a huge hit. I mean, first of all, I got incredibly lucky that Sophie Campbell wanted to do it with me and pitched it with me. I mean, let's not, let's be real. That was completely integral to my success because I think I did a great job on that book, but that book is nothing without her visuals to get it started and to really get people excited about it. She's an incredible collaborator and she's perfect for the sort of gem universe. And so I was very lucky, but I guess that's what I mean by tenacious. It's not all luck.

29:29
I was lucky with other things like the timing and that I had happened to ask Kelly Sudekanick months before the gem thing popped up. I had said, hey, I'm trying to break into this industry. She and I knew each other a little bit just through columns and I think I'd interviewed her or something. And I was like, listen, I'm sorry if this is overstepping. I just reached out to her. I reached out to her and a couple of people. I was like...

29:54
just keep in mind if you get something you can't do or something too small for you, maybe just throw my name out there." And she was like, sure, I'll consider that. And Kelly Sudakhanik ended up introducing me to Sarah Gaydos, who was the one who eventually tipped me off about Gem, even though it was John Barber was the editor. So I think a lot of things had to line up for that to happen.

30:25
Not everybody just pitches with Sophie Campbell. She's a badass. And so like I was like I'm not gonna go out and fall on my face here I'm gonna go out with one of the best people in comics and That's gonna be helpful to me and it was I mean it helped launch my career Like if I don't do that with Sophie, I don't even know if we get the pitch let alone that you get You know, she only ended up drawing. I guess you're 10 or 11 issues, but

30:52
That was a 26 issue run of an indie comic that also had a five issue spinoff, two annuals, two specials. And I think, and then we did a six issue crossover mini series out of it. So like, you're talking like almost 50 issues of a gem comic. It was years before I got that again with Captain Marvel, a 50 issue run. So I just think we put our best foot forward and it just really worked. But.

31:20
You know, a lot of things had to come together to make that happen. And I had to be in the right place at the right time, among other things, you know? Incredible story. And to use your phrase, that is the definition of being tenacious as fuck. To email Kelly DeSiconic and ask her to like, keep your name in mind for any project. That's, yo, kudos to you. Well, listen, I was making a name for myself writing comics. I was writing She Has No Head for Comics Should Be Good.

31:50
I was sort of getting a name for myself talking about women in comics. I interviewed her a couple times, I think, was what had happened. And so we'd been a little bit friendly. But I don't know exactly how it happened. I don't know if she recommended me or not. But I think it's very likely she did that my first Marvel gig was co-writing with her on Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps, it was a secret wars thing. It was a really fun one. I remember when I came in, Kelly Sue was like,

32:20
She's like, well, if you can figure this out in the middle of this secret wars thing, you're gonna be fine. And I was like, thank you. Talk about jumping right into the frying pan. Yeah, she was like, you're all the way in the frying pan now. She's like, don't worry, we're gonna help you. And I should be clear. I should be clear just in case that story makes it seem like the Captain Marvel and the girl core thing was my idea. How that worked was it was Kelly Sue's idea.

32:44
And then like I did the breakdowns of it, like issue to issue how it would be. And then like she came in and cleaned it up. And then I did first passes and then she did cleanups again. So it was a really great experience. I would also say that I wish more comic book writers and maybe artists too. I don't know if it would be the same process for them, but certainly for writers, I wish more of them would get that.

33:06
kind of an intro instead of just being thrown into, because a lot of novelists and new comic writers who haven't done this before just get thrown into the deep end. And I feel like I had the training because I literally came from a school that taught it. And still I found it incredibly beneficial to do it with Kelly Sue, to see how it's supposed to work, to see the kind of ways in which she worked. It was an incredible, it was like having an amazing paid internship for.

33:35
four or five months. And I wish they would do it more at Marvel and DC, honestly. I was just about to say there's nothing like on-the-job training. Yes. Yeah, to your point, there is definitely nothing like having someone show you how it's really done, asterisk on that, really done. And even just the value of being the fly on the wall. Yeah. Even if all Kelly Sue and David Lopez was the artist for most of that series and Sana Amana was the...

34:04
was the editor, even if all they'd done was let me read the emails going back and forth and view the art and see how the process were, it still would have been valuable. Fortunately, they really put me through it in a great way that really tested me and made me come up with great things. I remember Kelly Sue cut one of my lines. I was like, man, I love that line. I was like, I hate that. But then when I read the issue, I was like, yeah, it was better.

34:31
goes back to me talking about I reread my stuff more than a lot of my pals I know who would rather not. I think I always find something of value when I go back, whether it's a thing where I'm like, oh yeah, I forgot I know how to do that. Or I'm like, oh yeah, boy, that was a wall of text. What were you fucking thinking? Whatever it is, I feel like it's pretty useful when I look.

34:56
you know, getting thrown into the deep end into the frying pan. And maybe that that analogy isn't, you know, applicable here because we are talking about power puff girls. But, you know, kind of fast forward, can you talk about how you got the opportunity to write everyone's favorite bad ass little superhero girls? So my editor on this, this is through Dynamite, but my editor is Nate Cosby, who also brought me in years back to do the Nancy Drew series at Dynamite with Jen St.

35:24
And that was so fun. We had a really good time. I really enjoyed that. And like I like Nancy Drew, but I'm not nearly as into Nancy Drew as I am to Powerpuff Girls. I mean, I do. Nancy Drew is very much the kinds of things I like. A smart female lead solving mysteries, solving crimes. I'm into all of that. So Nancy Drew fits very well. I just didn't, I wasn't super attached to her books the way one would sometimes hope.

35:54
when someone takes on an adaptation, I feel like, in that respect, I was worried about letting people down, like, oh, I'm not enough of a Nancy Drew fan. But I do feel like I'm really proud of what we did, and I wish we'd gotten to do more. But that's not true with Powerpuff Girls. I just fucking love the Powerpuff Girls. Nate has brought me a lot of other projects over the years where he asks me, and I'm always too busy, and he's got a pretty great...

36:21
radar of what I'm interested in, what I'm not, because it's always a bit of a, oh man, I sort of wish I could say yes to this, but I can't. But with Powerpuff Girls, he sent the email, he was like, is there any chance you like the Powerpuff Girls? And I think my email back was something like, ah, shit. And he was like, I got you. And I was like, yeah, I really do like the Powerpuff Girls a lot. I was like, what are our options? And so that's how we started talking about doing it.

36:45
And so he's sort of got my number a little bit. He's a savvy editor who knows how to trick me into taking on stuff that I'm gonna love. And it's turned out to be so fun. It's been really fun to, I've been very grateful for all the Jeff I've done because I think it really helped in thinking about the Powerpuff Girls. They're of course very verbal where he's not, but you still need the same kind of space on the page for those like big, bright, iconic things, those fight scenes, but also.

37:13
you know, the way you really need to build in those reveals, it has to turn. And then for this, it has to be a little smarter because it's, uh, you know, I do think Jeff appeals to all ages, but this has to be a little more, a little more like the Simpsons, right? Where there's some one level and then jokes on another level has a little bit of that, but there's only so much of that you can do without dialogue. So.

37:38
We try our best, but there are limitations, but not so with Powerpuff Girls. Powerpuff Girls was a show that even my dad would sit down, my big macho, tough dad would sit down and thoroughly enjoy because it was the perfect blend of action. I'm gonna coin one of your phrases here. The Powerpuff Girls was bold durable, bold and adorable. Yeah, Powerpuff Girls is, I think it could be said.

38:05
for a lot of those cartoon network shows around that time. So we're talking 1998, early 2000s. They were multi-layered. They were at the surface level, yeah, it's a kid's cartoon. They're silly. Some of them are kind of dumb. But then you start peeling back some of the layers, and it's like, oh, wow, that's a pretty good little joke they snuck in there. Oh, is that a commentary on XYZ? Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I had an opportunity to read the first issue of Powerpuff Girls. Big shout outs to Amy Ranello.

38:35
from Dynamite. Kelly, I got to give you credit and as well as the artist, Paulina Ganeshow, it brought me back. A bowl of cereal magically appeared as I started reading this. I suddenly was in my footed pajamas reading this. It feels like such a great continuation of the Powerpuff Girls cartoon series and everything that you love about it. The art is beautiful. It's bold colors.

39:02
You know, she nailed the original aesthetic down so well. And that first issue is just it's just fun. And I think it's a good first issue to welcome old fans that grew up with the cartoons like myself and it sounds like you as well, but also like new fans, too. And I understand that is going to be an kind of like an anthology, right? Like every issue is going to be a self-contained story and things like that. Was that like a conscious? Yes. Well, when Nate asked me, he's like, you know, do you want to tell like a big?

39:30
continuity adventure or do you want to keep it more like the episodes are you know 15 minutes you know and one and done and I thought about it for a while because it's tempting to be like oh let's dig a little deeper on the powerpuff girls let's like let's get into it let's see but I was left at the end with the feeling of I just wanted them to be them and I just wanted to tell funny stories with them that maybe scratch the surface a little bit I mean in this first issue that you read

39:58
You know, probably my favorite page in the whole issue is when they're filling out these questionnaires and the visual is like they're all together in one panel, in the first panel. They're all together at the desk. And then in the next tier...

40:14
They're each in their own individual panels, even though they're still sitting there. And then in the next here, they're even further apart. And it's all about this supervillian separating them, and then the narrative continues that way. And of course, they're only their full power when they're together and reunited. But it also shows them being exceptional on their own. And I think that's really the core of who these characters are. So much of their power is in their sisterhood

40:44
one another, but they're also really fascinating on their own. I like the idea of exploring both, of saying both these things are good. It's great to be off and on your own and be great at something, but it's also really great to be with other people, with your family, to understand your strengths together. Yeah. I know you also mentioned in some other interviews, because I know you are doing the PR thing. You're on a bunch of podcasts, doing a lot of interviews. It's been a lot. Yeah.

41:13
My first thing is always I type in the person I'm interviewing and I'll go to the news tab on Google just to see what's been written already, what questions have been asked. And I won't lie, I was a little intimidated. I was like, wow, Kelly Thompson is really out here promoting this book. Yeah. I think there was sort of a perfect storm situation where Powerpuff Girls was getting announced and they were wanting to do PR at the same time that the Scarlet Book was starting to come out and they wanted to do PR. And then all of that happened right as the five Eisner nominations thing came out.

41:43
Your stock is hot, Kelly. Your stock is hot. It was a lot. It was to a point that I had to tell. I had to go back to Amy, and I was like, we got to turn off the spigot on this. I'm not going to get any writing. I looked at my calendar for June, and I was like, oh no. Oh no. That thing's got to be empty, or I'm not getting any writing done that month. So when I saw it just filled with podcasts and interviews and things, I was like, oh crap, I'm in trouble. So.

42:07
Fortunately, she turned down the heat a little bit and I was able to get my life back. But yeah, we've been really going at it. But you mentioned in a couple of the interviews and you said that Powerpuff Girls has one of the best rogues gallery as well as like supporting cast. And I started, it made me think for a minute. I was like, man, she's on to something like the Powerpuff Girls has, you know, obviously Mojo Jojo, him, the Amoeba Boys, my favorite, the Rowdy Ruff Boys.

42:35
You know, Fuzzy Lumpkins and you know, the mayor and the list. Saduza. Yeah, Saduza. Oh, that's a good one. Yeah. So there's probably a bunch of characters I haven't even thought of and I was curious to hear like, are we going to see the classics? Are you introducing any new characters? Well, yeah. So first issue. Oh, yeah. You open up with a bang in the first issue. Yeah. First issue is him, is the villain. That's sort of a spoiler, but not really. I feel like, I mean, I guess it's a spoiler to children.

43:05
who are probably not There's a thing that says highly intelligent machine which spells him on page one So I feel like we've seeded it pretty well for the adults anyway So him is one of my favorite villains, so he's the villain in the first one or they're the villain I don't know what the sexual orientation of him is despite the name You know the outfit is so confusing the claws

43:32
Lobster claws, the little shoes, what's happening? I don't know. I love it. It got me thinking. I was like, is him the first instance of a non-binary character in comics? Or maybe my first introduction to that concept? And I think it's a safe yes. So big shout-outs to Powerpuff Girls for teaching me early. Yeah, I mean, him is one of the genuinely scariest characters to me, because the voice and everything, very creepy.

44:00
What does he really want? It's confusing. Anyway, Mojo Jojo is probably my favorite villain. He is the villain of the second issue, although villain is maybe too all caps a word for his behavior at that issue. And then the third issue is actually a new villain.

44:23
very bold and ballsy I know to try to be like, oh, you have the best rogues gallery? Let me elbow my way in there, but I'm going to try it anyway. I've got a new villain that I sort of created. Gosh, I don't want to say it's 20 years ago, but it's probably close to that. Back when I was living in L.A., I tried to get a storyboarding job that at the Cartoon Network and Powerpuff Girls was what I wanted and so what I was practicing on and

44:53
Rather than re-storyboard an episode or something, I, sorry, my phone was ringing, that was bad. Rather than storyboarding an already existing episode, I just wrote my own, which maybe explains that I should be a writer, not a storyboard artist. And so I created my own characters and stuff for that story. And so I went back to my old files when this came my way. And I tried to...

45:20
I reworked one of the characters into something that I thought would be really fun. That is badass. This is like a full circle moment in a way. It is. That is, oh wow, that is rad. It's also just an example of writers never throwing anything out. You never know, apparently. Also, sometimes you've got a pitch you really love and for one reason or another it doesn't work at whatever publisher you want it to fit and you're like, hmm, could I reskin this into something?

45:50
creator owned, maybe. So I wasn't really thinking that with this Powerpuff Girls thing, but I was very glad I kept it all those years. And it did feel like a really full circle moment to get to write this character in and make my play to get in the Rogues Gallery. So I think the solicitations that I've seen online go up to, I think, issue two or three. Is this going to be like a long running series, or is this going to be like a limited run? Like how many issues have you already plotted and planned out for? So I'm.

46:19
for sure on for

46:22
on my schedule or what's going on, my understanding is the book is going beyond three issues. I should hope so. I hope we'll be a really strong start for it. I know the writer at least that is coming after me or that was supposed to come after me, which everyone will be delighted by if that is still the case. So I think it will be in very good hands, but technically I'm only on the first three.

46:46
I would love to come back if it can work out, but just the scheduling is a little tricky. I got you. Yeah. So you're in charge of setting the stage. No pressure there, Kelly. Kelly, I think you have... I'm sure you've gotten this question probably in every single interview and who am I to break tradition? If you had to do the impossible task of picking your favorite Powerpuff girl, who would it be? Bubbles. Bubbles all day without hesitation. What is it about bubbles that you like?

47:15
I think first of all, I'd like to be more like her. I'm more like Buttercup. I also like that when Bubbles gets mad, she's more powerful than any of them. So there's something sort of beautiful about the nicest, sweetest one also has the most true rage.

47:39
Maybe that makes me more like Bubbles than I realized. I just like her. I also really, I don't find myself to be a super, I mean, I try to keep it positive in life and not be a nightmare person, but I'm not super positive and she just has a really good outlook. She's also the cutest with the best voice and blue is my favorite color. It's everything stacked against the other girls really. She loves the animals. I always love that.

48:09
That's always a big thing for me. More people should strive to be like Bubbles. Yeah. Put some niceness to the world. Exactly. I was happy when Paulina and I were doing the rounds. Her answer wasn't Bubbles and I felt very good about that. I was like, oh good. It makes me feel like I can say it with pride and without worrying that we're leaving one of the girls out or something. I think I got to give it up to my girl Blossom. As someone that has gone on record saying Leonardo is my favorite turtle out of the

48:38
I guess I just gravitate towards the leaders of the group, the pragmatic ones, aka the brown nosers. Yeah, yeah. It's honestly interesting you said that because I do think the leaders are always the toughest. They always get the rawest deal. They're always the least favorite. Look at her more cyclops. Yeah, yeah. I think it's like the side characters that always get, or the supporting cast that always get the fun shit, right? For sure. I guess it's one of-

49:06
It's one of the reasons I like Buffy so much, I think, is because I think Buffy really transcends that pattern. I think she's the best of all the Buffy characters by far. And I love them all. I'm a super fan. But I think she is a great lead character that transcends the sort of leadership thing that sometimes they get saddled with. Because isn't Leo... I'm...

49:34
I'm way outing myself on what a shitty Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan I am, which is a real crime considering what a good friend I am with Sophie Campbell, but isn't he definitely the least liked leader? You know, man, there's a lot of haters out there that don't appreciate- No, no, I'm not saying it's right. I'm not saying it's right. I'm just asking you.

49:55
in the fandom. That's true, right? Yeah, I think to your point, you know, Leo doesn't get nearly as much love as, you know, hard edge Raphael or funny guy, you know, Mike. You know, I think, I think Donnie. Because they have to be the responsible leader. So they're not allowed to be the like. Much burden. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So it's only natural. But I like that you respect that in them and that you respond to that. Like that you like, that you like Leo and Blossom, like it says something about you. Yes.

50:21
Maybe you're a brown-noser, but you'd also be really good to follow into battle. You're like, yeah, you like rules, apparently. You will read the rule book before we start playing. Well, I should also say I am a rule follower as well. So-

50:38
possibly part of my aversion to the bubbles and the Leonardo's of the world is that I am already too like that and so I Like push against it a little bit. Yeah. Well, you know my theory is like you got to know the rules to break them I will learn the rules just so I could figure out the shortcuts I got one more question on the topic of the Powerpuff Girls and Powerpuff Girls aired in 1998 which seems like another lifetime ago. I was nine years old

51:06
When this when the show aired but it was it was technically the seventh original series of Cartoon Network's original programming it succeeded I am weasel and cow and chicken and Ed and Eddie came out the following year other original programming include Dexter's laboratory Johnny Bravo Courage the Cowardly Dog sheep in the big city Samurai Jack Grim and Evil and the list goes on and on like any cartoon you could think of from that Cartoon Network era

51:35
You know powerpuff girls is in that category and I want to ask you powerpuff girls off the table What's your favorite Cartoon Network original series? From that period or all time because if we if we expand it it's probably gonna be more like Steven Universe Adventure Time nice like solid because I mean those are just brilliant like those those really feel like

52:02
Well, yeah, and they really feel like, I mean, they're very different than Powerpuff Girls, but they feel like the next step to me a little bit. The same kind of ambition, the same kind of layered storytelling that's for kids, but also for adults, that's designed in a way that appeals completely to children. But also there's a fucked up existential thing to like, you know, I mean, listen. I know what you mean there. Yeah, yeah. I mean, there's a... Well, my favorite episode of Adventure Time is the one where the...

52:31
the gummy bears, what do they call, the party bears, and they're inside the mouth. They're living inside another creature and they're just partying. And Jake, they get stuck in there and they're like, Jake and Finn get stuck in there and then like, one of the bears is like, come with me if you wanna live. Like, there's a whole secret thing, but it's like a rave inside this thing. It's hilarious and also terrifying, it's brilliant. It's a lot like Powerpuff Girls to me.

52:58
I wasn't super into a lot of those others. The Johnny Bravo I always wanted to like because I liked the art a lot and it seemed funny but then whenever I watched it, his sense of humor didn't sort of jive with me. I did really like Dexter's Lab when I watched it but again I was never as fanatical about it as something like Powerpuff Girls. I think what Ren and Stimpy was just before it, right? Or maybe it overlapped I guess. It probably did.

53:27
But that was darkly existential and definitely for adults. So I don't know. It's interesting, that period. Now, well, I think for me, I've got Powerpuff Girls off the table. It's a tie between Dexter's lab, because it also had a lot of action. You know, it was getting Tartakovsky. You can't go wrong with it. It's scientists. Yes, Tartakovsky. That is a huge help, for sure. But then also, we were an Ed, Ed and Eddie household. Because I think I saw so much of.

53:55
me and my brothers in these characters. And then also the neighborhood. We used to go outside and play and have all these interesting characters in the neighborhood. I think Ed, Edd, and Eddie didn't track so much for me because A, I was a little older than you, and B, I was the boss in my house of two younger brothers. So a show with just boys, I don't know about that. I bet, I bet, I bet. That was good.

54:16
All right, I want to go ahead and transition from Powerpuff Girls. But I will say once again, if you're listening Powerpuff Girls, issue one is in shops July 17th, which should be at the same time this episode drops. And it's can I just say something? Yeah, please. It's got all these incredible weird covers like, oh my God, there's a connecting there's a connecting cover that's super cool by Karen Darabow or Darebow. I'm not sure how to pronounce that. I apologize.

54:41
And then like Leo Romero did these cool ones. There's a foil one. There's a metal one I might have to get that metal one I've never had a metal comic but I got an I got to know about it. So They didn't do a ton of different variants, but they all have a lot of different treatments, which seems pretty fun I will say this the Leo Romero cover and even like the egg cover by Polygon a show You look at it in the theme song starts playing in your head

55:09
Which is a badass theme song. I was listening to it like on repeat today. I was like, this snare is good. It's a great theme song. It is. It's awesome. All right, let's transition. And I have helped to transition to another topic. And it comes in the form of a voicemail from one of your biggest fans. You haven't met them yet. You don't know them, but you will hear shortly. I'm gonna queue up a question from my favorite local comic shop. It is Jack's first premiere comic shop, Gotham City Limit. Also the official sponsor of this show.

55:38
And the question was submitted by the owner, the man who runs the shop, and maybe the best comic salesman that has ever lived. His name is Ben Kingsbury. And he submitted a question for you that I'd love for you to answer. So here we go. Hey, Kelly, Ben K. Gotham City Limit, Jacksonville, Florida here. Thanks so much for taking some time to answer a local comic shop question. At our shop, I can tell you, we love reading comics just as much as we love selling them.

56:08
And one of my favorite runs in the six and a half years I've owned my comic shop is your Black Widow run that started in 2020. As we speak, Scarlet number two is about to drop in comic shops and it's one of the more popular titles of the year. So here's an awesome hypothetical question coming from someone who's written both characters in a sweet one on one battle. Who would win?

56:35
Shanna Scarlett O'Hara or Natasha Black Widow Romanoff? I'll leave you to answer. Thanks so much for taking some time and making awesome comics. We literally couldn't do it without you. And remember, short box nation, always take it to the limit. Big shout out to Ben Kingsbury at Gotham City Limit. That was a really good question. That's a really good question. Your friend Ben is trying to get me killed out here.

57:05
Oh my god, I can see the G.I. Joe fanboys now. I mean, are you kidding?

57:14
All right. Okay. I'm going to give it to I'm giving it to Natasha. But the asterix is she's old this time. She is brand new. If she can be the Black Widow, and the Black Widow has been around. I mean, I don't know, even if even if you don't want to go with the real continuity where she's been around since the 40s or whatever. So obviously she has had

57:43
more experienced than almost anyone in comics. Even if you don't want to consider that, she's still much older and more experienced than Shaina. Shaina is an incredibly talented and gifted operative, but she's at the beginning of her career. She's like not even 25. So I just don't think that's in comparison. I also think that while I would say Shaina is certainly one of the most deadly characters in the G.I. Joe universe, and we are writing her as such,

58:13
I do think that Black Widow is often referred to as the most dangerous character in the Marvel Universe, even though compared to others, she has hardly any superpowers. So I do feel like, you know, universes try to balance the way they talk about these things, right? You can't call everyone the most dangerous person in the universe because then it means nothing. But I do feel like she gets that moniker in Marvel a lot and they're pretty respectful of it, of her as a force to be reckoned with.

58:43
I'm going to give it to Natasha because of age and say that she's just got way more experience. But time shenanigans or something, Shayna might be able to catch up with her. I don't know. Ten years. It's different. Every Marvel fanboy, especially Ben, is cheering for that answer. G.I. Joe fanboys, look, it was a very logical answer. You got to get behind the facts. Now imagine though, Scarlett.

59:12
under the training of said black widow oldest time spy assassin. I mean, you can only imagine how bad devastating, which Kelly, I want to say I've read, I had a chance to read an early copy of Scarlet issue two. And as someone who was going to draw the line, I was like, look, this Energon universe is getting is expansive. You know, they're announcing titles every month. I'm like, I got to draw the line somewhere. My pocketbook, you know, my bank account can only handle so much.

59:41
I was not sure if I was going to have Scarlett added to my pull list if I was going to pick that up on a monthly basis, but god damn it, those first two issues are so good. Thank you so much. And I want to make sure I get the artist right, Marco... Wait, hold on here. Ferrari. Marco Ferrari. Oh my god. It is a fun, not just fun, it's a badass spy thriller book. And Scarlett, I got to put respect on her name. Matter of fact, I'm the Shaq meme right now.

01:00:11
I apologize. I was familiar with your game, Scarlett, but I put respect on it now. Yeah, it's a great addition to the Energon universe. So congratulations. Thank you. I feel like I'm worried we're going to get some blowback of people being mad that she's able to defeat ninjas so easily. I just want people to remember that that doesn't mean she can beat everyone. But when you're talking about...

01:00:36
Nameless faceless ninja even if they're even if they're the Arashikaji, which should be very good. She's elite She's like Jinx. She's like storm shadow. She's like the eventual snake eyes Like she's elite the way named characters are elite So I understand you guys are a little mad that the white girls beating up so many ninjas But like she's elite. She was trained by jinx. She was trained by the military. She's incredible Let her let her have this

01:01:04
She's she's doing the right thing. Yeah, I'm right put some respect on Scarlet's name Kelly, you know, I'm throughout the course of this interview and I mean even from like your bibliography I'm looking at it. I'm like, you know, there's no hyperbole in saying this But I think she's written just about every single female character in Marvel. She's you know, it got her creator on stuff She's out here and I mean Birds of Prey I mean you're writing a bunch of different voices and characters in that and I was curious. Is there any white buffalo?

01:01:32
that you have in terms of characters that you haven't written that you really want to write? In terms of established characters, I know that you're leaning it really hard and heavy into the creator and stuff, but in terms of established characters and IP, who's your white buffalo? Who are you still like, once I write them, I can say, yo, I'm good. Well, I don't know if you've heard of this character, but there's this guy named Batman. Nobody's familiar with him, but I really want to get my hands on him. Is that an indie title?

01:02:01
I think that's that in the end you tell, right? It's gonna be hot, man, I'm telling you. Yeah, I mean, listen, I'm a normal, red-blooded human being. I want to write Batman. We all want to write Batman. He's the greatest detective. I worry I won't ever get to write him. I also worry that all my ideas for him have already been used. I'm looking at you for some of those ideas. Tom King, god damn it.

01:02:28
Sam King is a great writer. I'm a big fan. He and I, we don't do things the same way. And I have this with Kieran Gillan too, where we approach things very differently in how we execute stories. But I see a lot of overlap in like, they'll come out with a new book and I'm like, well, I guess I got to cross that off the old idea file. Drag out the document and scratch it out. Stop being so good. Yeah. Kieran Gillan got it.

01:02:56
first Kelly, like once again, you know. So I think Batman is certainly the brass ring we all reach for in a lot of ways. There are a ton of DC characters I'd still like to get my hands on. I mean, I've barely started scratching the surface there. I continue to stack Birds of Prey with weird characters that I find very interesting that I think deserve stories. Hopefully that continues to work out for me and doesn't backfire. We'll see.

01:03:26
There aren't that many characters at Marvel that I really felt like I didn't get a shot at. I would have liked to write more She-Hulk because I love that character and I had a lot of fun with her in an ensemble capacity, so I'd be happy to play with her again for sure. There are certainly X-Men that I love that I didn't get to in my limited tenure, but I did get to write a little bit of some of my...

01:03:54
top faves, you know, even Wolverine I got to write in an issue of Deadpool and stuff like that. So I felt pretty good about it where I landed. I think there's a weird thing with my career where it's hard to tell whether I'm not reaching enough for marquee characters or I'm just not being handed enough marquee characters. But part of that comes down to I like the weirdos. I like characters that...

01:04:25
aren't maybe being explored in full. And I will also say that there's a very real, there's real truth to reaching for a character that's not been used a lot or that's not being used a lot that gives you a lot more flexibility. When I had She-Hulk on A-Force, and admittedly I was a brand new writer, that was like my second book at Marvel, so things are a little different now. I know better how to ask for things and how things work. But

01:04:53
You know, I really was, my hands were very tied on doing anything with She-Hulk. I had all these ideas I wanted to do and she had her own book at the time. So they don't let you just do that in a weird ensemble book. They want that stuff happening in her main book. But like I was able to do really cool stuff with Dazzler because nobody cared what she was up, nobody knew what Nico was doing to have their own books. And so you can sometimes reach for like.

01:05:18
really cool stories that people don't expect from the characters who are more on the edges and who aren't called Batman and Wolverine. And so I think there's a sort of strange mix for my career of doing that. Well, and I think that's when you can really tell a writer that can really write in terms of voice, character, and all of that. It's like, yeah, when you're writing Batman, there's a lot of weight already there, too. It's already done half the work for you. It's like, it's Batman.

01:05:43
But let me see you write a compelling big Barda story, or to your point, make Dazzler cool. And I think there's plenty of examples in your career where you've shown that ability, where you've got the writing chops. And regardless of what character that you get, you're going to make them a marquee character. Well, thank you. I mean, that's certainly what I try to do. I definitely have a philosophy about you're only as good as the last comic someone read of yours. So.

01:06:12
And that doesn't mean it's the last comic you put out, because that's not how comics work. People discover stuff all the time, whether it's digitally or in back issues or some friend handing it to them or pulling it off a bookshelf because you bought it two years ago. So I try really hard to make every single thing I write, no matter what it is, of a level of quality that you want to look for my name again, because that's all I've got. That's my only currency, especially as social media and everything else crumbles around us.

01:06:40
name recognition is what you can bank on. It's tough. Well said. I'll say this, the San Diego Comic-Con, if Birds of Prey doesn't win best continuing series at Eisner, I'm going to pull a Kanye West and just walk up on stage.

01:06:57
We're up against some really tough contenders in that category. Well look, Merserray is a tough comic book in every sense of the word. It is. Kelly, before I let you go, I got to ask maybe, I always save the best for last and for some folks this is maybe the hardest question they get all interview, but if you had to create a comic book Mount Rushmore of your favorite writers, now this is like your personal Mount Rushmore.

01:07:23
I always add the caveat that this obviously can change depending on your mood and what day it is, but right now, if you had to create a Mount Rushmore of your favorite all-time comic book writers, who would be on that Mount Rushmore? That's a really hard question. It's a really good question. It's really hard.

01:07:41
David Mazza Kelly. Ooh, off the gate. That's fantastic. That's a great selection. Thank you. I think it's the first time I heard someone put him on there. That's good. I'm gonna say one head is gonna be shared by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki. And I'll just say they're like hugging so that they can fit in one. I don't think I've got room for both of them, but they both deserve to be there. I'm gonna say Kelly Sue DeConnick. I think that's probably a little controversial in a way.

01:08:12
But I think she's done incredible things in this industry, and particularly for female characters and women in comics. I think her visible women stuff alone that she does through social media is worthy, but she wouldn't be on the list if Bitch Planet wasn't one of the best books I've ever read. I mean, it was incredible. It borderline revolutionized me. It was really powerful. For that alone, I think she deserves to be up there.

01:08:42
Gosh, the fourth spot is always the hardest, isn't it? Oh man, I've only got one left. Like, you know, I want to put all my friends up there. I want to put, oh, I'm going to do something real controversial. Let's do it. I'm going to put Lorenzo Di Felice up there, who is the writer artist of Chroma, which came out from Skybound. He's also the artist of Void Rivals. Oh, man. Yeah. It's a bold pick, but.

01:09:13
He is an incredible artist on his own. To be able to come out and have done so little in at least the American market, I don't know what he'd done in his own market first, but to come out first things first with Chroma, written and drawn by you, I mean, it was a spectacular work. It stayed with me more than almost anything I've read in the last few years. And it was really powerful. And to be an artist and writer.

01:09:42
I don't want to take him off but also like I didn't put Kate Beaton on there. What an idiot Kate Beaton should be on there How about how about Jamie Hernandez? I see I've made a meal It's like Medusa's head I need a lot more heads. No to quote Shaq once again I was not familiar with with Lorenzo definitely She's a game because I think this is the first time I'm seeing chroma and I pulled it up on Google really quick

01:10:10
And yeah, it looks just as beautiful as his work in Void Rivals. I had no idea he had it in him to write as well. I'm going to check this out. It's awesome. And I'm always disappointed because whenever I recommend it, nobody's ever heard of it. And that's fine. I'm happy to bring them something cool. But it's disappointing, right? It just reminds you how hard it is to get the word out about good stuff. You know, you get really depressed. You're like, oh, I put everything into this. And nobody even knows it exists. And then.

01:10:40
I don't know, it's hard. It can be really disheartening. Well, look, you changed that today. So you know, Lorenzo owes you on this one. I've been saying it on a lot of cast, so I hope it's getting around. I think it's also hard because when you're in comics like anything else, it seems to matter more in the year it releases or at least the year it releases plus the following year if there are going to be any awards or anything. So

01:11:07
I always feel like it feels a little frustrating after the fact, you know, like the longer it passes. But it always helps to recommend a great book to someone. I mean, I found, I don't remember how I came across it, but years later after I knew Scotty Young and had met him at Marvel Retreats and stuff, I found out that he had years before recommended on a podcast my graphic novel Heart in a Box.

01:11:34
and he didn't know me, it was just some new indie book that he happened to read and he really thought it was cool and he thought the art was cool. I just have never really forgotten that, how cool it would be. I wish I'd heard it in real time back then because I'm sure I could have used the confidence boost but it was still cool to see it in retrospect. It's really nice the way the comics industry is always reading itself and recommending itself and it's great.

01:12:00
Man, that is so heartwarming to hear. And you know, you've returned the favor to Lorenzo in this case with me and my listeners. So I hope you like it. No, I hope you like it. Let me know. I got a feeling I will. All right, Kelly, last question and then we'll definitely wrap this up. But do you have any advice for aspiring comic writers that want to do what you do, that want to get into the industry, that want to be the next Kelly Thompson and whatnot? Like, what advice would you give to someone that's listening right now?

01:12:27
that maybe you wish you would have gotten early on in your career that would have made things so much, you know, maybe made something easier for you? Well, for me, I always just feel like I waited too long. Like I got too I was too nervous about it. I was too afraid or insecure about my own ability to do this. And so I I wish I'd started sooner because a lot of this industry is hurry up and wait. And there's a lot of waiting. And so.

01:12:56
the less you can make the waiting be on your end, whether it's waiting to get started or making people wait on you to respond. Like get your materials ready, get right stories, right every day, get your stuff ready so that when the call comes, you're ready and try to self publish, make connections with other people. I say what I said at the top of the thing, read Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics. It will teach you basically everything you need to know. Read as many comics as possible.

01:13:24
If you want to challenge yourself further, write reviews of them, analyze them, so that you can see why they work and why they don't, and you can take that knowledge for yourself. It's powerful stuff. I also think Kelly Sue has a great trick if you're further along and you're already writing scripts and stuff. She has an incredible trick that's, I'm not exactly how she recommends to do it.

01:13:49
if she recommends to take a script and rewrite it for another artist, like take a pre-existing, you could take a pre-existing if you needed help, like take one of my scripts or something and type it out and then write it as if you were writing it for another different artist to get different results than we got. But you could also do it with your own material where you're like, I'm writing this script with Leonardo Romero in mind. Great. What does that script look like if you're writing it for Leonardo Di Filippici?

01:14:19
What are the ways you can approach that differently? I thought that was an incredible trick that she talked about. Yeah, I've never heard that one. That almost sounds like the writing equivalent of, I forgot who shared, I think a few artists have shared this before, but like where they were recommending for comic artists to redraw your favorite comics. So like you can kind of get into the head of the artists and like why they made certain decisions and all of that. So that sounds like the writing equivalent. It's interesting, it's hard.

01:14:46
But there is, from my brief art days, I know that they do sometimes recommend that, like take a comic that's already drawn and redraw it, either trying to duplicate what they do and then draw it a different way. One of the many assignments I really did like in school had us take the same short story that we'd written, a single page short story, one page, and then we were allowed to do it one way. We could do whatever panels we wanted.

01:15:16
One way you had to do a nine panel grid, and one you had to do, I think it was something like four to five panels, which is a pretty typical comic book, superhero comic book page, four to five panels. And I found that to be what, and I was drawing it, which is a nightmare because I'm just not much of an artist, but I found it fascinating as a learning experience, like what I could get out of those pages with that content. So I think that's a pretty good trick too.

01:15:45
No, solid piece of the device, Kelly. Thank you. All right, ladies and gents, this is the Short Box Podcast, and we just finished talking with Kelly Thompson about all of the comics she's currently working on, like Birds of Prey, Scarlet, and the new Powerpuff Girls, which are all available at a local comic shop near you or a bookstore right now. Once again, Powerpuff Girls, number one is out on July 17th, which should be today or by the time you're hearing this. Do yourselves a favor, add these books to your pull list, grab the trades when they come out.

01:16:13
Follow Kelly Thompson on X and Instagram to stay up to date with what she's got going on. I'll have a few links to her social media in these show notes, so please check that out. Kelly, do you have any parting words, anything else you wanna share that maybe we didn't get to, any upcoming projects, et cetera, et cetera? I think unfortunately the announcements that I have, I still can't say yet, but I've got some cool stuff coming. I would say follow me on my sub stack and...

01:16:37
That's the best place to keep track of me and know what's coming out. That's 1979 Thank you. Kelly, this was fantastic. I can't thank you enough for your time and I wish you all the best on the Powerpuff Girls release and everything else you got going on. You got a fan and you got a home here at the Short Box. Thank you so much. I had a great time.

01:17:00
There you have it short box nation, that's the end of the show. Thank you for hanging out. Thanks for being here. And a special shout out if you made it this far. If you enjoyed this episode and you have some thoughts or comments that you want to share with us, write us at theshortboxjaxx at gmail.com. And if you really liked this episode, help us spread the word, share this episode with a friend or someone you know that loves comics as much as we do. And don't forget to leave us a five star rating and review on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

01:17:27
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01:17:54
Speaking of our Patreon community, I want to give a big shout out to our current members, including Adam Chaitani, Tony Aupi, RC Gamet, Blake Simone, Blythe Brumleaf, Bo Evers, Brian Brumleaf, Chad Lannenberger, Chris Hacker, Chris Jinx, Kenny Myers, David Morales, Triple D Mystic, Dominique Jackson, Errol White, Edbot 5000, Generation Jaguar, Greg Hopkins, Greg Lichtig, Henry Hernandez, Hershel, Hydrus96 aka Mac J. Sinner, Jeff Frimmid.

01:18:23
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01:18:51
and continue to make mine and yours short box. I'll catch you soon. Peace.