INTERVIEW: Joe Corallo and Liana Kangas Flip the Switch on Good and Evil in She Said Destroy

When you hear Goddess of Death, you assume she’s the bad guy, right? That’s not the case in Vault Comics’ She Said Destroy. The book centers on a lone space colony that has managed to dodge being conquered by Brigid, Goddess of the Sun. The Witches Fey are the last believers of The Morrigan, Goddess of Death and Brigid’s sister. The group and their Goddess prepare to do what needs to be done to protect their colony from Brigid’s forces and stop her domination once and for all.
I chatted with writer Joe Corallo and artist Liana Kangas about their teamup for this series.
Deanna Destito: What drew you to this project?
Liana Kangas: I’ve been working on a ton of great anthologies, in support of building hope, political sensitive topics, and community building projects, but I’ve been itching to work on space centric stories where a lot of my interest lies. When Joe and I started talking more often than business, he approached me about She Said Destroy and I was excited about the challenge of just mixing fantasy and sci fi and making it work. That’s initially what hooked me, as well as the concept of the Morrigan being a savior of life. Working with Joe and creating an original story has been the most rewarding experience.
Destito: How heavily did you draw on mythology, movies, games, etc. when creating this world?
Joe Corallo: I’d say there were some heavy influences in parts. Wanting the sort of aesthetic we went for, particularly with Rebecca Nalty’s colors, was definitely influenced in part by anime, other animated series, and games. And the mythology around The Morrigan and Brigid was directly drawn upon as these are those characters from mythology, just in the far future. I expanded on things, left certain elements out, and added my own to give the characters a unique spin, but the mythology was certainly a heavy influence there.
Destito: The Morrigan are not usually the good guys. What inspired you to flip the script for this story?
Corallo: A couple of months before I really fleshed out this idea, I had a conversation with a friend of mine, Beth, about how The Morrigan is more often than not used as a villain, but there isn’t anything inherently evil about death. Death is something natural that happens to all of us, so why not put a positive spin on that?
Destito: Liana, how much creative freedom did you have designing the world and the characters?
Kangas: I love working with Joe, he’s put his entire trust in me while we collaborated over the process. I was able to do a ton of fun research on different cultures and put a futuristic fantasy spin on everything. Most of the characters went through little to no changes after I fleshed them out, just small things here and there that I was particularly picky about!
Destito: How has it been working with Liana?
Corallo: Honestly? It’s been really great! We’ve literally spent tens of hours on the phone working out details, going over ideas, scripts, cover designs, layouts, everything really. We communicate really well and I think that’s been key to making this comic work.
Destito: Liana, I know you are into sci-fi/fantasy both in movies/tv and games. Do you feel at home drawing a book like this? Is it more your style?
Kangas: This was actually a new branch out for me in comics since I’m still so fresh to the industry. I was initially wanting to create noir thriller comics at first (and even worked on Devil’s Dye, a noir by Black AF/Black Mask right before this). Some of my favorite comics have been Outcast, Frank Miller books, things by Mignola. So I was happy to finally try a lighter style of mine to match Joe’s writing. I wanted it airy and accessible to different readers, including myself! I really enjoy bright colorful indie books and that was something Joe and I discussed before pitching it. I feel like I’ve really settled into finding my voice with drawing this series so far.

Destito: Who is your favorite character to draw? What sources did you use?
Kangas: I really enjoy drawing Winona and Raul, some of our main characters…. who I may have loosely based a lot of traits off two of my closest friends Stacey and Alex… when Joe first described them I could immediately see some of their personality in my head visually so it made it incredibly easy to work out their designs.
Destito: What has been your favorite part to develop?
Corallo: Probably the bad guys! Brigid’s Light Knights and her flagship, The Inspiration, have been some of the more fun parts to develop. And how the Light Knights travel. All of those aspects of the series, I think, are going to help make this really stand out.
Destito: Can you see yourself playing around with other parts of this universe in the future?
Kangas: Joe gave me an incredible flashback in issue 2 that I’d love to play a little more with, perhaps making a prequel in the future involving the origins of Brigid and The Morrigan– or maybe doing stories from Brigid’s side of the main characters like how some of the Light Knights became enlisted.
Corallo: Absolutely! I don’t want to go too deep into it just yet, but as people read this arc, I think they’ll see a rich history for The Morrigan and Brigid here and how that can be used to open up the world further. We could possibly continue following Winona and/or Raul, we could go to another point in history with another tribe of witches that The Morrigan is closely watching over; we have a lot of options.
Issue #1 of She Said Destroy is set for release in comic shops on May 29. Tell your favorite store to preorder by May 6 or preorder on Vault Comics’ site here.