Kelly Sue DeConnick, the writer behind the Eisner-winning Wonder Woman: Historia, recently ended the first arc of their newest series, FML. Her latest work blends reality and fiction, taking inspiration from her own life and the lives of her family. DeConnick previously sat down with The Beat to discuss the emotional truths behind the series. The Beat had the opportunity to meet with DeConnick again at Portland’s Rose City Comic Con to talk about creating art with and about family.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
ISAAC SWINDLE: Thank you for taking the time to meet with me. Tell me a little bit about the projects you’ve got coming up with Dark Horse.
KELLY SUE DECONNICK: I have a big project coming up with Dark Horse that I’m really excited about, but I don’t think I’m allowed to talk about it yet. I have FML [and] we just finished up the first arc. It’s 8 issues. It’s a substantial trade. Really, I’m very proud of that book. And the trade of that will be out, I believe, in October. And I have seen it, and it’s gorgeous. And it has all new back matter, too, which I think is a good thing. Because comics are expensive, and we try to do back matter in all of our singles, so that you get a lot of value for the book. And then we don’t want people who support the singles, if they decide to get the trade, feel like they’re just buying exactly the same thing again in another forma. So we do all new back matter. And I try to do that always in books that I’m involved with. So it’s all new back matter in the FML trade. Then my husband [Matt Fraction] is taking over, and writing the second arc of FML. David [López] will still be on art. I will still be involved, but he’s gonna be doing that story and script, which I’m really nervous about. I’m nervous about it because I’m a control freak, and I’m nervous about it because I’m like, “What if people like yours better than mine?” But we’re very, very different writers, so I think it’ll just be really interesting. And also, I don’t know if anybody’s ever done anything like that before, which is kind of fun. And that book is so much about our family, that to have him doing it from his perspective will be interesting. Mine was about the whole family, but centered on Patty and Riley, the mom and the son, and his will be centered on Lil and Dad. [Matt] and David are both fathers of daughters [so] I think [this] will be really lovely.
SWINDLE: Tell me a little bit, as much as you feel comfortable, about the touch of your real life that comes into FML.
DECONNICK: So it’s a really complicated thing, right? I talked to the kids before I did this project, and was like, “I want to base some of these characters on you and some of your friends. But I need to do that with your permission, because my goal is never to embarrass you or to invade your privacy. Also, these characters are based on you, but they will grow.” And they did very quickly, to become their own people. And I couldn’t, if they were, if I was trying to write you in comic book form, I would not be able to put them in danger, in the way that I have to put them in danger in the book to have stakes and fun and story. Because I want to protect my children from everything, right? And so both of my children see themselves as writers. Both my children are writers. At this point, my children are 16 and 19, and they are very good writers who will eclipse their parents. My daughter is so good at this point. She actually wrote the introduction to the trade. And it was her first professional writing gig, which was great.
SWINDLE: Can you tell me a little bit about your relationship with your artistic and creative partners on FML? What is it like to bring them into bring them into your family?
DECONNICK: That’s a great question. Nobody’s asked me that one. Good job. Most of my books start because I want to work with a particular artist, right? And so David and I had worked together on Captain Marvel, and he was like, “You know, we should do something creator-owned together.” And I was like, “Yeah,” but I never really had the right idea for him. And every few years he would be like, “What about this? What about this?” And we tried a few different things. We actually had a few false starts. We actually had a few false starts to FML, which we have published in the back matter, so you can sort of see that these books don’t come to me or to David fully formed. There’s stops and starts in figuring out what the book is and what the book isn’t, and we wanted to share that for people. But we love David and his family. His daughter, Marcella, also did some comics for the back matter. Marcella is incredibly talented, very funny, and very quick witted. These folks that you work with over many years like, Emma Ríos, Valentine De Landro, Phil Jimenez, Clayton Cowles, the letterer on literally everything that I do where I get to ask for my letterer. They’re brilliant, there are other brilliant letterers out there, but Clayton and I just click. And Chris Peter, who was the original colorist on Bitch Planet, was able to come in and color FML, which also made me very happy. But the folks like that…
SWINDLE: A family reunion.
DECONNICK: Yes, those people kind of become extended family. You know, Valentine and his family have come to visit us and we took them out to Woodburn, you know? It was like, “Do you want to go to the Nike store?” And Phil is the closest person to where my son is for college. And so, if my son should need an adult, I am like, “Okay, Uncle Phil is a ferry ride away.” You know what I mean? Like, these people just become extended families. So it made a lot of sense. And they know the kids. [With] David, there was one year where we had a mix up, going to New York Comic Con and [my son] was with me, but I had a friend coming in who was going to watch him, so I could do some meetings and things. I thought she was coming in at 9:30 in the morning. She was coming in at 9:30 at night, and so [my son] had to go with me to a bunch of meetings, and then there was a dinner that he did not particularly want to go to, and I think maybe it was even 21 and older. David and Pepe Larraz stayed in the hotel room and babysat [my son] and played video games with him. So they remember eight-year old [son.] So, it was lovely.
SWINDLE: I have one last question for you. I would be remiss if I didn’t ask about the Absolute edition of Wonder Woman Historia. Tell me a little bit about the production behind that gorgeous tome.
DECONNICK: Have you seen it yet?
SWINDLE: I have not seen it. I’ve not gotten a chance.
DECONNICK: I don’t know exactly when it comes out. But it is so beautiful. You don’t want to jinx these things, but when the comps showed up at the house, Matt [Fraction] was like, “So Reza [Lokman] will be getting the Eisner for the book design on this next year.” And you never know but it is certainly Eisner worthy. He just did an absolutely incredible job. He reached out and was like, “You know, we want to do this. What ideas do you have?” And we threw everything at him like a challenge coin for every tribe and they figured out a version of that, where there’s a medallion for every tribe, and you can kind of choose your medallion, and then it magnets on the book. It’s really unique. Just beautiful deckled edges. The conceit of the book is this is the history of the Amazons that a young Amazon would read. And so we wanted to be like an old textbook. The whole tome and the box that comes in is textured like wood.
Stay tuned to The Beat for more coverage from Rose City Comic Con.
