So a few months back I did an Interview with the writer for the comic book Paradox Girl. Hope you enjoy and check out her work :).
1: What got you into comics?
Cayti B: I grew up with the Xmen and Batman/Superman cartoons. I was surrounded by friends who were super into comic books and would share the stories with me or try to make me sit down and read the Infinity Gauntlet or Maximum Carnage or the Dark Phoneix Saga. I never really got into comics myself until my twenties when I read Four Women by Sam Keith and later Preacher. I'm definitely more in love with the culture of comic books than I am comics themselves.
2: How'd you come up with the idea for Paradox Girl?
Cayti B: It's a bit of a long story. At it's most basic, Paradox Girl is based off a lot of the internal angst I went through in my twenties. I'd come up with a character who lived in constant discord and conflict with herself. It was pretty terrible, but from that came the concept of a living Paradox, someone without a past and with an infinite future of hers all wanting to mess with her. From a more philosophical stand point: If you go back and change your past, it changes who you are, and the new you just has a different set of regrets.
3: How long do you plan to make this series? Like how much of the story do you have mapped out?
Cayti B: I have about 18 or so Issues planned for the moment, and might take it as far as 24. I'm a firm believer that stories (and characters especially) need endings and some sense of closure. One of my biggest pet peeves about comics in general is that we have these long living iconic characters and keep putting them through hardship for our entertainment.
As far as the scope of Paradox Girl's story, that's difficult to answer. Issues are all self contained and tell an individual, complete, and (hopefully) satisfying story. There aren't arcs in a traditional sense, because by her very nature there's no direct continuity to her actions. Future issues will parallel events of early issues or even contradict them, creating all new paradoxes. Thematically PG will struggle with her timelessness, the inevitability of loss, and the concept of identity.
4: When did Paradox Girl first debute?
Cayti B: PG's first issue came out in January of 2015. 'A Day in the Life of a Paradox' showcases some of the innovative storytelling and the wackiness of the main character.
5: Do you have any other works besides Paradox Girl or is it your first?
Cayti B: I'm working on another title now called LEGND, which we're hoping to provide a teaser for soon. My first comic was called Heaven, but it didn't get published. Maybe once PG meets more success I'll find an artist who wants to work with me to make it happen.
6: What is your favorite thing about writing Paradox Girl?
Cayti B: I only get to pick one? I think messing with the medium and getting meta by violating panel and page borders. The character herself is wacky and it's great fun to get up to all the hijinx and making sure it still works, but telling a story by using the medium for more than just pictures on a page is a great challenge.
7: What advice could you give to someone who wants to start their own comic?
Cayti B: Write and share stories with the people closest to you. You'll get better at writing stories, you'll get a sense for which of your ideas have traction with others and which don't, and importantly you'll BE writing. What makes you a comic writer isn't that you're working for DC or Marvel or even published, it's that you're writing comics. When it comes to getting the attention of a publisher, I have been told that it helps to have an artist already ready to work with you. This can be tricky, but keep at it. It's been 10 years since I wrote my first comic.
8: How long does it take you to come up with the story?
Cayti B: For the first issue it was something that came to me while I was trying to sleep. Bits and pieces kept putting themselves together in my head till I just had to get up and write it. Took me a couple of days to get all the time jumps consistent and make sure the story made sense. I have a document with lots of my issue ideas for future issues and I add to it from time to time. When it's time to sit down and write they're usually knocked out in a day, maybe two.
9: Would you ever want Paradox Girl to become a tv show?
Cayti B: SO SO much. We had great voice work from Janna Polzin for the kickstarter video. She did an amazing job with it. I'd love to have an animated cartoon of PG's antics. If they ever do live action of PG, I hope Gillian Jacobs would be available, she'd be perfect!
10: What genre would label your comic book as?
Cayti B: Time Travel Comedy. It's a superhero comic, but really most of the time is spent on the time travel antics. Vanquishing villains is the B story in most of the issues.
11: If you could date any comic book character who would you date and why?
Cayti B: Definitely Rorschach, so that after our first date I can look at him and beg for a second date. Then he can look down at me and whisper 'no'.
12: Where can people find you and your comic on the internet?
Cayti B: I hang out on Twitch a lot (user Unweaver), frequently on twitch.tv/absnerdity . He's trying to beat all SNES games, and its a nostalgia fest that I ABSolutely love.
The comic can be found at www.paradoxgirl.com, or our (recently funded, woo hoo!) Kickstarter at http://kck.st/1H9ONG3
