Jadzia Axelrod Interview - Hawkgirl and Galaxy: As the World Falls Down!

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[00:01:29] Head to 2000AD.com and click on subscribe now or download the 2000AD app and why wait, start reading today. I'll put links in the show notes for you. Hello and welcome to Comic Book Yeti's Cryptid Creator Corner. I am one of your hosts, Jimmy Gasparo, and I am very excited to talk to today's guest. I believe this is their first time on the podcast.

[00:01:52] But I recently read Talk Girl Once Upon a Galaxy. I loved it so much. I had to reach out and ask her if she would come on the podcast to talk about it and also to talk about Galaxy and whatever else she has going on.

[00:02:09] And plus, you know, I always love whenever I can get anybody who's local or in the area on the podcast, which is very exciting for me. Go birds. I'm wearing my Eagles hat for our podcast listeners. But yes, please welcome to the podcast, Jedzia Axelrod. Jedzia, how are you doing today? I'm great. Thank you for having me on. This is wonderful.

[00:02:34] Now, I'm so excited for you to be here. I followed you on social media for a while and just had not had a chance to read Talk Girl. I mean, we typically cover indie comics here on Comic Book Yeti, but certainly I read all kinds of stuff.

[00:02:56] DC is always when it comes to the big two. I've always kind of been DC more so than Marvel for no other reason than just it's what I gravitated to as a kid. And then when I got back, the podcast listeners have heard this story. But when I got back into comics, DC is what kind of brought me back into reading big two comics. And, you know, I've branched out and read plenty of indie and all kinds of wonderful stuff. But I just I love your your your Hawker.

[00:03:25] I just thank you. I love the characterization of Kendra Saunders. I loved her other cast of characters. I love the, you know, bringing Galaxy into, you know, this story as well. Um, yeah, I just I just had such a great time reading it. I thought it was super fun. Uh, the artwork. It's Amon K. Now well pan.

[00:03:56] If I'm trying to say that correctly, I get the last name right. It's Amon K. Amon K. OK. And just artwork was was tremendous. I mean, cover to cover, just absolutely loved it. And I just I wanted to come on and talk to you about it and whatever else and talk about Galaxy. So yeah, I'm happy to do all that. I'm so glad you loved it. I had such fun writing it. It was my first chance to do like actual superhero floppies.

[00:04:23] And I really kind of grabbed that with both hands and dug in and had so much fun. Well, I talk to, you know, creators a lot who, you know, not just. Get a chance to work on like big two books, but even anything else where you're kind of taking over somebody else's character and like kind of leaving your mark on it. I think one of the toughest things is to figure out, you know, the story you want to tell.

[00:04:52] Keeping some of that continuity in mind and how you're going to, you know, what stamp you're going to leave on the character. And I think any of either like Hawkman or Hawkgirl, like either one of them, though, it's it's it's there's so much in terms of their backstory.

[00:05:13] I think it it seems like daunting to kind of like jump in there and be like, oh, how am I going to leave my mark on, you know, whichever whichever Hulk character it is? But I I I really think like you kind of jumped in and took everything that Kendra, you know, has had in in her past.

[00:05:41] And really did a great job of kind of telling like a very modern story with all of that and leaving the character in like a fantastic place. If you get to revisit it or somebody else is going to come in and write a Kendra story. I just thought that first and foremost was really impressive because I feel like that can be kind of weighty dealing with all of that sometime, you know? Well, thank you. That was the brief.

[00:06:07] I was told that when I got the gig, it was like the point of this story is to put Kendra in a place where we can tell new stories with her from there. So to give her a platform from which new stories could spring. So thank you for letting me know that I succeeded in that. Yeah. Yeah. And it was daunting at the first for two reasons. One.

[00:06:34] The Hawk stuff is vast, like there's a large history there of various not just stories, but also people trying to correct those stories and have them fit whatever larger continuity is going on. And some of those solutions were good and some of them turn out to not have stood the test of time.

[00:06:59] And so having to sift through that and find the the wheat from the dross was. I wouldn't say difficult because I love those stories, so it's not like it was a pain or anything, but it was something that was formidable. Um, but again, like I love those stories and I love Kendra as a character.

[00:07:20] So for me, the way I found my way through all that was to merely look at her and be like, let's say that every story that she's been in. Was on purpose. And this was a constant, a concerted effort to make a coherent story. Now, obviously it wasn't because she was written by different people with different goals at different times. And oftentimes she was a supporting character.

[00:07:49] So her characterization maybe was not at the forefront of whoever was writing her at the time because they were dealing with Justice League stories or just society stories or what have you. Right. So, but if we assume that it was all on purpose, if we look at it like it was all on purpose, what does that say about the character?

[00:08:07] How has she changed from her initial, um, introduction in 1999 and versus how she is now in when I wrote the book in 2023? What, what, what would that mean to have gone through all those changes to have been that person who has saved the universe a couple times now and is still 23 or however old she's supposed to be early twenties.

[00:08:37] Um, like, what does that mean? And like, when we have a character who is so rebellious and, um, sharp mouthed in her introduction and now is like this extremely reserved team player who does what needs to be done for the greater good of the group. Like what happened there? Like what happened there? How has that changed her?

[00:09:02] And so to take that as read and to take that as like everything is on purpose and everything was done for this character in this one way. Who is she now? It really laid everything out in a really nice way. So that, in that way, continuity helped me because enforcing myself to look at it as on purpose. It really revealed a character that not only fit with continuity, but was very interesting to write. Oh, yeah. That's, I mean, that's kind of, that's fascinating.

[00:09:30] You know, I always, I tend to look at continuity as being more of like an anchor, but to kind of find your path with, you know, Kendra's story. Cause you know, not only is it a ton of fun, but it's, it's a very emotional, impactful story. Like she has had traumatic capital T things happen to her. And sometimes she's look, I'm not, I don't want to criticize any writer. It's tough.

[00:09:53] I have to imagine having never written one, I would think it's tough to write a team book, but like sometimes in some things she gets a little bit of a short drift, you know? So, um. It's hard to shine when you're next to like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, right? Like those people are on the team and you're like, I'm also here. I can fly. Yeah. Yeah. I got an Nth medal. Right. I got a medieval weapon.

[00:10:22] I've got a cool mask. Like I'm still here. Like, right. Like the other three are going to take point and that's, you got to be okay with that. Yeah. I felt you did a very nice job, not like glossing over any of it. I mean, it's again, another, another, another difficult task. Try and, you know, sometimes in superhero books, the stakes are the whole universe. So sometimes personal stakes, you know, what somebody has been through.

[00:10:52] What, what can that, what does that sometimes compare to the fate of the entire universe? But you really felt you, I really felt that you, you made everything she had been through, um, meaningful to her, to her journey. Um, and I, I thought that was, uh, uh, had to be very difficult to, to do, you know, cause she's still, she's still fighting a threat. She's still fighting a comic book threat.

[00:11:18] Um, but you feel like she's really gone through, you know, something, if not cathartic, then at least on its way to being, you know? Yeah. I, I think it was cathartic. I think part of what I wanted to do was like not diminish her as a hero. Right. So like everything she does as a superhero, she is the best at. Like that is clear. Like she is so good at being a superhero.

[00:11:47] And so that meant that all of the things that caused like conflict and weakness had to be from her, from other parts of her life. Um, and so that meant that the character and the character difficulties were in the forefront, which is what I love anyway. Like my favorite thing is to look at these fantastical things that happen to superheroes and be like, well, how would that make you feel if it really did happen?

[00:12:15] Like how, how does that, how does that change you when you've seen the end of the world so many times? Um, like how does that deaden you a little bit to know that that can happen at any moment? And it is only because of the work of a handful of people that it didn't like, that's gotta knock you for a loop or like completely deaden you. So you don't think about it anymore.

[00:12:39] Um, what does it mean to have this like really intense relationship with someone that you finally believe has been going on in a reincarnated way for several lifetimes, only to have them go off with someone else. Like that's, yeah, that's yeah. Right. Like all of this stuff and like the, the emotional part of that, the character part of that, that's

[00:13:08] what's fascinating to me. Cause like, we know how the fights are going to end, right? Like the good guy is going to win in the fight, but like that character stuff on the way to that positive superhero ending, um, that's the meat and that's what I like going into. And so it was a, with, with, with, with, with, with, with, with, with, with, with, with, with a character like Kendra, who has been through so much and whose origins are so, um, connected to trauma and connected to having a difficult life.

[00:13:37] Like I made a joke that like her pre hop girl life was essentially drinking from a cup of rusty nails. Like there's no, there's no good stuff in there. It's just one sad thing after another. Um, yeah. So, but at the same time, that's who that character is. And that's where she comes from. And to ignore that would be to ignoring some of the best parts. So I wanted to take all of my favorite parts and like really make a cohesive.

[00:14:05] Hawk girl character and, um, and show the trauma and show the difficulties and show how it must feel to be a member of the justice league, but not those big three and how it must feel to be someone who is part of a larger legacy. And then that legacy ends without you. Like that was, um, the Vendetti Hawkman series is great. But when I was done with it, I was like, well, what does this mean for Kendra?

[00:14:33] And then to be able to tell that story is like, oh, it means she's sad. Uh, among other things. Uh, but it means that, um, her destiny is not necessarily tied to the Hawk, even though they gave her wings. And I thought that was very interesting that, um, that we could tell a story of someone for

[00:14:57] whom that the Hawkman part of her story was merely a means to get her to where she needs to be now. And I really liked that idea. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I did too. I, um, I also really liked how, um, the, the, the humor in the book, which I think, I,

[00:15:20] I think, I don't know if it's a function of like, um, you know, the Marvel cinematic universe and how things can be so quippy. Um, but it doesn't, it doesn't always, it doesn't always work. It's tough to do in a comic. You know, there's no, the good, the thing about, you know, listeners, the thing about jokes is timing and the joke teller controls the timing.

[00:15:48] Well, the reader controls the timing in a, in a comic. So that can be kind of tough. So you're, you're leaning on, on other things, not necessarily timing. Um, but, uh, I, I really found it like, I think the, the supporting characters around Kendra, like really helped. And I just, I really thought it was great. Uh, like Galaxy and is it, I, since I, I should have written, I usually write down the characters names in case I forget. Is it Kat? Yeah. Kat. Oh my God. Yes.

[00:16:17] And, uh, as, as an attorney, I also like to see that, that Kat, uh, is in law school or, yeah, Kat's in law school. But I, I loved Galaxy and Kat. I thought they were great. Um, really infused even more heart and humor, um, into the book. Uh, you know, and it's, and Galaxy is such a fun character.

[00:16:43] Um, uh, not to mention, you know, Galaxy's own book, the prettiest star and how amazing that is. But Galaxy is such a fun character to then have her join Kendra. Was that something that like, did editorial bring that to you? Like you could do this or were you, did you approach them and say, Hey, I got an idea. Well, when I was figuring out the story, uh, I knew I needed some foil for Kendra because Kendra is very brusque.

[00:17:13] And one thing I, I found writing her was this kind of dry sense of humor, which I really liked and don't normally write. And it, but it fit the character really well, but that's, you need someone to bounce that off of, right? You can't have a dry sense of humor just by yourself. And so I also needed someone who had like energy or magic based powers to make my cockamamie plot work.

[00:17:38] Um, so that was a short list of characters who could fit in that, but I had alternatives if they wouldn't let me use Galaxy, but it was clear writing the plot that I had a galaxy shaped hole. And I was like, hopefully they'll let me put her in. And, uh, DC editor was like, yeah, of course you can. That book's a hit. Please put her in. That'll be great. We'll get some galaxy readers shooting hot girl and hot girl readers shooting galaxy. That's wonderful.

[00:18:05] Um, so I didn't have to use any of my backups. I could just use galaxy in there, which was a joy and a pleasure. Uh, cause she's my girl, but she has such a different personality than hot girl. And so to have her kind of like this golden retriever energy of like being happy to be here and happy to help and like ready to get involved and be so community focused.

[00:18:33] Cause that is something that carries over from the teen galaxy book is like her being so aware of her impact on the community and needing that community, um, support in a lot of ways. And to have her now as a person in her early twenties, forming a community around hot girl as a matter of course, uh, just felt right. And it felt like the right way to show how that character has grown and changed over the

[00:19:02] past, uh, I guess, six years in between the two books. Yeah. Um, cause it was editorial's idea to age her up and to make her and hot girl peers. I was originally just going to have her be a teen and, um, the, the editor was like, actually, I think it's more interesting if they're the same age and then they can meet each other as equals like, Oh, that is a good idea. And then to have them mirror each other and to have hot girl be the one who's really good

[00:19:31] at being a superhero, but doesn't really have much of a personal life. And then to have galaxy be someone who has a great personal life and a wonderful partner and really strong central identity, but isn't as good at being a superhero to have that give and take and to have them teach each other different things. Well, just felt natural. And it was a really nice way to bring those characters together and have them play off each other. Yeah. I think editorial. Yeah.

[00:20:00] They, they, they, they steer you in the right direction with that one. I really feel like the two of them together, um, they, they make for such a fun, interesting pair. And I, I do, it is funny. I, I, uh, as I listened to my golden retriever puppy scratch the hole in my hardwood floor above me. And that's a perfect description that, that galaxy has golden retriever energy. Um, one of the pages I'm going to call out a couple of things that I really like. Yeah.

[00:20:29] You'll learn with this podcast and I would love for you to come back on at some point. Um, but I, I don't ask questions. I just say things I like, and I, I'd like you to respond. I, I feel I've developed that style. I think it works. I mean, sometimes I'll ask like questions, but, um, I spend most of my day asking questions. So, uh, this galaxy in the page.

[00:20:52] And it's beautifully drawn because Batman's Kate kind of comes up and like cups the, the left and right border in the panel. And there's, you know, galaxy has like this almost like giant run on sentence. I think it's actually punctuated appropriate, but, but she's a nervous talker. Yeah.

[00:21:15] So I'm like, yes, but that scene it with, with galaxy and Batman, I just thought was just one of the greatest things I felt like I had, I'd read in a big two book recently. I just loved it. It was so, so good. I can't, what was it like getting to like, kind of do that? Like, Oh, I'm writing Hawkgirl and galaxy. And yeah, Batman. We'll throw Batman in. Uh, it was a dream come true. It was like on my list of things I wanted to have happen in this series.

[00:21:45] One of them was a Batman guest star and DC is never going to say no to you putting Batman in something. So they were, they were down. Yeah. Good tip for writers. And also say no to Batman. It made sense that, um, he would be there because, uh, the only other Hawkgirl series was the Walt Simonson and Howard Shakin one. Um, and one thing that Walt Simonson did in that, but I really liked was he gave Hawkgirl

[00:22:14] and Batman this like rapport, this like coworker rapport. Like he treats her with a lot of respect, which is not something anybody else did. Cause they still kind of saw her as like a teen sidekick. And in that Batman was like, no, you are a superhero in your own right. I am going to treat you as, as a, as a peer. And like that relationship really, I thought was great. Hawks and bats working together. It seemed to make perfect sense. Right? Like it, it fits.

[00:22:44] And so I was like, I definitely want to carry that over. Another thing I carried over was the way that, um, he would all, Walt Simonson always had Kendra carry her costume in a giant duffel bag. Uh, because she had to fit the wings in there, um, back then. But like, even with the wings permanently attached to her back, it's still funny that she has like a helmet and like boots and all this stuff in the duffel bag.

[00:23:09] And I, I just, as someone who loves the, uh, the costume change to have that, like she has to put her costume on physically was funny to me. And I love that, but to go back to the page of Batman. Yeah. When you have Batman in there and you have a character like galaxy, who is very not Batman in so many ways, naturally you're going to be like, what do these two do when they are together?

[00:23:37] Um, and the obvious thing to me was like, well, galaxy is going to nervous talk because Batman doesn't talk. And, but at the end, Batman is going to say the right thing as he swoops away. Like that's obviously the scene. Um, and my wife had purchased a cameo from Kevin Conroy when galaxy, the prettiest star came

[00:24:01] out where, um, Kevin Conroy as Batman welcomed the galaxy to the DC universe. Oh, that's wow. And said, you belong here. And like, I started crying the first time I heard that. Um, so I was like, if they meet, then I need to make Batman tell galaxy that she belongs here because I've already heard it. And like not long after that, a few, just a few months later, uh, Kevin Conroy passed away.

[00:24:29] So this was one of the last things that he did. Um, it was give me that message, which was really meaningful. Um, so I had to, I had to put that in the book. And so I knew what Batman was going to say. And then I just had to have galaxy just have a word diarrhea, which I think most of us would do in interacting with Batman. Oh yeah. You got to fill the silence somehow. Exactly.

[00:24:58] But that's, that's, that's beautiful though, that your wife, uh, and that, that Kevin Conroy, you know, delivered that message. Um, that's amazing. Yeah, it was, it was incredible. And part of it too, was also him talking about how when you work on a character, like a character in the big two that has such a reach in a way that indie comics don't, you are in touching people in a ways that you're not expecting.

[00:25:27] And like, you're going to find out the ways that you have fetched people and made their lives differently just by making these things. And, um, everything he said has turned out to be true. Like I have talked to people who have been deeply moved, um, by galaxy, the produced star and hop girl and like has really made them feel less alone because of the characters, um, galaxy going through her transition journey and hop girl dealing with being, um, a high

[00:25:57] functioning depressive. Like people felt seen in a way that they were not expecting to see from a superhero comic and that took them off guard and it meant more because of that. And that was, uh, and that was really wonderful. So like everything he, he told me about came out to pass. Wow. That's awesome. All right, everybody. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

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[00:28:41] I think I'm going to make Jimmy play a goblin warlock just to get even. Welcome back. No better transition than that to talk more specifically about Galaxy, the prettiest star. As we record this, I think it's almost, we're just about at the three-year anniversary. I think Galaxy came out May 17th of 22? Yeah, that's right. Oh my gosh, it's just been three years. Yeah. It feels so much longer.

[00:29:11] So, um, for any listeners who aren't familiar, why don't you fill them in on, on what, on Galaxy, the prettiest star, that graphic novel. Right. So that's the, that's the origin story of Galaxy, the character, um, which is that she is a sparkly space princess in exile, and she's hiding out on earth with a bunch of other refugees from her own planet. And they're all disguised as human, and Galaxy is not only disguised as human, but it's also

[00:29:40] disguised as a human boy. Um, and that's something that she's kept up for several years because they came when she was a child. But that disguise can be, becomes harder and harder to keep up when the new girl cat moves into town and they start a relationship. First a friendship and then, um, something a bit more emotionally involved. And it helps that, um, love that the two of them have helped Galaxy find the courage to

[00:30:09] be her true self and what that means. And, um, it's kind of a slow burn superhero origin, I like to say, cause like, um, she doesn't like save the town from a meteor shower or a giant monster or anything like that. It's very internalized, more of a romance between these two and an exploration of like the journey

[00:30:39] of transition and what that means. Um, so she doesn't even have a costume at the end of it, but she does, she does do something which is very important, which is that she saves herself. And that's the first person that she rescues as a superhero is her own self. And, uh, I do feel like that's important and an important adventure that she had to go on. And it was, I, no, go ahead.

[00:31:06] Oh, and it was illustrated amazingly by Vash Taylor, who is just an absolute genius and it's incredibly gorgeous book. And I'm so fortunate that, um, I was paired with them to do it. It is, it's, it, it's a beautiful looking book. It's, uh, it's an incredible story. Um, yeah, it's absolutely wonderful. And I'm so glad to see Galaxy show up in, in Hawkgirl.

[00:31:33] But, um, so I, I read this and you've talked about this elsewhere in terms of the, you know, DC had reached out, I think to your agent at the time. And looking for you to pitch somebody who was familiar with the DC canon, they weren't looking for original characters, but you had this idea and like just through, you know, kind of, kind of threw out like a two sentence pitch and, and they liked it. Yeah. That's awesome. Well, they were all two sentence pitches.

[00:32:02] Um, and they were like, and I had a bunch of them. Um, and one was like a teenage, uh, Superman one that they didn't go for. Another was, uh, a teenage Lex Luthor one where he takes over a boarding school that I thought was fun. I was like, if anything, they're going to take that one, I bet. And, uh, I have one about, uh, cosplayers in like in DC universe.

[00:32:29] So it's like people who cosplay superheroes, but superheroes are real. And like what that's about. Um, and that was something that when I met with the editors, they were very excited about the possibilities of that. And that seemed fun. And, but now what they went with was galaxy. Uh, even though they told me no new characters. Um, that's awesome. Yeah. I think it, it kind of filled a hole. Cause this, when I pitched it, this was before, um, Nicole Maines had been cast as dreamer.

[00:32:58] So they didn't really have like marquee trans characters as superheroes. Like there was Alyssa Yo, but she wasn't a superhero. And, um, even Kate Godwin, who was a superhero was a vertigo property and, and doom patrol. So it didn't quite like translate. So the idea of having this trans character be a superhero in a big way, um, I think really

[00:33:26] appealed to them and, uh, yeah. And people responded, which was so wild. Like I had, I know superhero comics. I know how hard it is to get fans excited about a new character. Nobody wants new characters. They want the old characters. That's why they're there. Um, but everyone like people really, um, loved her immediately and really loved the story and loved everything that she was.

[00:33:54] And I was so, uh, touched and moved by that. So yeah, it was a good call that they let me do. And we're still care. Yeah. She's great. Were you maybe not, uh, were you ever surprised at all? Maybe surprise is the wrong word, but, um, you know, that because DC didn't have, or they did still don't, I mean, have a lot of like friends, characters that, you know,

[00:34:22] as superheroes, but not only did they, they wanted that story, but they wanted it in essentially like, you know, a young adult book rather than one of the big two. Did that, um, like surprise you at all in like a good way that DC was excited about it? I mean, it's, I was, I loved that they were excited. I hoped they were going to be excited about it. Right? Like that's the hope. Like I was excited about it. Um, I, I, so I don't think it's surprised me.

[00:34:49] Um, what surprised, what did surprise me is they were willing to put their money where their mouth was, which was really cool. Like when the book came out, there was a lot of, um, like there's a lot of commotion about it, which is really good. Like they sent posters to comic book stores. It was a free comic book day. Yeah. Which was wild. They did three free comic book days that year. And one of them was a justice league book. The other was a super pets book because the movie was coming out.

[00:35:18] And then the third one was me. And it was like, they, they really pushed it. And you really were like, this is something people should read. And like, I'm, I'm really grateful that they did that. And I was surprised. I was totally thought they're going to put this out and then they're going to forget about it. And like, I got my one shot to do a DC character and I did that. And there will never be another book. Galaxy will never show up anywhere ever again.

[00:35:46] It will just be this one little thing that they did. And, uh, glad I convinced them to do a thing that they will lose money on. But no, it turned out to be a hit. And then people liked it. And I'm, I'm really happy about that. Yeah. I mean, I, it's, it's, I mean, it really is remarkable. Any listeners who have not yet read it, especially, um, I mean, especially in our current climate

[00:36:14] where it seems that trans people are like the scapegoater boogeyman or target du jour, uh, which is, I mean, we could, this, we would need much more time to talk on this podcast all about those issues. Yeah. Um, but you, you have written such a, uh, a beautiful story. Um, a wonderful comic books story.

[00:36:42] Like it has all those elements of what you want from like a good comic book, but it is, it is just a, it's a fantastic story as well. Um, yeah. Yeah. I mean, for any, for folks that approach like any type of issue with like a lack of empathy, I feel like it is a book that really sets forth the crazy premise that like people just want

[00:37:06] to live their life and I don't know, be happy, crazy, but you, it, you've done so it's such an amazing, the whole team really put out does such a wonderful book. Really, really cool. Uh, yeah, I've, one of my friends told me that one of the reasons they liked it is because it was so emotional and it talked about the emotional experience of being trans.

[00:37:29] And so often in trans stories, we get, uh, we focus on the medical aspects or, um, the clinical aspects. And, and some of that is because in order to be taken seriously, um, we have to talk in those terms and we've been forced to talk in those terms and to have a story that's not about that at all. That instead is about the emotional experience and the mental experience.

[00:37:58] Um, and the, how freeing that is once it happens, um, is not something, not the type of story we usually see. And so it was really nice to like, add to the many wonderful trans narratives that are out there. Um, this, uh, very emotional, very, um, it feels funny to say direct, right?

[00:38:22] When it's a story about an alien from another planet, but it is, it is a direct and it is kind of like really taking all of those emotions and all of those feelings in a, um, very precise and targeted way. Right. Yeah. I'm going to forget the name of the person who said this on my apologies. I believe it was somebody for comic book resources that said galaxy is a, is a trans allegory in, in a way that most trans allegories aren't.

[00:38:52] And I, I, I, you know, I understand what, you know, they were trying to say with that. Um, it, you know, even though the character is an alien from another planet, uh, uh, uh, sparkly princess of an alien, but yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's just, it's just an amazing story. Thank you. Yeah. It was fun to do a trans allegory story, but also have it not be an allegory.

[00:39:19] Like she's literally trans, but also she is also allegorically trans. Like we, we did both at the same time. It was me having, being able to eat my, have my cake and eat it too. And so that meant that we could talk about her trans experience through the lens of being an alien, which is both mirrored my experience being, um, a trans person feeling like an

[00:39:42] alien in a lot of ways, but also, um, to talk about it in a way that people who are not trans could enjoy and to get something from. And like, again, not getting bogged down in the clinicalness and the medicalness of it, but to talk about feeling like, you know, I should be doing something else with my life

[00:40:07] and not, and not knowing how to go about that because you know, you'll be judged and you know, things will change if you make a change in your life like that, but you have to make that change. Right. And, uh, and I think that's very beautiful. Will we be seeing like more of galaxy? Uh, we will, uh, which is great to finally be able to talk about.

[00:40:36] There will be a sequel to galaxy. The prettiest star, uh, galaxy as the world falls down and all, all the hits are back. Like galaxy is going to be in that cat is going to be back. Of course, Argus, her talking Corgi is going to be in that. How could I get Argus? We love Argus. Oh, I love a talking animal in general. And a talking animal is also a fuss budget is will always have my art. Yes.

[00:41:04] Um, so they're all there. Uh, it's a very different book than galaxy, the pretty star. Cause it takes place mainly in metropolis. Um, not Osmogap. And it takes place over like two days as opposed to Osmogap's kind of nebulous, several months. Um, and, uh, Superman is in it. We finally see the first meeting of galaxy and Superman.

[00:41:30] And when I was writing hot girl, that of course also takes place in metropolis. And there were a couple opportunities to have Superman there with galaxy and hot girl in there. And I, I let it go. I purposely did not have Superman and galaxy meet cause I wanted her first meeting to be this very particular story.

[00:41:52] Um, and, uh, it's, it's really nice to kind of like have Superman there as this sort of, um, I mean, idealized superhero. Like he's the guy who's got it all figured out and have him be like, it's a mentor, but from a mentor, from a very particular place and a very particular point of view. And some of that works, forget where galaxy is. And some of that doesn't.

[00:42:18] And like the ways that he, who is an alien, who has superpowers, who came from a planet that no longer exists. A lot of that applies to galaxy and fits. And then, but also he's someone who looks like a white man and like that doesn't quite mesh and like, right.

[00:42:39] And, and we do address that, which I really like, um, because, and, um, we finally get to see the vein, which is the boogeyman of galaxy. The prettiest star. Um, that's the whole thing is like, when is the vein going to attack? When is the vein going to attack? Like if they, they attack in this one. Oh, okay. Wow. Do you know, uh, do you have, um, uh, release date yet? Um, it's going to be 2026.

[00:43:08] Um, next date. I'm not certain of that. All right. But like, it'll be next year. Um, in the late spring, I believe. I think it's going to be, I think, I think it's going to be in the May. I think we're looking at a May release. Um, awesome. Like, like galaxy. The prettiest star. Yeah. Just, it'll be in stores enough so they can put it on the June pride display. That's the, that's when my books come out. I've accepted it. There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with that.

[00:43:38] Nothing wrong with that. Yeah. It's, it's always going to happen. Uh, but yeah, it's, if you like, if one of the things about writing galaxy, the prettiest star from a very particular point of view, which was like this very grounded kind of thing where we were, there was an alien invasion like in the background, right? Like that happened. It could happen to earth. But what we're focusing in on is this very internalized world and this very small Osmo gap world.

[00:44:07] And then to go like, and we're in Metropolis where superheroes are including Superman who you've heard of. And like, there's aliens like to really like bring these characters, like these teenage characters who are YA teenage character and put them in like a superhero story or a lot and have them react in a YA teenage character way.

[00:44:32] So it's very emotional and very, um, a lot of panic is involved because they're not adults, but like they have a, that teenage handle on things, which is always fun to write. Um, and it's great. So we have galaxy and dreamer is there. We saw dreamer and galaxy being best friends and, um, bad dream, a dreamer story by Nicole Mains and Rye Hickman.

[00:45:02] And like now I get to write dreamer and galaxy being best friends. And that was a delight. It was so great to have that character, that version of dreamer too. Um, the teenage one was just wonderful. Awesome. Well, that's exciting. So I, well, I can't wait. So that's going to be fantastic. So sometime in 2026, we'll have another galaxy story. That's, uh, that's awesome.

[00:45:27] Um, which puts another first on the list because she was the first character at first trans character in big two comics to have her name in the title. And now she's the first character in trans, uh, first trans character in big two comics who have her name in the title and a series. Uh, right. Yeah. She's a series. We got it. Good for us. You did it. That's awesome. Um, that's so cool.

[00:45:54] Uh, real, I wanted to ask you a couple of other things. Yeah. Um, because I, you know, in doing the little bit of research that I do, uh, before these interviews, I came across, I think, uh, Reddit AMA that you had done. And one of the things that you had mentioned in it, in addition to your comic book work, your work, um, writing and producing narrative fiction podcast. We could talk about that for a long time. Sure.

[00:46:23] You've made props, including for Eastern state, Eastern state penitentiary's terror behind the walls. Yeah. I did costumes for them. Yeah. Yeah. Any listeners who are not from the area every October really for Halloween, the Eastern state penitentiary, which is, I don't know if it's one of the oldest like prisons on the East coast. I think it's one of them. Yeah.

[00:46:48] It's a, a very old prison in Philadelphia and it, they turn it into a like haunted attraction every year. Uh, I mean, it's, it's an incredible place to tour, you know, in the daylight. If you can, there's sections of it that are so bad. I don't think they allow you to, to go to anymore. Um, but yeah, they turn it into terror behind the walls. It's like, it's been around for a very long time.

[00:47:17] So you had made costumes for that. Yeah. Yeah. I made costumes for, um, for one year. Um, there was a year where they brought in some, some sci-fi characters. I don't, I don't think those characters lasted for very long, but they had, they had like an alien invasion thing. So they needed somebody who knew how to do lights and things like that. So I was brought in for that. Um, and they also had some break dancing prison guards at the end who were like had zombie faces.

[00:47:48] Um, and those costumes required some very specific like things to allow the movement and for them to look cool. And so I was, I helped with that. And a lot of, a lot of my jobs honestly was repairs because all of the costumes had a lot of stress from repetitive movements. As you might imagine people are doing the same things over and over again. So like when you're hung, rawr, rawr, rawr every night, like you're going to get a rip in your armpit.

[00:48:16] Um, so like most of what I did was repair work. And that's, was it, it was a delight to do because all of the performers at Eastern state are, do are so wonderful to work with and they love what they're doing so much. Um, some of them had their own costumes, so I didn't even have to repair those because they had their own gear because they've been doing it for so long. Um, but yeah, uh, the hardest part was all the laundry.

[00:48:44] Uh, oh yeah, I have to imagine. Well, and that year too, we had a heat wave in October, so everybody was like wedding buckets. So like everything had to be washed every night. Um, and, but it was great. It was a great experience. Like, um, yeah, that's awesome. They, they still do it, right? They still do it. It's smaller now. When I did it, it was huge. And I think that was just not sustainable.

[00:49:13] Uh, but yeah, it's, it's still great. Right. Yeah. Oh yeah. I've, I've, I've gone to it a few times and yeah, it's terrifying. Um, but wonderful. And so I also saw on there that I was curious about you were a circus and sideshow performer. Yes. Right. Uh, like in the, in the, in the Philly area or not in the Philly area. This is in my North Carolina days. Um, okay.

[00:49:40] I tried to get it going in the, in when I moved and, um, a lot of things happened that kept me from performing for various reasons. I was like, I'm taking this as a sign and not doing it. But yes, back when I was in North Carolina, um, I was part of, um, a couple different circuses. Um, one of which I ran. Um, so I was the ring master and it also did escape art and the human pin cushion and I

[00:50:09] ate bugs and, um, I got electrocuted on stage for a couple of shows, uh, while we still had that rig and that was really great. Um, what else did I do? The main thing was I had juggled and I would, I would juggle, um, odd things from the audience. Like people would toss things that they had and I would, yeah. I go that. Um, yeah.

[00:50:36] So like a lot of stuff involving, um, pain. Oh, and I would, I would open the show. This is a good story. So when I was running the show myself, I opened the show with a little monologue talking about how everything in the show was real. Like we didn't do, uh, nothing was faked. There was no like breakaway boards or anything like that. All this, everything was sharp. Everything was real. This wasn't a magic show. And I was like, and I'll prove it to you.

[00:51:06] And I got out a deck of cards and I asked someone to come up from the audience and for them to pick a deck, a card out of the deck and they would pick a deck and I would say, great, memorize it and then put it back in the deck. And then I would shuffle the deck and then I would take a card out and staple it to my forehead and then say, is that your card? And they would say no, cause it never was. And I was like, right. It's not a magic show. And then I would take the card off and there'd be like two little wounds from the staple

[00:51:33] and the, my point was made. Yes. Um, wow. And that was, no, yeah, go ahead. It was just a great way to get people to know the, the feeling of the show. And like, at that point we had a lot of different performers, which was great. We had fire spinners. We had a guy who walked on a ladder of swords. We had a woman who compressed her body, uh, really small. And we brought her out in a tiny, tiny box.

[00:51:59] And then she came out and like put her body through tennis rackets and racquetball rackets and like badminton rackets. Um, and, uh, my wife who was not my wife then, uh, just my good friend, uh, was a contortionist in the show and she would do all sorts of wild stuff with her body and then lay down on a bed of nails and like all sorts of great stuff. It was a great show. So we had a lot of fun.

[00:52:24] Um, and so I did that and then I did juggling on another circus for a little while. Um, and then I did some more sideshow stuff for a third circus and I tried to do some stuff here in Philadelphia and it just never took. I don't know. I think, I think the circus wave had, because there was like a, a period where there was a lot of excitement for like bringing back like sideshow and vaudeville stuff.

[00:52:52] And I think not long after I moved, that era ended and nobody was interested in it anymore. It was hard to get gigs. Um, but at the time when I was riding that, that wave, it was a lot of fun. Opened for a lot of punk shows. It was great. Wow. I, I, I'm always, uh, I'm a bit of a sucker for like stories of like the, the days of the, you know, the traveling circus, like late 1800s to like the, the 1930s.

[00:53:22] And, you know, those things still like existed, not like, you know, Ringling brothers, but like small, like circus, like a small group. Those things still exist today and have existed for years. And I'm just always kind of fascinated with the, the folks that kind of congregate to that type of thing as performers and as an audience.

[00:53:47] It's such a fascinating, like what I've always found, like lively, entertaining, fun community. So yeah. When I saw that, I was just very, very curious. Yeah. It is a great community. For indulging me. That's awesome. Yeah. It's, uh, meeting other circus performers is always wonderful. Um, there's always a warm, you know, when I was first started, I, I worried that it was going to be one of those competition things is like, eh, you're not shit kid.

[00:54:17] This is what I can do, but it's not like that at all. Everyone is just really welcoming and like, tell me what you got. Oh, that's amazing. And like that kind of thing. And that's been really nice. My experience with other circus people has been really positive. Well, that's fantastic. Um, uh, I, real quick before I let you go, if that's okay. Yeah. Okay. So, um, we talked about Philadelphia, go birds. It is Kendra says it in Hawkgirl.

[00:54:46] Is that like the first DC in Canon go birds? I think so. I think so. She also wears a t-shirt that says no one likes us. We don't care. She's a canonical Eagles fan. Now, like that is something I added. It always made sense to me that Kendra with her like brassy attitude would feel at home in Philadelphia. And, um, so I was like, I got to make this happen somehow.

[00:55:13] And, um, I decided reading a bunch of old comics and reading a bunch of old appearances of Steve Saunders, who's a character that goes back all the way to like the first comic DC ever printed. There is a Steve Saunders secret agent story in there. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. He's an old guy. Um, and so I was like reading those stories and reading some other stuff. And it's like, he, he just gotta be from Philly.

[00:55:42] Like that's gotta be a thing. He just feels right. And like, I couldn't find anything that confirmed that, but I also couldn't find anything that didn't confirm it. Like there was never any, like Steve lives in Washington DC or Metropolis or whatever. So, uh, it's like, that's it. Steve's a, Steve's a palooka from, from Philly. Nice. Part of Kendra was being raised by, by speed in, in Philadelphia.

[00:56:12] She went to Eagles games and to have that sort of like, again, that sort of element of like what her life is when she's not a superhero. She goes to football games. Like a lot of women love football. A lot of men love football. It's not weird, but it's one of those things that was never touched on in previous things. Like, does she have a sports team that she likes? Never been known. Like, why shouldn't she have a sports team she likes? Why shouldn't she root for the Eagles? I thought that was great. And especially living in Metropolis, right?

[00:56:42] Which has their own sports team, the Metropolis Meteors. It was like, oh, perfect. She has to be someone having just moved there. She needs to have an allegiance to another place. Right. And that was, I thought of, yeah, I, I, I thought it was great. I loved it. You know, it is a very Philly thing. Like, I mean, I was, I went to Ireland with my, my brother last March to celebrate my 45th

[00:57:05] birthday and I had my Eagles hoodie on and we're at Heathrow because we had a layover there in London before we caught a flight to Shannon or Dublin, wherever it was we flew into. And it's packed. Everyone's just kind of, you know, moving along very slowly to get to get through customs and all that stuff. And I hear, I hear somebody scream, go birds. I'm like, this all my hoodie.

[00:57:32] And it was like, yeah, you know, just felt like there was a, you know, a friend out there. Yeah. So, yeah. Um, the other thing I wanted to ask you, I have not made this yet, but I am going to make the Metropolis hot dog. Yes. Um, I was just curious, was this just, is this anything you, you tried to make? You just came up with what you thought sounded like, where did that come from? Right.

[00:58:00] Well, before I was a professional DC comic book author, uh, I was a comic book nerd and me and my friends would talk about like the cuisine of various DC fictional cities because like, that's a stupid thing to talk about. And like, of course we did like in Metropolis, like the pizza's got to be really heavy, right? Like, it's not like a Chicago style, but it's like a thick crust with like lots of toppings.

[00:58:29] Like it's, it's a heavy, it's a city full of big people and they like a big pizza, right? That kind of stuff. Right. And like, um, nonsense, things like that. Like what are the tacos like in hub city? That kind of thing. And so one of the things that I was thinking about was like, what is obviously Metropolis is not as even though I'd use that as an example, it's not a pizza town. It's a hot dog town.

[00:58:58] Superman's always eaten hot dogs. We see it. It's like, because it's, it feels more Midwest kind of thing. I yeah, yeah, sure. Officially Metropolis is an East coast city, but it always feels very Chicago to me. And there's just something, maybe it's like the Kansas Superman connection, having it, having it be a Midwest metropolis and having it be a sausage town just feels right. So then it was like, well, what is the Metropolis style hot dog then?

[00:59:26] If that, if it is a Chicago analog and I wanted it to be brightly colored, like primary colors. So like the red cabbage sauerkraut was important. Um, having an egg with the yolk in there and then, but also the French fries and chili in there because it's like, gotta be a mouthful. And the peaches bringing that bright yellow. Uh, I couldn't figure out how to get blue into a hot dog and it looked anything that would be enjoyable. Right.

[00:59:55] The blue, blue food. Right. Does it look appetizing? All you have is blueberries and even blueberries are purple by the time you cook them. So it's like, it doesn't work. But the peaches actually fit really well in there because it was like having canned peaches felt like something a hot dog stand would have like it, not fresh peaches, but peaches out of a can. Perfect. Yeah. And then you could put it in there and it was this nice round shape. It just felt very comic book. And I was like, that's the metropolis dog.

[01:00:25] Um, and then I, I talked about it and I made it and this is again, before I got the gig, I want to make this clear. I was doing this in my own free time shifts and giggles. That's for fun. I love it. But you did make it. That's what I was curious about. Yeah. And it was delicious. Oh, good. It's yeah. It's if you feel like it wouldn't work because of the peaches, but the peaches have like a, a sweet relish feel.

[01:00:52] So that sweetness actually works with all the savory that's already on there. So it was delicious. And I was like, I've figured it out. Cracked it. I know the metropolis dog. And so then when I got this gig to do talk girl and have it be take place in metropolis, I was like, now we get to make it Canon. Let's go. Yeah. Because no one had done in Canon metropolis style hot dog. Uh, because this is the, again, the thing that I like is like, what is the texture of the world?

[01:01:22] Like how do, if this goes hand in hand to the emotional experiences of dealing with saving the world, it's also like, well, what is the world like? Like what is metropolis like? Right. And that was something that I really wanted to include in my representation of it. So not only is it like this hot dog that is ludicrous because all regional food should be ludicrous to outsiders. Like it should be something that only the people inside enjoy, uh, until you try it. And then you're like, this is great.

[01:01:50] Like if you look at a Chicago dog, it's like, why would you put all that stuff on a hot dog? That doesn't make any sense. Right. And you eat it or like a brain sandwich from the Midwest. Right. Yeah. I, I, I, I, we, I entered a hot dog contest once to come up with like a different flavor. And, um, you know, we did like, uh, like a Philly or a Delaware breakfast where it was, you know, American cheese, scrapple. Oh, great. And a fried egg, you know?

[01:02:21] I feel like the fried egg on a hot dog is one of those things that pushes it over the edge, but it's also a great element. Like for some reason it like looks ridiculous, but then again, you eat it and it's like, oh, this makes perfect sense with everything else. But that idea of like giving the city a texture and a feel and like making it feel more like an actual city and less like a collection of drawings, uh, was something I really wanted to do.

[01:02:48] So it was like that there's the cafe monsoon, which is, um, just a nice little one of those nice little, like weird little places that you will find in a urban metropolis of like, here is this, um, coffee shop that was started by Indian immigrants who wanted to, to do that. And so like that, that was great. And also I got to use Ganesha symbolism with that and the starting of journeys, the beginning of the story.

[01:03:17] Um, but all of that, all of that to, to kind of make my metropolis and to have it feel more real to me for these characters to inhabit. And so like with that and with, uh, the dog and also adding a town, which is now on a neighborhood in metropolis that shows up in Superman comics, uh, which was just an, a tossed off idea in galaxy,

[01:03:45] the prettiest star and is now like on the map. Like I, there's a comic book that they put out that had like a map of the boroughs of metropolis and a town is one of them, which like mind blowing. Yeah. That's pretty cool. Uh, yeah. So like all of this stuff is again, me just thinking as someone who's lived in a city. Um, but I am a transplant, like I'm from rural, rural South in North Carolina. And then before that, Tennessee.

[01:04:10] So coming to a city as an adult and being like, so instantly in love with Philadelphia and it's cityness and what makes it a city. Um, when I was given a chance to write metropolis, I was like, well, what makes metropolis the city? What brings that? And regional food and like very unusual little, um, places that you can get things.

[01:04:35] And that specificity, I think, um, is something that I enjoy in my writing and it's something that I love putting in. Yeah. It really adds a lot, a lot to it. So, well, I'm, I'm going to, since I know that you have made it, I, even without knowing that, like that's, that is comforting, but I do intend to make it. I, it was great that I had already made it. Cause then I could send a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man. A man. A photo of it and be like, this is what it looks like.

[01:05:04] And then I had to send the photo to the colorist who got the sauerkraut color wrong. And I was like, no, you, you don't understand the colors are important. Right. But it's red cat. It's not red cabbage and sauerkraut. No red cabbage sauerkraut. Yes. Okay. Good. That's, that's an important. I needed to know that. Which doesn't really taste that different, but it looks different. Sure. Sure. Okay. All right.

[01:05:30] Well, I am, I am going to, that's, that's on my project list. Cause I really want to have a homemade metropolis dog. Dadzia, this has been a delight. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Thank you for having me. This has been wonderful. Feel free to have me come back. Oh, definitely. Please. Please. Especially once, once, you know, Galaxy 2 is ready, you know, ready to go.

[01:06:00] Open invitation to please come back and we will, we'll chat about it. I'll put a link in the show notes to, you know, your social media and anything else. So, um, cause everyone, if you haven't listeners read Galaxy, read Hawkgirl. Um, it doesn't matter what order you read them in to be honest. Yeah. They kind of function independently. Uh, but you'll get more out of both if you, if you read them both. Yeah, absolutely.

[01:06:27] Um, so yeah, I gotta always like shout out to my brother, Bobby, the cryptic creator corner's number one, most dedicated fan. Bobby listens as my, my brother listens to all my episodes. And, uh, I just started that a while ago and like, I, I keep, I keep it up. So Bobby, if you ever read Galaxy or Hawkgirl, you, I have them so you can borrow them. Um, listeners, thank you so much for listening. You can find me on a blue sky. Let me know what it is you are reading.

[01:06:53] And especially if you read Galaxy or Hawkgirl and, um, thank you so much for listening. Remember to rate and review us and do all that stuff they tell you to do with podcasts. Um, Jedzia, this has been, been wonderful. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Uh, thank you for having me. It's been a delight. All right, listeners. I will see you next time. This is Byron O'Neill, one of your hosts of the cryptic creator corner brought to you by comic book Yeti. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast.

[01:07:20] Please rate, review, subscribe, all that good stuff. It lets us know how we're doing and more importantly, how we can improve. Thanks for listening.