Meet Lucy Chaplin, Science StarletInterview with Drew Edwards
Eighteen years ago, comics creator Drew Edwards introduced the world to a crime-fighting monster and his friends in Halloween Man. Its protagonist, the sentient zombie Solomon Hitch, was supported by a colourful cast of characters, including the necromancer Morlack, the demi-god Man-Goat. Also at his side from the beginning was Solomon's super-scientist girlfriend, Lucy Chaplin. While always a fan favourite, Lucy was updated a few years ago. On July 4, she makes her solo comics debut in Lucy Chaplin: Science Starlet, the latest comic from Edwards and a full roster of artist collaborators. Drew took some time out to speak to me about Lucy and her fight against toxic masculinity.
Drew Edwards: Pretty much right after the "Eye of the Beholder" storyline came out, seeing that it sort of served as a reintroduction of the character. Lucy has always been one of the more popular Halloween Man characters, but her status as a cult icon kind of shot up almost overnight after those issues. There are so few plus-sized women in comics, and Lucy still feels rare because she is stylish, sexy, and athletic. I think a lot of readers really latched onto her because of those reasons. We started by giving her more solo adventures within the regular Halloween Man series, and giving her own special seemed to be the next logical step. The bottom line is that readers love this character and we want to give them more of her. ST: What inspired the "men's rights advocate" villain, Samson? DE: In my adult life, naturally I've been aware of "MRA" activists and anti-feminist groups for some time. Call it male privilege, but up until recently I sort of wrote them off as cranks: laughable, but not truly dangerous to our society. Around 2013 or so, I started to become more educated on the subject. Paying more attention to the news items about these groups with increasing alarm. Their behavior started to borderline on the super-villainous. I remember thinking Lucy, as a sexually liberated, body-positive, physically and mentally superior woman, would probably be their worst nightmare. From that moment the idea of Samson and the Sons of Samson started bubbling up in my brain. Around 2015 is when I actually wrote the script. The idea of a men's rights group getting pumped up on comic book steroids and becoming something akin to HYDRA still seemed slightly comical at that point. The sad thing is that it no longer feels that far-fetched. The funny thing is that a lot of folks think this script was written in reaction to the U.S. presidential election and the social divisions created in its wake. While that did play into later creative decisions, that was a blip on my radar in the early drafts.
Of course sometimes it takes an outside perspective to truly bring an idea to life. Our artist, Evan Quiring, basically took my description and really gave it dimension. And I think that is in part because he's a Canadian and probably doesn't take as much issue at ribbing the idea of the rugged American male. At the same time, while Samson is kind of a semi-comedic villain, we still wanted him to look cool and have menace to him. To paraphrase Evan, we did create a character that would look great as an action figure. I remember seeing the first designs and being almost giddy, because it was like he had ripped the character right of my head. ST: Solomon also appears in the book, but he does not team up with Lucy. Is there a reason for giving them separate adventures in the book? DE: I just needed to take Halloween Man off the board totally. This story is supposed to be about Lucy and I didn't want there to be a question of, "Why didn't she call in Solomon?" So I kept him busy with his own pocket adventure. Also, it's an excuse to throw a vampire in the story. I mean who doesn't love vampires? I think as a modern couple, Lucy and Solomon don't need to be joined at the hip. They can both be badasses and have their own adventures from time to time. ST: Can you talk about how you chose some of the supporting characters, specifically the women who Samson has kidnapped and the president who looks a lot like the late Texas governor Ann Richards? DE: The universe of Halloween Man has always gleefully been in its own alternate timeline and the presidents in our version of America, needless to say, are different than the ones in the real world. Keep in mind this is a world where America had its first African-American president by the late 40's, when they elected a WWII veteran and superhero named Professor Important. The last time we showed the U.S. president, it was late horror icon Vincent Price, who must have gotten involved in politcs at some point. Now, it's Ann Richards, who we can assume lived a longer life thanks to the superior technology of the Halloween-verse. Why Ann Richards? What can I say, I wanted a female president and I'm a proud Texan. The brassy Richards would have made an entertaining president if nothing else. The other new characters were just meant to be a cross-section of archteypes that MRA groups seemed to be giving lip service. Every part of this comic was meant to be a discussion piece and this is no different. The pop singer Diva is phyically modelled on late 80's/early 90's Madonna, but she could have just as easily been Lady GaGa or Katy Perry. When I was reading up on these guys there seemed to be a lot of talk given to reining in women's out-of-control sexuality, how they use it to overpower men with lust or turn homemakers into lesbians. Toxic ideas like that needed to be addressed in the comic. A sexy pop singer seemed the logical stand-in for that, and I've always felt Madonna seemed smarter and more interesting than a lot of her imitators. Even when I don't agree with her, she's not boring. I also feel like she has done a great job of pushing sexual boundaries in a country that often demonizes sexual agency. Tamar Key takes her first name from Tamar Ross, who is a both a Jewish theologian and a feminist author. She's not really based on Ross, other than her being an intellectual. Key is an African-American woman specifically because I wanted to make sure that it wasn't only white women being represented in the comic. She's a lecturer and an activist because I wanted someone more serious and cerebral, since Diva is a character based in pop music. ST: How did you get together with the artists in the book, Evan Quiring, Celina Hernandez, April Guadiana, and Paul Tuma? DE: They were all people I've know either from online communities or conventions. Evan probably being the one I've know the longest. I've wanted to work with him on a big project for over a decade, and it's only ever synced up in small ways, like the alternate reality story in Halloween Man # 13. Paul is someone I knew from a Size Acceptance forum and was one of the artists behind Lucy's new design. He's been a frequent collaborator of mine in recent years. Both of them are known for their "cheesecake" art. Evan with his "Mike Allred meets Jim Balent" style and super-buxom heroines. Paul has an almost Wally Wood-ish style and is known for his plus-sized pin-up girls. I wanted there to be a juxtaposition between the very sexualized artwork and the strong feminist leanings of the script. I had started to notice a sort of resurgence of this idea of how a feminist should look or behave. The whole thing kind of came to a head with the controversy surrounding Wonder Woman being named an United Nation's honorary ambassador. There were feminist groups comparing Wonder Woman to a "pin-up" in the most dismissive way, completely ignoring how the image of both Wonder Woman AND pin-up girls have been used in empowering ways. Admittedly, I am a man, so I am looking at this from the outside. But that attitude smacks of a weird sort of social conformity that I find disturbing. It's oddly conservative. Seems to me that feminism can be about both burning bras OR wearing a push-up bra if you so choose. I consider myself a feminist, so it might seem odd that I am being critical, but if there is one thing the last few years have taught me, it's that you stand up for what you believe in. So, this was the chance to continue the satire in the script and get some jabs in at left-wingers as well as right-wingers. If Wonder Woman was too sexually explosive, Lucy was going to be 21-megaton bombshell. The art needed to work with the script in a certain way for the satire to be just right. If you look at this comic in a certain way, it's supposed to provoke certain things, certain discussions. So, I knew from the get-go that I wanted that kind of "good girl" art style and these gentlemen could deliver on that. But I also knew that it couldn't just be gentlemen. It was very important to me that I have women in the creative team and have a woman do the cover. The last thing I wanted to is have a comic that brings up women's issues and have it only be a boys-only club putting the thing together. I can't think of a more wrong-headed idea. Thankfully, I have some badass ladies in the art team as well. Celina is someone I've known for over a decade, originally through Millarworld, and I've enjoyed watching her art career grow. She has submitted a lot of cool Halloween Man fan art over the years and also worked on Halloween Man #13. She's a very talented artist, as well as colorist. So we were lucky to have her. April, I've known since my years living in Dallas, and she won a Halloween Man fanart contest years back. Since then, she's become something of a MVP on the book. She's done everything from art to layout to colors, you name it. Outside of her amazing Rosie the Riveter-inspired cover, she's the one who has put together the whole issue. There's not an inch of this book that doesn't have her influence on it. I feel very lucky to have such an awesome people working on this book. It looks amazing.
DE: That was pure selfishness on my part. My lovely wife Jamie [Bahr, a member of the rockabilly band Danger*Cakes] has been kind of enough to embody Lucy at conventions the last several years. I remember the first time seeing her in the full costume with the ray gun, wig, etc., and thinking how amazing she looked. The fans really loved her and loved getting their picture with her. The whole thing was electric. It's a wonderful experience seeing one of your characters spring to life like that. It was pretty much from then on that I wanted to do a professional photo shoot with good props, etc. Thankfully, Jamie's career both as a pin-up model and a musician has put her in touch with a lot of great photographers. Back in the fall, she did a photo shoot for the latest Danger*Cakes release, "Gloomy Girl". The photographer Carla Carrasco shot Jamie with such a good eye, I felt like it was a perfect match. So, I brought her in for the special. I feel like I should also point that Jamie is also pulling double duty as one of the editors on the book, so she had input on more than just the photos. The whole book has her stamp on it. ST: Halloween Man has been around for 18 years now -- if he were a real person, he'd be an adult! What keeps you wanting to tell his story and the stories of his friends? DE: As crazy as it sounds, I feel like this comic is what I was meant to do with my life. I talk to my other comic creator friends and some of them feel concerned I might feel limited, but I don't. I've never gotten bored with these characters and I can tell any kind of story I want. At this point I feel a certain responsibility to them, because they are my children in a way. They've helped me through some of the roughest points in my life. I can only help ensure they keep thriving. ST: How has digital distribution affected the way you approach the comic? DE: I see digital distribution as the logical end result of the web comics revolution that Halloween Man was originally rooted in. It hasn't changed how I write, but it does let me know which stories are popular, if only in a purely monetary way. As you know, it's notoriously hard to make money doing a web comic. In the long run, if I see something sells better, I might go out of my way to produce more stories like in a similar vein. I know that's not a terribly romantic way to look at it. The flip side of that is I think this a wonderful time to be making independent comics. The tools are now at our disposal to truly do our part to save this industry and this art form. I know some creators are gun shy about some of the big noise ComiXology has been making lately, but I think it's going to be great. There are new voices coming in, and the industry is going to actually have a place for people who really don't want to tell those Marvel / DC style stories. Established talents wanting to try new things are also going to get that chance. Me, I'm just happy to be a part of it. ST: Are there any other plans for Lucy and Solomon? DE: There is a second Lucy solo adventure being crafted as I type this. It's a team-up with Bella, a character introduced in the "Smells like Teen Spirit" one-shot. It's going to be a two-issue mini-series this time and will be entitled "Hellhole." The story is something of a homage to b-movies like Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill and features a werewolf biker gang. The artist on that is named Andrea Montano and she is killing it. That should drop some time in 2019. On the larger Halloween Man front, there is of course Halloween Man #16, which will finally close out the "American Nightmare" storyline. We're also going to be putting out a giant-sized issue entitled "The Bat City Special", which will focus on our local talent here in Austin, Texas. Our crowdfunding launch for that is scheduled to start shortly after the Lucy special comes out. So, it truly never ends for me.
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