PRIDE 2020 INTERVIEWS: Steve Orlando

Todays’ Pride Month interview is with comics writer Steve Orlando:

Steve Orlando photo.jpg

Hi, Steve! I hope you’re staying safe and healthy during the current pandemic lockdowns. What are you doing to stay creatively motivated in these unusual times?

Paying rent! Honestly, when you're freelance, you often have to put your head down and just lean into the work. Yes, the background stress is higher than ever, the highest in my lifetime. But this is the job, and with some companies on pause, we push our connections, hustle as much as possible, and get as creative as possible. I've probably hustled more original ideas during this pandemic lockdown than ever before. If anything, there's going to be a lot of new content coming your way! And less sleep for me! But more shelf space, more stories I get to tell. So it's an easy price to pay.

 

Since June is Pride Month, I have to ask: how has being bisexual influenced or informed your writing?

For me it's all about perspective. Being bisexual, being Jewish, I know what it's like to have something inside yourself that others can't necessarily see, to be able to pass, if you like, but at the cost of your integrity and your truth on a daily basis. So I think that inner secret connects me to the concept of a secret identity, something that plays so strongly into superhero comics. And in my originals, the leads still tend to be outsiders, people with a secret.

It also reminds me constantly, being bisexual, how important representation is in comics. It's important we tell stories with a world that looks like the one outside our window. Honest, bold, often primal, but true...and that means diverse. It means aggressive. It means stories that have no choice to be told, because they're the stories I wish I had when I was growing up. They're the holes in my life, in the role models I didn't have, that stories could've filled.

 

I have to tell you that I read your Midnighter and Midnighter and Apollo series knowing absolutely nothing about the characters beforehand, and absolutely fell in love with them. Thank you for that. Both books were short-lived, as was Sina Grace’s Iceman series at Marvel. Why do you think books from the Big Two headlining gay characters don’t seem to last as on-goings? It feels like there’s absolutely an audience for it.

I can only speak to my experience, but unfortunately as with anything in publishing, this question comes down to sales. And while there is a big audience for LGBT storytelling, it is not always as reachable as we might think. It generally lives outside the sales outlets that exist, so books don't reach those that want them until they're released in trade paperback for the book market. However, in the current industry, with overall numbers and margins what they are, a book lives or dies on its periodical sales. MIDNIGHTER AND APOLLO launched to cancellation numbers, which is the unfortunate reality. It's TPB of course did better, but the industry as a whole isn't robust enough right now for that to matter, only periodical sales do.

So, do we need to change? Yes. Of course. And the good news is that for better or worse, this year’s lockdown is going to force us to. So watch this space for innovation, and better work getting these books to those who want them, in a way that speaks to the people that publish them.

 

I’m always interested in hearing about people’s creative process. How do you approach developing a pitch for a new series? And how do you then script each issue?

When it comes to actually building a pitch, it's all about the lead you hang your lore on. Raw ideas can come from everywhere – that comes from consuming creative calories on a lot of fronts. Almost every pro I know keeps an idea board for this reason. But once you need to take that idea from a sketch to a pitch, it's all about deciding who inhabits the world you've created. The best idea is nothing without a relatable lead – that's why more people like THE LORD OF THE RINGS than THE SILMARILLION. One focuses more on an emotional journey within a fascinating world, the other focuses on the lore first. Once you know your characters, and their core, what they want and where they're going, you can throw any adversity at them and know how they'll react. That begets the story.

 

In the past few years, you’ve had critically-acclaimed turns on Wonder Woman (another gay icon) and Martian Manhunter. Are there any characters from the Big Two that you’re just dying to take a crack at?

There's a ton! I would love to take on Doctor Fate, I'd love to work with Ladytron, I'd love to work with Alan Scott or Wesley Dodds, or Ted Grant! But I also have just jumped across the street to Marvel, where I have such a long list. The big ones, Captain America, probably my favorite Marvel Character. But also people like Living Lightning, like the Blazing Skull, the Destroyer. The Mutant Force is also something I've always loved, oddly enough. I also love, love, love the Green Goblin and Black Bolt. And, of course...Scarlet Witch, Doctor Doom, and Jim Hammond, the android that killed Hitler.

 

What are you working on now and what do you have coming out soon?

“Soon” is a relative term these days, is it not? That said! You're going to see some shorts and specials still outstanding from DC COMICS this summer. WONDER WOMAN ANNUAL #4 brings what we had planned for my Wonder Woman run together in a beautiful way, and there are some other unannounced works, shorts, coming before the end of the year.

OCTOBER, for National Comic Out Month, is KILL A MAN, an LGBT Mixed Martial Arts graphic novel from me, Phil Kennedy Johnson, and Alec Morgan, out from AfterShock Comics. And this is the one! For people who read VIRGIL from Image or MIDNIGHTER from DC, this is the next big, hard hitting gay story I'm telling. And it is the proudest thing I've ever done.

After that? You're going to see me all over. Works from TKO Studios, more from AfterShock, more from places I can't even hint yet! And NONE of it superhero, all of it fresh...until I return to superheroes in my own original way before the end of 2020. Stay tuned!

 

And finally, the usual: where can people find you and your work online?

I am pretty active on Twitter at @thesteveorlando and on Instagram @the.steve.orlando – head over and follow! As for my work, my comics are all available through online comic book stores like Third Eye Comics, which ships nationwide. And my digital DC FIRSTS are available direct from the DC Comics website. And there's more to come!

 

Steve Orlando writes and edits, including VIRGIL (IGN’s best Graphic Novel of 2015), Undertow and stories in the Eisner Award Nominated Outlaw Territory at Image Comics. As well, he launched 2015’s Midnighter and 2016’s Midnighter and Apollo, both nominated for GLAAD awards, and took part in Justice League of America, Batman and Robin Eternal and most recently Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batman/The Shadow and Wonder Woman for DC Entertainment, as well as The Shadow/Batman for Dynamite Entertainment, NAMESAKE for BOOM! Studios, CRUDE for Skybound Entertainment, Dead Kings and Kill a Man for Aftershock Entertainment. Outside of comics, he has been featured in Hello Mr and National Geographic. His 2018 sold-out launch Martian Manhunter was one of Tor's Best Single Issues of 2018. In animation, he's worked with Man of Action Studios on season four of Ben 10, and in translation, has produced localizations for Arancia Studios Best-Selling UNNATURAL and MERCY at Image Comics.

READING ROUND-UP: October, 2019

Better late than never! Continuing the monthly summaries of what I’ve been reading and writing.

 

BOOKS

To keep my numbers consistent with what I have listed on Goodreads, I count completed magazine issues and stand-alone short stories in e-book format as “books.” I read or listened to 15 books in September: 10 in print, 3 in e-book format, and 2 in audio. They were:

1.       Lightspeed Magazine #113 (October 2019 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams. The usual fine assortment of sf and fantasy short stories. This month’s favorites for me were Isabel Yap’s “Windrose in Scarlet,” Ray Nayler’s “The Death of Fire Station 10,” and Sam J. Miller’s “The Beasts We Want To Be.”

2.       Shadow of Doubt by Linda Poitevin. I love Poitevin’s “Grigori Legacy” urban fantasy series. She writes equally fun and compelling romantic thrillers. This one is about a local Canadian cop who falls in with an on-the-run US customs agent to solve who framed him and why.

3.       Simon Says (John Simon Thrillers #1) by Bryan Thomas Schmidt. Schmidt’s new near-future police procedural thriller is a fun ride full of car chases, gun fights, and solid character development. Read my longer review HERE.

4.       Tomb of Dracula: The Complete Collection Volume 1, by Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan, Tom Palmer and more. Tomb of Dracula is my favorite horror comic of all time, and possibly my favorite comic overall. Despite a rotating group of writers and artists, the early issues collected here set the stage for the great character developments that would come later. And for the first time, I think, the black-and-white Dracula Lives! Magazine stories are folded in close to publication order.

5.       The Girl on the Porch by Richard Chizmar.  A really compelling horror novel about a family dealing with the possibility that a missing girl rang their doorbell in the middle of the night and then disappeared again. High tension throughout.

6.       The Horla by Guy de Maupassant. Melville House’s re-issue of the horror classic includes two earlier versions of the story written by the author. An excellent study in how an idea develops in different iterations.

7.       Tomb of Dracula: The Complete Collection Volume 2, by Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan, Tom Palmer and more. Continuing the reprints of both the color Tomb of Dracula comic and the black-and-white Dracula Lives! Magazine.

8.       Deosil (Whyborne & Griffin #11) by Jordan L. Hawk. Another series I’m sad to see end with this installment. Hawk’s blending of Lovecraftian horror with gay paranormal historical romance has been pitch-perfect throughout the run, and this final volume wraps up all the major and supporting plots satisfactorily.

9.       Rosemary and Rue (Tenth Anniversary Edition) by Seanan McGuire. My first re-read of the very first October Daye installment proved to me just how much of the series McGuire had planned from the beginning. Almost every chapter has some wink or nod towards things that will be revealed later on. There’s also a new novella at the back of this hardcover re-release, in which we finally get to see how Toby became a Knight in the service of Sylvester Torquill and how she found the Queen’s new Knowe, both events having occurred before the events of this first novel.

10.   Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand. A perfect novella for the Halloween season: the story of a band and the haunted house they spend a summer in, told in a “Behind the Music” talking heads documentary style. I can’t believe this one hasn’t been adapted to movie form given the obvious overlap of music and the supernatural. I just realized there’s a multi-reader audiobook version that I’ll be listening to as soon as possible.

11.   Tomb of Dracula: The Complete Collection Volume 3, by Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan, Tom Palmer and more. Continuing the reprints of both the color Tomb of Dracula comic and the black-and-white Dracula Lives! Magazine.

12.   Come Tumbling Down (Wayward Children #5) by Seanan McGuire. McGuire returns to the Portal world of the Moors in a story that builds on elements from the first and second books in the series. The Moors is my favorite of the Portal worlds the author has created for this series, and I was not disappointed to return there. I read an ARC. The book is due out in early January 2020. My Full Review HERE.

13.   Absolution (Serena Darkwood Adventures #1) by Charles F.  Millhouse. This is a really enjoyable new “dirty SF” book – meaning we get immersed in the criminal underbelly of this new interstellar world Millhouse has created. The main characters are engaging, the alien races intriguing, and the audiobook a fun listen. Looking forward to more of Serena’s adventures.

14.   Songs of Giants by Mark Wheatley. Editor Mark Wheatley gathers a variety of poems written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft for various pulp magazines and adds his own original and stunning artwork that brings the poems to life.

15.   A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. My annual re-read of the battle between Openers and Closers for the fate of the world, narrated by a demon in dog form who becomes best friend with a cat. Featuring a lot of recognizable horror and mystery characters. Just a fun read, and I always pick up on a new or somehow forgotten detail.

 

 

STORIES

I have a goal of reading 365 short stories (1 per day, essentially, although it doesn’t always work out that way) each year. Here’s what I read this month and where you can find them if you’re interested in reading them too. If no source is noted, the story is from the same magazine or book as the story(ies) that precede(s) it:

1.       “The Beasts We Want to Be” by Sam J. Miller, from Lightspeed Magazine #113 (October 2019 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams.

2.       “Nesting Habits of Enceladen Beetles” by Eli Brown

3.       “Revival” by WC Dunlap

4.       “The Death of Fire Station 10” by Ray Nayler

5.       “The Valley of the Wounded Deer” by E. Lily Yu

6.       “<<Legendaire.>>” by Kai Ashante Wilson

7.       “Windrose in Scarlet” by Isabel Yap

8.       “The Words of Our Enemies, The Wards of Our Hearts” by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor

9.       “Take The Shot” by Seanan McGuire, on the author’s Patreon page.

10.   “Strangers in Court” by Seanan McGuire, included in the hardcover 10th Anniversary edition of Rosemary and Rue.

11.   “On Full Moon Nights” by Idza Luhumyo, from The Dark #53, October 2019, edited by Silva Moreno-Garcia

12.   “Every Exquisite Thing” by Lynda E. Rucker

13.   “Authentic Zombies of the Caribbean” by Ana Maria Shua, translated by Andrea G. Labinger

14.   “The Demon L” by Carly Holmes

15.   “The Maw” by Nathan Ballingrud, from Nightmare #85, October 2019, edited by John Joseph Adams

16.   “Some Kind of Blood-Soaked Future” by Carlie St. George

So that’s 16 short stories in October, keeping me way ahead for the year so far. (October 30th was the 303rd day of 2019.)

 

Summary of Reading Challenges:

“To Be Read” Challenge: This month: 0 read; YTD: 3 of 14 read.

365 Short Stories Challenge: This month:  16 read; YTD: 364 of 365 read.

Graphic Novels Challenge:  This month: 3 read; YTD: 26 of 52 read.

Goodreads Challenge: This month: 15 read; YTD: 118 of 125 read.

Non-Fiction Challenge: This month: 0; YTD: 5 of 24 read.

Read the Book / Watch the Movie Challenge: This month: 0; YTD: 0 of 10 read/watched.

Complete the Series Challenge: This month: 0 books read; YTD: 0 of 16 read.

                                                                Series fully completed: 0 of 3 planned

Monthly Special Challenge: I may not do something like this every month but October’s mini-goal was Horror, Horror, Horror!. I did pretty well: 7 of the titles I read I would count as part of the horror genre (possibly 8, as the Whyborne and Griffin series, while technically paranormal historical romance, has Lovecraftian horror elements to it).

November’s mini-goal of course is: Crime/Mystery/Noir because it is Noirvember!