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