INTERVIEW: GAIL SIMONE ON DYNAMITE’S RED SONJA

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Red Sonja #1 Nicola Scott cover

Gail Simone is the popular writer who has serviced books including Batgirl, Birds of Prey, and welcome to Tranquility. Her most current project is the new Red Sonja series from Dynamite. Westfield’s Roger Ash recently contacted Simone to learn a lot more about her upcoming work on Red Sonja.

Westfield: What attracted you to this project?

Gail Simone: one of the policies I made for myself when I started as a writer is that I would never take a writing gig based solely on the paycheck. It sounds a bit dreadful to say, but I wanted to be pleased of the work I had done, I wanted to pick projects I would take pleasure in writing, with characters I would care about. Fortunately, I haven’t ever had to be in that position.

So if I take a project, there is something about it that I find personally compelling. There has to be some angle, some little electric charge when I think about a project, or I am not the ideal person for the job.

With Sonja, there were so lots of things, so lots of terrific aspects, that it really was a no-brainer. I guess one of the things that draws me to her is something deeply personal. everyone underestimates Red Sonja at first. If they don’t know her rep, they see this girly redhead and they have every possible wrong conclusion about her. They think she’ll be a pushover, someone easily intimidated.

I can relate to that. The positive thing is that Sonja is tougher, smarter, and a lot more hazardous than all of them.

They will learn.

Red Sonja #1 Amanda Conner cover

Westfield: Who, to you, is Red Sonja?

Simone: I have heard a lot of soundbites about Sonja; ice queen, female Conan, bad girl. All that stuff seems to barely be scraping the paint.

I think she’s a force of nature, one of those rare characters that creates a thousand imitators and yet, is never genuinely equaled.

I like her bawdy, lusty, a bit impetuous. I do not want the ice queen. I want the she-devil.

Red Sonja #1 Fiona Staples cover

Westfield: What can readers look forward to in Red Sonja?

Simone: I was very sad to hear of the passing of Ray Harryhausen this past week, he’s a huge influence on how I see sword and sorcery. I loved those crazy monsters! So expect lots of that.

But this is a different Sonja story. We haven’t seen this happen to her. Not sure how she will recover, just yet.

It’s brutal.

Red Sonja #1 Jenny Frison cover

Westfield: will you be introducing any supporting characters?

Simone: Oh, yeah, quite a few! The fun of Sonja is how people react to her. and she’s got two sixteen year old twin girls who think they are her bodyguards. It’s a pleasure to write this stuff, I swear!

Red Sonja #1 Colleen Doran cover

Westfield: You’re working with artist Walter Geovanni on the book. What can you say about your collaboration with him?

Simone: just that he makes me happy. I give him a scene, he draws it beautifully, and then asks if there’s anything I would like from him to make it better. He’s that kind of dedicated artist who just wants to do his best work every time.

Working with him feels like working with a classic Sword and Sorcery artist, he draws the buckles on the belts, the joints on the chairs, I just love him. I got lucky.

Red Sonja #1 Stephanie Buscema cover

Westfield: any closing comments?

Simone: just that I hope people who haven’t read Sonja before give it a try. It’s a very deep story, every issue adds texture and emotion, I am absolutely thrilled to be part of this team on this book!

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Red Sonja