Comics writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and artist David López serve as co-pilots captain marvel, a comic series that reinvented Carol Danvers for the 21st century. It was so influential that it even convinced Academy Award winner Brie Larson to star in the Marvel Studios film of the same name.
So it’s only fitting that the origin story of DeConnick and Lopez’s first collaboration in years dates back to the March 2019 premiere of the film adaptation. The two attended the film’s premiere in Los Angeles, and over dinner, Lopez suggested they should make an original, creator-owned comic.
Five years (and a few abandoned ideas) later, the seeds sown at that dinner party are now a reality. The duo teamed up for FMLis an eight-issue comic from Dark Horse and will be published in November.
The book is deeply personal for DeConnick, as her teenage son and daughter helped inspire the surreal coming-of-age series centered on the relationship between a mother and her son.
The first issue is narrated by Riley, a heavy metal boy who uses a ball pen and notepad to navigate the horrors of modern high school life—from active shooter drills to social anxiety. Issue 2 is told from the perspective of Riley’s mother, an aging punk cartoonist obsessed with true crime. Together, the two stories paint a picture of a mother and son trying to survive in a Portland plagued by wildfires and the coronavirus pandemic. Against this backdrop, a murder mystery emerges, and one character even transforms into a monster.
As DeConnick points out, when her son was growing up, conversations around masculinity were often associated with the word “toxic.” That left DeConnick grappling with how to help guide her son into adulthood, a subject she pours into her book.
“I want my kids to fully understand that there is a toxic masculinity framework underlying a lot of bad behavior,” DeConnick said. hollywood reporter. “That doesn’t mean being a man is a bad thing.”
Although the mother, brothers and sisters in the play FML There are parallels with the author and her children, with the family discussing why one character is not the one who inspired it.
“It was just the starting point of an idea,” DeConnick said, adding that her children loved participating in the book. “My intention is not to embarrass you. Even if we both agree that the character is not you, I still don’t want you to feel uncomfortable over anything.
DeConnick and Lopez are joined by colorist Chris Peter and letterer Clayton Cowles, both of whom have worked with DeConnick bitch planetis her most recent creator-owned title, which ran from 2014-17.
The scribe noted that the comics industry has changed a lot in the decade since she launched the comic bitch planet. It’s harder than ever to draw attention to projects, so she’s trying new ways to engage readers. She included Easter eggs in her newsletter, including one that directed people to the website of a fictional band that featured FML. One astute reader even messaged the band asking to book them for their wedding. DeConnick is also exploring an appearance on a true crime podcast, given the book’s ties to the genre.
As for working with Lopez again, DeConnick noted that he seemed to draw faster than she could write and that he wasn’t afraid to kill his darlings. “He didn’t mind throwing things away,” DeConnick said of the artist, who was more than willing to dump pages if a better idea came along.
View variant covers FML Works from artists Alvaro Martinez Bueno, David LaFuente, Nicola Scott and Pepe Larraz.
Alvaro Martinez Bueno/Dark Horse
David La Fuente/Dark Horse
Nicola Scott/Dark Horse
Pepe Larras/Dark Horse
