Words of Advice for Women Breaking into Comics at the Marvel Women’s Panel

The Women of Marvel panel kicked off New York Comic Con 2024 on Sunday. Sarah Brunstad, with special guests Erica Schultz, Stephanie Phillips, Mackenzie Cadenheadas well as surprise special guest appearances There is a mandate.

The Women of Marvel panel concluded with a Q&A where advice was sought for women trying to break into comics. Below are responses from each group member.

Erica Schultz: As a writer, you basically have to write your own story. Not a Marvel or DC character (at first), but your own story. My advice would be to try and make anthologies for a lot of smaller publishers. These are great because writing a short story with a beginning, middle, and end is a great exercise.

Additionally, anthologies allow you to gain experience handling editing, production schedules, and more. Typically, around January and February, some smaller publisher will say they’re doing an anthology, and that’s the theme. So you can look for it on the Internet.

Stephanie Phillips: Building on this, there are several places looking for new talent. Mad Cave joins the Negative space for submissions from writers in different genres, like the horror stuff you might see at Top Cow.

One of the coolest things is that even if you don’t get picked up by a publisher, you can get editorials and talk to people in the industry. Negative Space runs a mentorship program that provides new writers with help from mentors, industry insiders, editors, writers, and more. It’s kind of like a personal lesson. So, look for these opportunities and talk to these people and have conversations.

Mackenzie Cadenhead: These are very useful answers. I come from a different perspective. I say talk to people and interns and then let yourself show up. I worked in theater, then worked as an editor at Marvel, then I wrote some stuff on my own that had nothing to do with Marvel, then came back and wrote children’s books for them, and now ultimately, I’m doing this stuff.

It’s really important to me to get more women involved. Sana (Amanat) actually started as my editor and served as assistant editor for a time. Although she had no background in art direction, she took it naturally. So, as her boss, I just want to make sure that we’re promoting that and working on that. And she surpassed me. She is amazing. When we left the comics company we were at, we stayed good friends, but she also had people at Marvel who she still remained friends with. She was the first person to suggest why not work at Marvel?

There’s also a lot to be said for focusing on the fact that, as women, we want more women to come into the industry and therefore work to get other women into the industry. Working hard to make sure we stay connected and pushing you to do the same. What do you think I should do? etc. This is how we operate as a community. Talk to each other and solve problems. I think it contributed professionally. Plus, you never know where your path will lead, so just follow it and let people advise you.

There is a message: Can I say she is humble? The reason I stayed in comics, and the reason I even got into comics and had a career at Marvel, all started with this woman. She is now my mentor and one of my best friends. She gave me the encouragement I needed to believe in myself.

There was a time when I felt like I wasn’t good at it. Sometimes I wonder why, as a woman of color, no one wants me to be in this industry. People put me in this situation. I have people like Mackenzie and a huge community of Marvel fans, Dan Buckley, CB Cebulski, Steve Blackwoodaccepted me and helped me defend my voice.

Obviously, you have to not only develop your talents but also find the right people. There are people in this room now who are your allies and who will work with you to change this industry. Get to know each other and I think building this community will go a long way. Start here again and see where we are, so hang in there.

That’s how it ended. Some really good advice, and if that’s not enough for the reader, here are the other announcements made on the Marvel Women’s panel, all in chronological order with plenty of images of what was shown.

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider

Stephanie Phillips talks Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider and what happens after Gwen stays in 616 permanently. Featuring revenge, the storyline continues to try and discover who is behind the mask. She also showed off a future cover by Mark Brooks, pictured above.

Phoenix

Phillips then spoke about her run in Phoenix, exploring Joan’s journey of self-discovery. As Jean continues this journey, there are signs that Eternity is speaking to her to understand what the Phoenix Force means to her. Phoenix is ​​also promised to undergo a kind of psychic cocoon that will see her transformation reborn into a new kind of cosmic hero, which you can watch below.

Marvel Women: She-Devil #1

Written by Stephanie Phillips, Alison Sampson, and others

Artworks by Alison Sampson and others

Cover by NINA VAKUEVA

On sale 2/26

Finally, Phillips talks about her upcoming Marvel Women: She-Devil #1“Daredevil Reborn” will be released in one release on February 26th, just one week after “Daredevil Reborn” is released on D+. The comic is part of the annual Women of Marvel anthology Marvel’s street heroine steps out of the shadows. Phillips is joined by Alison Sampson and a host of up-and-coming artists.

The claws are out! As the female demon Shanna uncovers a dark conspiracy, she calls on international allies to work together to stop the bombs from exploding with fists, katana swords, and gauntlets. Here’s a who’s who of Marvel’s most fearless warriors, as Elektra, Echo, Wolverine and more work together to save the world!

Venom and Daredevil unleash hell

Next, Erica Schultz provides an update Venom Wars: Toxic, Then later, Talking about her upcoming run with Laura Kinney Wolverine and Daredevil: Hell Unleashed. The latter will feature a red-band version, which will feature more evisceration and beheadings.

“We really wanted to get back to the darker parts of Electra,” Schultz said of Daredevil: Hell Unleashed. “She has a very dark past and will continue to have that dark past and see how that impacts her future,”

Laura Kinney: Wolverine

Schultz also took some time to talk about her performance in “Wolverine,” and one important way to highlight Laura Kinney is by emphasizing that, just like Elektra is not Matt in Daredevil, Laura Not Logan either.

“Laura is called little Logan, but she is not. Just like Gabby Kinney is not Laura, she is not Logan. Logan is 340 years old. He actually had a childhood. Laura was born in a laboratory , and then a homeless teen,” Schultz emphasized of the differences between Laura and others with Logan’s DNA. She continued, “Yes, they have adapted claws, but her experience is very different. Logan is so old that he has had time to recover from the trauma. She[Laura]still has a lot to do emotionally.” Deal with it. They are definitely not the same person.

Daredevil Reborn

Sana Amanat then took the stage to talk about what it’s like to be a producer on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) TV shows that are now inspired by such great comics. She talked about the show “Rebirth” on almost the same topic that the panel had discussed the day before – you can Read our Daredevil Reborn panel recap.

Dogpool and the Academy of Doom

Finally, Mackenzie Cadenhead talks about the popular Infinity comic series and her turn on Marvel’s Mutts, then discusses her time in Dogpool, including more furry friends , such as cat pond and rat pond.

She acknowledged that the series will be more dynamic than most people expect, given that it’s a comic that takes place in the world of Deadpool, emphasizing that it’s “exciting, fun, bright, and a little bit naughty,” And there could be a Deadpool appearance. Given the source material, she also stressed that comics can be violent at times. Silly at times. Also hosts the occasional fart joke.

She also talked about the new Pet Pool Saves Christmas storyline, which is set to launch later this year. There’s also talk of Cadenhead hosting Academy of Doom later this year, though we’ve covered that in a different article. Academy of Destruction announced earlier.

Missed any Comic-Con news? Check out the rest of The Beat’s NYCC ’24 coverage here