Posted in: Comics | Tagged: aliens, Comics, Corrina Bechko, dynamite, entertainment, vampirella

"It's Often Useful To Give Your Main Character Someone To Talk To" – Corrina Bechko On Aliens / Vampirella

Published Sat, 12 Dec 2015 18:00:27 -0600

Ian Parker, plotter/co-creator of Cage Hero #2, talks with writer Corinna S. Bechko about Aliens/Vampirella #4, both from Dynamite Entertainment and in stores now.

IAN PARKER: It seems that Norm is starting to have mixed feelings about Tucker's decision making. Was this done to lead to some additional drama between the two in the near future?

CORINNA S. BECHKO: Absolutely! This thread will come into play quite a bit very soon. I thought it was important to make the point that even though there's a command structure at work on the base, it's not a military installation. These are basically civilians dealing with something much more dangerous than what they signed up for.

IP: Lars' wife doesn't seem to love the idea of Lars being fed on by Vampirella. Is that more of a jealousy situation? Or more of a concern towards his health?

CSB: I think it's more the latter, as well as a concern for his mental health. From her point of view, how could this have possibly happened? She thinks it was a crazy risk to take, and is wondering what could have prompted it.

IP: I like the way that you have created Lars to be essentially the comic relief to Vampirella. Was there a duo or characters in the past that inspired you to create this relationship?

CSB: Thanks! Since it's hard to have much interior dialogue in comics I find that it's often useful to give your main character someone to talk to. Going in I thought a lot about buddy movies, and how characters are often defined by their differences from their friends. That's part of why I wanted Lars and Vampirella to grow to trust each other, like Jack and The Duke in Midnight Run. But in truth I was also thinking of Brett and Parker, the engineers aboard the Nostromo in Alien. They function as comic relief in many ways, but they are also so very human, a necessary contrast to the scary Xenomorphs. I figured we'd need someone like that in this crossover since Vampirella is many things, but human isn't one of them.

IP: It seems that Vampirella is not the only one in need of a good feeding session in this story. Did you purposely create a lack of food source for them to potentially create more challenges for Vampirella?

CSB: Definitely! Here on Earth things are easy, but out in space, or on another planet, privation will always be the rule. I wanted to illustrate that, and have it run as a constant background throughout the main story. And of course any sort of privation, even perceived privation, breeds distrust. I'm hoping some of that comes across in the way the characters deal with each other.

For more on Aliens / Vampirella #4, click here.

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