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Leah Williams and German Garcia's Creator's Commentary on Barbarella/Dejah Thoris #4

Published Tue, 25 Jun 2019 11:30:29 -0500

Something new… Leah Williams and German Garcia's combined creator's commentary on Barbarella/Dejah Thoris #4, out now from Dynamite.

PAGE 1:

LEAH WILLIAMS: We pick up right where we left off, which is just after Doctor Gitu has cheerfully told Dejah and Barbarella that he needs them to let this world die. And also it's Mars. Both of these things, of course, are going to make Dejah and Barbarella immediately baulk since it's so against their moral alignment–they would never deliberately bring harm to innocent life, let alone tacitly allow a planet-wide genocide. So we open with their mirrored righteous fury and overlapping voices.

PAGES 2 – 3:

GERMAN GARCIA: I wanted to give a small psychedelic feeling to the background here. Not a direct reproduction, but a hint. We've been playing with integrating small '60s styled details here and there while avoiding a full retro approach.

LW: Like everything Germán has done, I lost my sh*t at this spread here too. It's not just the aesthetic that I'm enchanted with – he merges retrofuturism so intelligently here with our story (the CHAIRS!) but just the deftness of the layout. It's so smart. It's so good. And Addison Duke, of course, came in and ignited everything with these insanely beautiful colors.

PAGE 4:

LW: So there is…quite a lot of both meaningful interaction and information we pack into these next two pages as Doctor Gitu explains what's going on. It's the last issue and we can't dwell here for too long, but at the same time there are so many things that need to be addressed, so we have to again give props to Germán for packing so much intent and emotion into the visual language. This is an expository scene, but it's also an emotional one. We never lose sight of how each woman is feeling in this moment, and never lose what has now become their tight-knit relationship. They've grown close – they have developed a shorthand and can intuit more meaning from each other through just a few words exchanged. They are sitting very close to one another, and it's not accidental either. They lean into each other to confer. At the same time – this is a scene about Dejah. This is so much about how learning all of this is making her feel, and we see Barbarella reacting to *that* more than to Doctor Gitu. She's watching Dejah's reaction. I love the intricacy and bounciness of this scene. In less capable hands than Germán's, this would have dragged and felt like pages of tedious exposition. But it doesn't feel that way at all. It looks and feels like an important glimpse into Dejah's character.

GG: As I was reading the script, it was clear I needed to focus on Dejah's reactions. Gitu is the one dropping the information but the emotional side of the scene is on Dejah, so she's in half of the panels even when she is just listening.

PAGE 5:

LW: Dejah is echoing Barbarella's words here as she begins to address the inhabitants of the sea column, and that's on purpose. This is what Barbarella said to her in the previous issue of the miniseries, and it had a logic that stuck with Dejah. I also love that this is a scene about Dejah being a brilliant tactician, and Barbarella's checking her nails and flirting with her at the same time.

PAGE 6:
GG: There's a big ellipsis here. I thought it would be interesting to smooth the cut by starting with the same shot while Dejah's speech is warming up and open it up to the full establishing shot when it peaks.

LW: I love your decision on that. Dejah's someone who is kind of always pushing herself to be better, which means she's constantly testing herself for weak points. This is why she says something self-deprecating to Barbarella in this moment about hopefully finally impressing her, but of course Barbarella is like "Oh no, you totally had that from the start" as we reveal the staggeringly impressive establishing shot.

PAGE 7:
GG: So many fish!

Colorist ADDISON DUKE: SO MANY FISH!!!

LW: I'm sorry!!! But also, my god!! I love this so much!!!

PAGE 8:
LW: Magnetic monopoles are a real thing that I'm using in a batsh*t way here to justify a world drain. "Real," meaning, they are an existing hypothetical principle in particle physics – like, what if a north pole could exist without a south pole? And here, what if we just put a whole buncha these bad boys in a comic book so they can set up set up that sucking force that drains the world dry?? What if they are only magnetic monopoles in this version of the world because Doctor Gitu put the other ends of them all the way back at the beginning of the same world? And that's how he constructed the gate?

PAGE 9:
LW: I'm unreasonably proud of PZOOM. It feels authentic.

PAGE 10:
LW: That last Nautilus Guard getting swept away as he's trying to thank Dejah and Barbarella for helping them really kicks me in the gut. It's another sad yet tender moment in this miniseries.

PAGE 11:
LW: I want to shoutout our editor Matt Idelson on this page – it was his idea to add what he called "connective tissue" (which I absolutely adore for a storytelling context, it's so apt) so that we could show the disruptive, corrosive effect that the depleting R.U.S.T. was having on the bad guys above the surface of the ocean. They'd staked their ships into underwater R.U.S.T. reserves, so when that was disappearing, their reedy ships became unmoored and started crashing down. I love too what Addison's done to bring home the contrasting violence of surface vs underwater – angry oranges and reds up there vs the calm blues and greens below. (By the end, you'll notice he's merged these disparate tones into one incredible cosmic-feeling, lonely planet palette!)

PAGE 12:
GG: Pages 12 and 13 were tricky to balance. The planet's oceans are being drained, which means Dejah is suffering an emotional hit, but it was really important to show what was happening to the world or it could end up being confusing. So I prioritized that and inserted Barbarella and Dejah the best I could.
LW: Barbarella knows their time together is nearing an end, and finally, finally starts really opening up to Dejah about herself and wearing her heart on her sleeve. It's also exactly what Dejah needs to hear in this difficult moment–that watching a world die is something Barbarella has experienced before.

PAGE 13:
LW: This page breaks my heart. Every technology we've encountered has been bio-organic, so here their oxygenating masks and protective enclosure…also finally want to leave at the end, because they want to survive on the other side of the gate. And what breaks my heart is Barbarella–of course–thanking them for keeping herself and Dejah safe. Saying "I love you," to a creature regardless of whether or not they may understand her words, but because it's important to her to express that affection as they part ways is a very Barbarella move. Low-key foreshadowing her immensely more difficult goodbye with Dejah coming up.

PAGE 14:
GG: One thing I particularly like about this issue is that Leah takes the proper time for closure and goodbyes. From here up until the end we go through them, and they are all touching and well earned.

LW: I'm super soft-hearted about these closing pages. I didn't want to say bye to this miniseries, and wanted to make something feel emotionally fulfilling for readers finishing up this experience with us, as well as emotionally fulfilling for Barbarella and Dejah Thoris.

PAGE 15:
GG: These are just continuity pages from me, nothing remarkable, but I want to highlight Addison's work on these exterior pages. They are gorgeous every time.

LW: God, yeah. Addison brings a distinct and interesting style with his colors.

PAGE 16:
GG: The kiss. I kind of wanted to make it more passionate, but the thing is… Dejah is leaving right after. It would be a jerk move by her if she did that and left, so I went with this tender "could have been" take.

LW: Totally agree with that. I think "sweet, sad, and tender" may have even been what I had in the script just because it feels like the most authentic thing that could happen here. That last panel on this page of Barbarella all alone on a ruined planet is another kick in the gut for me. It's wordless but so evocative. We can *feel* how lonely she is once Dejah has gone, and it's heartbreaking.

PAGE 17:
LW: Now that they've parted ways, we've pulled apart their distinctive visual narratives too. Dejah returns to her archaeological site where her friend is, and it's warm, bursting with torchlight, and feels crowded.

PAGE 18:
LW: …Whereas, in contrasting, Barbarella returns to the empty and dark house where Doctor Gitu's corpse still is. It's an emotional hit for her after having such a difficult time saying goodbye to Dejah and being alone again. Her tenderness here regardless of how sad and lonely she feels makes me tear up every time.

GG: I enjoy silence in pages. It can add a lot of feeling when used right. We've had quite a bunch of good ones along the series.

LW: I really like silent pages, too. I always try to include as many silent scenes in what I write just so the art can breathe without me, but once I saw how deftly you handled the first silent pages at the end of Issue #1 – just bursting with life, movement, and meaning – I started trying to find more and more places to write these kind of powerfully evocative moments in future scripts.

PAGE 19:
GG: I like the classic Barbarella comic more than the movie, but the movie's costume designs are fascinating. I love every single one of them, so the chance to design a dress for Barbarella was a gift.

LW: YOU'RE A GIFT!

PAGE 20:
GG: Now that's a beautiful way to end a story.

LW: I 100% burst into tears the first time I saw these inks come through. It's such a sweet, lovely moment. Also, that last twinkle of Mars in the sky was all Matt Idelson's idea – he's really good at finding places to add depth and significance.