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Red Sonja's Husband – Gail Simone Talks Red Sonja #0

As part of their 10th Anniversary celebration, Dynamite has decided to do #0 issues for four of their titles. Today we focus on Red Sonja #0 with series writer Gail Simone as she talks with Matt Brady (formerly of Newsarama).

MATT BRADY: #0 issues! Who thought these things up? Big picture-wise, as a writer, how do you see them through your potential customer's eyes? How does that affect the story you tell and the approach you take? For instance, are you telling a story tied to continuity, or it's own little one-off?

GAIL SIMONE: The funny thing is that I am terrible with numbers. I never know shipping dates, Previews order codes, I get the page counts of scripts wrong all the time. And I am the worst ever at issue numbers, I never give it a thought. If someone says an issue was their favorite, I will have no idea what they are talking about until I can open the book up and be reminded.

It's a little embarrassing.

I don't know whose idea it was, but it's lovely to write these little done-in-one stories, I dearly love doing them. Dynamite asked me if I could squeeze one in for Sonja and in my endless selfishness, I agreed, because I just enjoy writing her so much.

I don't think a lot about marketing, it's not my specialty, but I do know that I personally do look for jumping on points for books. If I start some book in the middle of a huge arc, I'm often completely lost. A lot of writers just assume the reader has done their research. I find zero issues and new issues and annuals very attractive, as a reader, so I like to do them myself rather than pass them off to someone else on a book I am working on.

This story has some revealing Sonja moments, but you don't need to have been following the book to keep up. It's a fun, outrageous story.

MB: That said, what's responsible for your story? What is, or was the germ of the start of it's origin? Just from the solicit copy, it has a great hook – Red Sonja's Husband! Where did that start in your brain?

GS: In this story, Red Sonja has a particular village she hangs out in, where there's a pub that serves her favorite ale, so it's the closest place to home for her. And she disappears, she's gone for ages…and a huge guy shows up and tells the sad story.

Sonja's dead, and he's her widower.  You want to meet the man who tamed the She-Devil's heart.

With Sonja, there's so much potential for stories beyond giant snakes and wizards, and that's what I'm finding so damn fun about her.

MB: Writing Warlord of Mars #0 brought this point home to me again, and left me wondering if it's a universal truth, or still a (somewhat) newbie issue…whittling down to fit the story in the pages. I think what's making it into my issue is about 25-40% of my original plot. Not that I'm not telling a full story, just that the story I told myself was grand and sweeping, and the story that's coming out in July has to fit in 22 pages. Is it still that way for you, or am I just an unrestrained noob?

GS: I think most of us feel that Tetris-like panic all the time, regardless of how long we have been doing it. We get better at it, but it's still a matter of, how do I fit this story in 22 pages? How do I fit this scene in five panels?

It helps when you learn to trust your artist, they can really help convey the things we feel need to be spelled out in dialog or narration. We're lucky to have Noah Salonga on this issue, he does a lovely job, exquisite detail, and that leaves me room to cut some stray nonsense.

But yeah, still, it feels like you have an "L" shape and the timer is winding down, sometimes.

MB: Again, big-picture, what do you want readers to come away with from this issue?

GS: For me, I feel like I am spreading the Gospel of Sonja. There's a world of readers out there who only know her from having her boobs spill mostly out in art prints or whatever, they might not have ever read any of the previous runs.

But if you haven't really followed her, you are missing one of the funniest, bawdiest, deadliest heroes in adventure fiction history. She's a joy, she takes no **** from anyone and seeing her get angry is one of the great joys in comics.

It's a fun, bittersweet story, and a great place to try her adventures on for size. But fair warning, you might get hooked on the She-Devil.

I sure as hell did!

For more on Red Sonja #0, click here.

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