Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Chastity, Comics, dave acosta, dynamite, entertainment, Marc Andreyko

"That Was A Little Too Rob Zombie And Mean To Want To Bring Forward" – Marc Andreyko On Chastity

Marc Andreyko has built a reputation for writing strong female characters. Add that to his familiarity with the existing universe and he was the perfect choice to bring back the Chaos! Comics character of Chastity for Dynamite Entertainment. He chatted with Byron Brewer about changing the character's backstory and what makes her someone wants to write.

BYRON BREWER: Marc, were you familiar with any of the Chaos! Characters before you began writing Chastity?

MARC ANDREYKO: Oh, for sure. I even wrote some Purgatori and Lady Death minis for Brian Pulido back in the 90's.

BB: Has it been fun to write a character like Chastity Marks in this era of Twilight and warm fuzzies about bloodsuckers, only to discover the gritty, bloody truth?

MA: Absolutely! And by starting in the mid-80's, I'm able to tell a story without internet and cellphones. It's amazing how technology has become such a crutch and, occasionally a deus ex machina, in contemporary storytelling. Not having it was actually exciting.

BB: What characteristics about Chastity make her someone you want to write about?

MA: A teenager over her head in circumstances she doesn't fully understand? Tragedy? Powers that are a curse as much as a blessing? This is the stuff great comics have been made of forever!

BB: Do you find any similarities of your iteration of Batwoman in Chastity? For some reason, I seem to pick up the same vibes.

MA: Not consciously, both are tough women who do their best to adapt to their circumstances, but their journeys couldn't be more different.

BB: With Chastity, it seems to me that you as a writer took the current conventions of vampires and vampire fiction and spun them into a new backstory for the character in a way that seems a seamless blend of the old and new. What changes did you make from the 1980s Chastity?

MA: Her 90's origin had sexual abuse in it and, personally, that was a little too Rob Zombie and mean to want to bring forth. And a little "on the nose". Her emotionally abusive and distant mother in the new backstory works better IMHO. The sex stuff always felt shocking for shock's sake and diminished Chas' journey. Sexual victimization, especially in female led stories, is a trope that can work, rarely, with the right story, but it wasn't a critical component here.

I wanted to remain faithful to the tone of the original character, but excising the sex abuse stuff makes the story less… i dunno, "icky"?

BB: Chastity vs. … her little brother? Wow.

MA: Thanks. This is a horror book after all. Lol. And he was inspired by those creepy, floating vampire kids from the "'Salem's Lot" TV movie that scared the hell out of me when I was a kid.

BB: When will we learn more about the Council?

MA: Eventually….

BB: Have you been happy with the book under the artistic touch of Dave Acosta?

MA: Oh, yeah. Dave's style is so visceral and captures the rawness of the stories, both emotionally and physically.

For more on Chastity, click here.

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