I was recently able to interview Barbara Randall Kesel, writer of IDW and Gold Eagle’s upcoming Rogue Angel: Teller of Tall Tales. After reading the advanced copy, I was excited to learn more about the new comic adaptation and the writer talented herself!
SciFiChick: As the first female writer for Rogue Angel, what do you hope to bring to the series?
Barbara Randall Kesel: Hmmm… never thought of myself as the “first female writer,” but I guess I am! I don’t approach projects that way. While I AM female, and that certainly colors everything I do, including scripting, it’s not something I consciously focus on incorporating. I’m not writing Rogue Angel as a “woman writer”, I’m writing it as ME, the writer. What I bring to this particular (or any) character is my talent, my skills, my observations, and my enjoyment of complicated characterization. Maybe I have some additional insights into BEING female, but what I hope I bring to every series is a fierce respect for even the “one-line” background characters, male or female.
Where I DO turn vigilant is characters, all around, but especially the women. So often female characters are given short shrift in the character department in comics, or are rendered disposable, and I’ll grouse about that, but it’s not about the writers being male or female: it’s about the writers building well-rounded characters (and not having that just mean ginormous boobs on the girls!)
