DJ Kirkbride and Adam P. Knave Talk The End of Amelia Cole

This week saw the end of Amelia Cole, one of Monkeybrain Comics's first launches and the one that has delivered most consistently throughout the four years that the company has been in existence.

The story centered on Amelia Cole, a young woman with magical powers, and one of the only ones able to travel between three worlds -- the magical world, the non-magical world, and a "blended" third world that she discovered in the first issue.

What happens once those doors close? And what caused it? That was the series' first mystery, but by the time all was said and done that was only one of many smaller elements that added up to something mythic.

Writers Adam P. Knave and DJ Kirkbride joined ComicBook.com to discuss the series.

You can pick up Amelia Cole on ComiXology here.

Is this a shorter issue, or does it just feel that way since I really don't want the book to end

DJK: No, it's just that the previous issues have been longer, issue 29 in particular. This one is our standard 14 pages. It's also kind of a nice denouement after all the non-stop action of this storyline. The short scenes with all of our characters do make it go by pretty quickly

APK: And hey, we used to be 12 per issue for volumes 2 and 3, now 14 except when we go longer, volume 1 was 22-28 pages an issue - we have problems counting.

What do you think is the biggest thing Amelia takes away from all this? She's the kind of character who doesn't fundamentally change from the first time you see her to when she shows up on the dragons here.

APK: I'd disagree actually. I mean, Amelia doesn't change at the core of who she is, she wants to help. But the Amelia of issue 1 causes problems by not thinking, rushing into things and assuming she's a big her without taking the world into account. The Amelia of issue #30 plans, knows the value of teamwork, and understands consequences. She's grown up over the course of the series into who she always wanted to be.

DJK: I do hope that some change, some character grown is apparent. She went from being a kind of do it all herself, leap before she looks person into someone who plans more. She started out getting buy on her can-do attitude but learned that if she put her mind to work, too, that she could accomplish so much more. The main thing, for me, is in #29, when the whole city stands behind her. When we first met her, Amelia would have been all about saving but not admitting she needs help sometimes, too. The core goodness of her, though, that's unchanged.

Was the six-month jump forward just so that you had enough time in there to have cleaned up and not have the series end on a destroyed, chaotic city?

DJK: Yeah, we wanted to end on a more pleasant, hopeful note after the escalating fighting that's been going on since the beginning. Also, we wanted to really make it clear that Amelia needed some time. While we didn't feel the need to do a volume of her helping rebuild and then going up to the Inverted Mountains to recuperate from all the action and the loss of her best friend, we wanted to make sure it was clear this wasn't just the next day. Everyone's very different in issue #30 after the events of issue #29.

APK: The issue happens after a deep breath, so the time jump made sense. We get hit by the ending of #29, take a deep breath, and see where we are.

There's a nice symmetry to bringing back the Persuasion Demon in the last issue.

DJK: Thanks! It seemed appropriate to do that, as well as give a nod to the start of volume 2-- though with Kittyzilla instead of Puppyzilla this time. Just show that the more things change, the more they stay the same, life goes on, and heroes will always be needed.

APK: Plus we had to have her fail to finish eating lunch one last time. Though thinking back I almost wish we had done magic headphones in issue 1 as well.

DJK: She had regular ones in issue #1, though, so she didn't need to magic it up. She was rockin' it out!

This whole issue doesn't really feel like the end, it's more like a season finale. Do you guys have any ideas for more down the line?

DJK: We didn't want Amelia to die, so what else could we do with the final issue? There are more adventures, whether we get to tell them or not. I hope we do someday, but if not, it's nice to leave her flying toward adventure with a smile on her face.

APK: Some people would have ended at the end of the big fight! But yeah, we wanted to stop and see where our characters go, what roads they take, how they've grown since we first saw them to now.

We've talked in the past about where you wanted to go originally, and how you really just started getting there recently. Is that frustrating as the series draws to a close?

APK: At times, honestly, it can be. Issue 31 would have been the version of Amelia we first had, doing the job we first thought of. We changed course very early in the series development and I think we made absolutely the right choice, but I think I'll always miss the chance to do this next bit.

DJK: It's definitely frustrating. Reality just got in the way of my dreams to go on a hundred or so issues. There are so many tales to tell, but sales combined with new projects for Nick to draw... yeah, reality got in the way. I'm proud of what we were able to do, though.

Now, were the council manipulating events to create mage/non-mage stryfe, or is it just that things improved becuase people saw the need for solidarity in light of all that happened?

DJK: It's a combo. They were definitely pulling the Magistrate's strings at the start of the series, though my take is that the general "us" and "them" of mages and non-mages had existed before he came into power. A leader who buys into terrible ideas can make things worse, or official, though. Many of these people were just raised in that kind of world, and it took an outsider like Amelia to go, "Wait, what? This isn't right!"

APK: Right, the Council made it worse, pushing for the Magistrate to hieghten anger and fear so they could eventually use it to step in and suck the world dry, knowing people couldn't unite, but that sort of bigtroy existed before them. No one planned on Amelia, though. Also we never got around to telling you just why the Council focused so hard on this specific city and surrounding area… muahahahah!

What went into the decision to leave Hector in charge of Omega Company instead of giving him a happy ending on the non-mage world?

APK: He gets a happy ending here, instead. He gets the relationship, and the chance to better the world. You know, Hector had never had downtime, really, before volume 4, so his reaction was colored by the newness of it all. Amelia snapped him out of it and in the end he gets to ride off into the sunset.

DJK: He had to step up. If he'd stayed in the non-magic world, he wouldn't have been truly happy. The moment Amelia gave him the plan, he knew it. Hector's a good guy overall, but he needs coaxing to do the right thing sometimes. In a way, making him step up was a gift to him from both Amelia and Laura.

You realize that you can't ACTUALLY end this series, right? Because I have your phone numbers and I can just call and demand you make stuff up...

APK: NEW PHONE WHO DIS.

DJK: I wish, man. Whoa. I'm having trouble imagining not having an upcoming issue of Amelia Cole to work on anymore!

Also, damn it, you made me cry with that last splash page.

DJK: That page kept making me choke up at every stage, from just talking about it with Adam, to the story breakdown stages, to the scripting, and then, man, when I saw Nick's art... yeah. It's bittersweet. I'm really proud to have been a part of Amelia Cole.

APK: Me too, and I think we can speak for Nick and Rachel and Ruiz and Frank who stepped in to letter an issue -- we're all proud to have worked on this book and so thankful for our readers, and for you, Russ, to take the time to discuss issues with you each month. Maybe we can do it again with a new series soon (he said nudging everyone with an elbow).