This week saw the conclusion of the fourth arc of Monkeybrain Comics’ Amelia Cole, titled “The Impossible Fate.”
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You can check out the preview pages from writers DJ Kirkbride and Adam P. Knave with artist Nick Brokenshire below.
As ever, Kirkbride and Knave joined ComicBook.com for a conversation about the issue, the end of the arc and what’s in store for the next miniseries, The End of Everything.
Reminder: This interview is spoiler-filled. If you haven’t read Amelia Cole #24 yet, go buy it here and read along with us.
I love the Empire Records nod. You think eventually we’ll get a master list of all Nick’s in-jokes?
DJK: I rarely notice them until well after the fact at this point, so worried am I about less fun things. Then I’ll notice or be told and love Nick even more. A master list could be cool, so long as there were no legal ramifications, haha.
APK: Yeah I worry a compendium of them would take years to compile. If someone else wants to do it, they can.
Is there something special about the wrench itself? I always kind of just took it as a handy conduit for Amelia.
DJK: We barrelled through some mythology about how wands have to be passed down by family, and so the wrench working as a wand meant it belonged to someone in Amelia’s family — as does a lot of Lemmy. That’s our “bippity boppity” explanation for not only why the wrench is her wand, but also part of why Lemmy’s no ordinary magic golem.
APK: Yeah it belongs in the family and was used as a wand by someone else. Not an important story and one I can not imagine we’d ever tell, but there you go.
I suppose it was a plot necessity, but I never thought of the idea that Hector wouldn’t have mentioned Amelia in passing. Will everything he’s been withholding come back to bite him later?
APK: Hector, as you may have noticed, doesn’t like talking about his past. Combine that with his still-guilt over what went down between him and Amelia AND his recent realizations of how she sees the world, now that started to truly understand it and you can see why he wouldn’t exactly bring her up as an “Oh yeah this one time…”
DJK: Yeah, he is too tight lipped for his own good. We have it all dawning on him and whatnot, but he doesn’t have a big heart-to-heart about it until he has to have one. Also, he kinda figured he’d never see her again. Hector, while having a heroic streak, is not the hero of the book for reasons.
We’ve talked a bit about how Hector was kind of superhero-esque during his Protector days, but now Amelia’s actually got a costume and everything. Will we see her cross over with Edison Rex down the line?
DJK: Did I ever pitch MONKEYBRAIN UNITED, Adam? Or did I just mention it to you, and we chuckled about it? As for Amelia’s costume, well… there’s more too it than just fancy fashion.
APK: We chuckled about it. I fear who would have to traffic cop that idea.
A little more seriously, the change in wardrobe kind of signifies a change in state, right? It feels a bit like when a character time-travels and comes back a second later but DIFFERENT (see Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey for an example).
APK: Throughout the story we have had Amelia growing and changing. She dons the cloak, sort of the outfit of the Protector, but it was Hector’s not her own. And her look has continued to evolve. She realized she needed to find her own look, and her own ability to stand there and make it clear “Here is the person that will be helping you.” It’s a symbol: Both of her growth as a person, and as a hero.
DJK: There are also practical reasons involving ruining all her regular clothes, and also, um, again, it’s not just about fancy fashion. I don’t want to spoil things!
I love the fact that you not only made the Star Wars reference, but that you were able to milk it for more than one joke on account of Hector.
DJK: Thank you! Those lines are a couple of the best lines in movie history. To “Han Solo” someone bravely declaring his or her love for you is the ultimate likable scoundrel move.
That said, how much difference is there in things like the pop culture of the magic/blended/non-magic worlds? Does everyone have everything entirely different?
DJK: Yeah, these have never been parallel worlds. There is no goateed evil Amelia walking around or movie theaters playing BACK TO THE FUTURE starring Eric Stoltz. Amelia grew up in two totally different cultures, but she prefers the pop culture of ours. And the tacos, too.
APK: Wait, there’s no evil goateed Amelia? We gotta rewrite issue 25 STAT.
Wait…is that DJ with his groceries?
APK: Maaaaaaaybe. D.J. something you want to admit to us? Also does this mean Nick and I own a portion of your likeness now?
DJK: We all own a third of my likeness! Yeah, Nick put that little treat in there. I have no idea why, but it warmed m’heart.
Now that you guys are deep into it, do you see any downside to digital-first format? If I didn’t zoom out specifically to look at page layouts, for instance, I wouldn’t have noticed how awesome Nick’s “Lemmy running” page is.
APK: We design for both. Sometimes that means a page might look better full page instead of panel view. If we did print first this would still happen, exactly the same. But since they do hit print in trade, we can’t ignore either side.
DJK: From a business point of view, we’d maybe have done things differently, but we were trail blazin’ with the Monkeybrain crew! Learned a lot, and this publishing format, along with our obsitnence, is why we’ve made it to issue 24, honestly. As for the reading experience, usually it works great either way, but, yeah, sometimes a page layout is best taken in all at once. ComiXology does an amazing job with the guided view, though. I love that I can read comics on my phone in a pinch.
What can you tell us about the End of Everything? Is it just a Battle of the Five Armies-style throwdown or is there some story in there too?
APK: Russ. Have we ever JUST done action? For an issue much less six? No, the End of Everything is giant in story and character and action. It’s the biggest arc yet, and the culmination of everything that has gone before.
DJK: More action than EVER, but also? More FEELINGS! That’s right. We’re gonna warm your heart… and then BLOW IT UP!
