With Lantern City #3, writer Mairghread Scott will pick up the reins of co-writer from Paul Jenkins, joining a moving freight train in the high-profile, deep-mythology series.
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She does this just as she picks up a backup feature gig in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, making hr one of BOOM! Studios’ new favorite people.
Scott joined us for a few words on Lantern City, Power Rangers and beyond — and brought with her an exclusive preview of next week’s Lantern City #3.
You can check out the first two issues on ComiXology.
Obviously, coming on board in the middle of a story arc — especially on a project with such an elaborate mythology — can be tricky. How have you found the process so far?
I’m really at home when it comes to catching up with a moving mythology. I think it’s one of the reasons BOOM! reached out to me, and catching up has been a real treat. Lantern City is such an interesting place, a vertical steampunk dystopia, and we go everywhere from the highest towers of power to the lowest criminal underbelly. It’s been a real joy.
What drew you to Lantern City?
The team. I’ve never worked with a brand that’s so excited with telling it’s story. Matthew Daley is a really great writer and a pleasure to work with, Carlos Magno’s art is breath-taking and Mary Gumport and Dafna Pleban are some of the best editors I’ve ever broken story with. Working on a great property is great, but if you don’t have the right voices in the room, it can be really hard to achieve that greatness. Everyone on Lantern City not only brings their A-game to every issue, but we work really well together. I think that teamwork is what elevates this book above its already strong concept.
What’s the relationship been like with the rest of the creative team?
We work closely together. Matthew knows exactly where he wants to go, so he generates the base ideas and my job is to sharpen them, to bring them into focus. Comics have a lot of weird little rules and tricks to write them properly (especially when it comes to pacing them) and by working together Matthew and I think you get the best of both of us: Matthew’s innovative storytelling, Lantern City‘s rich backdrop and my breakneck speed. Then we turn these crazy scripts over to Carlos and he wows all of us. Tip to the writers out there: find an amazing artist like Carlos and you’ll always look good.
What does #3 offer you in terms of a jumping-on point, and something to make the readers go “Okay, yeah, this is a new ballgame?”
We actually worked hard to make the transition from Issue 2 to 3 seamless and my biggest hope is that people who pick up Lantern City #3 won’t feel much of a change at all. I also hope people that follow my writing will read it and be inspired to go back to Issues 1 and 2, because they are staggeringly beautiful and good reads all on their own.
Obviously you just got announced doing backups for Power Rangers. How daunting is it to be coming onto these two properties at the same time?
Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi… Actually, they were a perfect balance to each other. I can only crawl around a dystopian revolutionary underground for so long before I just want a metal T-Rex to punch a monster in the face. I think having Power Rangers as an multi-colored, super-fun outlet allowed me to keep Lantern City as the tight, noir-esque book it should be.
Coming on so early, do you feel like you’re kind of still helping launch the book?
I do and the team has gone out of their way to make sure I feel like I have input. If you thought about getting Lantern City, but haven’t tried it yet, it’s going to be getting better, bigger and darker from here on out. So go buy issue 3, and pick up issues 1 and 2 if you missed them. There’s nothing I love more than opening new doors to new fans and this door is wide open; come join us.
Obviously Lantern City has some sociopoltical stuff going on. As a fairly new name to the mainstream stage, is that something you’re super aware of in that it will likely color some of your fan interactions?
Politics in comics is nothing new to me, IDW’s Transformers have been focused on Cybertronian politics for years and my work for them has been inspired by everything from Game of Thrones to House of Cards. I’ve introduced completely new societies, religions — I brought female transformers back into the fold. Each of those steps brought all kind of sociopolitcal conflict to my stories.
But this is comics, they don’t exist without sociopolitical conflict. When Batman fights a crimelord with dirty cops, that’s politics. When the X-Men protect a world that hates and fears them, it’s a social statement. Action Comics #1 from 1938 has Superman investigating a corrupt senator. Comics and political commentary have gone hand-in-hand from the start.
Besides, Lantern City is interesting because it’s about people trying to change something as massive and engrained as their society. The heart of this book isn’t steam-powered grappling guns (although those are awesome), it’s ordinary people trying to stand up to an evil our readers might see echoes of in the real world. That’s exciting. That’s what gets me up in the morning. I hope readers like it too.
