DJ Kirkbride and Adam P. Knave On Amelia Cole #25: Amelia Cole Vs. the End of Everything

Yesterday, ComicBook.com broke the sad news that Amelia Cole will end with issue #30 later this year.

The final arc, Amelia Cole versus the End of Everything, began this week with #25, which you can buy on ComiXology to avoid anything in the following interview spoiling you.

Amelia Cole, the series of miniseries from writers Adam P. Knave and D.J. Kirkbride with artist Nick Brokenshire, and letterer Rachel Deering, has been a favorite here at ComicBook.com since it launched, and we've run a recurring commentary track-style interview looking at the series, in depth and with spoilers, each time a new issue has been released.

As usual, Adam P. Knave and Nick Brokenshire joined ComicBook.com to discuss the issue...and, in this case, the looming end of the series.

Check back soon for details on how you can win a digital comics bundle of Amelia Cole #1-24.

Did you want to talk about wrapping up the series?

DJ Kirkbride: Sure, although I have trouble doing so without getting choked up.

Adam P. Knave: Yeah. But we should. We've hinted at it, we haven't really kept it a secret but here it is put plainly: Issue #30 will be the last Amelia Cole issue.

This fifth arc, Amelia Cole versus the End of Everything, is our end point. There are a lot of reasons for it, but all the reasons really boil down to two things: money and sense. The book isn't making enough money for us to continue right now. That's the simple part.

The harder part is: issue #30 is an ending. It finishes off the greater arc that started with issue #1. If we were going to walk off stage this is the time to do it. It's much better to leave when we have an exit than linger on and peter out, vanishing in the middle of a story. We've ensured that readers will get not only an end to this 5th arc but an end to the greater Amelia Cole story, an end that we hope satisfies and that brings this cycle of Amelia Cole to a close.

DJK: So, while it is bittersweet, being able to complete the through line that we started back on July 2, 2012 as part of the big MonkeyBrain Comics launch is very satisfying. We have some big surprises and moments coming up in these final six issues, and readers who have been with us from the beginning will hopefully be as satisfied as we are.

I think "Kamandi's Pets" might be my favorite Easter egg so far.

DJK: That, like all our background Easter eggs, was courtesy of the amazing artist himself, Nick Brokenshire. So, Nick, what say you?

Nick Brokenshire: I love Kirby and I love Kamandi. If you've read Kamandi, you'll get the gag (if it can be called that...). 'Nuff said!

Was Laura's freak-out at least partially just to give us a chance for a little exposition? You guys nicely recap everything readers should need to remember in the first couple of pages.

APK: Partly, sure. But also it was nice to show the contrast between her and Amelia. Some readers have expressed issues with how Amelia adapted to the Blended World way back when she first got there. Of course she was all right with it, she'd travelled that sort of road before. Now we get to see what someone new to all of this feels.

DJK: We do need exposition here and there, especially since the story has just been trucking along with barely a breath for a while now, but, like Adam said, we wanted to show a different reaction to all this dimension-hopping and magic stuff. It's not that Laura is "weaker" than Amelia, it's just that, hey, a little freak out is a totally logical reaction.

You totally did the Colossus-throwing-Wolverine thing with Lemmy!

DJK: Heck yeah, we did! Requested via the words "fastball special" in the script and everything! We did a more standard one back at the opening of volume 2 (Amelia Cole and the Hidden War), with the bigger character throwing the smaller one, and we figured it'd be fun to reverse it, as Lemmy is a lot more durable than Amelia, physically anyway. It was also a fun thing to see Nick draw, which is the impetuous for a lot of the specific action beats.

APK: We did a fastball and a reverse fastball. Just like Logan and Peter did on the moon that one time, fighting Dark Phoenix. Yeah. Yup. There's a cosmic law that any Fastball Special pairing must eventually be reversed for fun, right?

The Council are getting uglier and uglier. Is that just Nick evolving, style-wise, or are we to read that they're changing as they get more powerful?

NB: I would say that it's a bit of both. For some reason they're quite tricky to nail down consistently so I decided that there could be changes in their appearance as time went by. Why not? It's comics! Also, they're absorbing more and more magic so it's bound to do something, right? That's the way I look at it.

DJK: It's also been noted that we get uglier the closer we get to deadline. Pressure ain't pretty!

APK: Don't look at me! I'm a monnnnster!

Nobody has any questions for Amelia about her superhero outfit?

DJK: We didn't think of that, oddly enough. Or at least I didn't. Or maybe we did. We wrote it a while ago, haha, but I believe it was a matter of getting to the meat of the story. It works for me now almost as a reaction to the non-reaction the costume got in the social media that is now the comic press when it debuted in issue #24. We really thought people would go a little bonkers over this "street clothes" hero-type getting a costume, but... nope.

That last bit is only a possibility for me, as Adam is more sensible about these matters-- but I really did think a costume after all this time would cause a bigger reaction from readers... and it maybe should've from the characters, too, now that you mention it.

APK: Hah, interesting! Personally, I thought of it as her friends just rolled with it. "It's Amelia, what's she wearing today? Oh, a superhero costume? Well, honestly, about time, no? Fair. What's for lunch?" Amelia was the last one to catch on that she was a hero, and should dress for it.

I get the frustration with Garza wanting to go off and find a normal life in his exile. We talked a little about it before. Will that pass fairly quickly or will it be a through-line in this story arc?

APK: I'm not sure we can say, yet. It's something to keep an eye out for.

DJK: Like everyone, Hector is kind of just trying to go with constant craziness and changes in whatever status quo he tries to establish for himself. He might be the character who has changed the most since issue 1, and that will continue to the end. I like that, while sometimes stubborn, he's open to change and bettering himself and his life.

The magic-draining monsters are getting some serious old school Green Lantern treatment here. If your power doesn't work against yellow, use it to make bludgeons out of other stuff! Did you guys hold off on having them "figure that out" to make the battles in this volume different?

APK: We've had the evolving tactics since Volume 2, really, when we first started to see magic users don't often think outside the box when attacking. They can be reliant on one idea, it's what makes Amelia stand out. And Sanz, actually. So, they learn, over time.

DJK: Part of it was trying to also make sure everyone remembers that it's not just mages versus monsters, but that the mages get weak around the monsters. Plus, again, cool stuff for Nick to draw!

I love this book so much. Can it just go on forever? I miss it when it's gone.

DJK: Thank you for the kind words and for the support throughout these last few years. Personally, I'd be fine going on forever, but this ending has been the plan for this big story arc since early 2013, and it all fits so nicely as an ending to the series, too. We can't wimp out on our grand overall arc now just because we're gonna miss Amelia and her pals. Can we? …No, seriously, Adam, can we?

APK: Oh man, yeah the ending being worked out, I'm gonna ramble a bit, if that's ok D.J.

DJK: I'll allow it.

APK: D.J. and I figured out the ending while plotting, like you do, and then we got the chance to have Nick over for a convention, Baltimore Comic-con. There's an elevated promonade between the Hyatt there and the Convention Center, and the Sunday of the show me, D.J. Nick, Ruiz Moreno, and our friend Paul Storrie were standing out there, drinking coffee before heading to the show and D.J. and I told Nick (and the others) what we had as an idea. What this would be. And we all agreed it was right. So, if you were walking by that day you might've had the whole thing blown! Luckily no one was around.

DJK: And I must interject here that it got pretty emotional. I know that, as a man, I'm incapable of tears, but I might've gotten a little misty eyed while describing what is basically the ending we've scripted.

APK: It was a really important morning for all of us I think. And, yeah, thanks for taking the time for these, Russ, it's been a blast. And D.J. just because we're ending Amelia Cole now doesn't mean we can't come back in the future if the stars and fates align. BUT IT AIN'T OVER YET! There're five more issues to go! Keep reading, and we'll do a few more of these. What say you guys?

DJK: I'm in!