Monkeybrain's Adam P. Knave on Amelia Cole and the Hidden War

Amelia Cole and the Hidden War

#1 is out today from Monkeybrain Comics. The first in a 12-issue limited series, it follows on the heels of the critically-acclaimed Amelia Cole and the Unknown World, and continues on with the same creative team but a slightly altered mission. Cutting the price point in half, the series will be comprised of twice as many installments as The Unknown World, but broken up into issues that are half the size or so. This allows the creative team to lighten the burden on artist Nick Brokenshire while giving readers the same page count for the same money in the long run, since the series will be cut back to $0.99 (it was originally $1.99). Fans who want to get caught up can also go to ComiXology today and tomorrow to pick up the single issues of Amelia Cole and the Unknown World for $0.99 apiece, although co-writer Adam P. Knave (who writes the series along with D.j. Kirkbride) assured ComicBook.com that catching up on the back issues isn't strictly necessary, as the new series will recap everything fans need to know in today's #1. Knave joined us to talk about Amelia Cole and the Hidden War, the challenges and benefits of digital comics publishing and those persistent comparisons to Harry Potter.

ComicBook.com: Why did you elect to go with the series of miniseries, Hellboy approach, as opposed to having an ongoing book? Adam P. Knave: It was one of those things when we were first talking about the book and coming up with a title. When we hit the "Amelia Cole and the..." we realized we had hit upon the Indiana Jones, old pulp serial naming convention and that you can really just make that "and the" into anything you want. We don't have to be limited to the Unknown World and after the first storyline, it's not really unknown anymore, is it? She knows where she is now. So it was like, "We really should update this to reflect what she's going through now." So we decided to just go for it. It's a little bit of a risk due to how ComiXology works--in that if you load up Amelia Cole and the Unknown World, you will not see issues of the new miniseries. So now we have to get people used to the new name and just searching for Amelia Cole. So it's a bit of a risk sales-wise, but you do what's right by the story. The second arc is tonally slightly different and "The Hidden War" makes more sense for this story, for this arc. ComicBook.com: What made you want to go for the shorter chapters at the 99-cent price point?

Knave: Part of it was that when Monkeybrain was launching and we were in the initial launch slate, it was always that books that are a certain length should probably be 99 cents and books that are longer should probably be a little bit more money. There was never an edict passed down saying you had to hit a price point, but it felt right. Part of it was that we saw the 99-cent books have a better buy-in. It's easier to go, "You know what? I want to try this. It's only 99 cents." And part of it was that we didn't want Nick to die. He has a day job like the rest of us, and he was trying to do 22 pages a month. He did it, but it wasn't easy and I know that issue six pushed him to the limit. Doing 12 pages lets him focus a little bit deeper on every page and you'll see that in the art. The art is up a few levels from where it was in issue six of Unknown World. And it let us have a little bit more fun and to enter the fray of the 99-cent thing. It gives us an interesting challenge because our personal goal--the thing we keep in mind--is that you are buying this comic but you are not, going into it, buying all twelve issues. Every month we have to give you a full story that is worth your time so we actually sat down and figured out how we could tell essentially a full issue's worth of story, like we did in 22 pages, in 12 pages without it feeling rushed. ComicBook.com: For those who haven't jumped on board yet, what's your elevator pitch for Amelia Cole?

Knave: You can happily pick up Hidden War #1 and you'll be able to know what's going on--you won't be lost. But there is a major journey for this cahracter. There is growth, there is change and not just for the main character but for most of the characters in the book. And if you want to see where that comes from, you can go ahead and pick up the other issues. The other thing is that it's 144 pages or so of story for like six bucks. Less money than forty pages of Marvel or DC books at this point. We'll toss in the other hundred pages for free. The book itself is Amelia Cole, which is this young woman who's trying to figure out who she is and where she is in this world that she didn't invent, to steal the Howard the Duck line. It's magic, it's adventure, it's action it's an eight-foot trash golem, which is always fun for everyone and a wrench for a magic wand. I don't think you can beat that wrench for just sheer fun. ComicBook.com: All of the early reviews drew the Harry Potter comparison. Knave: Sure, and God bless 'em for it, because people love Harry Potter. ComicBook.com: Do you think that's fair, or not?

Knave: Well I don't know that there's anythign unfair about it. Of course, I've read all the Harry Potter books and I find that when I talk to people who have read the books they didn't quite get the same things I did out of the books. For me, all of Harry Potter is "Don't ever trust authority blindly." Every single adult in those books has an agenda and will lie to these kids. The government is kind of like "eh, whatever." You have these schoolkids who are consistently rewarded with their own survival for breaking the rules and for not trusting authority. So when someone says this book is like Harry Potter, I'm like, "Well, we have magic. We have a main character who's in her early '20s and she has problems with authority. So...okay." We don't have a school, granted. We have magic, we have people who don't use magic and who do use magic so I can see the Harry Potter link. I think the only place where it could be maybe considered unfair is that we don't sell like Harry Potter. And that would be great. I'm not saying we shouldn't; I'd love it. People come to Harry Potter and they come to things like Harry Potter with a lot of cultural expectations for "This is a huge hit" rather than that it's a book that is good for kids, good for adults, has the magic thing, has the questioning authority, all of those things which are absolutely right. But when you come to it with the expectation that it will be just like this thing that is very close to your heart, I think that can set you up for failure. ComicBook.com: Well, it might have come, too, from dropping in and out of worlds... Knave: Dropping in and out of worlds, and there were people who did do magic and people who didn't do magic--but once we heard it once, we started saying it. Again, it's not a bad thing to say. A lot of people started to say "Harry Potter meets Buffy," and I kind of blink at that. I understand what they mean--it's just not necessarily what I would say. ComicBook.com: For the new series, how's your setup different? Knave: Well, I'm going to have to spoil a little bit of the first arc for people but when she first got to the world she had some trouble with the law and specifically with the Protector who was kind of our superhero type in the city already. Going into the second arc, she now has his job. On a certain level because D.j., Nick and I are huge Superman fans, there's a certain level where now that she works for the Magistrate who she worries about and thinks that maybe he's behind all of this, there's a certain component of "What if Superman worked for Lex Luthor?" How does that play out? Here's someone who always wants to do the right thing and even if she's not somebody who's always the best at thinking ahead, she always tries to do what she thinks is the right thing at the time. And there are consequences--and that is a lot of the book is her dealing with the consequences of her own actions. And one of the consequences now is saying yes to this job as the city's protector because she wants to do it her way but she does work for this guy who doesn't always agree. Check back later today for a conversation about Knave's other new release, Artful Daggers. You can get your copy of Amelia Cole and the Hidden War #1 here.