Talking With Mat Groom About ‘Inferno Girl Red’ From Image Comics

Mat Groom’s Inferno Girl Red gets the collected treatment this week from Image Comics. It’s the story of a young girl and her mother embarking on a new life in a new city with a place at a most prestigious college awaiting our young hero. That, and the inheritance of a talisman that grants her the superpowers that turn her into the tokusatsu inspired Massive-Verse hero and namesake of the series, Inferno Girl Red. Which is when her troubles really start. I caught up with co-creator and writer Mat Groom to talk more about this all-new superhero:

Olly MacNamee: Hiya, Mat. It’s been a while, but the last time we spoke you told me about the challenges you faced of trying to tell the sort of story you wanted to tell. Do you think you cracked it with Inferno Girl Red, then?

Mat Groom: Thanks for chatting, Olly! I guess the answer to that is really up to the readers of the book, but… I hope so! Based on the reactions of the people who have read the book thus far, it seems like it. So much of that is down to the rest of the team, I think—we’re trading a lot in larger-than-life visual metaphor and youthful energy, here, and Erica and Igor delivered there in a way I couldn’t have imagined.

MacNamee: What were you most proud of achieving with this book?

Groom: Weirdly, it might be the format. For a relatively-unknown creative team to come out of the gate with a 125-page graphic novel, it’s a huge swing—and that it feels so confident and polished, to the extent that I feel it stands well alongside graphic novels from much more experienced creators… I’m tremendous proud of that, yeah.

MacNamee: You also mentioned your search for the right artist I dare say you couldn’t be more thrilled with finding Erica D’Urso who brings a certain innocence to our hero-in-the-making, Cássia Costa. What did she bring to the table in terms of character design, which I know is discussed as back-up material in the new collection, out this week?

Groom: Oh, it took literally years to find the right artist for this, but Erica was always THE person for the job, it turns out. Despite her age, I genuinely believe she’s one of the most dynamic, talented artists in comics right now—and you’re right, she’s very specifically suited to this story. We always wanted to create a book that felt like more of an honest representation of what it means to be a teenager today, and Erica was instrumental here—she’s got a fantastic grasp of emotion, and how to portray it, but also a tremendous grasp of fashion and design. I think IGR: BOOK ONE is a very stylish, genuinely cool book, and exactly zero percent of that is from me! It’s all Erica, with help from Igor.

MacNamee: Connecting the two eras of Inferno Girl Red is her mother. Something of a switcharoo when it comes to superhero-sidekick dynamics. Was this mother-daughter relationship always going to play out this way?

Groom: Absolutely, yeah. At every level we wanted to make sure we had a fresh take on what a superhero comic could be, and that dynamic between Cássia and her mother felt relatively unexplored to us. So often in superhero stories it’s about keeping secrets from the parents, or having the parent trying to keep the child away from superheroics, or even coming into conflict with the parents… but the idea of a parent who is a partner, who is supportive (maybe even TOO supportive) of Cássia’s mission was really interesting to us, and it meant we could have the central relationship in the book been a healthy and loving one between two women. 

MacNamee: It feels like Inferno Girl Red is nothing without her burgeoning back-up cast. By the end of this first arc she has certainly amassed a good team fighting her corner, as well as her own Obi-Wan.

Groom: 100%! I’m not sure Cássia has realized it yet, but an important running thread of INFERNO GIRL RED is the idea of community—how vital communities are, how you build them, and how you prevent them from turning toxic. So Cássia’s support network might grow or change, but it’s always going to be a core part of the book.

MacNamee: So, Cássia and her mother get to start again with Cássia landing a place at a high-tech, progressive and prestigious college, only for the whole city to be ripped from the Earth! Not the best start to this new chapter in her life, but certainly the stuff that superheroes build a legacy trying to sort out. That, and new villain, the Griffin. What’s his deal and who’s he working for?

Groom: Well, I don’t want to say too much, because readers will get to discover more about the Griffin and the Griffin’s master as Cássia does, but I guess I can say that Cássia’s going up against a fundamental, eternal force that pervades the multiverse. In a lot of ways, IGR is about how much is pressing down on teenagers today, about how relentlessly hopeless things can seem—and the Griffin’s master is that made tangible.

MacNamee: I love the look of Apex. A city that feels like the shape of things to come if we are ever going to tackle climate change. How did the whole concept of Apex come about, as it’s rather a unique looking city, even in the wonderful world of comics?

Groom: For all that we’re dealing in that feeling of hopelessness, we always wanted to have the counter-point—what could a brighter future be? What might inspire us to fight against all odds to try, to try and turn things around? So Apex is that—us trying to imagine and bring to life a vision of the future that we hope readers will be excited by, and that they’re invested in IGR protecting.

In terms of its creation, it came from long discussions between Erica and myself about the tone and style we were looking for, as well as some (amateur) investigations into the latest in urbanism and environmentalism. We have a shared Pinterest reference board that we’ve built together that helps—it’s a lot of “maybe a little less of this, maybe a little more of that” until we find the right elements.

MacNamee: For folks following the Kyle Higgins expanding Massive-Verse, but may be new to Inferno Girl Red, how does she fit with the other tokusatsu heroes?

Groom: So Cássia’s in another universe to the other Massive-Verse heroes—as I mentioned, she’s up against a multiversal threat, and can find herself jumping through the walls between worlds from time to time. What this means is that IGR can show up in larger Massive-Verse stories (like our annual “Supermassive” specials), but—like all Massive-Verse books– her own book is self-contained, so you don’t need to read any other book if you don’t want to. And if you DO want to explore other titles, you can start wherever you want, without fear of getting lost! 

MacNamee: Finally, it would be silly of me not to ask whet next for Inferno Girl Red? After all, there’s a lot of unanswered questions hanging?

Groom: I can’t say anything right this second, but—we’re hoping to be able to share word of that’s coming next very, very soon! And it might even be multiple things! Some you’d never expect! So stay tuned—the easiest way to do so is by signing up to our newsletter at infernogirlred.com!

MacNamee: Mat, thanks for your time, and all the best for the collection and whatever comes next!

Groom: Thanks so much Olly, lovely to chat as always!

Inferno Girl Red Book One will be out Wednesday 7th June from Image Comics