Interview: Jeremy Whitley Talks ‘SLAY!’ And ‘The Girlfriend Survives’

Welcome to the table,

 

Unique stories with a fun hook will always catch my attention. When they come paired with cool art and the promise of being a unique collectible, my curiosity dials in, and I want to know more.

Lucky for me, I had the opportunity to sit down and talk about a book that covers all those bases in a conversation with the creator, Jeremy Whitley, about his upcoming creator-owned stories SLAY! and The Girlfriend Survives, two titles that share the same comic in a classic flip-book format.

You can check out the interview below.

 

 

Anton: Hello, Jeremy, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. Before we dig into SLAY! Can you tell our readers a little bit about yourself?

Jeremy Whitley: Yep! I am a fifteen year comics veteran, having worked on everything from my own Princeless series, to Avengers, to Vampirella, to My Little Pony. I live in Durham, NC with my wife and kids. Last year my graphic novel Navigating with You received a Stonewall honor, a Harvey nomination, a Ringo Nomination, and won the Virginia Library Association Graphic Novel Diversity Award.

A: Now you are launching two brand-new creator-owned stories together as a flipbook. What made this format feel like the right way to introduce readers to SLAY! and The Girlfriend Survives?

J:Well, first of all, when I crowdfund a book I want to give the backers a unique artifact they can’t get anywhere else. We hope to tell a lot more stories in both of these series, but this is the only time you’ll ever be able to pick them up in this unique format, so you’re not just buying what other people will be able to in another six months from the store.

Beyond that, this is a format I really loved as a kid. Marvel used to do it with their annuals and I loved getting two full stories for the purchase of one book. And this is how so many comics used to be made. Detective Comics, Action Comics, Amazing Fantasy … heck, British and Japanese comics still publish their comics anthology style.

 

 

A: I’m a big fan of numbered zines and limited vinyl pressings, so this being something that is being touted as “never existing in this form again” intrigues me. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?

J: Absolutely. These are the first issues of different series, so inevitably we’re gonna see collections of the series down the line, but the reversible format with multiple stories is unique to this campaign. By backing this campaign, you’re helping us bring these books into the world, so we want to reward you with something that is limited edition and exciting to hold in your hands.

A: SLAY! seems to blend fantasy, horror, and westerns into a single story. These are three genres that I love, but they don’t always play nicely together. What drew you to this mash-up, and how did they shape Leilah’s story?

J: I think it started as a fantasy western and the horror just came naturally. We all enjoy a little fun Dungeons & Dragons adventure, but the idea of these sorts of monsters existing in the real world should be terrifying. Part of what makes the western such an interesting genre is you’re out on the frontier and there’s no way to tell what else might be out there. For Leilah, she wants to be a monster hunter, but we wanted to give this a feeling of terror that should live in the deep dark woods.

 

 

A: Leilah seems to be impersonating her hero, an entity known as the Scarred Rider. That theme of idolization and identity seems very front and center in this story, and it hooked me because I don’t know outside of a side quest in Fallout that I have seen it done with this much focus in such a brutal world. What were you most excited to explore about that theme in this setting?

J: Something I think is often missing from comics are stories with female mentorship. We get it all the time with male heroes, but for women, especially being that so few of them have been active at any given time, it’s pretty rare. But mentorships and westerns don’t really go hand in hand, because the heroes of these stories so rarely think of themselves as heroic. I wanted to play with those elements. Scarred Rider has so much to teach Leilah, but she has neither the time or desire to do so. She’s a miserable woman who counts herself as a loser who can not fathom why anybody would want to be like her. Beyond that, she’s a woman who feels she owes the world around her nothing. She’s had it hard basically her whole life and doesn’t feel obligated to pass down any of what she knows. Combining her with Leilah who’s this enthusiastic sponge who just wants to be her is such a fun dynamic I couldn’t pass it up.

 

 

A: Now, on the flip side, literally, The Girlfriend Survives seems to tackle the story of the superhero’s love interest getting in danger and needing saving, but from the sounds of things, the person putting said love interest in danger is the one who needs to worry about meeting their end. I dig the flipping of normal narratives of this kind of story on its head. Can you kinda dig into this for us and tell us what is going on there?

J: Well, I wouldn’t want to give too much away, but this is a play on a story we’ve seen so often that we created a verb for it in the superhero fandom. “Fridging” is something we talk about all the time and it seems to me that a lot of writers still haven’t figured out how to deal with it. It still happens regularly, but just as often they deal with the trope by just not have romance or love interests and that seems wrong-headed to me. I wanted to reframe this kind of story as being about a girlfriend who still had a few tricks up her sleeve. Nobody is ever just one thing in the real world and while she may be a girlfriend, Delilah is also a few other things that are going to catch some people by surprise.

A: I think what I really like is that both of these stories are focused on women who refuse to accept the roles and expectations the world puts on them. Was that parallel intentional, or did it emerge naturally as things were being developed?

J: I think probably much more the second. That is certainly a theme that runs through a lot of work I’ve done, obviously starting with Princeless, my first widely published book, which was about a princess who rescued herself and went on a quest to save her sisters, who were all locked in towers. My books are always about people refusing to accept the lot they’re given — be it their gender roles, their gender, their job, or just the way they are treated. I didn’t really develop these two books with the intention of selling them side by side, but they’re still very much my type of books.

A: Now you have worked on some beloved licensed characters before. How does creating and crowdfunding your own original worlds on Zoop change your creative process or sense of freedom?

J: Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had a lot of fun working in the established universes that I’ve gotten to play with, but there’s always a moment where I tell an editor “what I really want to do is this” and as often as not, somebody above them says “no”. I love working on my own stuff, because I’m the only one here to tell me no. My characters can do what feels right for them and I can twist the story however I want. It’s working a whole different set of muscles than when you do IP work.

A: Before we wrap up, I want to thank you again for taking the time. Where can our audiences follow you to keep up with your work?

J: I am @jeremywhitley on bluesky and tumblr, @jrome58 on instagram, my website is JeremyWhitley.com and if they want to listen to me talk about horror movies and their progressive politics, my podcast Progressively Horrified comes out on Fridays wherever you listen to podcasts

A: As we close, what do you hope sticks with them most after they flip the book closed after their first read through?

J: My hope is that the characters resonate with our readers and make them excited to read the next chapter of both books. We’re already cooking and can’t wait to share more!

Until next time, you can check out the SLAY! and The Girlfriend Survives double first issue flip book over at this link.