Talking With Doug Wagner About His New Globe-Trotting Spy Series ‘Yumi: 00EX’

by Olly MacNamee

Writer Doug Wagner has a new series out with artist Hoyt Silva, Yumi: 00EX, featuring a new kick-ass action hero in the making, on a mission to find her boyfriend. Who just happens to be a 00 agent working for Britain’s MI6. Intrigued by the concept, I did some hunting of my own and tracked down Wagner for a little interrogation of my own:

Olly MacNamee: The recent press release announces your new espionage series as “Part The Kingsman (and) part K-Pop Demon Hunters”. But I’d throw in part Knight Rider, too. I’d be right to assume that, having read the first issue, wouldn’t I, Doug?

Doug Wagner: (Laughs.) That’s actually a pretty good catch. I don’t think Hoyt or I ever sat down and said, “Let’s channel Knight Rider,” but I absolutely grew up with it, so I’m sure some of that DNA snuck into the story.

That’s one of the fun things about being a creator. Every story you’ve ever loved leaves fingerprints on the stories you eventually tell. Bond is obviously in there. Mission: Impossible. Jason Bourne. A few dashes of our favorite anime. Now, apparently Knight Rider. Eventually it all gets tossed into the blender and somehow comes out feeling like its own thing.

MacNamee: Now, our titular hero, Yumi, is looking for her boyfriend, Richards, who’s gone MIA. By infiltrating MI6, we also get the odd James Bond reference too. You do enjoy your Easter Eggs, and I think it definitely engages with the reader more as a result. So, what other such surprises may be in store for us?

Wagner: I do love rewarding readers who pay attention.

In my opinion, the trick is making sure the Easter eggs never become the point. If someone catches one, fantastic. If they don’t, they shouldn’t feel like they missed part of the story.

Without spoiling too much, yes … there are definitely more hidden nods coming. Some are little winks to spy fiction. Some are references to things Hoyt and I simply love. It’s something I always toss into just about everything I write.

MacNamee: What inspired this particular series idea, Doug? Clearly, you have a love for the Bond franchise (who doesn’t), but this feels rather different.

Wagner: This particular one came about when Hoyt and I were hanging out and tossing around ideas. At that point, we’d decided we were going to work together, but we had no idea what we were going to do. Hoyt pitched this idea about a character codenamed 00-EX.

I’ve always loved spy stories, so I was in.

From there, we riffed off each other until the idea bloomed into something we both thought was worth pursuing. One of the key moments was when we found ourselves wondering what a spy story would look like if the emotional engine wasn’t deception … but love.

Most spies succeed because they manipulate people.

Yumi succeeds because she genuinely cares about them.

That one change completely reshaped our approach to the story.

MacNamee: I do like the use of manga in the flashbacks by artist Hoyt Silva. I have to admit, I’m not familiar with his work, but he’s a great find. How did you two get together for this project? What made him right for this assignment?

Wagner: Those flashbacks were entirely Hoyt’s idea, and the moment he suggested it I knew we’d found something special.

One of the things I love most about collaborating is when an artist makes the book better than what existed in my head. That’s exactly what happened here.

Hoyt and I got together through Brian Stelfreeze. Hoyt had just finished being Brian’s intern and was looking for work. My thought was, “If Brian trusted you enough to mentor you, we should probably work together.” As odd as it sounds, that’s all it took.

Hoyt brought an incredible amount of energy and confidence to every page. He wasn’t interested in playing it safe, and thankfully neither was I. We kept pushing each other to make every scene bigger, stranger, and more emotionally honest.

By the time we were done, it honestly didn’t feel like my book anymore. It felt like our book.

MacNamee: Now, we don’t actually meet Yumi’s boyfriend, Richard, but we do meet someone who does appear to be MI6’s Q. Rather brazen, don’t you think?

Wagner: (Laughs.) I mean, you’ve read my other works, right? Brazen is kind of my thing.

The fun part of playing in a genre that everyone knows is deciding where you want readers to feel comfortable and where you want to surprise them.

Sometimes it’s fun to let readers think they know exactly what’s happening … right before you pull the rug out from under them.

I’ll simply say this: not everyone is exactly who they appear to be.

MacNamee: You seem to be enjoying writing strong female leads in your books, what with Yumi, and before that Rennie in I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer. How has writing in the female voice stretched your writing skill set?

Wagner: Honestly, I don’t start with gender.

I start with the person.

What do they want? What scares them? What lie are they telling themselves? Once I understand those things, the voice usually starts revealing itself.

I’ve been accused of being overly sensitive. Personally, I think empathy is one of the greatest tools a writer can have. If you can genuinely understand why someone believes what they believe, it becomes much easier to write authentic characters.

The challenge is writing someone who feels authentic enough that readers forget they’re reading words on a page.

Yumi and Rennie couldn’t be more different, but they’re both driven by deeply personal truths. That’s always been the interesting part to write for me.

MacNamee: With so much going on in this first issue, beyond just the fast-paced action, what should readers be looking out for in coming issues? I already feel there’s more to Richard’s disappearance than meets the eye.

Wagner: Good. That means we’re doing our job.

(Laughs.)

There are definitely a lot of breadcrumbs hidden throughout issue one that won’t pay off until much later.

Readers should absolutely pay attention to relationships, not just the action. Why characters trust each other. Why they don’t. What they choose not to say. Those quieter moments are often carrying just as much weight as the explosions.

And yes … Richard’s disappearance is only the beginning of a much larger mystery.

Hopefully, by issue four you’ll look back at issue one and realize we were telling you far more than you thought.