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Interview: Jeff Parker Talks ‘Willow – Wonderland’

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Dark Horse Comics continues to deliver more Buffy goodness with a new Willow mini-series that’s sure to please Willow and Whedon fans alike. Written by Jeff Parker (“Thunderbolts” and “Agents of Atlas”), the story of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Willow – Wonderland, takes our favourite witch on a quest to restore magic to the Buffyverse after the destruction of the Seed at the end of “Season Eight”, and following the events unfolding in Christos Gage’s “Angel & Faith.”

The anticipation surrounding “Willow – Wonderland” has been building for weeks, and the series is finally hitting shelves November 7th. Even though Parker is incredibly busy with the launch of “Red She-Hulk”, his new series for Marvel Now, he’s taken the time to chat with BD about Willow’s trying adventures in a magic-less world, his experience collaborating with penciller Brian Ching (“Skaar: King of the Savage Land”), and his incorporation of some familiar faces that will be figuring into the five-part mini-series.

BD: The idea of working with established and pre-existing characters is not that uncommon in the comic book industry. Did you feel secure enough, given your experience in the industry, to step into the Buffy universe with Willow – Wonderland, or did you have reservations?

Parker: I felt pretty good about it- I watched the show for years and felt like I got the character. I’ve written a few hundred licensed comics, it’s not something I’m going to be insecure about. I like writing women leads, too.

BD: Realm-hopping is nearly impossible now thanks to the destruction of the Seed, but somehow Willow finds a loophole. What can you tell us about her journey in Wonderland? What kinds of challenges will she face?

Parker: Willow runs into many dark and ugly things that exist in undercurrents of the ‘normal’ world, things you might intuit but have a physical presence here. And the landscape itself is a character.

BD: I’m under the impression that Whedon doesn’t deal directly with the writers on the comics he produces. Were there discussions detailing where he wanted the mini-series to go, or were you given full creative control over the main storyline?

Parker: The editors have an overall shape to the Buffyverse development taking into account what’s going on with Buffy, Angel, and so on. So they described that for me and I came back with specifics about Willow’s part of the greater story. Not all of my stuff got through, but most of my favorite bits did.

BD: You are working on this series with Brian Ching. How has the collaboration been?

Parker: He’s brilliant and easy to work with. He has a big imagination, so this is a natural fit for him. His very organic drawing really fits the land Willow adventures through. And, he’s great at monsters which you’d imagine came in very handy.

BD: David Mack’s cover art is mesmerising and oozes spirituality. Joss doesn’t tend to do much with the transcendent aspect of spirituality himself. Do you dabble in the former in terms of an overall theme for the series?

Parker: Sort of- I tried to get into some expanded consciousness on Willow’s part, learning some universal truths from her experience. Mack’s paintings hit that tone quite well!

BD: There’s so much to explore with Willow as a witch in a magic-less world. How far will she go to restore magic, and will we have to worry about the re-emergence of Dark Willow?

Parker: You DO have to worry about that, and she certainly does. We examine Dark Willow from some other angles and get a new perspective on her.

BD: You’ve mentioned that some familiar faces will be making brief appearances, and revealed that the “snake-demon-woman Aluwyn” will be figuring into the series. What kind of relationship can we expect between her and Willow?

Parker: A very indulgent relationship. In fact, Willow may forget exactly what she journeyed out here for when she finds Aluwyn and the Supercoven.

BD: Do you have any upcoming projects or appearances we should be on the lookout for?

Parker: I hope you’ll check out the other woman with a book I’m writing, Red She-Hulk. It’s very much a power fantasy with an espionage backdrop- big escapism.

Interview by – ShadowJayd

Comics

[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream

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Tender Beth Hetland Graphic Novel

Beth Hetland’s debut graphic novel, ‘Tender,’ is a modern tale of love, validation, and self-destruction by way of brutal body horror with a feminist edge.

“I’ve wanted this more than anything.”

Men so often dominate the body horror subgenre, which makes it so rare and insightful whenever women tackle this space. This makes Beth Hetland’s Tender such a refreshing change of pace. It’s earnest, honest, and impossibly exposed. Tender takes the body horror subgenre and brilliantly and subversively mixes it together with a narrative that’s steeped in the societal expectations that women face on a daily basis, whether it comes to empowerment, family, or sexuality. It single-handedly beats other 2023 and ‘24 feminine horror texts like American Horror Story: Delicate, Sick, Lisa Frankenstein, and Immaculate at their own game.

Hetland’s Tender is American Psycho meets Rosemary’s Baby meets Swallow. It’s also absolutely not for the faint of heart.

Right from the jump, Tender grabs hold of its audience and doesn’t let go. Carolanne’s quest for romantic fulfillment, validation, and a grander purpose is easy to empathize with and an effective framework for this woeful saga. Carolanne’s wounds cut so deep simply because they’re so incredibly commonplace. Everybody wants to feel wanted.

Tender is full of beautiful, gross, expressive artwork that makes the reader squirm in their seat and itch. Hetland’s drawings are simultaneously minimalist and comprehensively layered. They’re  reminiscent of Charles Burns’ Black Hole, in the best way possible. There’s consistently inspired and striking use of spot coloring that elevates Hetland’s story whenever it’s incorporated, invading Tender’s muted world.

Hetland employs effective, economical storytelling that makes clever use of panels and scene construction so that Tender can breeze through exposition and get to the story’s gooey, aching heart. There’s an excellent page that depicts Carolanne’s menial domestic tasks where the repetitive panels grow increasingly smaller to illustrate the formulaic rut that her life has become. It’s magical. Tender is full of creative devices like this that further let the reader into Carolanne’s mind without ever getting clunky or explicit on the matter. The graphic novel is bookended with a simple moment that shifts from sweet to suffocating.

Tender gives the audience a proper sense of who Carolanne is right away. Hetland adeptly defines her protagonist so that readers are immediately on her side, praying that she gets her “happily ever after,” and makes it out of this sick story alive…And then they’re rapidly wishing for the opposite and utterly aghast over this chameleon. There’s also some creative experimentation with non-linear storytelling that gets to the root of Carolanne and continually recontextualizes who she is and what she wants out of life so that the audience is kept on guard.

Tender casually transforms from a picture-perfect rom-com, right down to the visual style, into a haunting horror story. There’s such a natural quality to how Tender presents the melancholy manner in which a relationship — and life — can decay. Once the horror elements hit, they hit hard, like a jackhammer, and don’t relent. It’s hard not to wince and grimace through Tender’s terrifying images. They’re reminiscent of the nightmarish dadaist visuals from The Ring’s cursed videotape, distilled to blunt comic panels that the reader is forced to confront and digest, rather than something that simply flickers through their mind and is gone a moment later. Tender makes its audience marinate in its mania and incubates its horror as if it’s a gestating fetus in their womb.

Tender tells a powerful, emotional, disturbing story, but its secret weapon may be its sublime pacing. Hetland paces Tender in such an exceptional manner, so that it takes its time, sneaks up on the reader, and gets under their skin until they’re dreading where the story will go next. Tender pushes the audience right up to the edge so that they’re practically begging that Carolanne won’t do the things that she does, yet the other shoe always drops in the most devastating manner. Audiences will read Tender with clenched fists that make it a struggle to turn each page, although they won’t be able to stop. Tender isn’t a short story, at more than 160 pages, but readers will want to take their time and relish each page so that this macabre story lasts for as long as possible before it cascades to its tragic conclusion. 

Tender is an accomplished and uncomfortable debut graphic novel from Hetland that reveals a strong, unflinching voice that’s the perfect fit for horror. Tender indulges in heightened flights of fancy and toes the line with the supernatural. However, Tender is so successful at what it does because it’s so grounded in reality and presents a horror story that’s all too common in society. It’s a heartbreaking meditation on loneliness and codependency that’s one of 2024’s must-read horror graphic novels.

‘Tender,’ by Beth Hetland and published by Fantagraphics, is now available.

4 out of 5 skulls

Tender graphic novel review

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