BY JENNIFER M. CONTINOWill the Queen of talk shows become the reigning Queen of comics?
Bluewater sure hopes so!
Oprah Winfrey joins their
Female Force line, as the first title in the second wave of comics, showcasing powerful women and their virtues. The first series spotlighted political figures like
Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, Caroline Kennedy and
Michelle Obama. The next focuses on women in the media, so it seems a no-brainer to have an issue showcasing all things
Oprah. Publisher
Darren G. Davis exclusively told
THE PULSE some of their plans for the second series!
THE PULSE: How did you get the rights to do an Oprah Winfrey biography comic for your Female Force line? Was she aware of the line or are you doing an "unauthorized" type of thing?
DARREN G. DAVIS: The comic series is a series of unauthorized biographies based on these women. We do know that most of them know about the series. We got a comment from Sarah Palin’s office saying that she knows about them.
THE PULSE: How can you do an "unauthorized biography" are you in any legal trouble telling someone's story without their consent?
DAVIS: As long as everything is true, we can do these. It is no different than the millions of unauthorized books out there. As long as we can back it up and site our sources, we are fine. It is funny that we are getting requests from people’s agents to do them on their clients.
THE PULSE: If Oprah knows of your line, what does she think of the comics you're produced so far in it?
DAVIS: We don’t know if she knows about this one yet. We hope she would like it because it telling her story to a new demographic.
THE PULSE: Who came up with the idea to do something like Female Force? What are your goals here?
DAVIS: During the last election,
Jason Schultz (Bluewater’s VP) and myself were sitting around and were getting frustrated with everyone slamming the candidates based on headlines. It was really insane, so with IDW doing the male candidates, we thought we should tell the stories of these women. It started with
Hillary Clinton and
Sarah Palin. We have always done strong independent women in our comics, so it was organic to go this route.
I never thought my comic career would focus around biographies. Our goals have changed since we started these. We now want these to be about female empowerment -- before they were about just telling the stories. We feel that our audience wants these to be more about their struggles. There are things in all of their lives that they are not proud of, but they have made them into the women they are today. We touch on the
Monica Lewinski time not because it was scandal, but it was a factor that made Mrs. Clinton stronger. People do not have to like these women, but there should be a respect for all of them that they are making a difference in today’s society.
THE PULSE: Oprah is a worldwide phenomenon. But why do you think she should be the focus of a Female Force over Barbara Walters, Ellen DeGeneris, Tyra or any other powerful media mogul type woman?
DAVIS: Our first set of
Female Force subjects were about women in politics. The next set of women are those in the media. Some of the ones you have mentioned just might be some of the people we are doing. We wanted to start with
Oprah, because she is one of the most famous faces in the world.
A lot of people do not know her story more than what is read in the headlines.
THE PULSE: So how do you decide what her story is other than what was in the headlines? She's lived a lot of life ... how do you decide what to include in the headlines?
DAVIS: I think it has to be a combination of both. You want to give the readers information on what they know, but then include other information that they do not. We are learning about these people too, who knew that
Michelle Obama worked for “Barney”. We mentioned this on
CNN, and they did not even know this. We also do not want to sensationalize the subjects; we are not adding things just to get a rise with the readers. It has to make sense and follow the theme of the series. We do have some controversial women coming up that have amazing stories and we want to be non-biased on all of these.
THE PULSE: What do you personally view as Oprah's greatest strengths?
JOSHUA LaBELLO: I am impressed by the incredibly benevolent use of her money, influence, and personal time. She actually practices what she preaches and puts her money where her mouth is - as the sayings go.
THE PULSE: How much of her life is going to be covered in these pages?
LaBELLO: I wanted to focus on what I think is least known about Oprah: her upbringing, and the struggles she endured. She was an incredibly gifted child who, despite the abuses she suffered, became the master of her own destiny. I will be both writing and illustrating this issue. I also drew the
Female Force: Michelle Obama comic.
THE PULSE: What are the challenges of presenting these women in a way that makes this an engaging read, not like something that feels "forced" or too "stuffy"?
DAVIS: I have read a lot of biographies over the years. You need something to engage the reader so they do not feel like they are back in school. We have been really choosy who are writing these comics. We want them to be respectful, un-biased and have a sense of fun. They are coming books.
Neal Bailey who did
Obama, Kennedy, Palin and
Clinton put himself in the comic as a narrator. We are doing creative things to keep these comics, not stiff. All of them have been reviewed really well so far. We also make sure everything is 100% accurate and we triple check all the facts. We have a writer,
Chris Ward, who is doing the
Condoleezza Rice comic and did a lot of research that you would not really find in a normal biography. Who knew that she was a fan of
Led Zeppelin? These little facts come through the books but they are serious. Most people do not know that
Michelle Obama worked for “Barney the Dinosaur”.
THE PULSE: The Female Force line has gotten a lot of mainstream media attention how has that translated in terms of sales?
DAVIS: We just did another interview today with
CNN. The national media has really embraced us. The series has been everywhere from
People magazine,
US Magazine, Time to
CNN and
Fox News. We have done so many interviews overseas too! It is really exciting for us right now. The sales are doing really well; the
Michelle Obama comic is the top non-premier selling comic for April. The other two have broke into the top 300 comics for their first printings. “Female Force” books are also available on
Amazon.com, where they have been ranked among the site’s top 300 books. These comics have also now been picked up by
Ingram Periodicals as well.
THE PULSE: How have you been getting all this media attention? Do you have an outside firm helping you or are you just sending copies and PR to the various media?
DAVIS: Nope, it is just four people at
Bluewater running around making calls and sending out emails. My background is in the entertainment industry. I did marketing for
E! Entertainment Television as well as
Lionsgate. So I look at each of these comics as products and market them to different places. Sometimes, it gets to be really insane with all the press inquiries. We are still a small publisher but I will stay awake until all the stuff is done! I never sleep anymore! My best friend, who works at the
Los Angeles Times, helps me out with editing my press releases. After I sent out the wrong one and
Publishers Weekly nailed me on it (and they have never stopped), I make sure the really big ones go to her to edit. I am the worst speller and need a copy editor. If I use an ampersand “&” again, she will cut off my hands!
THE PULSE: So far, which of the Female Force issues has sold the most copies?
DAVIS: The Michelle Obama comic has sold over 45,000 copies. We are about to sell out of it and do a second printing on this book. We are tracking the
Princess Diana one, which might be a close second.
THE PULSE: What plans do you have to collect all these Female Force comics in one trade paperback or a series of trades?
DAVIS: In September we are doing the first trade paperback, which will feature the
Female Force comics of
Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama and
Caroline Kennedy. It will feature a new cover by
Female Force cover artist
Vinnie Tartamella.
THE PULSE: Why do you think it's important to present comics like these?
DAVIS: I think for a couple reasons. In a world where people get most of their info from headlines, this is a great way to learn a little more about these people. Another reason is about female empowerment. A lot of these people who are buying them are getting them for their daughters for them to know that one day they could be anything they want including president! The last reason is that I think they are getting new people into comic book stores. We are getting a lot of people asking where to get them. We give them the comic shop locator info and they do not know there are comic book stores.
THE PULSE: Have you gotten any flack from any of the women whose comic’s issues you're presented so far? Anyone just irate over it?
DAVIS: No, we have heard that
Sarah Palin knows about it. She signed a copy of the comic that I have framed on my wall now.
Bill Clinton requested copies of the comics. So far so good on these. We want these women to be proud of them. They are non-biased so we do touch on sensitive subjects, but most of all we are respectful.
THE PULSE: It must have felt good to get an autograph from Sarah Palin and her acknowledgement of your work. Also to have requests for issues from Bill Clinton. What has surprised you the most about how the public has responded to this line?
DAVIS: The biggest surprised for me is that leaked a copy of the
Michelle Obama comic a couple weeks ago on Amazon.com and it sold for $1,000. We do not know how they got a copy of it, but it was weird to see someone pay for it. We will make sure that everyone that wants this book will get it for the SRP. We are also having the comic sold in the
White House gift shop. It is fun to watch how all of this plays out. We are getting letters from women who have bought these for their daughters telling us how much they loved them. That the hope be reading these women’s stories will inspire them.
THE PULSE: What, if any, plans do you have for a male equivalent of this line?
DAVIS: In July we are launching a new series called “Political Power” which features everyone in politics. Not just men, we are starting it off with
Colin Powell and we have a lot of cool people lined up for subjects. It was hard coming up with a title that did not sound sexist or like a porno “Male Force” was out of the question.
THE PULSE: What other upcoming Bluewater Comics projects should our readers be on the lookout for this summer?
DAVIS: We are bringing back one of our flagship titles,
Legend of Isis. We are doing this as our second on-going series. The first being the sold out series,
Vincent Price Presents. One of the biggest series we have upcoming is our
William Shatner Presents. We are working with the icon on a series of comics. He is not a license on these; he is actually working on them day to day. Also we have
Tom Corbett Space Cadet (based on the old TV show and books). We are working with
Lionsgate on
Leprechaun. We also have a couple big titles coming up that I will be able to announce in a couple months. We are trying to think outside the box of comics. It seems to be what is working for us right now.
The Female Force Oprah Winfrey issue should be out this September.
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