A Leading Lady In The New 52: An Interview With Ann Nocenti

This is Eblison Grun for Comic Reviews Outside The Cube. I was recently in touch with writer, Ann Nocenti, to talk to her about her current work for DC comics. Ann is the creator for some of comics' most memorable characters including Marvel's Typhoid Mary, Longshot, and the X-Men villain Mojo. Currently, she's writing Catwoman for DC's New 52 and their new title, Katana. I was honored that Ann agreed to take the time to answer a few of my questions. Here's how it all went down:

EG: I have quite a few favorite female characters in comics, and you're responsible for shaping most of them. Tell me a bit about what goes into creating a strong self-possessed female in a world where there's an unfortunate shortage of characters like that. Where do characters like Marvel's Typhoid Mary, and Spiral, and DC's Katana, Catwoman, or the triplet Skylarks come from?

Typhoid was created to be a foil for Daredevil. He has a history of falling for complex women, so I started with the idea that that was his Achilles’ Heel. I also wanted to do something satirical with the way women were portrayed in comics, by having one woman be all the stereotypes in one woman. Typhoid is innocent, guilty, a sexual predator, a feminist, a man-killer… and an ordinary gal. I also remember thinking about Daredevil’s super-senses, and what if someone’s body temperature, heartbeat, and smell were not consistent? He would be vulnerable to such a villain, so I added that idea in. Then John Romita Jr. added his spin to her, creating her various costumes. He so brilliantly had her body language change for each persona.

Spiral was not a character I remember planning in advance, I think after I gave Art Adams a ridiculously long document detailing the Mojoverse, he started sending me drawings of possible characters… I think he came up with the six-armed Spiral, and then I gave her a nasty love/hate thing for both Longshot and Ricochet Rita.

The Skylarks were, in a similar fashion to Typhoid, created based on Oliver Queen’s New 52 personality—he’s younger, arrogant, less seasoned, and again, I thought I would do something satirical with him and have him willingly susceptible to an adventure with sexy triplets. They were designed to be the first mistake in what was a series of mistakes that led to Green Arrow/Oliver Queen’s fall. I needed to have him lose everything in order to build him up again.

With Catwoman it was a bit similar, she’s younger and sassier in the New 52, and it lightened her up in so many ways. Both Selina Kyle and Oliver Queen had long dark histories and adventures, and it’s been fun to give them both breezier personas.

Katana is somewhat the opposite of those two characters, she didn’t have much history, and her personality was stoic and guarded. So I’ve been cautiously giving her an inner voice that reveals she has a sense of humor, and yet she’s got a troubled relationship with violence. What I love about Alex Sanchez’s work is that his range is astounding. Sometimes he hits the action beats with such fierceness, and other times he usurps the violence with something almost tender. What he’s doing on Katana has a powerful depth, and he brought that to the book.

EG: With Green Arrow, you made it a point to show us his personality outside of being a superhero. Is that something we're going to see more of in your new book, Katana?

Developing Tatsu Toro’s world has been delightful. Her supporting cast comes out of the tradition of martial arts films, especially 1970s Japanese films. Junko is a drunken master. Madam Yoko runs the brothel and Nori runs the sake bar that caters to yakuza. Shun the Untouchable has the history of the Outsider Clans tattooed on her body. Tatsu goes about her life in Japantown and learns things through her supporting cast that help Katana on her mission. Katana’s mission is a kind of trifecta: she wants to avenge her husband’s murder, to cleanse the Outsiders in the Sword and Dagger Clans of the rotten elements, and now, with the souls released from her Soultaker, to track down those escaped souls.

EG: Katana has been with the Birds of Prey since the beginning of the New 52, but since you're telling the story of her solo career, you're the one really developing her. How far has Katana come from her original incarnation, even before the New 52?

When writing an established character, I believe in taking your cues from what came before. I really liked her stoic, guarded nature in the Birds of Prey. She obviously had so many secrets brewing, and yet seemed to reject getting closer to her teammates. I knew it would have to be her inner voice that was developed, as she doesn’t open up to people easily. It’s similar to Green Arrow, the previous writer made it clear Oliver Queen couldn’t stand being in the corporate world, and hated being under the thumb of his boss. So I took that to the next step, and had him reject Queen Industries. With Catwoman, the previous writer portrayed her as very sexy, breezy, enjoying her adventures and quick to recover from anything bad that happened to her and move on. So I just picked up that pace.

EG: I love what DC's done with their characters, but I'm constantly having to convince old fans to read the newer stuff. What do you have to say to readers who are resistant to the rebooted universe?

I think that we all have characters that are very beloved to us, and to a certain degree want them frozen as we remember them in our favorite stories. I think the New 52 has opened so many doors to exploring characters in new ways, it’s exiting to me. I’ve created so many characters, and I never get upset at stories writers come along and tell with my characters. I think it only makes the characters richer to stretch them and experiment.

EG: In Katana, you've laid the foundation for a warrior clan centered around the use of katana swords. Green Arrow writer, Jeff Lemire has introduced a group based on bows and arrows. Is there a connection or will we see a connection between the two?

I worked with Editorial for months developing the new Outsiders and the weapons Clans.

When Jeff took over Green Arrow, he had similar ideas for “houses” based on weapons. I think we noticed that and had us jam a bit together on it, so we were in sync, but the fun decision we made was to evolve our ideas separate… it is fun to see what Jeff does with the clans because I am privy to little the reader isn’t and vice versa. We surprise each other! We are planning some small connections, but we both know who the Outsiders are and have a similar goal. How we each get there is the surprising part.

EG: Even though the character of Katana has been around for a little while, you really are creating a life for her. All of it seems steeped in lore and Japanese tradition. Where does your inspiration for this come from?

I’m a film junkie. I was in the film business for many years, had my own film magazine, traveled the festival circuit and wrote films and made documentaries. My influences come from film, especially Akira Kurosawa and I devour martial arts films like candy.

EG: Without giving away too much... I want to address what happened in Katana #3. Katana's sword was broken by a familiar Batman villain. To me, that's like Daredevil losing his heightened senses and getting his eyesight back. What can you tell us about how this will affect the character of Katana or the series as a whole?

Katana is in love with her sword. But is she really in love with it? Or is she in love with violence? Is her husband in her sword? Why does she talk to it? Is she crazy? There were so many questions that had no answers. Editorial had the idea of exploring these questions by having Killer Croc shatter the Soultaker sword… which was a great way to force Katana to ask these questions of herself.

EG: You're also writing Catwoman, and it is a very good series. Before you started writing the series, it had gotten some criticism for being overtly sexist. What do you think changed between then and now? Was it something you brought to the title?

I really liked Judd’s stories. They were fast and exciting and that’s what I like in an action comic. Catwoman is sexy. Competition bikers wear skintight clothes for aerodynamic reasons. She does too. And wearing all black comes out of the ninja tradition. My biggest influence for Catwoman is the Louis Feuillade Irma Vep and Les Vampires serial short films of the 1920s. His Irma Vep wore a skintight cat-suit and crept around stealing jewels! I don’t think it is sexist to look sexy. I leave that aspect up to Rafa Sandoval, who I love working with. Rafa’s art has extraordinary energy and passion, and his Catwoman has a delightful range, he draws her tender and fierce.

EG: Does Catwoman still pine for Batman?

I think so, even though on the surface she doesn’t pine for anyone or anything. I think what Catwoman and Batman have is a yearning for each other, a simpatico, that perhaps in some alternate universe where there was no crime they would try to follow and be together. Batman is certainly the love of her life, I imagine.

EG: I want to thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me. We're going to keep reading Catwoman and Katana, and we'll keep our eyes open for what the future brings.