Marguerite Bennett, writer of Swords of Sorrow: Red Sonja/Jungle Girl #3, talks with writer Nancy Collins about the Vampirella Annual 2015, both on sale now. Cover art by Jay Anacleto. Interior art by Aneke.
MARGUERITE BENNETT: This was such a FUN comic! Do you have any tips for writers and aspiring writers on balancing humor with horror?
NANCY COLLINS: I would recommend studying the work of cartoonists Charles Addams and Gahan Wilson. They managed to pack more macabre humor into a single panel than anyone else. I’d also recommend watching the intro and stinger segments of the classic Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Alfred Hitchcock Hour, which are tiny gems of dark humor.
MB: How was the collaboration with your art team?
NC: I never spoke directly or emailed Aneke, but I provided a lot of photo references, especially in regard to the design of Lazarus the Walking Dead Man. I’m very happy with the results.
MB: The combination of different classic monsters is a treat. Do you have a favorite “monster”? May I ask why they are your favorite?
NC: It’s impossible to choose, at least for me. Although I’m best known for writing vampires, when I was a kid my favorite was the Wolfman. As I’ve grown older, I’ve developed a fondness for Frankenstein’s Monster. I’ve featured variations of the classic monster trinity (vampire, werewolf, and creature) in my own prose work several times, including weird western iterations.
MB: Are there any real-world experiences you enjoy drawing on for moments in Vampirella?
NC: All art has a bit of the artist in it, whether consciously placed there or not. In my case, I’ve drawn a great deal on my own experiences as an independent woman, my time working on the family farm as a kid, and the years I spent living on the fringes of mainstream culture as part of the punk/underground community. In the end, I would like to think that I’ve helped to make Vampirella a more three-dimensional character.
For more on the Vampirella Annual 2015, click here.
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