THE SIMONE FILES V: NICOLA SCOTT

[MattBrady]

by Gail Simone

See, there’s a secret we know we’re not telling you. Sure, you look at the women in comics with their parasols, mint juleps and hoop skirts, and you think, “Aw, that’s nice, the she-folk are reading comics just like people.”

But what we didn’t happen to mention is our worldwide plan to take over comics and get COOTIES all over them. HA! Superman? Cooties! Clor? Cooties! Bendis?

Well, maybe not Bendis. We have to have some standards.

But our time is coming, and Nicola Scott is an integral part of our insidious plan to put Batman in a skirt and have Wolverine talk about his feelings without spitting so much and always looking like he has to go to the bathroom real bad.

Many of you don’t know Nicola, and those of you that do probably think she’s nice and generous and kind and soft-spoken. Well, she actually is all those things but we haven’t had a chance to ruin her yet.

Nicola’s art has been making its way around to pros and editors for some time, until brilliant editor Mike Carlin grabbed her up and tasered everyone within email distance. Good thing for us, and great thing for Birds of Prey, a comic I write of which she is now the penciller.

Here’s some stuff I said at her and some words that she spat back at me. Hope you enjoy.

SIMONE: Okay, first, my unashamed plug. People who haven’t seen Nicola’s work are missing a remarkable treat. She combines a classic no-bs storytelling method with a great eye for detail and body language, and...never mind, I’m getting ahead of myself. Birds of Prey has been a wellspring of talented artists since its inception, and I believe Nicola is already the next great Bop artist.

SCOTT: Blush!

SIMONE: Let me go ahead and start back a ways. What was it that led to your fabled love of superheroines, Nicola? Where did this come from? Were you a nerd at all? Are you a nerd now?

SCOTT: Hmm, I come from a family of girls and we used to hang a lot with our cousins, also girls, and I was the baby of the bunch. One Saturday arvo, we were watching the telly and there was this show on, with this Charlie's Angel looking chick running around lifting cars and throwing people and wearing the most amazing clothes I'd ever seen. Everyone thought it was stupid and went outside to talk about boys but I was hooked. It was Wonder Woman and I was four.

SIMONE: You had the Wonder-lust early. It’s kind of amazing how many girls grow up loving Wonder Woman, yet don’t make the leap to comics, really. So, your art. Can you tell us a little bit about where your art comes from, how you developed your technique? Do you feel you have a personal philosophy about comics work that you’d like to share?

SCOTT: I'm from an artistic family. My mother is an artist, so was my grandmother and so on for a while back. We were all given paints and pencils and encouraged to use them. My mum was teaching me about perspective during school holidays when I was at kindy.

I grew up with Batman re-runs, the Wonder Woman show and Superman movies, and I used to draw them a lot. Actually, one of my first serious influences, and how I started to teach myself figure posing, came from the cartoon Battle of the Planets. I'd video the show and freeze frame the action and draw from the TV. It was so fast and dynamic, it really gave me a sense of drama.

SIMONE: See, I love to hear that, because it gives me a lot of hope--that kids are sitting down to draw after watching Teen Titans, or JLU, or Legion...

SCOTT: Definitely!

SIMONE: My first exposure to your work were some lovely pin-ups I’d seen posted at the Geoff Johns board. I remember them creating quite a stir--suddenly I was getting all these PM’s to come look at your art, and I know other pros (those with good taste) were scoutin’ up on you as well. There was this weird feeling among the community, waiting to see who was going to scoop you up first, since it seemed a forgone conclusion.

SCOTT: Yeah, that was really freaky. One of my on-line mates had been telling me to post some art at Comic Bloc but I'd been avoiding it for months. There didn't seem to be an appropriate place to post there for semi-pros, like I was at the time. He eventually talked me into it and straight away there was this huge response. I got nervous that certain editors might be a little pissed at me and think I was campaigning. I didn't want editors pissed at me but it took on a life of its own.

SIMONE: Understood, but I’m glad you did it! What about other work--I’ll be honest, I’m not hugely familiar with what other pro work you’ve done. It’s like you sprouted up fully formed, with the skills and determination of a veteran pro. But you did do some other work first, yes?

SCOTT: He he. Yeah, I'm still pretty new but I worked for Dark Horse on their Star Wars titles a couple of years ago. I also worked on a few different titles at IDW, Image and Top Cow. I started late so I had to make up a lot of ground quickly, skill-wise and body-of-work-wise.

SIMONE: This has been one of my determining factors for who will make it in the business and who won’t, to be honest. Most of the best writers and artists I know--they never think they’re good enough. They always want to be better. Yet I, and I mean this kindly, see a lot of aspiring artists and writers whose work is not there yet, who absolutely think there stuff is above reproach.

Okay, our first real talk was when we walked back from the restaurant at the Paradise Comic Con in Toronto last year, with the wonderful (and also very quiet) Dale and Wolfie Eaglesham. I remember you saying you’d been offered some things, but at the time, BoP had a regular penciller, so I remember thinking it might never come to pass. Can you talk a bit about how the BoP assignment came to be? I do remember raving about you to Mike Carlin, our wonderful editor, and it seems like the turnaround was nearly immediate...I think he’d already heard of you. And as an aside, do I remember correctly that you were in the first Matrix film?

SCOTT: Yeah, for a second. Two days worked ended on the cutting room floor.

Um, BoP did come up really quickly. It was at Comicon in San Diego last year. You and I were chatting, and I was touching base with BoP's previous editor, Joan Hilty (I'd just finished a job for Penguin Publishing that I got through her). I was trying to work my way into her good books and she was busy telling me that she wasn't on the title anymore; Bummer. That night some mates of mine were saying that you'd been looking for me, and that there might be something up. When I caught you the next day you told me to go see Mike. Mike's one of the few editors at DC I'd not yet met so I went up and said "Hi". We chatted for a bit, he's really funny, and he said that he'd heard of me through people…and was I interested (!) Are you kidding!! Birds of Prey is in my Three-Top-Books-to-Work-On list. At first I thought it would just be a fill-in and then I thought it would just be an arc. How happy am I!!

SIMONE: It’s mostly because I’m a genius, right? Say it’s because...never mind.

So let’s talk a little bit about Birds of Prey, if you would. Were you familiar with the book? Do you have particular favorites in the cast?

SCOTT: I was drawn to it because of Barbara. She's been a long time favorite of mine (Most of my favorites come from my TV and film addiction). I'd also know Canary but not really got her until Birds came along. Then there are characters, which I didn't really know at all previously, like Manhunter, but got straight away. Actually, I didn't really get her until the second script. There was something about the way you explained her fighting style to me. Suddenly I got who she was. It was perfect. I'm also a huge fan of a new Bird who gets some serious action in the next arc. Actually, the new arc has a fantastic line-up. I'm loving all the characters at the moment. Combining them with the Secret Six is genius!! But who's the new full-time male team mate? Come on Gail, you can tell me.

SIMONE: I know the readers think you’re kidding, but I do have this thing that I hate to give out spoilers, even to people working on the book. It’s like a bizarre compulsion to make everything as mysterious and difficult as possible. But I’ll give you a clue...he was never in the JLA.

HA!

And while I’m at it, I have to say it again, I think you draw a phenomenal Manhunter (bless you, Marc Andreyko for your generous lending of the character!).

Now, you popped on the book during a real turning point, where the possibility of nearly any DCU female (and a couple males) could appear at any moment. Did you have any personal favorites you’d like to draw?

SCOTT: Being a big DC fan I was hoping the get the chance to draw Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman at some point. In the first arc I've managed to draw all three once. Pretty happy about that! Every time I get a script the biggest excitement for me is finding out who I get to draw. Any time someone new shows up is a huge buzz. I love it!

SIMONE: It shows. Really, getting new BoP pages from you is a delight. I hesitate to ask this, because poachers are everywhere, but do you have dream projects in comics that you hope to achieve? Do you plan on writing, for example?

SCOTT: I do hope to write a little one day. I think it'll more likely be collaboration. I have a detailed origin story for a certain favorite character I'd like to pitch, when the time's right. There are also a couple of indie projects I've previously been part of that I think would go really well given the right platform. I hope to develop those with their creators one day, if they're interested.

SIMONE: As an aside, I know you had some wonderful news, recently, as you got hitched up to a wonderful guy. Can you tell us a little bit about it, and most importantly, does said fella read comics?

SCOTT: Ha! Yeah, I met him at a signing I was doing on Free Comic Book Day in '05. He's a close friend of the girl who helped organize the event. I thought "Mmm…delicious", and apparently he did, too. We're bizarrely alike and on more than one occasion people have thought we were brother and sister. How narcissistic is that! In fact, on the odd occasion when we don't agree on something, it's really jarring.

SIMONE: The word I was looking for was, “creepy,” but I’m happy for you. Now, regarding your new status-- How are you adjusting to the jump from gifted amateur to full-time pro? The cons, the readers, the deadlines (I say for the record that I’m always the one running a bit behind, and Nicola is the responsible one!) and such?

SCOTT: I got into this with the aim of being a full-time pro so I've kinda been adjusting and allowing for that as I go. Straight away, after making the decision to draw comics, I quit my full time job and got a part time one, as well as selling my car and anything else that I didn't really need, and slowly but surely shaved the time off that job too as I started getting more comic work. I've lived very frugally for the last four years, with any serious money earned going straight back into the career (getting to San Diego from Australia every year can be really expensive). Cons are fun 'cause it gets me out of the house and chatting to people and the workload is tiring but really satisfying. I've come into this at a time in my life when I've been really focused and driven, two things I've not really been before.

SIMONE: That’s...huh. That’s actually pretty darn inspiring. It shows what talent and determination and a cold steely will can accomplish. So, whose work, either classic or current, really excites or inspires you, among comic artists?

SCOTT: Love Stuart Immonen, Adam Hughs and Leinil Yu. I grew up with George Perez and Kevin McGuire. I'm also influenced alot by animation and quite a few classical artists

SIMONE: Good list! I think those guys share a common dedication with you, in fact.

SIMONE: Final question, and I just find this stuff fascinating because I have no artistic talent whatsoever. What’s a typical work day for you like?

SCOTT: I'm just starting to get into a real routine that's working for me, having spent the last few years sleeping about four hours a day, usually in the afternoon (gah!). I get up around 6:30-7 AM. (I'm a night person but I'm trying to get all my work done while my fella's at work.) I shower, make brekky and eat while doing my e-mailing. 8 in the morning here is around 6 in the evening of the day before in New York so most of my received e-mails arrive during the night. I get drawing about 8:30-9. I start with re-reading todays page, doing thumbnails in the margins and then I go straight to the finished art sheet. I work with a light box so I do all my roughs on the reverse side. I cruise through some comic sites while I eat lunch and if all goes well, I'm done by 6PM. I tend to work every day, including weekends so I can do catch ups on panels or backgrounds I didn't get done during the week.

EASY!

SIMONE: Me, again. Thanks, miss!

And there you have it, our introduction to Nicola Scott, who is setting Birds of Prey on fire, I kid you not.

If you haven’t been reading BoP lately, I really believe you’re missing something hugely fun. It’s exciting to see what DC faces will pop up each issue, Oracle’s facing possibly her most dangerous foe ever in the guise of the new Spy Smasher, and Nicola’s art makes the whole thing look wonderful.

I say it’s darn hard to find a book with this much testosterone and it all gets notched up by a factor of six in the arc that begins with issue #104. New, but familiar faces, some of the baddest action the book’s ever had, some crazy characters I’ve been dying to write, and an extended guest stint featuring the Secret Six . Plus the reveals of the new members for both the Six and the Birds. And, one of my favorite things--Zinda doesn’t like Spy Smasher very much. And a big, big surprise. Just get it. Seriously.

Thanks, Nicola, for your hard work and dedication in helping the Birds fly higher than ever!

Previously:

The Simone Files I: Birds of Prey
The Simone Files II: The All-New Atom
The Simone Files III: Welcome to Tranquility
The Simone Files IV: Gen13

[Arsenal3]

This looks really, really good! I haven't read BOP for three or four years, and one of the reasons I dropped it was lackluster art. It may be time to give it another chance!

[kevthemev]

Gail and Nicola will both be back for this year's Paradise Toronto Comicon on June 8-10, 2007 and they will both be taking part in the second Women of Comics Symposium. We're really honoured to have them back as they were great guests. Nicola does some amazing sketches and we're really excited about her work on Birds of Prey!

Show site: www.torontocomicon.com

For more information on the Women of Comics symposium: www.womenofcomics.com

Thanks,
Kevin

[motteditor]

I say it’s darn hard to find a book with this much testosterone

Hey, that's *my* line!

Nice interview.

[scottmdavis]

IM gonna grab the OYL Trade and start there. Nicola's art looks very Perez like.

BTW, Never realized how hot Gail was. Damn..

[yoshimi20]

Fun interview, I'm really enjoying BOP right now and the art is very good.

It's interesting to hear Nicola Scott mention "Battle of the Planets" and animated art, because the couple of scenes in last BOP 102 where Misfit realizes what to do and teleports onto the car reminded me of animated art.

I find it difficult to actually explain in what way exactly, maybe it was slightly rougher drawn but felt full of movement and "animated". It was my favourite part of the issue and impressed me that the artist seemed to choose a delibrate and slightly different style for those few panels.

[vfxdammerung]

Originally Posted by scottmdavis

IM gonna grab the OYL Trade and start there. Nicola's art looks very Perez like.

BTW, Never realized how hot Gail was. Damn..

Um, that's a picture of Nicola Scott, if that's what you mean.

[Kolimar]

Originally Posted by MattBrady

by Gail Simone

See, there’s a secret we know we’re not telling you. Sure, you look at the women in comics with their parasols, mint juleps and hoop skirts, and you think, “Aw, that’s nice, the she-folk are reading comics just like people.”

But what we didn’t happen to mention is our worldwide plan to take over comics and get COOTIES all over them. HA! Superman? Cooties! Clor? Cooties! Bendis?

Well, maybe not Bendis. We have to have some standards.

But our time is coming, and Nicola Scott is an integral part of our insidious plan to put Batman in a skirt and have Wolverine talk about his feelings without spitting so much and always looking like he has to go to the bathroom real bad.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!! Ahhh... Gail...

[scottmdavis]

Originally Posted by vfxdammerung

Um, that's a picture of Nicola Scott, if that's what you mean.

well then...

I still stand by my fanboy-ish statement.

[NOMAD138]

I love this book. Gail never fails to bring a good read to the table. Gail you should come to the wizard world east convention. I'll buy ya dinner.

[WC Brooks]

Here's to Gail & Nicola. Long may they reign!

Gail, as always, you are two notches above "cool".

"Wild Weekend in Washington" Part II (hope springs eternal).

[Stratocaster]

I am astonished at the elegance of Scott's pencilled pages and struck by how much they differ from the inked pages. None of the subtle nuance and tonal gradation of her pencils is preserved in the final product. I have followed BoP for years, and have been largely disappointed with Scott's first few issues because it seemed that the high artistic standards set for this book had given way to mediocrity. It now appears that Scott's work, which if these pencils are typical, is simply not being well translated in publication. That is unfortunate, because her pencils here look excellent.

[Ravager]

Originally Posted by vfxdammerung

Um, that's a picture of Nicola Scott, if that's what you mean.

Lol!

[TCJohnson]

I really like her Wonder Woman pinups. She gives her these very strong greek features.

[gwangung]

Originally Posted by vfxdammerung

Um, that's a picture of Nicola Scott, if that's what you mean.

Headshot.

Take it that Ms. Scott has done some acting?

[Rebis]

Originally Posted by Stratocaster

I have followed BoP for years, and have been largely disappointed with Scott's first few issues because it seemed that the high artistic standards set for this book had given way to mediocrity.

For real?

Because I actually dropped this book at one point, despite how much I enjoy Gail's writing, because the art bit so badly. I mean, Ed Benes? Ugh. Talk about gratuitous T&A. (Notice lately that, over in JLA, he's got Wonder Woman and Black Canary back in heels? Sheesh. Thought we got over that a decade ago.) Even if you think the current ink job is mediocre, Scott's finished art is kicking all sorts of ass on this book. BoP hasn't looked this good in a looong, looong time.

[jedifish]

Good interview. I'm really enjoying her art on BOP.

[jeircho]

She looks as great as she draws! Good luck with the book and hope you have a successful career within the industry. And come out to the NY COMIC CON next year!

West Coast is SOOOO overated - lol

[Vazquez]

Slightly off-topic, but why did the previous artist get removed from the title? Maybe it's because his departure coincided with Sin also leaving the title (damn you JLA! damn you hard!) but I kind of miss Sequiera's art.

¿Is he working on something else from DC?

[bcondray]

I love the art on BoP!

Mr. Didio,
Can we get these two on a Black Canary limited series..or better yet on going?


BoP is a great read.... It gels on all levels.

[Kolimar]

Very nice interview, Gail.

[rockieman]

Originally Posted by gwangung

Headshot.

Take it that Ms. Scott has done some acting?

She's a former model. You should see the picture of her dressed as WW. I believe it was an audition for the movie a few years back. She looked phenomenal.

The pic is floating around the web.

[Vyper]

Nicola Scott on Wonder Woman!
It will happen. It is as inevitable as the sun rising up in the east. We all know it.



Resistance is futile

[TheGrayHulk]

I love Birds of Prey post-#100 (I'm one of those annoying Manhunter fans), but I feel I wouldn't be a proper fanboy if I don't complain about something, so here it goes:

I dislike the new Misfit costume (and I'm not too crazy about the name either).

I liked the fact that she was a satirical and delusional home-made version of Batgirl, and even the fact that she referred to herself as "Batgirl" even though nobody else did and didn't have Barbara or Batman's approval... I thought that was pretty original.

[Kevin T. Brown]

Originally Posted by rockieman

She's a former model. You should see the picture of her dressed as WW. I believe it was an audition for the movie a few years back. She looked phenomenal.

The pic is floating around the web.

Check ComicBloc, I'm sure it's still there some place..