Josh Williamson Interviews Kelly Sue on PROMETHEUS: FIRE AND STONE - OMEGA
Last week we've looked at a series of creators interviewing creators over the Dark Horse event, FIRE AND STONE involving the Prometheus, Aliens, and Predator world. We had Kelly Sue Deconnick interview Paul Tobin on PROMETHEUS: FIRE AND STONE; Paul Tobin interview Chris Roberson on ALIENS: FIRES AND STONE; and Chris Roberson interview Chris Sebela about ALIENS VS. PREDATOR: FIRE AND STONE, drawn by Ariel Olivetti. On Friday we had Chris Sebela interview Joshua Williamson about PREDATOR: FIRE AND STONE.
In this final installment, we'll see Josh Williamson talk to Kelly Sue about PROMETHEUS: FIRE AND STONE - OMEGA. If that wasn't enough, we also have an exclusive preview for you.
JOSHUA WILLIAMSON: When I first walked into the writer’s room I was super nervous and intimidated.
But YOU were walking into the room as the room leader… Did you have any expectations of the experience in the writer’s room and did that change at all?
KELLY SUE: Heh, I apparently wasn’t much of a leader as I don’t think half of the team knew that was my title until after the project was finished! Instead of ineptitude on my part, can we pretend that was some kind of subterfuge? Like I am just THAT CLEVER? No…? I confess I’m amused that folks just figured I was bossy and rolled with it.
I don’t think I knew what to expect really, but I was excited. I love to talk story, I love the collaborative process — the fact that the books were going to be worked in a room was the REASON I TOOK THE JOB, you know? I was psyched for that.
And you know, I think it worked out well. Some nights were better than others, but I’d call it a positive experience overall. I think the group found a rhythm pretty quickly and we played off each other well.
JW: A lot of things got left on the cutting room floor as we developed this story.
For example, my only regret in Predator was that I never figured out how to have a scene of Predator Ahab riding a motorcycle.
KS: Aw, damn. That’s good.
JW: Of course as I say this I know how I could have done it. C'est la vie.
KS: That’s always the way.
JW: Was there anything that didn’t make it that you wish had?
KS: Yeah, I had a whole fight scene with giant parasites inside the mountain that I wanted to do for several reasons — I liked the visual, and I thought we needed it for pacing and stakes, but I just didn’t have the real estate for it in the end and that bummed me out. I feel like the book should have been about 10-15 pages longer. Feels like it wraps up too fast to me.
That said, as the culmination of the whole, it’s not fast, so I have that to wipe my tears with.
JW: In OMEGA, we have a rag tag group of survivors from different walks of life, with a variety of styles. A lot like the writers in the room! Who was your favorite character to write? Were there any that you wish had survived to Omega that you wanted to play with?
KS: I wanted to write an engineer! Alas.
Picking a favorite… that’s always hard. Angela, I guess? Only because I can’t choose between Elden and Galgo, so having them share second place seems fair.
JW: There is a beautiful two spread in Omega, where you touch on some pretty heavy themes including the search for the meaning of life. The ideas of the “Creator.” Was there anything you set out to say there from the start or did that form as you wrote?
KS: That came to me in the room and as soon as I had it, I knew I had the book and everything else would be details. It was that they would have to make the decision to turn and leave without the answers they went in for — that was the heart of everything. I just threw out most of my notes and research for this project last week and I chose to save a couple of things: the two pages where I wrote the plot out long hand and a scrap of paper that I think was the first line of dialogue I wrote for the book. It says, “We’re alive, dumbass. That’s all we get. That’s all anybody gets.” I don’t think the “dumbass” part made it through but IT’S IMPLIED.
JW: A lot of your writing, from CAPTAIN MARVEL to PRETTY DEADLY, BITCH PLANET, and now PROMETHEUS: FIRE AND STONE OMEGA is cutting past all the BS, and finding the heart in every scene. The moments that mattered most. One thing that you were really good at in the room… When we’d get a bit full of ourselves or too lost in the themes you managed to remind us of the STORY. And you would find the no-nonsense version of events for us to work from. Do you agree or am I just making stuff up?
KS: Well that’s very complimentary from my perspective, so I’d LOVE for that to be true. Let’s go with that.
You’re my favorite, Josh. Don’t tell the others.
PROMETHEUS: FIRE AND STONE - OMEGA is on sale February 11. It's written by Kelly Sue with art by Augustin Alessio. Here's an exclusive preview for it.
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