Lauren Myracle: Hello, friend! You ready to get this party going?
Isaac Goodhart: Let’s do it!
Lauren: How do you, as an artist, see this particular job of illustrating a graphic novel? Because not only are you getting “direction” from me, but Catwoman already existed before we came along! How do you put all that aside and find a way to dive in on your own?
Isaac: Honestly, when our editors first talked to me about the book, I instinctually thought of a handful of artists that would do a good (better?) job. I thought of maybe tailoring my style to look more like those other artists, even. But when I asked for examples of what the other artists in our line were doing, editor Bobbie Chase told me they wanted me for a reason and to trust my instincts. That was probably the most helpful thing she said early on.
Lauren: Did knowing that we were creating a story for a younger set of readers influence your art? Did you have to tone down the sexy?
Isaac: Hm, style-wise I don’t think I had to alter anything. I just wanted to draw high school as close to how I remembered it as I could. I was aware that we were drawing for a younger audience, so I thought of the books I loved the most when I was in high school and why.
Isaac: How did you learn how to write specifically for comics?
Lauren: I was plagued by doubts at the onset, because who was I to deign to write a graphic novel script? And for Catwoman?! Though I will always call our Selina Catgirl. (She’s not yet a woman!) I got to sit in on two online tutorials, one led by Mariko Tamaki and the other led by Gene Yang(!!!). The panel-by-panel demands made me a better writer, for sure, because I had to come up with ACTION for every fricking panel. Where are all the lovely scenes of high schoolers just sitting around TALKING? I guess there’s a reason literary fiction doesn’t translate well to graphic novels!
Lauren: Who’s your fave characters in UTM? And which character are you the most like?
Isaac: My favorite character is Selina. I’m the most like her by a mile. Like Selina, I’ve had some difficult relationships in my family. I dealt with stresses and tough times like she does. I always made sure to present a good front. And like her, I’ve always had a very strong sense of identity.
When fifteen-year-old Selina Kyle, aka the future Catwoman, becomes homeless, she must confront questions of who she is and who she will become.
She rejects human cruelty, but sometimes it seems as though brute force is the only way to “win.” And if Selina is to survive on the streets, she must be tough. Can she find her humanity and reconcile toughness with her desire for community … and love?
From Lauren Myracle, the New York Times best-selling author of books like ttfn and ttyl, comes a new graphic novel that tells the story of a teenage Catwoman, as she struggles to find her own identity while living on the streets of Gotham.
