4. What career path do you think you would have followed if you hadn’t become an artist/writer?
Soo – It’s really funny to think about now. I took classes in SVA and when I first applied, I was denied. I almost gave up and was going to try my hand at becoming a Mortician or study Forensic Pathology! That also didn’t pan out though because Tom Hart, a former professor at SVA came in for a workshop in my High School at the time and got me an opening to try again. So I got in and here I am drawing, I guess it was destiny!

Cameron – I’d like to think I could be a carpenter. I have an uncle who does that, and I was always pretty good at woodwork and DDP (design and drawing for production). Doing work with my hands is relaxing, but I don’t do it enough these days.

5. What does a regular working day look like for you?
Soo – On a typical freelance work day, I have a pretty strict routine. It’s really just working from sun up to sun down, and even after then. I’ll spend one day on layouts and work on all the pencils the following weeks and then ink all the pages last. I’ll usually turn on a show or movie for background noise and drink a belligerent amount of coffee. It’s probably not the healthiest way to work but I really enjoy it because I get into the zone easier.

Cameron – There are some days I work what’s basically a shift as a content specialist for a technology-centric public relations firm. Often I’ll do that from the morning until the late afternoon, either in the agency’s office or from my apartment, and then in the evening I’ll work on any scripts I owe, or pitches I’m working on, or other writing. The other days of the week, I’ll be up and either reading or writing by 8:30 or 9 a.m., and I aim to keep that up throughout the day until 5 or 6 in the evening, with some breaks. If I get a little overzealous with the breaks, I end up writing a little later so I don’t feel guilty.

6. How did you get the assignment for the Charlie’s Angels/Bionic Woman book?
Soo – I received an email out of the blue from Matt Idelson our editor, and It wasn’t until later that I found out that Cameron had actually asked for me by name. Cameron and I were previously acquaintances before that.

Cameron – It really is a great gig. While tabling at C2E2 (Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo), a Dynamite editor stopped by my table, said he liked my work on Josie and gave me his card. He asked if I’d
like to pitch a series at Dynamite, and so we connected, and I pitched – and they ended up going another direction. C’est la vie, right? But luckily, that editor seemingly liked what he saw, even if he didn’t end up giving me that book, so he passed my information along, and another editor reached out to me about Charlie’s Angels/Bionic Woman. I’d inherited a fondness for those properties from my parents – and had my own connections to their early-to-mid 2000s iterations –
so I jumped at the chance to pitch it.

7. Is that typical of how the industry works?
Soo – I think yes and it was also a bit of luck. I was lucky in the sense that I met Cameron through connections and we both became friends and was familiar with each other’s works. I think that’s a fairly common occurrence in this industry.

Cameron – Yes, in my understanding.

8. How familiar were you with the shows/characters when you started on the books? Was there any specific research you did?
Soo – I’m familiar with the original tv series, although it was mostly the first 2 seasons that I remember most. I tried to keep a lot of the fashion similar to the characters and the environment nostalgic to the show. I’ve included elements that fans might recognize. I also really wanted to give a nod to the original comic series by way of storytelling.

Cameron – I was pretty familiar with them conceptually through pop culture osmosis and had caught a handful of episodes of each in syndication. I’d also seen the Charlie’s Angels movies from the 2000s, as well as most of the short-lived Bionic Woman reboot. So the first order of business was to get my hands on the original series and watch them, trying to immerse myself in the worlds, the tone and the characters. I also got a lot of help from The Bionic Wiki, because our story’s central conceit draws a lot more heavily on the Bionic half of the lore, rather than the Angels’. It can be tough keeping these tiny aspects of characters and their backstories straight, so that site was truly a blessing.

9. Any particular challenges for you from Cameron’s script, Soo? Cameron, Any particular challenges for you in terms of characters you could/couldn’t use from the shows, particularly the Bionic Woman universe?
Soo – I don’t think there were any more challenges working with Cameron on this book than there would be on others. It always takes a little time to get used to the writing style when you’re working with a different writer but when I got into the groove, it really clicked for me. Cameron focuses on detail without losing focus of a scene and it’s been really helpful when dealing with more complex scenes.

Cameron – No, they never told me not to use anyone, and they never said “no” to my use of any of the characters. I’m grateful for that!

10. How long did you worked on the book, start to finish?
Soo – Currently, I’m still working on the series. Including the character designs, I’ve been working on CABW since the beginning of the year.

Cameron – Well, there have been significant stops and starts, especially early on as we were lining up the team and such, but if we’re talking from the initial pitch on through to finishing scripting the first arc, that would be just over nine months.

11. Soo, did Cameron have any particular pages/panels that where you really nailed it for him and blew him away? Cameron, any particular pages/scenes where Soo Lee really brought your script to life, beyond what you were expecting?
Soo – Yes, he was very positive about the way certain panels came out! I was worried they wouldn’t translate well but I do work very closely with Cameron to make sure certain scenes were as accurate to the script and that they also visually made sense. I don’t want to say which scenes in particular without spoiling anything for the readers!

Cameron – Soo does great work in every panel, and each issue is better than the last. I can’t wait to see what she does with the issue we’re working on now. Her heavy inks and expressive acting are just so perfect for this story, and she’s an absolute dream to collaborate with. But if I had to pick a favourite, I’d say in Issue 2, there’s a chase scene where she plays with the panelling in some interesting ways that I really love.

12. Was there a decision to capture the likeness of the actors for the books, or more stylised approach?
Soo – It was decided that the characters were to be stylized so I changed up the ladies but I wanted to keep a lot of the other elements of the comic to be recognizable by fans.

Cameron – It’s actually more of a licensing/business thing, so that was out of our hands. I’m a big fan of Soo’s character designs here, which do a great job of capturing the characters’ personalities without stepping on anyone’s likeness rights.