Comic Con: Bryan Lee O'Malley

Bryan Lee O'Malley and Cory Doctorow panel at NY Comic Con

New York Comic Con was this past weekend. It was full of cosplayers, comic books, panels, and publishing houses. The great thing about Comic Con is that is encompasses any sort of geeky fandom you can think of. I of course use "geeky" lovingly since I was dressed as two different anime characters on Friday (Attack on Titan) and Saturday (Sailor Mercury). Therefore when I say "geeky fandom" I am describing myself. When I heard there was going to be a panel where Cory Doctorow, author of new graphic novel In Real Life, would be sitting down to have a conversation with Bryan Lee O'Malley, author/illustrator of the Scott Pilgrim series, to discuss O'Malley's new graphic novel Seconds I had to go! 

Now, I have to admit that their conversation wasn't the most interesting part of the panel. They spoke about both being from Toronto, its gentrification (and how they left), and how neither of them finished university. The high points occurred when the fans had a chance to ask questions. They made sure all audience questions were asked by a male and then a female for equal representation. When asked why O'Malley liked writing and drawing strong women he said women are just more interesting to him. He knows what it is like to be a man, which he pointed out is pretty boring, and said that women have more to give as characters. He also likes writing loud and extroverted characters because he is so introverted. He finds himself to be a very internal person and is able to write people who are not afraid to make mistakes and speak their minds because of part of him wishes he was that way. O'Malley also spoke about how he painstakingly creates playlists that he will listen to thousands of times while he is working on a specific project. In the case of Scott Pilgrim he listened to the one playlist for 7 years and with Seconds he listened to a new set of music for 4 years. Without the playlists he wouldn't be able to get into the correct head-space to visit that world. It was really intriguing to hear about both artist's creative processes and how they shape their characters. Seconds (YA and New Adult) is available now and In Real Life (YA) will be released tomorrow, October 14th.