We chat with the comics scribe about her new Image Comics contribution to the 'Radiant Black' Massive-Verse.
"To her students, Satomi Sone is a diligent middle school teacher. To her fiancé and parents, she’s the rock of their family. To the world, she’s Radiant Red, a criminal turned matter-absorbing superhero..."
Hello, friends! Can we talk to you about our favorite new superhero universe involving The Radiants? We can?! Great! Image Comics and creators Kyle Higgins and Marcelo Costa are expanding the characters and concepts born from their Radiant Black series into a plethora of new comics. A plethora? Yes, a plethora!
Supermassive! Rogue Sun! Inferno Girl Red! The Dead Lucky! AND - our favorite - Radiant Red!
Radiant Red #1 hits comic shops this Wednesday, and it is frickin' wonderful. Written by Cherish Chen, illustrated by David Lafuente, colored by Miquel Muerto, and lettered by Diego Sanches, Radiant Red is a vibrant new spin on the superhero genre. You'll recognize those Super Sentai/Power Rangers roots and, of course, some Ultimate Spider-Man, but the team is cooking up something utterly unique with this tale. We don't think there's a protagonist quite like Satomi Sone in the comic book market right now, and her arrival - or, at least, her solo takeover - feels significant.
"The whole miniseries examines these multiple forks in the road," says Chen. "How these choices you make over a period of time lead you to a certain place. It's all consequential."
We're on a journey with Satomi Sone, and how we feel about her will change with the choices she makes. Life is an emotional seesaw that's never steady. That's the joy. That's the terror.
"We don't know how to feel [about Satomi]," Chen continues. "If she's a good person, a bad person, or something in between. I think that's what's most interesting about her. And with what Kyle and Marcelo built with Radiant Black in general. There's an argument to be said about how superheroes should be good. They're kids stories, but they're antiheroes. We want to put them in a specific thing. I totally get that for a lot of books, but with Radiant Black and its extension into Radiant Red, we're looking at people and trying to ground them. We want to make them relatable. That's our North Star with these characters."
This week, we're delighted to chat with author Cherish Chen about Radiant Red #1 on the, and we're hoping this is just a tease of things to come. When Radiant Red wraps up its first arc, we're crossing our fingers that Chen will come back on Comic Book Couples Counseling, because we want to get into it regarding these compelling relationship dynamics.
Special bonus chat this week, we speak with Cherish Chen about her experiences cutting the Mad Max: Fury Road trailer. It was so much fun discussing this particular art form with one of its masters. Seriously, do trailers get better than the ones made for Mad Max: Fury Road? We don't think so.
LISTEN TO OUR UNEDITED CONVERSATION BY CLICKING HERE.
Be sure to follow Cherish Chen on Twitter and keep up to date with her projects by clicking over to her Website. Also, do yourself a favor and visit the RocketJump Film School YouTube page.
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