Our first question for creator Matts after reading volume 1 of Machine Girl was ‘what is going to happen next?’ Now we have the answer, plus a lot more questions about the fighting girl form Mars…
1. Tell us about Machine Girl!
We started this project almost 10 years ago! Neither I nor the artist would be able to focus exclusively on the series so it was more like a side project for us among our daily work.
Regarding the story, we just wanted to do a fun graphic novel. Lots of action and fights in space with a strong female character that kicked some very diverse alien butts! The idea of Megan being an earthling outcast in an alien world really drove our emotions. But we wanted her to be more powerful than any human being and thus the concept of making her a cyborg-ish person really ignited our imagination. And then the whole background story started to develop.
Regarding the character: Megan is a teenage girl, she is super funny and very naive in some aspects. But she is stubborn and well determined to get whatever she wants. She is a winner and do not take losing slightly. She grew-up on an alien world and that seems to be natural for her but at some point she can't help but feel an attachment and nostalgia to her mostly unknown mother planet: Earth. And she is obsessed with that world at the same level that her father do not want her to find out anything else about the planet. So you have some typical adult/teen confrontation that will guide their relationship. But she is a very jolly and cheerful person that has a big heart and always wants to help others.
2. A big driver in the series is the concept of Intergalactic Mixed Battling Arts. Are you a big fan of mixed martial arts or any of the other fighting sports?
No, not a big fan. I like to watch some Boxing and some MMA but I'm not a fan nor practice those sports. Using Megan as a sport arena fighter was kind of an intro for the character, we were not intending that to be a key factor but it seemed to be an aspect that readers liked a lot so, we may probably revisit those fights in next story arcs. In fact, we open the new mini series with another big sport fight in deep space!
3. There is a trade paperback collection of the first series being released, as well as a brand new series. What can fans expect from the upcoming series?
After the first series, Megan is left facing new independence on her life and she is now forced to grow up and be more mature. We catch up a year or so before the events of the first mini, and Megan and her gang are now part of the crew of Space Pirates that
looked up after her in the first series. We will see some of the interaction with the pirates and how that leads Megan to unravel a mystery surrounding around a Earth colony settled in a faraway moon in Space. I particularly like a lot the way that she finds out about this helpless colony, but I don't want to spoil the scene.
4. What can you tell us about collaborating with Sergio Monjes?
Sergio is one of the most talented artists I know. Not only he has a very unique style, but he has a deep and sharp mind that fills many scenes with lots of metadata. There are a lot of mini stories happening on so many panels! i.e You can notice in some dialogue scenes, in the background, and you will see Serpy (Megan's friendly pet) doing some very funny things... And that's all on Sergio. He added that kind of life to the story. You may notice that he populates the establishing shots with many, many characters, and all of them are practically unique. He has a very fertile imagination and that makes him perfect to develop alien worlds.
5. What comics did you grow up loving that encouraged you to become a creator?
Well, as a kid, I started reading as much as I could find. I really enjoyed some comic strips that were published in Argentina called Patoruzu, that are very funny and humorous stories about a super powered native person from the original inhabitants of Patagonia. Later, as I grew up I discovered the superheroes comics. I especially liked Batman, Superman and all of DC comics. After that I found some European Anthologies of international sci-fi and fantasy genres like Heavy Metal, 1984 and Skorpio. In those mags I discovered authors like Moebius, Corben, Juan Giménez, Horacio Altuna and so many others. Ultimately I got enamored with Alan Moore, Frank Miller (Batman: Year one and Daredevil: Born Again are my personal favorites), Mignola's Hellboy, Mark Millar, Brian Vaughan, etc.
6. Machine Girl involves a huge amount of world building. How long did the process of creating the world last before you began writing the scripts?
To be honest, it was something organic that was developed along the main story was being written. I wanted Sergio to have a lot of freedom to develop his true potential, so I just wrote down some generic outline for some of the world and Sergio designed a lot of the alien races, the scenery, vehicles and artifacts. It is very easy when someone so talented like him can resolve the designs like if it was something easy. Which is not!
7. What outside-influences unrelated to comics influence your work as a creative person?
Mostly Literature. I'm ashamed to say I'm not reading as much now as I used to when I was younger. Of course, films and TV series are very influential too. Movies like Terminator, Aliens, Star Wars and Planet of The Apes were big motivators when I was a kid. The X-Files is a show that really marked me as a teen in the 90's. And music, of course. I always write listening to music. Mostly rock and experimental bands.
8. What's next for Matts?
Hopefully, I can start to focus more on my writing and create more stories. I'm using most of my time with my day job as an editor, but I would love to inverse the equation. Fortunately, I know many talented artists and I'm working with them in 6 different new projects that will hopefully be published in 2021. We will see!