Last week Dark Horse Comics published the first issue to the new Starcraft series Starcraft: Scavengers, which is an officially licensed series written by Jody Houser and drawn by Gabriel Guzman. The series further exploring the expansive universe and I was lucky enough to talk to Houser about the new series. We talked gaming growing up, aliens she’s likely to use, and working with Blizzard.
AiPT!: Did you grow up playing Starcraft?
Jody Houser: I did not. As a kid, I was into fighting games which is weird because you know real-time strategy in a sense it’s not that different. But you think of controlling big fighting forces as opposed to a single fighter that always seemed really intimidating to me.
AiPT!: What were your favorites?
JH: Oh, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter for sure. At the same time like seeing that game is such an overwhelming thing, and that whole genre is overwhelming to me, that was a fun thing to sort of feed into writing a horror comic.
AiPT!: That’s true. Do you have a favorite alien in the Starcraft universe?
JH: I don’t think I can actually say that because that might be a spoiler. I will say there will be aliens in Starcraft. I think the way things go in the comic, in terms of alien interaction, it will not be what people expect. I’ll just leave it at that.
AiPT!: Do you work with Blizzard at all or exclusively with Dark Horse Comics?
JH: I do work with Blizzard, we’ve done some phone calls. Again, as with Netflix and Stranger Things they approve everything. They make sure it’s consistent with the world, especially dealing with Terran politics and fun things like that.
AiPT!: Yeah I mean there’s like 20 years of history in Starcraft and then there is Stranger Things which is two seasons. It’s a different sort of adaptation.
JH: It is, but you know at the end of the day you want everything to be adding to the brand. Not hurting it or taking it in a direction where the people who actually own the property don’t want it to go. I’m always working as closely with them as possible and just trying to be a part of the vision that they want to push out into other mediums.
AiPT!: I was interviewing G. Willow Wilson earlier and I had the same question for you. I can’t wrap my head around how you guys write so many books all at once.
JH: It’s the fear of deadlines.
AiPT!: Is it hard to keep all the storylines in your mind, all at once?
JH: I actually like being able to write different tones and having more fun happy books. And then having horror books where things that are really horrific happened to people who don’t deserve it. Honestly between Stranger Things and Starcraft I’d say Starcraft is the darker book and probably the one that is more of a horror story. Dark Horse has let me do some really fun and dark stuff. Its been a fun wheelhouse to play in.
You can buy Starcraft: Scavengers #1 digitally today.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login