Comic Books

EXCLUSIVE Essay by Olivia Cuartero-Briggs: Writer of ‘Jill and the Killers’ #1

‘Jill and the Killers’ #1 is a Double-Sized & Deadly Debut from Olivia Cuartero-Briggs & Roberta Ingranata.

January 4, 2024

Courtesy of Oni Press, AIPT can share an essay by Olivia Cuartero-Briggs ahead of the release of Jill and the Killers #1. In stores on January 31, 2024, Jill and the Killers writer Olivia Cuartero-Briggs is an award-winning dramatic writer, fitness junky, and girl mom, born and raised in New York City. She is the author of Mary Shelley Monster Hunter and Silver City with Aftershock Comics, as well as the upcoming Fate: The Winx Saga graphic novel series.

Joining Cuartero-Briggs is Roberta Ingranata on Jill and the Killers #1, about teenager Jill Estrada who finds herself caught in a true-crime subscription mystery box that’s anything but a fantasy.

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Check out the essay below and keep reading for a preview of Jill and the Killers #1!

Olivia Cuartero-Briggs

Creating in the Comic Space These Days… for Me, Anyway.

By Olivia Cuartero-Briggs

I never thought I’d be a comic book writer. I swear to you, the thought never even crossed my mind until a few years ago. I mean, I was a writer – I’ve always been a writer – and I knew comic books were written, obviously, I just never thought I’d be the one writing them. Maybe it was that I didn’t read a lot of comic books growing up. I mean, I read Archie, Betty and Veronica, all the digests and spectaculars, but the other comics at the newsstand never really seemed like they were for me. Granted, this was New York City in the early 90s, but back then, at least as far as what I saw – the world of traditional comic books was reserved for fantasy-loving boys.

My, how things have changed!

I can’t speak to what it was like to make comics twenty, or even ten years ago, but I can tell you that right now, creating in this space feels like the wild west, in a good way. A really, really good way.

I don’t know if there’s a traditional way into comic book writing, but if there is, I didn’t follow it. I was a dramatic writer, just coming off my first job as a staff writer on a television show, and was hungry for my next gig. I contacted my buddy Adam Glass in a young, out-of-work, mom panic, and he said, “Well, I don’t have anything in TV right now, but there’s this comic book I’ve been dying to write, and it needs a female voice.” I never thought in a million years I’d be a comic book writer, remember? So, when Adam pitched me the idea for Mary Shelley Monster Hunter I had two reactions. The first was: You can do that in comics? And the second was: Hells yes, I am so in!

I lucked out. Not only did Aftershock greenlight the book in record time, but I got to be mentored through the process of writing my first book by the dude who put Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad. I don’t think I had even gotten through writing book one before I was hooked.

I love being a television writer, a playwright, and a screenwriter. Every medium has something unique to offer my brain – a new puzzle to craftily work around while spinning my stories like webs – pulling from experience, imagination, fantasies, and the people I know and love. I have to say, however, that no medium allows you the same type of creative freedom that comic book writing does.

First of all, unlike most types of entertainment writing, production budget is not a consideration. Obviously, I can have as many explosions in a comic book as I want, and a story that takes place in 1809 costs just as much to illustrate as one that unfolds entirely in one house. Not only that, but comic book writing has allowed me to indulge in one of my biggest “problems” as a creator: I am not a genre-specific biatch.

Sure, there are certain subjects and themes I gravitate towards in my writing: I love mother/daughter stories, a fun, high-concept hook, fiercely dynamic and dimensional female characters, issues that test morality and pull on the fibers of what we take for granted in society to see what unravels… but I like to play with these toys in all sorts of sandboxes. Adventure stories, and coming-of-age, romances, horrors, and comedies, or any combination of those, in any place or time. That was the reason this indecisive kid became a writer in the first place. When I was little, I wanted to be everything – I still want to be everything – and writing was the only thing that enabled me the ability to inhabit any character in any occupation in any set of circumstances in any place. Writing was – and is – the only way for me to be truly free.

But in traditional entertainment careers, it can be tough to be a writer folks can’t nail down. “Well, is she a drama writer or a comedy writer?” “Wait, does she do period or contemporary?” “What box do we put her in?” It sounds silly, but there’s a reason for it. Having an easily identifiable skill set in the genre department makes it easier to find work. “Oh, so-and-so is looking for a female cop procedural writer? I got one of those right here.” See what I mean? Things are getting better in this regard for sure, and I have the best reps in the whole entire world, so I am not complaining, but… and it’s a big BUT…

The comic book industry is NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL. My first book was a period horror that blended fiction and non-fiction, my second was a dark, purgatorial fantasy, and now I’m on the verge of releasing Jill and the Killers, a contemporary, teenage, thriller/comedy. Additionally, I am currently writing the continuation of the Fate: Winx saga for Maverick – a contemporary, young adult fantasy, as well as an unannounced period, mother/daughter monster story for Humanoids, a dystopian horror for Mad Cave, and am about to embark on a high-concept romantic comedy, also for Maverick. For each of these books, there was no discussion of what “kind of” writer I was, or what experience I had in that genre before – and I’ve never had these discussions in comics. When I pitch a juicy enough idea to get an editor interested, the question is never whether I can pull it off, the only issue is how, and those are the most fun conversations.

I honestly cannot tell you how much I love the comic book industry for this. For honoring – rather than limiting – their creators. For being a place where I can have a truly wild idea that is deeply personal and horrifically weird – so much so that even though I need to tell the story, I’m embarrassed to pitch it… and have an editor say, “Cool. Can you whip up an outline?”

Granted, I haven’t been here for that long. My first comic was published in 2019. Will I stumble upon jerks, nay-sayers, and pigeon-holers? Maybe, I don’t know. But what I do know is, right now, I feel so lucky to be a part of an industry that is unafraid to be strange, controversial, shocking, scary, or just plain bonkers. I’m honored to know fearless editors willing to take incredible chances on me. And lastly, I am so grateful to all the amazing artists, creators, and editors before me, who transformed the world of comic books and graphic novels from stories for fantasy-loving boys, to a medium that welcomes everyone, has something for anyone, and allows me to be anything I want to be.

Jill and the Killers #1

Returning to school after the unsolved disappearance of her mother, teenager Jill Estrada can’t wait for things to return to normal . . . even as her friends become compulsively obsessed with Box Killers, a true-crime subscription game where each month’s “unsolved case” is custom-tailored to the life of its player. There’s only one catch: Jill’s game seems to be all too real . . . and when her clues begin to connect to a series of disappearances in her town, Jill and her friends must uncover the truth behind these mysterious crimes before one of their own becomes the next victim.

Featuring covers by Sanya Anwar (Clean Room), Marguerite Sauvage (Black Panther, Faith), Alison Sampson (Hit-Girl), and Celia Lowenthal (Dungeons & Dragons), JILL AND THE KILLERS #1 is available in stores on January 31, 2024.