HOUSE OF WHISPERS VOLUME 3: WATCHING THE WATCHERS

DC Publishing decided they wanted a second year of the House of Whispers story. They even wanted popular DC character John Constantine to have a cameo. And they offered me the chance to do my take on Papa Midnite. How could I resist? John Constantine is one of my favourite magical bisexuals in comics, and as far as I was concerned, Papa Midnite was ripe for a new interpretation. Dan Watters and I came up with the broad story arc for year 2. (Dan’s brilliant idea for retconning some of the lore of the Endless still makes me smile. I was thrilled that Neil was okay to let us run with it. It’s referenced in the sub-title of Vol 3; Watching the Watchers.) Dan wrote issue 13 (the first issue of year 2) based on Slow Cold Chick, one of my earliest published short stories. I wrote issues 14 through 22. I got to make some pointed comments about the US’s horrific border detention camps. My main character is a thick-bodied, punkish young Latina woman who (spoiler alert) finds love and adopts a hell monster. I got to write about a cryptid specific to the American southwest, and about the hell monster, who is a creature from Caribbean folklore. I threw a famous ancient writer of aphorisms into the story, and 19th Century Black British man Joseph Johnson, with his amazing hat. Even the Corinthian played a big part in the story. And if that wasn’t enough yumminess to work with, there was my main character’s love interest. Some of the images of that character brought me to happy tears when I saw them.

DC originally wanted 12 issues of year 2, but I needed to get back to work on a novel I’d put on hold, so they agreed I could finish the arc in 10 issues instead of 12.