LEA HERNANDEZ
Creator Of Rumble Girls

Lea was a regular artist working on various comics and magazines who decided to make her own manga-styled comic series. She has now started her own trilogy of graphic novels that began with CATHEDRAL CHILD. She also has her new ongoing comic called RUMBLE GIRLS.


LEA'S CREDITS

Wizard Magazine, Cathedral Child, Clockwork Angels, Rumble Girls, Dignifying Science, Brain Box, Love In Tights, Transmetropoliton, Chassis, Go Girl, Xenon

Interview taken at Katstucon 6, Febuary 2000.

• WHAT GOT YOU STARTED IN THE COMICS INDUSTRY?
  My husband and I self-published a book called LEGACY OF THE BLOOD, and I used the work on that to get work as a lettering assistant for Wayne Truman on XENON. Then I went on to do alot of other little things. Then, 14 years later, I had a career. (Laughs) And then I finally sold something to Image.
  
  
• WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR INFLUENCES AS FAR AS ART STYLE AND STORY?
  You can't really see it in my work, but one of my biggest inspirations is Motami Amata who designed LEDA and WINDARIA.
  
  
• WHAT'S YOUR NEW COMIC RUMBLE GIRLS ABOUT?
  I call it: 'Broken Hearts & Bloody Noses'. On the surface it's about schoolgirls wrestling in powered armor, an idea I came up with before METAL FIGHTER MIKU. The story is about like being an idol singer and you have everybody telling you what to do all the time and you don't have your own life. That's what the main character's about, accept that she made that choice for herself. Beyond that, it's about people accepting the choices they made to get where they were going.
  
  
• WHAT'S YOUR TAKE ON THE CURRENT STATE OF INDEPENDENT COMICS IN THE U.S.?
  I have absolutely no intelligent take on that whatsoever. Accept that there are people doing independent comics who don't do enough to promote themselves and they're waiting for everbody else to tell them what geniuses they are. They don't do nearly enough within their own power to promote their own work to get it out to people. There's alot of books out there that die for lack of promotion which isn't time consuming and its not hard. The industry is in a state where alot of people could improve things for themselves with a little work.
  
  
• WHAT SORT OF MANGA AND ANIME ARE YOU INTO?
  The thing I really like on T.V. right now is DIGIMON. I like stuff that's ten years old and stuff that's more recent too. I really love the works of Miyazaki. I'm more pickier now a days. Most of the anime being released now is geared toward horny lonely men showing alot of little girls in tight skirts and not alot of story.
  
  
• DO YOU THINK THERE SHOULD BE MORE ROMANCE IN MODERN COMICS?
  (Laughs) I think what there needs to be in modern comics more people writing what they want instead of stories that mix together a story from different sources like various mangas and video games and whatnot. There's so many people out there who just aren't writing but they're just mashing altogether this stuff they think is cool instead of trying to do something that's not just for making money.
  
  
• HOW IS THE NEXT CATHEDRAL CHILD BOOK COMING?
  It's plotted, but I haven't started writing or drawing it. I won't be able to start for about another year from now. So it will come out sometime in the summer of 2001.
  
  
• WHAT OTHER PROJECTS DO YOU HAVE COMING UP?
  My next book will be RUMBLE GIRLS which is an 8-issue series that starts in April. If you have a favorite comic store or online store go there and tell them you want this book. Because pre-ordrering comics is the best way to show retailers that you're interested.
  

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