by Kevin Gaussoin, Editor-in-Chief
& Zoe Gaussoin, Assistant Editor

ComicsOnline is back with more exclusive interviews from San Diego Comic-Con!

IDW Publishing’s Star Trek comics continue to boldly explore new worlds and concepts, and we got to dive into some of the new titles with co-writers Susan Bridges and Tilly Bridges (Star Trek: Prodigy, Monster High). The couple also discussed their Secret Origins, and then gave us a glimpse into what they’re working on.

ComicsOnline Kevin Gaussoin: Star Trek Voyager Homecoming is coming home to comics. Tell me a little bit about where you jumped on?

Susan Bridges: You know you never get to see Voyager get home. You never get to see the people have those reunions with the people that have been waiting for them the whole time. And a lot of fans are still sad about that, you know? So our pitch was what if we want to see them go home? But also, because it’s Voyager, nothing goes according to plan, and they have one last adventure. 

CO: One last adventure. And can I ask how big this arc is? 

SB: 5 issues.

CO: Oh, it’s a 5-issue mini? I guess the first thing that comes to mind for me, because I’m greedy for more amazing Star Trek content—might there be more to come?

SB: (laughs) We do not know. 

Tilly Bridges: That might depend on the sales, so if you like it, pick it up! But yeah, we don’t know. It’s a self-contained story. There’s a thread that could be picked up on. More was wanted, but it’s a story of its own, and it’s got a nice little bow in the end. 

CO: Fantastic. My wife and I watch what we call “the Berman years” on repeat. Once every six or seven weeks, we watch through everything again. So this is near and dear to our hearts. What part of Voyager is most meaningful to the two of you?

SB: I’ve always been a fan of Tuvok. I think he’s such a great character and I love his back story that they’ve always dropped clues about, knowing Janeway before Voyager and he’s always been a favorite. He’s my favorite. 

TB: I’ve always been so into Janeway. She’s such a fascinating character. She’s so different from all the other captains. And her commitment to keep to her ideals, even when sometimes she has to bend them, because her main mission is to get these people home. And we really wanted to dive into—Okay, she had to do all these things for seven years and then the rug gets pulled out from under you. What does that do to a person? How does that weigh on you? 

CO: What sort of constraints do you have to tell the story? Are you beholden to, for example, the Janeway autobiography or anything like that? The details in there? We have not quite finished it, so I don’t know how that ends either. 

TB: I’m not sure how all of that factors in. They have people at Paramount check through all the things and tell you what you CAN’T do. They don’t always tell you why, they just say they’re not available. For instance, when we first pitched this story, it had a different adversary. “Well, this one isn’t available, because they’re appearing in some other book..” “So let’s work on some other one…” and we went through iteration after iteration, trying to find the one that felt right for the story but also was available, within the world given all that was going on that we don’t know about. So they have dedicated people for that. And thank goodness.

CO: Yeah, for sure. When it comes to Voyager themes, what are your favorites and what are most meaningful to you?

TB: I think what Voyager does that I love, that it does better than any other show, is that it pulls on that Star Trek thread of “enemies can become your allies”. 

CO: I love those.

TB: Right, exactly. People don’t have to stay your adversaries forever. It’s happened so many times, especially with the Klingons. They were the main adversaries and then suddenly there’s one on the bridge.  What happened? How did this happen? And I love that Star Trek always shows is that there’s a way forward, together. That we come together in spite of our differences. We can celebrate them. 

SB: Yeah, I think all the all the different viewpoints coming together and like Voyager is out there. There’s no support from Starfleet. There’s no one there to check that you’re getting all your ticky-boxes for first contacts right. So…

CO: Right.

SB: So they made a lot of enemies out there. So that was fun to say “Who do we want to pull back in and say ‘Hey’?” Someone’s like “Hey, you guys are jerks.” And you know what? They had a point, ‘cause things don’t always go the way you think they ought. 

CO: I have this whole time thought myself: How much trouble is Janeway in when she shows up?

SB: I agree. 

CO: And is that addressed?

SB: No. (Laughs)

CO: Clearly that’s your next book. That’s your next arc.

TB: People ask you know, “What happens after they get home?” And this story is about “What does it take for them to actually get home?” Because we didn’t actually see that happen. But we are going to see those reunions that we’ve all been craving for thirty-some years, they’re gonna be a mess. 

SB: But there are repercussions from some of their past actions, just maybe not from Starfleet. 

TB: So they’re going to have to deal with those first. 

SB: Yes. 

CO: All right, we’ve got the general gist. Lemme ask you the hard questions. Does Harry get his pip?

SB: (sighs) We tried. 

TB: It was the first thing we asked. 

SB: But it was like we explained earlier: There was a conflicting piece of media where he had not gotten the promotion yet, that chronologically comes after this, and we would not be able to. We did try! 

TB: We did!

CO: You should!

SB: Right? Poor Harry. 

TB: Unconscionable. That poor, poor man. 

CO: Well, I should ask the two of you… We’re doing it wrong…

SB: Oh no!

CO: (switches the logo on the Bridges’ microphone from ComicsOnline to IDW) There. Now you have IDW.

TB: Fancy!

SB: Oh, that’s cool!

CO: What brought you to IDW? Was it just Star Trek? Were you writing anything else?

TB: It was Star Trek. We had pitched a book at Heather Antos together. And she is still getting approval for that book. But when were were going through that process, we developed a pitch with her. We came up with a thing that we all really wanted and in the midst of this, Paramount had come to her and said they wanted to do a Voyager book for the 30th anniversary.

SB: Right. 

TB: And she said do we have any ideas and we immediately said “Yes! Of course we do!” And we sent five different pitches and… yeah.

CO: So then this is not all you have in the hopper, shall we say, when it comes to begging you for new books?

TB: Clearly not! 

[laughs from the other side of the room followed by Jackson Lanzing’s (The Last Starship) commanding voice drowned out all else for a bit, then…]

SB: It’s just a lot of fun!

TB: It is! So they wanted the Voyager story to celebrate 30 years, so that book’s on pause while we finish this book. 

CO: So at ComicsOnline, we’re celebrating 25 years of covering everything geek pop culture.  So here are our 25th anniversary patches.  

SB: Oh, cool! 

CO: So as part of  this celebration, one of the things we’re doing is a series of interviews we’re calling Secret Origins, where we learn the secret origins of industry creators. 

CO: So the two of you, I assume are fairly new to writing comic books?

SB: We have been for the past couple of years, they’ve just not come out yet! Comics take a long time!

TB: Yeah,  we’ve got titles last year that will be out in the next couple of years. 

CO: But yeah, compared with… (glances over his shoulder)

SB: Collin and Jackson.

CO: Yeah, all these folks that we see here, you guys are fairly new. 

TB: Sure. 

CO: So we have three quick questions for your Secret Origins. One: What was the first comic book that really resonated with you? 

SB: The first comic book?

CO: Like as a kid or since.

TB: I can’t remember the issue. It had to be a Superman comic book. It might have been Action. It’s where he goes somewhere where there were a bunch of Kryptonians there who had obliterated the entire Earth, and he decided that they deserved the death sentence. And he was gonna kill them with Kryptonite. And that was really weird. And that was not Superman. But that’s the one that got me into comics because I was like well I have to know the rest of this because that doesn’t seem right. So that was my intro, sort of. 

SB: I guess for me, because you (Tilly) were into comics way before I was. But after I met you, I was learning about them. I actually took a class on the history of comic book art and that was where I read the first volume of The Sandman. And I was like “Wow! This is so cool!” And then I found out how expensive they all were and I couldn’t read any more. But then I really did read them. Ha ha ha. 

CO: He made an impact on all of us before the awfulness went down. 

TB: Before the awfulness went down, but this is a positive interview.

SB: This is positive!

CO: This is a positive show. (scrambles) Sorry, I got distracted by thinking about that awfulness. 

SB: I really loved it all so much.

CO: I really loved it too. So, when it comes to joining and becoming a professional in the comic book industry, where did all that start for the two of you?

TB: We have been writing together for a very long time. 

SB: Yes.

TB: I started as a journalism major…

SB: I was! I was Lois Lane

TB: That’s why I was attracted. She was my Lois. But yes, I dragged her into being a writing partner with me, and we were writing together for a really long time. TV, animation, all of it. 

SB: But really one of our first jobs together was writing for the Star Trek Adventures role playing game, so that was fun. 

CO: Oh, I bet!

SB: Yeah, so we got that job just from being mega-nerds about it, and talking to the creator who owned it, so much, that eventually we were invited to write on it. 

TB: Obviously just to make us stop. 

SB: Probably.

TB: That’s not the method to go for, if you want a job. Don’t do it. We didn’t ask for a job. We just got one. It was weird. 

SB: It was good. 

CO: So then our third question is “What are you working on today?” But it’s Voyager: Homecoming. Coming out… What’s the date? 

TB: September 3rd.

SB: For issue one.

CO: Can’t wait. So five issues? Like September until January?

SB: Yes. 

CO: Hey Kent? Get me ALL the covers! Sorry, just had to send a little note there. Speaking of, what about the covers? Do we even know? 

TB: Four covers. One of them is a 1:25 variant, so it’ll be hard to get that one. 

CO: (gestures at self and mouths “I want that one!”)

TB: Yeah, and beyond that, I’ve seen some of the covers of the other issues, but I don’t know how many there are of them. 

CO: All right. 

SB: And some of them have a lot of them. And we have some fun Seven stories to do. She changes a lot, you know? Between Voyager and Picard, so we wanted to help her along that way. 

CO: Oh I bet you did!

SB: (laughs) 

CO: I bet you did, well good on you! I love Seven’s journey. And of course we’re all praying that she ends up in her own live action show. C’mon! Come on, Paramount?!

SB: Now she’s a captain. 

TB: She needs her own.

SB: Captain Seven! Let’s go!

CO: We need that. We neeeeeeed it. 

TB: We do!

CO: And we’re looking forward to more Voyager stories, probably from the two of you. It sounds like you guys are every bit as into it as fans like we are. And if IDW’s gonna hire you, along with these guys (gestures toward Christopher Cantwell, Collin Kelly, and Jackson Lanzing), you know. You know. 

TB: We know!

SB: We know!

CO: Amazing! You can’t lose. So thank you so much for your time today. And I hope you have just the best Comic Con ever!

TB: Thank you so much! I hope you all enjoy the book!

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