Mike Eakins
Once in a generation, an icon will come along. We are in that generation and that icon is none other than Marvel’s Spider-Gwen! Comic-Watch had the opportunity to sit down with Spider-Gwen creator Robbi Rodriguez.
Comic-Watch: Thanks for taking the time to talk with Comic-Watch.com
Robbi Rodriguez: No problem, man!
CW: You’ve mentioned in other interviews that Spider Gwen has a punk rock attitude about her. Was the inspiration for Spider-Gwen after someone you knew or did she just slowly and organically come to life.
RR: When Jason and I pitched the idea to Marvel we had Debbie (Harry) as a superhero, Jason had the idea of putting her in a band and making her the protagonist, and I was just like yeah, let’s do this. Rico and I were into the DC punk scene and it just organically became the idea of Gwen.
CW: The main inspiration behind the colors for Spider-Gwen. Stepping away from the iconic Spidey colors, what was the motivation for the now-iconic pink & white? And did Marvel show any push back?
RR: We just wanted to do something different. I knew the traditional Spidey colors didn’t fit for what I wanted to do with Gwen. The teals and pink are me and Rico’s aesthetic, I just really like using those particular colors, and Marvel just left us alone because no one thought she was going to be anything. When I sent the original sheets to Marvel, they just let it be and we had zero push back. Nick Lowe, the editor at the time left us alone and let us go full tilt on the whole scheme.
CW: Now she’s a Marvel Icon!
RR: It’s so weird, 5 years later it is so weird.
CW: Do you ever find yourself looking around at cons and saying to yourself, that’s my thing! I did that.
RR: For a while, I did that. Now, it’s just a thing. I had one cosplayer that gave me the dirtiest look for saying excuse me, can I pass, and she had no idea who I was.
CW: What was the first comic you read that hooked you in to create comics?
RR: Growing up, I used to go to Wal-Mart and get the big block of comics, the book that really got me into comics was the Tales from the Crypt in the mid-80s like Jack Davis, that’s what really got me into it.
CW: Are there any artists that you are into right now or any that you are wanting to work with?
RR: There’s a lot of people that I would like to work with. I’m fortunate to be friends with a lot of talented people like Jeff Dekal, Chris Bruner I would love to collab with.
CW: Can you give us a sneak-peek into any upcoming projects/stuff to look out for?
RR: I have one that I can’t announce yet for Valiant, which will be announced for Free Comic Book Day. What I can talk about is, I’m taking over Batgirl for three issues. I can’t say too much about it, but if you are a fan of The Killing Joke, it’s almost a follow up to that particular series.
CW: Thank you again for taking the time to talk with Comic-Watch, the pleasure was all ours.
RR: No problem, thanks for doing this.
