Maurene Goo talks Silk from Marvel Comics!

Maurene Goo – Video Interview

[00:00:00] Casey: buddy, welcome again to another episode of spoiler country today on the show we have author Maureen GU Maureen has been writing the new silk comic book from Marvel. And now she’s here to talk about it as well as her time running a Y a and doing all the other cool stuff. So Maureen, how you doing?

Maurene Goo: I’m good. Thank you for having

Casey: me. It was great to have you, so, today while I was like prepping for the interview, I was singing Jolene, but Maureen too, to that tune just cause like I, I make up songs with people’s names on it. So how are you doing.

Maurene Goo: I’m doing pretty good, actually. All things considered.

How about you?

Casey: I’m good. It’s beautiful outside today. Things are starting to finally maybe get better. I’m in Birmingham, Alabama. So it’s, I’m sure it’s much different than LA.

Maurene Goo: Yeah, we, we just officially, oh, I don’t know when Al if Alabama opened [00:01:00] up a while ago, but we just don’t. Yesterday as far as like no more mask mandate and full capacity for restaurants and stuff like that.

So it’s like, I went to a movie and didn’t wear a mask, but then I actually put it on in the theater. Cause I was like, I dunno, I’m uncomfortable. You know, it’s still like, not quite. We’re not quite for me. It’s like going from oh mass and careful to like, oh, now we’re free. It just like is a little like jarring.

So I’m easing into it, but it’s, you know, our COVID numbers are good and It feels pretty like optimistic and

Casey: I’m starting to feel optimistic too. Yeah. We we’ve been open for a while, but I’m still wearing my masculine in places. I don’t like that.

Maurene Goo: Yeah. Me too. I am vacs too. I mean, there’s still a variance and honestly, I just feel like whatever your comfort level is, you should just do, like, who cares?

What other people think? You know, you, you should protect [00:02:00] yourself if you want to. Okay. You know, it’s nobody’s business.

Casey: My wife and I haven’t, I don’t think we’ve even like eaten inside a restaurant in like over a year. We’re going to our first show on Friday for like, see a friend’s band play.

But so it’ll be, it’ll be different and I’m looking forward to it. But at the same time, like it’s going to be weird, getting around people.

Maurene Goo: Yeah. I’ve gone to restaurants a few times. Cause I got vaccinated a while ago. So I’ve had more opportunities earlier to see people and like feel comfortable going in doors.

But yeah, when you first are around a lot of people, you’re like, ah, you know, cause we’ve been like protecting ourselves for so long. It’s like, You know, it just feels alarming at first. And then it just feels normal immediately because you know, all of our lives up until this point we’ve been around people.

So that kind of just kicks in where you’re like, oh yeah, this is, this is fine. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I hope you have fun.

Casey: I’m looking forward [00:03:00] to it. Yeah. Cautiously optimistic. I’m excited to drink beer somewhere other than like yeah.

Maurene Goo: Your

Casey: porch, but yeah. Yeah. So we’re not here to talk about that though.

We’re here to talk about, we’re here to talk about silks silk. I wanted to call it silk specter, different company, different character. You’re talking about silk and Your books, you, you actually started, I’m assuming you started as, as a prose writer, correct? Like for, for

Maurene Goo: Y huh. And I’m still writing Yia.

So yes, I wrote, I’ve published four Y novels. I’ve published a few short stories and then stick with my first car.

Casey: That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Before we get into the comics of, cause I’m really interested in seeing how you, how you went from, from what writing Yia to writing for. I guess, I guess almost why for kind of the same audience, but it’s, [00:04:00] it’s the sequential art, so sequential storytelling, but How how’d you get into what, what made you decide to be a writer in the first place?

Maurene Goo: Hmm. I’ve always loved books. So I think a lot of writers have this background where we were big leaders and we loved. Treat everything. And then usually love of reading can lead to love of writing. And I, I liked writing. I didn’t, you know, a lot of authors, if you talked to them, you, you asked them like, what’s your history with writing?

And they’re like, I wrote my first little book when I was seven years old. That was not me. I w I didn’t really think about writing books until I was an adult. Yeah. Cause I, I, I liked writing, but you know, it was like in school I would write, I stay as in do well on that. And then I would, I joined journalism and I was a journalist.

And I blogged and I did a lot of that kind of writing, but it never occurred to me to write books until I was, until I applied to graduate school, actually. I applied to [00:05:00] several graduate programs and one of them was a creative writer. Program for children’s literature. Oh wow. And I did it on a whim to be honest.

It wasn’t like I was, that was my goal in life to write books, but I love, I loved books growing up. Right. That’s my background. And those books that I loved as a kid never left me. And so I wanted to work in a children’s book. And so I thought I’m going to be an editor, but then I saw this program to write children’s books and I was like, Hmm, like, is that something I could do?

And I wrote a sample and it was the first time I wrote like a fiction piece of fiction than other people would write. And I got into that program, but I decided not to go because I thought it wasn’t practical and I decided to go study publishing and cause I thought I would be an edit editor instead of a writer.

It’s just funny because then eventually my whole path led me back to writing anyways. So that, until I worked on that I hadn’t written fiction really. And then [00:06:00] I. It’s weird. Like I didn’t have like the drive or the goal to be a children’s book writer at any point in my life. It was all stuff that kind of happened because.

I kept writing this book because it was so fun. You know, I had a lot of fun writing it. And then after I got a job and moved back to LA after grad school, I was like, oh, I’m going to keep writing this book. It’s so fun. And then I had a friend who knew I was writing it and she’s a graphic novelist. And so she’s, she was just interested like, oh, can I read this?

It sounds fun. And I was like, okay. And that was the first time, like, you know, a friend of mine, some, I knew actually read a creative writing that I’ve done and she loved it and she gave it to her. And then her agent eventually became my agent. So it kind of happened like luck a little bit. And me, and just being like open to it.

And then I published my first book in 2013. And until I always tell people this until I got the phone call from my agent who said we sold your book or like there’s somebody wants to buy your book. I didn’t actually think I would ever [00:07:00] be a published author. It wasn’t like something that I said out loud, or even like really entertain that much in my own brain.

And I think it’s because I always thought, oh, it’s because I didn’t know I wanted to be a writer. And that was my story for a long time. But the past few years, the more I talk about this, I’m like, I think I did actually want to be a writer, but I didn’t want to say it out loud because it was kind of, the dream was too big and like scary.

And when you have like a really big dream like that, that you feel very vulnerable about you don’t always want to share it, you know? So I think that’s. Hid it from myself. So, that’s it. And then once I sold that first book, I kept writing books and, you know, the validation kept coming. So then I just kept doing it and now it’s like, oh, okay.

That’s my job somehow.

Casey: When, when were you able to say, like, I’m a writer, but you’re at a party. Somebody says, Hey, what do you do for a living? Oh, Maureen and our writer. You know, has that happened

Maurene Goo: yet? I do feel comfortable saying [00:08:00] that now. It’s funny, it’s one of those things that whenever like, especially kids, when they ask me, like, I want to be a writer and I say, well, if you write, then you’re a writer.

It’s true. If you write stuff that you can call yourself a writer, but there is that hesitation there because you feel like, oh, like you don’t want to be like, Presumptuous or like, again, you’re kind of, self-conscious about claiming that status or that dream of yours. So yeah, in the beginning, I didn’t, I would say that it took maybe my second book and then I eventually quit all my day jobs.

And I would say like in 20, 20 17 is when I quit my day jobs and yeah. And so that’s when I felt. When people ask me, what do you do? I’m like, well, I’m an author. Like, that’s the first thing I can say. And I feel like, yeah, that’s what I do. And that’s how I make money. And that is what I spend my whole day doing.

So then I felt comfortable, but I do tell people like, just call yourself a writer. It’s fine. You know? It’s not bragging. It’s not diluted. It’s it’s what you [00:09:00] do. If somebody spends all day or, you know, a big chunk of their day doing knitting, but that’s not their job. If someone’s like, are you an area?

Like, yeah, I’m a knitter. It doesn’t matter if you’re not like a full-time knitter. You know what I mean? So I just think there’s a bit of like status and mystique and all this, like kind of even glamour, if you knew the life of a writer, it’s like the least glamorous thing ever.

Casey: We’re just like,

Maurene Goo: I pinched a nerve in my neck, sweat pants, 17 bottles of like drinks here, you know, it’s not glamorous.

Anyways. Yeah, that’s, that’s kind of when I, I felt comfortable, but I think people should feel like they can own that if they right.

Casey: Awesome. Awesome. As far as your writing goes, you’ve recently had a life change. How has that affected your writing and how do you get around it?

Maurene Goo: We should reveal what that life changes.

I had a baby it’s like, I am an [00:10:00] alien. My

Casey: especially when you’re like a creative person too, that’s massive.

Maurene Goo: And you know, it’s one of those things where, you know, I’ve had tons of friends who are authors, who are parents and moms specifically. I know it’s coming, you know, I know things will change.

Things will be harder. You’ll have to adjust, but you actually don’t know until you actually have the kid. I think I had no clue. It would be this intense. But so I had Alexander 10 months, about 10 months ago. And in the beginning it was like, I’m not going to work. You know, obviously the newborn time, I remember I’m sure you remember, it’s just like, Survival right.

Survival for those three months. And then but I personally am kind of a workaholic and the way that I re energize myself is work and con like human engagement, you know, it’s not resting it. I felt like, okay, I want to feel like myself again. I want to feel like a part of the world. I, I [00:11:00] need to go back to work.

So I started. Kind of throwing myself back into work probably a little too early, but I did it. And the way that I did that was I had full-time help from my mom. I don’t know how else you could do it. And it was during the pandemic. I mean, it’s still the pandemic, but the thick of it, when, you know, nobody was nannying or they carrying or anything.

And my mom. Was has helped us with the baby since day one. Cause she lives like 10 minutes away from us and we were all just being really careful just to not see other people. You know, we were just kind of like a little pod and That’s how I did it. And even then, it’s hard because you can hear him crying in the background.

You’re just tired cause you don’t sleep that much. And you know, the freedom of being a creative person without a child is something that I can’t stress enough because you can just work all day, all night, not eat, not sleep, wake, and then wake up at noon if you want to, like there’s so much. And if you just have.

Plug away, you can just plug away, [00:12:00] but you can’t leave a baby. It’s

Casey: yeah. That’s a whole other person that cannot do for themselves.

Maurene Goo: Yeah. For themselves. And not only that, like, even if I do have help, I want to be present and be with my baby and spend time with them. So I have a hard out every day, you know, 5, 5, 30, whatever.

Like, I cannot like work till eight o’clock. I could sometimes, if my husband’s like, sure, like you’re on a deadline, whatever, but I it’s one of those things. Or it’s like a rare thing that I don’t do all the time. So, you know, and not only that, but you’re, so there’s time is the big thing, the obvious thing, but then there’s like, your brain is different to do creative work and especially writing in my opinion, like you have to.

Get into a head space and be able to concentrate and not have an, I personally need like a long, like a buffer of time. I can’t just squeeze in writing like, oh, I have 30 minutes while he naps. I’ll just do like a little spin. It’s like, [00:13:00] I need to like, have all this like, mental space to be able to like dip back into it and, you know, You just, I don’t have the same battery power that I used to have, you know?

So it’s sometimes you’re trying to you’re if you have to put a bit of your huge ambitions, creative ambitions aside, but it doesn’t mean it’s permanent. To me, it means like, oh, it’s just like little pause. And then and then we can go back when, you know, baby’s a little older or you have daycare or something.

And at first it was really hard for me to accept that I was just like, no, I can do it. I can still do everything. And then I re I came to a point where I was like, I cannot do it. You know, I actually just can’t and that’s okay. That is what being a parent is, is like, you’ve got to make sacrifices and shift your priorities.

And I think I was just trying to be like that doesn’t apply to me. I can still do all the same things. I know it was just like a lesson, like, nah, I can’t. And that’s okay. It’s not like a perm, [00:14:00] a permanent state, you know,

Casey: and you’re, you’re constantly learning new things as a parent. And has there been any way for you that you’ve learned to get back into that creative space?

Like any shortcuts for you or is it just something that you’re still working on?

Maurene Goo: It’s a really good question. It is something I’m still working on, but I, the way I get show creative spaces, leaving my house. So now that we’re opening up more that’s really helpful. I used to work in coffee shops with my friends a lot before the pandemic.

And I have like, this is my office. I’m lucky I have a space. That’s an office in my home, but it’s I don’t get really good work done. I’m going to lower my chair. There we go. I’m like bending over in this awkward position. So I’ve discovered that I can, if I leave my house, then I’m a little more like I’m able to focus much better.

I watch a lot of movies and TV shows [00:15:00] and read a lot of books. So I’m constantly like filling my well of inspiration that helps a lot. And You know, talking ideas out with my writer, friends and my husband. Who’s also, he’s a writer and director, so I kind of just keep the flame alive, but it doesn’t mean that I’m like putting a lot of pressure on myself to have these great moments of inspiration.

But I keep myself open and then, yeah, practically speaking, I will leave my house and I get work done way better though.

Casey: That’s awesome. One thing I’ve noticed about your, your Yia books, there seems to be a musical theme. There is with the titles. W was that a savvy editor or was that you.

Maurene Goo: I think it was me. I’m like making sure that I’m taking the proper credit. Yeah, my first book, my first book was just it’s called since you [00:16:00] asked and it’s not a song title, but my second book, we had a real hard time thinking of a good title for that. We went through so much. I like fought with everybody in marketing and sales.

Like I had like the first time first and only time I cried on the phone with my editor because I was so upset. No, we couldn’t think of a good title. And then I thought of, okay. What if I just do like a song title and a song that I love is I believe in a thing called love by the darkness. Oh, hell yeah.

I don’t. Yeah. Right. So good. Because that song just makes you happy. Like you think of that song and you hear that very, that the beginning of that song and you’re like, oh, okay. It’s joyful for me, it’s not like the most popular song on every like teenagers going to know, but the few people who do know they’re like immediately super excited about that title.

And I just loved it because it’s like kind of long and specific. And so when you Google it, it’s, you know, you get the song, but you can also easily find my book. And then after that, when I have [00:17:00] to think of the title for my second book, Why don’t we think of something like another song title, so like we can connect this.

And so I did that for my second and my third, my sorry, third and fourth book. So second, third and fourth book. I’ll have some titles, I believe in a thing called LA, which is a song by the darkness. The way you make me feel, which is Michael Jackson. And some were only we know which is keen. And so it was just a nice way to kind of like semantically tie my books together.

Yeah. And it’s just, it’s fun. Right. Because you have like an automatic association with these songs and then it feels like there’s like good vibes. I think as the youth would say goodbye,

Casey: I’m writing a book comic and each issue is. Named after a song from like the sixties. So it’s fun. It’s it’s really fun.

The second issue is going to be called search and destroy, which is a Stooges sewn, a pop, but anyway has that musical theme carried over to the book you’re doing with [00:18:00] Marvel silk?

Maurene Goo: No, I don’t think Nope. On beast. Yeah, I’m trying to think. I don’t think I have any real song type inspirations.

Yeah, silk was just like starting fresh. I thought of it as totally separate from my wife novel career, except that, you know, there’s clear, like, shared like overlaps Humor a little bit of romance, a lot of focus on relationships and emotions, and then like really fun snappy dialogue, which is what I really like to write in my wine.

Almost

Casey: awesome. Awesome. So how did you. How did you get into a writing silk to begin with? Did you have a did you have like a draft to want to write comics or was it something that was offered?

Maurene Goo: The short answer is I was offered. Someone contacted me, my editor at Marvel contacted me through email.

What I kind of didn’t believe it at first, like who is [00:19:00] this person? Cause it came through my website, you know, and not through my agent or anything. Yeah, she’s just like, Hey, I’m don’t

no, I think like, I mean, that’s how comics is. They’re way less. They’re more informal, you know, I don’t think they usually go through agents and stuff. They’re just like it’s fine. I love Jake. I’m glad you contacted me. But it was I, I actually did have an interest in writing comics. It wasn’t like a huge goal of mine because there’s so much stuff going on, you know?

But I knew I wanted to try all different kinds of writing. So I have an interest in, you know, writing screenplays, which I’m doing right now. I have an interest in writing graphic, novel comic and I also have always had like a visual like a. An eye towards design. I used to be a graphic designer and, you know, I told you my husband’s a director.

Can

Casey: you have a good friend who is a graphic novelist? So, I mean, you’re

Maurene Goo: around yeah. I’m around comics, people I’m around graphic novelists. So it’s always been like in my life and on my radar. But you know, it was one of those things where I didn’t ever make the time to like, like, [00:20:00] to go after that.

And then, so when. Emailed me, the timing was great because I had decided to take a break between writing YML wills. Cause I had been pumping one out a year and I was really like, kind of burned out. So it was like, okay, what am I going to do? Maybe I’ll work on my, like a script or a TV pilot or something.

And then Jake emailed me and I was like, okay. And you know, he didn’t give me any details cause it’s like very secret. And he said, if you want, if you’re interested in writing a comic, then yeah. You got to sign this NDA so I can tell you everything about it. And I was like, okay, cool. And then he told me it was silk.

And I was like, yes. Yeah. It was just like, yes, I will write this because perfect. It’s exactly. I don’t know if I would have written many other, any other character, you know, because it’s a lot of time. More than, than you think. And I really felt like strongly like, oh, I do want to write like this Korean American superhero.

Who’s a girl in therapy. Amazing. You know, and also love [00:21:00] there’s so much stuff. And my favorite superhero and Marvel is Spider-Man right. So, I love all things spidey. And so it was like, yes, I even like got to write a couple of like spidey texts through this silk run. So. That’s

Casey: awesome. That’s awesome.

What were you able to take much from your Yia writing and use it with your writing for for sequential art or for sequential storytelling?

Maurene Goo: I, I was surprisingly, so, so like I mentioned, the dialogue is definitely, probably the most the thing that I, that shares the most in common with my wife and novels I really like writing conversations between people.

I really like using humor. I really like exploring, you know, kind of showing how people are. What they say. So that is something that it has in common, for sure. But there were a ton of differences too, right? Cause I’m writing an adult character. I’m writing [00:22:00] like action. I’m writing. Cool, like creepy demon creatures.

Just totally out of my usual, cause I don’t write, I don’t even write fantasy. I write like contemporary realistic fiction about teenage girls in high school, like locker rooms and boyfriends, you know? And then I go to that. Okay. There’s a demon. God. So, but you know, I love comics. I love it. Action movies.

So it was really like fun to be able to use that part of my brain. And I obviously also had a ton of help. Yeah. I had friends who are into comics that helped me out. I had the editors Jake and Lindsay were amazing. So it wasn’t like, I suddenly knew how to write this stuff, but I already had an interest in it.

So it was, it was fun. It was a fun opportunity. And you’re coming

Casey: in with like a powerhouse team to Kashi Miyazawa is, oh my God. Yes,

Maurene Goo: he just, I write stuff and I’m like, who knows? And then he sends us the drawings and I’m like, what? This looks [00:23:00] a thousand times cooler than I am grabbed it. Yeah, he’s great.

And he’s also just like a very nice person and very enjoyable to work with. And everybody was just so nice, you know? Cause I’m like a first time common author writer and I wasn’t sure, I’m sure I made a lot of mistakes. I’m sure I was annoying and frustrating at times and nobody. Let me know there’s this really nice sentence.

Yeah, his art is so cool. And he’s, he also conveys a lot of the humor, you know, that I, I try to put in there and. Obviously with the action stuff, I’m like just trying my best. And then I will write like, tack, I don’t know, like make it cool. And then if he does something way cooler, because I’m always like, she punches him and then he’s like, okay, how about this?

You know? And I’m like, Ooh, that’s way better.

Casey: How has your relationship been with, with him as you, do you, do you have a disc, like a dialogue with him as you write it? Or is it just like, you know, Maureen types off the. The [00:24:00] Kashi draws it up.

Maurene Goo: It’s actually the, yeah. The ladder, which is I write it and then I send it to the editors and the editors and I work on it together.

And then it goes to tech. And then you know, I, I didn’t really know how comic writers and artists work together. Cause people ask me like, oh, did you do this the Marvel way? You know, which is the more collaborative with the art artists and writer. And I’m like, oh shoot. Like I don’t, I didn’t know.

Like that was the way of working together. I am using. Right. And doing all the writing by myself, you know, and then working with an editor. So it didn’t even occur to me to kind of like do that collaborative work. But it seemed to be fine. I, and you know, the thing is I, I also, when we got texts drawings, and I’m sorry, there’s a more accurate word.

And I always forget the stage. It’s like the pencils, I think pencils when that’s like the very first drawing stage and. Whenever we get him in. I just look at it like, yay, cool. I wasn’t like the critical, I wasn’t even like, did [00:25:00] he do the thing that I mentioned? Because to me, I’m like, if I read it, if I’m like looking at it and all make sense with the story that I wrote, like if I can go along and I’m like, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.

That seems like correct. I have no, I don’t feel like I need to go in there and be like, let me make sure he did exactly what I wanted him to do because. To me. I’m like, he knows what he’s doing. And half of this comic is visual, you know? And so I like to give him ownership over like what he wants to do.

Casey: Yeah. And it’s, it’s like magic. It really is. I used to play music. And whenever you’re playing with a band, it is the closest thing that I can kind of compare to like ton during up something. Taking something

Maurene Goo: out of nothing and like working as a team. Yeah. Cause you put this one piece in there and you’re like, I think this is good.

And then somebody else adds onto and you’re like, whoa. And it’s like still, you know, it’s just like adds layers and [00:26:00] depth. And then you’re like, ah, this is what it’s like. You know, when you work with good people,

Casey: Have you enjoyed the collaborative aspect of it? Like, because you, you’re not just tip, tapping away and then sending it over to somebody eventually it’s kind of a, a back and forth because you’re doing how many issues is the series?

A, this is

Maurene Goo: five. So we have three outright. Now the fourth is coming out next week. I think

Casey: fourth.

Maurene Goo: Yeah. And then we get a bit of a break in July and it comes out. The last issue comes out on August 4th. I love the collaborative aspect of it. It’s really refreshing to not be the only one responsible for creating something, but it’s also like I am an extrovert.

I like to work with people. I’ve had a lot of jobs in the past or I’m like a manager and I work on teams and I really thrive in that kind of environment. So, and I love working with editors, like a lot of authors. You [00:27:00] know, they don’t, they they’re protect more protective of their work than me. I don’t know what that says about the stuff that I write, but I like it when other people are like, how would this too?

Like when they give me ideas I feel like it’s just a dynamic that I enjoy and I always feel like my stuff is so much better after other people have, you know, put their marks on it too. So I loved it. It was really fun. It just reminded me of, you know, I like, I like being part of something together and you work really hard and then it’s like grueling and you don’t know what it’s going to be like.

And then there’s like this finished product at the end, which is why I used to like being in the high school newspaper. I used to, I used to work in publishing. I worked in books, so it’s just really satisfying to see like a team effort come together, you know?

Casey: Yeah. Yeah, I bet. So was there any particular, like era of Spider-Man or any [00:28:00] storyline from silk that you kind of, leaned on to, to do this, this five issue series.

No, not,

Maurene Goo: well, I read all of the, I definitely did my homework and went back and read all of the silk the solo silk issues. So there were two series that ran before this one in 2015, up to twenties, 16 or 17, I think one was shorter and one was really long. And they’re written by Robbie Thompson.

And they’re great. So I read all of those again, to get a refresher on like her previous, like get inside silk sprain and like what her issues were and how she’s evolved as a person. And also just to be like, okay, what kind of like, obstacles and like, what were her. The plot, the what’s the word I’m saying, her challenges that she had to do, he had some

Casey: traumatic stuff happened too.

Maurene Goo: So yeah. Yes. Her origin story is like, you know, so I think she’s as brutal and it’s super interesting. I wanted to [00:29:00] kind of depart from that. Not because of a lot of disrespect, but because I felt like, okay, my strength as a writer, isn’t really like dark heavy stuff. It’s kind of. Emotional things that I make a little lighter and more fun.

So I really wanted this version of silk. It reminded me of what I like about early, like Spider-Man comics. You know, Peter, Parker’s like kind of the light, like his like happy, optimistic kind of guy. I mean, that’s why I love Spider-Man. I love Peter. Like he’s a vulnerable and he’s so sweet. And he just cares about the people in his life so much.

It’s like all about the personal relationships. So I was, and silk had a lot of that in the previous runs where she cared about her family and protecting her coworkers and stuff. And so I’m like, I know that, okay, I can do that. Like, that’s kind of my. Like that’s like my specialty is like relation interpersonal relationships and also like making it look funny and like kind of [00:30:00] giving her some room to like, enjoy her life a little bit and grow from her therapy and grow from her traumatic experiences.

It’s still there, you know, I’m I referred to her being in the bunker a lot in that first issue, kind of to be funny, but also to remind people like. This girl has been through a lot, you know? And so, yeah, I did read those. And, but I kind of wanted a fresh start with this. I didn’t want to continue. And I don’t, I don’t think that Barbara wanted me to continue like old storylines.

It was kind of like the only thing that the only parameter they gave me or parameters were she is working for threats and minuses, this kind of newsletter site like Buzzfeed and she is going to be Jonah’s bodyguard. By day by night or by day by night, by night. So reported by day bodyguard by night.

That was my only thus all the info they gave me. And I was like, okay, cool. And then I said, okay, pitch. Like I was, it was me and a few other authors that they had approached about this. So they asked me to pitch them [00:31:00] my idea for the story arc and I did. And they.

Casey: That’s awesome. And they just kind of have to pick up what you wanted and, and run with it.

And,

Maurene Goo: I had a lot of freedom and I got a lot of help as far as I’m like, I need a villain, you me a villain, you know, because I’m like, what’s the villain that would fit this, this and this. You know, I don’t know. I like comics, but I’m not a comics person. And by far like a Marvel expert. So I would go to Marvel Wikipedia and be like, oh my God.

You know, I actually made a spreadsheet of everything, Marvel villain. Yeah. And then I created a story. She, and I was like, okay, which one of these has these powers? And I put down their powers and that, like, it was so nerdy, but I really wanted to. I feel like I pick the right villain that fit this. And then I was able to create a villain too.

So Saya, ECU. She is the villain mic up to create from scratch, which was really cool.

Casey: That’s awesome. That’s awesome. And honestly, think Marvel has a lot of big plans [00:32:00] for this character.

Maurene Goo: I close. I mean, I know that she she’s going to be in her own TV show that has been developed at the moment.

Casey: Oh, yeah.

Yeah. It’s wild. So, it, it’s awesome that you’re able to kind of put your, your fingerprint on that character and Make it you’re able to develop it more and give her such a just a little bit more backstory and make her just more alive. So,

Maurene Goo: Very honored to be able to do that, you know, I’m really proud of.

Being able to do it, and I’m proud of the story we came up with. And I just really, so far their reader response has been so kind and excited. I don’t know. I’m sure there’s negative ones out there. I just don’t see them. Luckily I’m pretty good at like, keeping that stuff away from me, but honestly, it’s all been positive from, from my end.

And I feel very like gratified. Like [00:33:00] it’s just really nice. I hear from all kinds of people. Like I hear from like, you know, young women who are excited for or strong female character. And then I hear from Asian Americans were like, wow, I’ve never seen, you know? And then I hear from like really old dudes who used to love the original Spiderman comics from the sixties and say, Hey, I missed these kinds of comics.

And I’m so glad, like silk reminds me of like these. Spiderman comics. I used to saw

Casey: some old dude with a beard said was good. I love it. I love it. So, yeah. And that’s okay. When I heard that Marvel was doing a silk series, I was like, good. They need to. They need to get new readers in because otherwise it’s a bunch of dudes that look like me and that for, for real,

Maurene Goo: so keeping the torch

Casey: legs.

Exactly. Yeah. I [00:34:00] have two daughters and the fact that they can now go down to the comic shop and. Ooh, this looks like me. I want to read this book. I want to read this book, whereas

Maurene Goo: different stories for them. It’s not just like, they’re the love interest or like wearing an outfit that looks cool. How was that?

A superhero outfit? Very cold. Yeah. It’s like nice. You know, there’s a variety.

Casey: Yes. Yes. There is. A greater portion of comics that I collected in the nineties that are put away that I’m sure if they saw like, namely like, like the X-Men comics with like the skin tight spandex and like the like phones are not a battle ready material.

I’m sure. They’d be like, daddy, what the hell?

Maurene Goo: Yeah. All the issues are like,

Casey: yeah, yeah,

Maurene Goo: yeah. They got like [00:35:00] very like soap opera. You too.

Casey: Oh yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I

Maurene Goo: mean, I love it to be honest. I love when it’s like traumatic

Casey: and the Claremont was great at that. Do you, do you have any plans for after silk?

Do you have any more plans for writing for comics? Even if it’s like a graphic novel or something.

Maurene Goo: I have no concrete plans because I am just so kind of over, I have a lot of stuff on my plate at the moment, but I definitely do want to keep writing comics. I think this is such a great experience and I have lots of ideas for other things.

And Marvel, the people I’ve worked with at Marvel have been really great. They’ve been very encouraging and, you know, Pretty enthusiastic and happy with how silk is going. So, I definitely want to, I just have no I can’t, there’s nothing I can actually say at the moment, because I haven’t made any decisions on that yet, but yeah, I definitely want to, do you

Casey: have like [00:36:00] a white whale that you have to be able to write eventually

Maurene Goo: now?

I don’t actually, I don’t. I think in a PA in the past life, I would have said Spider-Man, but I feel like. I wrote silk, you know, I feel pretty happy with entering space world that way. And I feel like I mean, yeah, I would still enjoy writing Spider-Man I would not say no to it, but I don’t know.

It’s not, not the thing I have to write. And I also used to really love the X-Men. That was actually. And then nineties, you know, when I was like a teenager, I really liked X-Men the cartoon. And that kind of was my introduction into Marvel. Other than Spider-Man I read the comics as a kid, but, you know, the cartoon was amazing.

And then I got really into the, the excellent movies where the first like Marvel movies that came out and loves the first X-Men movie. And then, yeah, I also. X-Men as a concept, like not only the mutant thing, but like kids in a special gifted school, like [00:37:00] all the drama that setting to me is like perfect for, and I also love an origin story, so it’s like, I love the whole, X-Men like how people find out their power is when they’re, you know, we, our kids, I, I love all of those.

So I’d love X-Men. But honestly I’m very open. And there isn’t anything specific that I’m like, yes, that’s what I want. Right.

Casey: So, you know, edit for the editors of the ex office, you know, you

Maurene Goo: guys, or for silt Jake, he actually is now back in the ACS office.

Casey: So, Now, you know, you’re, you’re writing silk silk you have two more episodes issues to come out after the third one. And that’s exciting. What are, what is getting you through this? Like what are you, you can’t always create, create, create what what’s inspiring you right now.

[00:38:00] Maurene Goo: Oh, that’s a really great question.

I watch a lot of TV because I think TV is.

Oh my gosh. Well right now what am I watching? So I finish. Okay. I have like a whole thing. I like to watch like 30 minute, like comedies with my son in the mornings. And then I watched like a serious show shows. I just finished mayor of east town. I don’t know if you saw that, which is like the drama.

Oh,

Casey: it’s so good.

Maurene Goo: They’re all so great.

Casey: She, she was the mom of, she was the mom of one of the characters on the show. And I cannot remember. And

Maurene Goo: her best friend from the basketball team? Yes. Yes. She was amazing. She was amazing. Sorry, I don’t know her name either, but she was great. She’s from

Casey: Pennsylvania, I think. And So, like she had the, the accident,

Maurene Goo: my friend, my friend is from, he grew up in that area and I was like, are these accidents [00:39:00] accurate?

He’s like, oh yes. But sometimes they’re over the top. She was like, Caitlin’s flat, really? Like, like she likes to lean into it. Yeah. I loved Mary east town. I’m also just started low-key. I mean, just to be a Marvel, you know, like I love one division. Loki is so good. I did not love. Falcon and winter soldier.

I think I am not in the minority when I say that it was enjoyable in its own way, but I feel like something happened in the writing room writers’ room or something where like, things did not add up. I think they might’ve had to rewrite things or something. There was speculation. That they had to rewrite because of the pandemic.

Casey: Yes. Yes. You said that there was a, I think the the mom that had died, the mother figure that the gosh yeah, I forget her name. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, she was supposed to have played a larger part, but they they cut a bunch of that out and. Again, speculations

[00:40:00] Maurene Goo: regulation. Yeah. As a Marvel comic writer, I’m like, am I allowed to talk about this stuff?

I don’t know, but I, I really love, I love those characters, so I was excited, but it wasn’t, it was okay. I was happy to watch it because I’m like happy to consume like Marvel media, but I was like, eh, we should have done more. I liked what they’re trying to do with Sam’s character and Isaiah, I thought like, oh, I’m very pleased and surprised that Disney is going to go there and talk about race, which is like pretty, pretty bold of them.

And I was really glad about that, but I wish they had actually like, Fleshed out more or there was just too much stuff going on. That’s what it was. It was like, whoa, there was like this, you know, these like rebel people. And then there was like this Isaiah guy that has a crazy mystery. And then there’s this folk captain America dude.

And it was just a little too much stuff. I think

Casey: there was, that was one of the [00:41:00] things that I was. I wish they would have gone more into the Isaiah Washington character because yeah, he and he got so screwed over and. I’m sorry, but you’re going to make it up. I’ll give him the man of statue. No, give them like, he deserves so much more than that.

Maurene Goo: Yeah, I think they were like, we only have this many episodes, but yeah, so far I think Loki. Yeah. Super cool. I love, I just love stuff with like time travel and that kind of thing always intrigues me. Me too. I just like, I love when my brain is like, ah one division was great, so yeah, I love all those.

And then I like. You know, like comedy. So I really I’ve been watching all the new stuff. Like I loved Rutherford falls. I loved girls five ever. I don’t know if you’ve heard about that. That’s like Tina Fey shows so silly. I really love Mr. Mayor which not a lot of people know. And then I actually went through this crazy period of watching, cause I’ve never seen it from beginning to end.

Or even many episodes, but I watch all of Frazier.

[00:42:00] Casey: It’s good. It’s better than. Some of the other shows around that. Like if you try to go back and watch friends, oh God

Maurene Goo: hard. I know, like, I know young people really are like liking friends right now, but I wonder if they’re watching it kind of like we watched old fashioned TV and they’re able to distance themselves and be like, this is like, Outdated.

Right. But we watch and it’s like painful. It’s like, we live for that. Yeah. I mean, it’s still really funny. There’s still so much funny stuff, but you’re also like yeah, Frazier also has a lot of stuff where I’m like, oh boy, this is nineties, but it’s not as egregious for some reason.

Casey: We my wife and I found star watching hacks the other day on HBO as fan flip and testing.

It is so good.

Maurene Goo: I’ve heard. It’s great. Jean smart is on a roll cause she was great in mayor V’s town. Oh yeah. He was in Watchmen, which was amazing. Her character

Casey: in Watchman [00:43:00] was so good.

Maurene Goo: And not to mention she was on Frazier. Casey, you guys forget she was also on Frazier.

Casey: So, yeah, yeah. That that’s red. My wife is on a steady diet of reality TV, like 90 day fiance and stuff like that.

So when I can pry her away to watch something like hacks is scraped. So,

Maurene Goo: I am, I’m the big TV watcher. My husband doesn’t really watch TV. But I, I, I think there’s so much good writing and TV. So I find a lot of inspiration.

Casey: That’s awesome. Okay. So, your husband just had a movie come out on Netflix.

You want to plug that real quick?

Maurene Goo: Yeah. Oh, sure. It’s an animated film called wish dragon and it’s on Netflix and it’s actually like the number one worldwide movie on Netflix right now. Yeah, I don’t know about today, but it was yesterday and yeah, it’s really great. He has worked on this movie for.

[00:44:00] Like six years. It was a long animated movies take a long time, but this one took a particularly long time because one the pandemic too you know, he wrote it. So it started way back when he was thinking about it and all this stuff. And I watched, he wrote and directed it. And so it’s really like his personal, like, you know, there’s so much.

Ownership over this movie and connection. And so I am really happy for him. It was, it took him to China for two years. I moved to China for a few months. It was a real endeavor. And I’m really proud of it. I think it’s turned out so great and it’s really fun for kids, but honestly, it’s more fun in my opinion.

It’s for adults too. Like people think it’s an animated film for kids. I’m like, they’ll love it. On this level, but the parents will enjoy it on this level, you know? It’s great. It’s fun. And I’m really glad it’s doing well. And people are really excited about it seems

Casey: like every time I [00:45:00] watch an animated movie with my family, my wife.

My wife will ball as the drop of a hat. She

Maurene Goo: will cry during that. I guarantee

Casey: we didn’t watch it together. I told her about the plot too. Home-bound or something. It was the movie on onward, that’s it. And she started balling. Then my mother-in-law lives like a mile down the road. She came to our house and just, she just walked in like, like, the. Just, you know, she has her own key.

So she walks in and my wife is standing in the hallway where I was telling her about this movie. I watched with the kids earlier, she’s fallen. And my mother-in-law said, what happened? Who died? What’s going on? And I told her what happened and she starts crying. So yeah. Yeah, it was. It was pretty amazing, but

Maurene Goo: I really, I cried a lot in that.

 

Casey: It, it hits you hard. So [00:46:00] I don’t want to take up too much more of your time. I know you got a baby and there you got other stuff going on. Is there anything you want to shout out before we for Whelan?

Maurene Goo: Gosh, I don’t think so. Just remember to pick up the last two issues of silk coming out next Wednesday, or I don’t know when this podcast will be released, but late June and early August, I am on Twitter and Instagram at Maureen goo, which is where you’ll find me talking about anything that is related to my books or.

Anything else I’m working on. I am working on a few other things that I can’t really talk about, but hopefully you can talk about it soon. And that is it. Thank you so much for having me on here.

Casey: Yeah. And Maureen goo.com is your personal website and in your Twitter

Maurene Goo: oh God, it’s just at Maureen goo and Instagram is the same.

Casey: Maureen. Thank you so much for coming on. I’ve enjoyed so much talking to you. Anytime you want to come back, give us a holler and you have a good summer [00:47:00] and it sounds like your, your book.

That’s a good one and enjoy the rest of your evening. Okay. Thanks. Thank you. Have a good one.