An Interview with Christy Marx on the Return of Amethyst and More
Next week DC will debut the 0 issue of Sword and Sorcery which marks the return of the much beloved character Amethyst of Gemworld. Created by Dan Mishkin in the 80s, Amy Winston was a teenage girl who found out she was secretly a princess of Kingdom called Gemworld. Not only did the book featured a female lead, it was targeted at female readers. (You can read then DC editor Karen Berger on that here.) The original series and its follow-ups have a strong following as evidenced by DC issuing a Showcase collection of the comic series
next month and a cartoon version for DC Nation about to debut on DC Nation.
In May DC announced that Amethyst would return to comics and be written by Christy Marx. Marx is best known for her scripting of mid 80s animated programs such as G.I. Joe and Jem. But she has also written for comics including the Marvel/Epic series from the mid 80s Sisterhood of Steel which focuses on all-female island of warriors. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend picking it up. It deftly blends strong world building, an examination of the complexity of female relationships and palace intrigue and adventure.
I was very excited to see DC name Marx as creator and I’m looking forward to reading her Amethyst. Marx chatted with me earlier this week about Sword and Sorcery, her take on the character and how comics have changed through the years.
So many things to love here. Christy Marx is a hero of mine, she was WAY ahead of her time as a comics writer. Amethyst is a character I love, and it’s drawn by the brilliant Aaron Lopresti. I am JAZZED.
I will also say, I talked to Dan DiDio about this at a lunch a while back. Dan is a huge Christy fan as well, and what I love is, he didn’t pick her because she’s female, he picked her because she writes the best action scenes ever.
Which, I’m telling you, as a female writer, we LOVE to hear that stuff!
