KATE LETH

I'm not a big crossover person, I'll be honest. I try to keep 'Hellcat' separate from the larger Marvel world because I want it to be a book anyone can read, not just a hardcore comics fan.

Nobody's made an impact like Raina Telgemeier or Kate Beaton. I think that indie creators, people making webcomics and graphic novels, are the ones to watch.

The Valkyries were an idea that my boss and I came up with when, at the comic shop one day, I mentioned how great it would be if there were a girl gang for women working in comic shops.

I knew I wanted to do comics, but I wasn't sure what they were about or what I wanted them to be about.

There are things that I don't like to talk about directly. There are relationships that I am in and have been in that I've written about in a slightly more abstract way, talking about how it affected me but not so much dealing with the other people involved.

I loved Tristan in Nancy Collins' run. I love Vampirella having a werewolf paramour; it's too fun. Coleridge had to come with them, of course, to set up her spooky new manor up in the hills of Los Angeles, and also because he's just a delight.

I still tell a lot of jokes and do a lot of funny comics, but the stuff I like best is the personal stuff. I will still occasionally talk about my job and retail, but it evolved.

I love artists whose work feels animated! Matt Cummings, Ian McGinty, Jake Myler, Arielle Jovellanos, Drew Rausch, Zachary Sterling, Troy Little - I feel like most of the artists I've worked with have a lot of movement and life in their work.

I like all of the books I work on to be ones you can pick up without knowing the entire history of the character, because then, not only can you enjoy it as is, but it encourages you to look into the history of that character and their world.

I'm so attached to Patsy and her crew, and to the adventures we've taken them on.

I love romance stories; I've been working on 'School Spirit' over at Rosy Press, which is sort of a modern take on a classic romance comic - so I'm clearly a fan!

Most of my favorite fictional couples are distinctly different. Light and dark, good and evil, boring and wild... whatever! They're more fun to experience and definitely more fun to write. You have all these levels, and you know they're not going to react to situations the same way.

I am definitely a Tim Burton fan. I had seen 'Edward Scissorhands' enough times to know it by heart. That's exciting: to work on something you feel like you really get.

Howard the Duck is my best friend.

I have fond memories of all things Henson. I grew up on the stuff. My mom's a massive fan and made sure it was a part of my upbringing.

I think a lot of 'Edward Scissorhands' was about the suburban world that Burton grew up in feeling like an outcast. I feel like there's no way it's not at least a little autobiographical from that standpoint. I always liked that.

I love romance comics. I grew up with 'Archie' and got into other classic series as I got older, and I've been diving into 'Patsy Walker' since starting work on this project.

Honestly, before I started working at the comic shop, I was not a huge comic reader. I grew up reading 'Archie' and have an incredible love/hate relationship with Archie Comics. I got back into it when I started living with some roommates who were really comics fanatics.

My favorite comics show the real-life struggles of heroes as well as the fantastical.

I would love 'Patsy' to join the ranks of superhero comics that have something for everybody and are new-reader-friendly, with an adventure every issue.

Mad-Dog used to be Patsy Walker's beau, Buzz Baxter, but transformed himself into Mad-Dog to get even with his ex and her friends, the Avengers, after she became Hellcat.

When I was 14, 15, 16, I was wearing 'Edward Scissorhands' and 'Nightmare before Christmas' stuff. I saw 'Sleepy Hollow' a dozen times.

I have friends who practice witchcraft, and I study tarot myself. I guess, to be specific, I don't want to believe in a world without magic.

I'm a huge 'Nightmare before Christmas' fan, but that was also Henry Selick. I'm a really big fan of 'Sleepy Hollow.' I love 'Big Fish,' too, which is a bit different. There's a really cool era of early-Burton stuff like 'Ed Wood' that I'm a big fan of.

I hope 'Hellcat' is picked up again in years to come by people who realize just how queer it is: not just in its characters but its sensibility.