SDCC10: Interview With Comics and TV Writer Jeph Loeb

Diane Panosian

Today I seek a world in which women from across the land can unite in their geekiness. A land where Princess Lea reigns alongside her ever-rakish Han Solo, a growly Hugh Jackman can’t seem to find his flannel shirt, and Wonder Woman saves the world and comes home to find her man has baked cookies. It took me 20-odd years to figure out I am a writer. Apparently all those years in childhood spent pretending to be Lois Lane and writing mock newspapers never elicited one eureka. In high school I was editor of the school paper, but even then, I sought the path of a graphic artist. In my professional career I wrote numerous proposals for DVD and Blu-ray extra value content. Crafting concepts using Stan Lee-isms felt like play to me and yet I thought of myself as a producer. Not until one very rainy day when the streets were flooded and boredom hit me like Thor’s hammer did I call up Chris and tell him I wanted to write. I guess whatever gets your creative juices flowing while enduring the onslaught of boredom should be repeated. It didn’t take me nearly as long to figure out I was a geek. I was surrounded by my brother’s inked pages of Captain America from a very young age. I would often look for my beloved action figures only to find them captured by my brother for use as “inspiration”. Whenever he took a break I would sneak in and rescue my toys with the stealth of a mutated ninja cat. Strangely the next morning a new rescue mission would have to be hatched. From then on, I watched copious She-Ra and Spider-man cartoons, learned about alternate realities from Back to the Future, and read the soup opera that was X-Men comics in the 90’s.