Trail Talk: Letters to WWQ #17

OK. So I knew what was going to happen since I did the cover and got a peek at the story outline.

It still didn't stop me from being completely taken in by the story. You just want to grab Jonah, Jeanne and Johnny and just scream at them for being so damned stupid.

Jeanne for being a sucker.
Johnny for being so damned indecisive.
Jonah for being (I can't believe I'm saying this) a coward.

Now, to be fair, they all realize their own shortcomings but just balk when it comes time to face them even when they know what is the right thing to do. Jeanne just needs to listen to what her heart is telling her rather than falling for honeyed words and appearances. Johnny loves her but is so conflicted and unwilling to admit it.

And Jonah just needs to keep his pants up.

Ironically, Jeanne was a good foil to Jonah considering how the two's current troubles all center around the conflict between love and lust. You have to hope that she has learned a lesson in Cheyenne.

Johnny, I think, is starting to understand himself. Although, might I add, the railroad tracks being used for a mystic sigil was kind of a cool idea and certainly works off of the sweat lodge and the visions both him and James have. Nice to see the "Weird" part of the title rear it's head every so often

And just when you think Jonah has learned his lesson and is about to confess. He clams up. Mei Ling would have been really mad but she would have probably forgiven him. Even though he is in emotional pain and hates himself for what he does, he's just adding powder for the explosion later. Man, I feel bad for poor Jason 'cause (assuming you stick to what happens in the comics) it isn't going to be pretty.

Excellent issue, Susan and Don!

Glad everyone's pleased so far. The issue came about when Don and I were chatting months back and -- knowing that my storyline was going to cross New Years, time-wise -- suggested that we interweave our storylines just for fun. Don thought of Jeanne dropping by Cheyenne to connect the two even more, and it all snowballed from there.

For the most part, we wrote our characters alone, though I took over Jeanne's interactions for her talks with Mei Ling and Hex, then handed her back to Don afterward. And I have to thank Don for giving me a lot of characterization to work with, because I was REALLY stuck on how to handle Jeanne until his parts of the story started to come in!

As for Jonah...I debated for a while on how far to take it. Historically, he's had a lot of women troubles (mainly with them dying on him), and in the original books, it was never really stated if he and Emmy...you know. They did kiss a lot. And he has this ridiculous weakness for blondes, I've noticed (I think it's Oedipal). So I finally said to myself, "Well, if there was no Code back then, what are the chances that him and Emmy went all the way?" Next thing ya know, there they are in the livery. Jonah's either hot or cold when it comes to women: if he wants a girl, he snogs her, but if he doesn't want a girl, it doesn't matter if they throw themselves at him (and I've seen it happen!), he'll shove her away. There's no middle ground for him.

Trust me, it'll be a wonderful train wreck once we reach the end.

That's something that I forgot to do in my last post: thank don for consistently doing such a great job with Johnny and Jeanne and all the other residents of Mesa City. Though I wanted Johnny to have a part in WWQ from the get-go, I had only a vague notion of what to do with him: he's our learned man amongst the rough-and-tumble folk, I knew that for sure, but beyond that, I was clueless.

Enter Don, with his grand notions of white folks' knowledge of the world vs. Indian magic and mysticism. From my point of view, the man writes this sort of thing effortlessly, whereas I'd have to really sit down and think it through to make sure I didn't screw it up (yes, that is a hint of jealousy you hear...). Plus it's nice to sit back and let someone else do the driving for an issue or two.

And lest we forget, let's take a moment to thank James for his kick-ass cover! I gave him an idea of what I wanted, sent him some clips, and he one-upped me by finding a few better ones and doing what he does best. Matter of fact, he's got me thinking of what I'd like to see for WWQ#20...