Nicola Scott is an Australian comic book artist with a keen affinity for Wonder Woman, who we also first caught up with in frankie issue 77 all the way back in 2017. We sit down with Nicola all these years later to see what she’s been up to, and whether or not the comic book industry has changed since we first met up with her.

Howdy Nicola! What have you been up to since our last chat? Well, dealing with the pandemic like everybody else! But other than that, I was involved in a big Wonder Woman project, called Historia, which is all about Wonder Woman’s backstory, as well as the Amazons themselves. This is the first time that we're actually telling her story in length, and it was really significant to the legendary character’s legacy and story.

You are a lifelong fan of Wonder Woman. What is it about this character that you admire so much? Well, she was the very first superhero I encountered because of the Lynda Carter TV show. She was just so mesmerising for four-year-old me that it just had a really significant impact. She was just so beautiful, but also so ridiculous and camp! I've never grown out of it, everything in my life relates to her in one way or another. I'm still obsessed!

Lynda Carter is a great role model to start with! I think she’s just such an amazing person, and she’s really proven herself over the decades to be a total winner. She’s an excellent spokesperson to the character and representative of the super-hero community, as well as a great ally in her own right.

I was also drawn to Wonder Woman as a child, but more because I thought she was so pretty. She really is so pretty! Rewatching the show as an adult is hilarious because, yes, it’s a total cheese-fest, but it was also so much more impressive to me as an adult that it was when I was a kid. The character lived up to my romanticised memory of her because she still is so beautiful, but also so delightful to watch. It really helped to re-ignite and re-validate my forever love for Wonder Woman.

What else, or who else, helped inspire your career as a comic book artist? Oh wow, the list is never ending. I'm not traditionally a comic book reader and I didn't grow up reading comics. My mother was a fine artist and my grandmother was also a fine artist, so there was a lot of art and culture in my household when I was growing up. I was so lucky and privileged to have grown up in a really creative home, which also set quite a high bar for what I consider art.

In our last chat, you mentioned the prevalence of misogyny in your industry. Have times changed since then? Oh, you bet. Things have definitely changed in ways that everyone can see. When I spoke to frankie last time we were all still reeling from Gamergate and rampant misogyny everywhere, but we've since had an evolution of embracing diversity and stomping out intolerance. I feel really lucky to be in the comics industry during this time.

What’s a misconception people might have about your industry? Oh, well, I think that with the recent popularity of super-hero movies people think that the films invented these characters, not knowing that almost every single aspect of these movies come directly from the comic books, which are created by two or three people at a time. All of the big ideas, characters and stories have been generated over decades by just a writer and an artist sitting down and creating a comic. We get to be much more experimental with comics because they are a low-budget way to tell any kind of story. All of the creativity and excitement of these big movies have come from comics, so people should read more!

How would you describe your creative process? It really does change from job to job. There have been times where an editor has contacted me to do a story that's already been written, and I might never meet the writer. I’m just given a story and a script, and it's up to me to interpret it. There are other times where I've worked deeply in collaboration with a writer. It’s up to me to play the role of director, cinematographer, costume designer and production designer, and it’s my job to make the intentions of the writer as clear as possible to the reader.

What’s been the most memorable part of your career, so far? Oh, I've been really lucky to have worked with some of the most collaborative and talented writers in the business. I guess I’d have to say that there are two things that I'm probably the proudest of. First is the creation of Black Magick, because it's deep diving into a world that really interests me and we get to build that world from the ground up, which is incredibly satisfying creatively. But I’m also proud about working with Greg Rucka and getting to do Wonder Woman’s origin story for the modern era. It had been 30 years since her story had been told and up until that point in time whenever I had been asked in an interview about my dream project, it has always been working on Wonder Woman. So as overwhelming and emotional as it was to work on something like that, it was such a real honour to have been able to contribute to Wonder Woman’s legacy.

Nicola Scott will be meeting fans at Metro Comic Con from July 8 – 9 at the Melbourne Showgrounds. Tickets are available here.