Comic writer Meredith Finch took a break from meeting with fans at Baltimore Comic-Con to chat with Scoop. She talked about fan reaction to Rose, what they like about the title, and what’s coming up. She also discussed working on Xena: Warrior Princess and Wonder Woman.

Scoop: How’s it going this weekend?
Meredith Finch (MF): It’s been fabulous, thank you.

Scoop: What are people most excited to talk to you about?
MF: I was just speaking to one of the other people at the booth that this seems to be the weekend of Rose. It’s the very first time I saw somebody cosplaying my character, Rose. I’ve had two people come up to me and so kindly give me pieces of original artwork that they had done of Rose. And someone else came up who had a commission from another artist who just wanted me to sign it. It’s been the weekend of Rose. People are just talking about it and it’s nice to see something that you work really hard on being appreciated by people and the fans have been wonderful.

Scoop: What have they been saying that they like about Rose?
MF: Just the character. There’s something about that character. She’s hard, but she’s soft, she makes mistakes, and she’s kind. She feels like every woman you know, sort of the best qualities of who you’d want to be is sort of the feedback I’ve gotten. So, it’s been wonderful. Some people like the way that the story pacing has been. The great thing about comics is that they speak differently to everybody who reads them, so it’s been fun to get that kind of feedback and what resonates with different people.

Scoop: Tell me about working on Xena: Warrior Princess.
MF: My writing duties covered issues 1-5. But I know Erica Schultz is doing a fantastic job taking it over. So, hopefully it keeps going for a long time.

Scoop: I’ve been enjoying the series. What did you like about writing it?
MF: Well, I grew up watching Xena: Warrior Princess. In a time when fantasy fiction and stories about women weren’t being told like that, it really resonated for me, because I loved fantasy fiction. Having the opportunity to write her and explore the characters, it felt like I was doing a homage to the character and what she meant to me growing up.

Scoop: What about Wonder Woman? What did you like about writing her series?
MF: It was so much fun writing her. I feel so blessed, I’ve worked on so many strong female characters. People ask me who I’d write next, I don’t know where I’d go from here. I’m going to have to start writing guys or something, because, who’s the next amazing female character? I’ll have to create another one.

Scoop: Captain Marvel?
MF: Oh, yeah. Maybe that’s where I need to look next.

Scoop: BOOM! Studios just got the license for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They’re going to need writers for that.
MF: Oh, I love Buffy! Stop! Because that’s another one that I love so much.

Scoop: Wonder Woman has been around for almost 80 years now, did you feel a lot of pressure on that title? Did you feel like you already knew the character well and knew what you wanted to do with her?
MF: I felt a lot of pressure. The great thing about Wonder Woman and the bad thing about Wonder Woman is she means something different to everybody that knows who she is. So, I certainly had an idea of who she was and what she represented for me. When I did the story, I really wanted to take that feeling of being nervous and overwhelmed and all the things I was trying to balance in my life at the time, and give that to her so that it was an experience that you can relate to. At the time, she had just become the God of War, the Queen of the Amazons, she was dating Superman, member of the Justice League. So when I did that story I tried to show how even superheroes struggle to find balance in their life, that sometimes things will fall through the cracks, and how you deal with that.

Scoop: What are you working on now?
MF: I’m still working on Rose for Image Comics, that’s ongoing. Then I am so excited, because today [Saturday, September 29] at Baltimore Comic-Con we’re announcing a project that I’m working on with Cave Publishing called The Light Princess. I’m working with Renae De Liz on it and Ray Dillon is doing colors and lettering. It is just an incredible project. It’s unlike anything I’ve worked on in my life and I really hope people pick it up when it comes out. It’s only five issues, but it is stunning.

Scoop: And what’s happening with Rose?
MF: Rose is still going, issue 13 comes out in the second week of October, so that’s very exciting and we’ll see where she goes with Rose. I think where we left off she had just been captured by Drucilla, so it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out and her friends are trying to find her and free her. There’s a lot of drama that’s going to happen. People who have been reading – what they’ve been waiting for, is coming. The payoff is coming in these next five issues.