It's a great interview, especially the reveals about how Joss works with the writers. It's interesting how Joss wants to move away from the grotesque, but deferred to Vaughan's wishes for the Buffy #8 cover of Faith drowning Buffy.

And that's funny how she mentions Joss and Allie hesitating to tell her when likenesses aren't working. I'm guessing she used Dawn/Michelle as an example because they actually have said that to her before. And that's certainly true for the Buffy #27 cover - lots of comments on how Dawn was confused for Willow sitting on the submarine with Xander drinking tea.

I found the timing of this poor though as Chen speaks secretively about Always Darkest when it's already been released. I wonder why Slayerlit sat on this interview for so long. Or was this interview available before Always Darkest was released? All I see is that the interview was conducted in June.

Emmie | July 08, 20:39 CET

Yeah, I found her insights into the process really interesting as well. Very cool interview. I'd be interested to hear Joss's opinion about the cover of #8. Seems like it could be a good example of allowing others to bring their own color to his work, even if it's something he himself wouldn't do. Potentially.

Jobo | July 08, 21:01 CET

Jo Chen is very well spoken and sounds really intelligent. It makes me appreciate her art all the more. And, I couldn't agree with her more on the rise of female regarding sci-fi and fantasy.

luv4whedon | July 08, 21:28 CET

This was a really good interview, quite the eye-opener. Kudos to Jo and Shiai.

Simon | July 08, 22:12 CET

Thanks for the kind words about the interview. Jo was so open with her responses, I'm kind of surprised she hadn't done more Q&A's before this.

As for the seeming lateness of the interview itself, we have to chalk that up to technical difficulties. It was prepared to go up just prior to the story's release last week, but we had server problems, and we weren't able to place it on the site until today as a result. Jo had initially offered to provide a different response as to what the issue was about once we knew we'd miss the release date, but then she decided that what she said was still amusing, and I agreed, so we kept it as is.

And let me publicly thank Jo here for having made the time in the midst of a very busy schedule to speak with SlayerLit. :)

Shiai | July 08, 22:14 CET

Kudos, Shiai, and thank you. Sorry to hear about your difficulties. It's still an excellent read. It was just a bit surreal to read Chen's joking answers trying to hide the content of Always Darkest when we already know all about it.

Emmie | July 08, 22:46 CET

Really good interview. Thanks.

jcs | July 08, 23:15 CET

Very good interview.

Buffyfantic | July 09, 00:20 CET

This was a great read.

Sunfire | July 09, 01:02 CET

Btw, should anyone be curious as to when Jo's taking off, Emmie did some asking around and got this response.

Emmie: A while ago you'd mentioned that Chen would be taking another break from doing covers and I was wondering if the artist who'll be temporarily filling in has been decided on - can you share it with us?

Scott Allie: Massimo Carnevale is doing #29; Adam Hughes, #30. Just a two month break.

Allie also commented that Carnevale did a Twilight cover... so that's something to look forward to in solicitations for #29.

Link to the original posts here: http://slayalive.com/index.cgi?board=buffyseason8&action=display&thread=8209&page=1

wenxina | July 09, 02:57 CET

Any discrepancies Jo has with likenesses are irrelevant (to me) as long as the interior artist (whichever one at the time) doesn't even attempt to have serious resemblances with the actors. Her style is fantastic.

Great interview, it was a fun read.

archon | July 09, 03:46 CET

Well, I LIKE it when an interior artist tries to capture the essence of the actor. It doesn't happen as often as I'd like, but hey I'm just a reader.

Jo is magnificent. I always choose her covers over the alternate, and so do all my friends. She is truly gifted.

Willowy | July 09, 05:17 CET

willowy I agree. I think it helps tremendously If the artwork resembles the characters in which this comic is based. It's a TV tie in after all.

Luckily Jo's artwork is always amazing and her ability to accurately capture the essence of SMG as Buffy is just amazing.

sueworld2003 | July 09, 13:48 CET

I just met Jo Chen at Otakon 2009! She was so sweet and she signed 2 of my books (Buffy #26 and Star Wars: Invasion #1)! I also got to take a photo with her! Yay me!

hobnail | July 19, 01:00 CET