And if Selina is going to survive on the streets, she'll have to learn to be tough. Selina rejects human cruelty, but sometimes it seems as though brute force is the only way to win. Once I’ve written the story, my job is done.When 15-year-old Selina Kyle, the girl who will grow up to be Catwoman, becomes homeless, she must confront questions of who she is and who she will become. It’s private and personal and hugely subjective. A story like this is a contract between the writer, the illustrator and the reader. Nothing? As a reader myself, I like to go into books blind. What would you want readers to know before they pick up Under the Moon? I tried to step as authentically into that reality as possible. I asked myself how Selina would tackle those challenges, how I would tackle them, how the teens I know personally would tackle them. What would be the challenges? Would there be any rewards? What sorts of things would Selina worry about that go beyond a casually imagined inventory? The basics of hygiene, for example. LM: The same way many of us writers research things, I suspect! By reading stories of homeless teens, first and foremost, and then by putting myself into that imagined space and feeling it out for myself. How did you research the realities of Selina’s life as a homeless teen? It was insanely hard, but dang, it sure did up my game. Then I coached myself, on every page of the Under the Moon script, to think visually, to imagine the scenes unfolding in front of me. I immersed myself in graphic novels, reading and experiencing and absorbing.

But all “created worlds” are created in order to invite readers in. LM: Through dogged determination! I am a complete newbie to the world of comics. How did you craft the world of Under the Moon? Tonally, the Zoom and Ink lines and Under the Moon are really different from any other DC comics. And as Selina herself wouldn’t shy away from uncomfortable subjects, I didn’t want to either. LM: When I wondered what it would take to drive a girl, any girl, to isolate herself from others-to steal, to be a creature of the night-well, it doesn’t spring from lollipops and flowers, you know? Selina is intense, so of course, her story is intense. What drove you to tell this particular story? The book deals with some pretty intense topics. At the same time, rehashing old stories does not constitute telling a new story! So when it came to writing this story about Selina, I intentionally held all other notions of her at a distance. I didn’t want to let her down or do a disservice to her legacy. I felt a huge sense of responsibility toward her. Selina didn’t spring from my head she already was. LM: It’s very different than all of the other writing I’ve done, for sure.

Under the moon catwoman