Jane Smith Fisher: Q&A

Posted: Friday, February 6, 2004
Posted By: Tim O'Shea

Jane Smith Fisher is a creator helping make my vision of an ideal comics world more possible. She’s a creator that believes (as I do) that the industry needs more all ages books. Rather than just talking about it, she did something. That’s why she created the comic series WJHC. As detailed at her website, the comic series has just been collected in its first TPB, WJHC: On the Air. I’ll allow Fisher’s website to tell the rest of the story:

“Based on the popular WJHC comic book series, WJHC: On the Air takes a wacky look at the misadventures of an unlikely group of teens starting a high school radio station. This all-ages graphic novel helps fill a long-standing void in the comic book arena. Created by Jane Smith Fisher of Wilson Place Comics, WJHC: On the Air offers girls and boys an appropriate comic, that's lots of fun without sex or violence. Fisher says, ‘It's WKRP meets Gen Y.’

Ms. Fisher wrote her first comic book, the kid-friendly Cybernauts, in 1996 after discovering non-violent comic books had yet to be updated from the '60s and '70s. ‘Children love to read and comic books are such a wonderful way of sparking their imagination. I knew if I could develop an idea that was really cool and funny kids wouldn't miss the sex or violence,’ Fisher explains. And thousands of kids have proved her right. …

The road to WJHC: On the Air was a challenging course for Ms. Fisher. A single mother, she struggled to follow her dream while juggling parenting, a teaching assistant position and the pursuit of her recently awarded graduate degree in education. Prior to writing the WJHC series Ms. Fisher developed Milo P. Turtle's Pen Pal Club - a reading and writing program enjoyed in homes across the country and adapted for classroom use.

Kirsten Petersen designed the characters and illustrated WJHC: On the Air. John Green signed on for color and production. With their unlimited imagination and skills Petersen and Green turned WJHC: On the Air into an eye-popping visual experience.

To learn more about WJHC: On the Air and the WJHC comic book series, including the WJHC special library issue, please visit www.WJHC.com”

Now on with the Q&A portion of our show, followed by the music of your choice, if you are so inspired.

Tim O’Shea: Given that WJHC's development first began in 1997, I was wondering how many revisions/incarnations did the work undergo through feedback from such folks as editor Iyna B. Caruso and other advisor/confidants?

Jane Smith Fisher: I'd have to say that WJHC hasn't had any incarnations. I set out to create a humorous all-ages comic book series that revolved around a high school radio station and I've stayed true to that goal. The characters have changed, though. Actually it's more that they've grown. Early on I started thinking that people are multi-dimensional and so the WJHC crew began to show different sides of themselves. In every story there is something revealed about someone. I love that. My two advisors, Iyna Caruso and BlackJack creator, Alex Simmons keep me on track. I come up with the storyline (except Before the Bell, which was Alex' idea) and I write the script. They let me know if it makes sense and is plausible in a comic book world. Then I make adjustments based on their comments.

TO: How satisfying was it when you first saw Kirsten Petersen's portrayals of your characters?

JSF: First, let me say that I knew Kirsten was the right artist for WJHC the moment I saw her work. She is perfect for this series. Some of the characters were just right with the first sketch. Others changed considerably. Kirsten and I work so well together. I think she reads my mind because most of the time she comes up with panels looking just the way I envisioned them. I think at the beginning I was figuring out how to convey what I wanted and I may have given some confusing signals. The first sketch of Janey showed us a girl with very short hair. And Miss Willow looked much older. In the end Kirsten came up with characters we both liked.

TO: How much of a boost in exposure, distribution and credibility did your work gain from the Ms. Foundation's support through the Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day program? On a related note, how many presentations do you make at schools, libraries and elsewhere in a given year?

JSF: I'm so thankful to the Ms. Foundation. Having the support of a national organization added a lot of credibility to WJHC. It's one thing for me to say I have a fun, clean and valuable comic book series and another for a respected group like the Ms. Foundation to say it. Plus, during my three year participation in the Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work program thousands of WJHC comics were distributed across the country. I also have a wonderful connection with the Girl Scouts. This is my fifth year conducting workshops, teaching Girl Scouts about comic book creation. I'm with the Girl Scouts almost every week during the school year. Between the Girl Scouts, schools and libraries, I generally present over 50 workshops each year. How lucky can I be to spend so much time with my audience. I learn about my readers, they learn about writing and art and we all have a great time.

TO: How essential was it to you that the lead characters in WJHC are female (while admittedly the core cast is evenly gender balanced)?

JSF: I felt strongly about creating lead female characters. It's true. This gender of mine is always getting the short stick in the world of entertainment. I don't understand that. As you mentioned though, the cast is gender balanced. It was also important to me to have interesting male characters. In my world my family and friends are interesting people of different gender, races and nationalities. How could it be any other way in the WJHC world and still seem real?

TO: In the early days of the series, was the game plan to use Principal Bort more, but then you found you had more of a character to work with in Miss Willow?

JSF: I did originally envision a bigger role for Mrs. Bort. Then it turned out that Janey and her crew had lots of conflict with each other and the situations they found themselves in. In the end, Mrs. Bort is not the only thing coming between WJHC radio and greatness. I always knew Miss Willow would provide great amusement. I laugh every time she opens her mouth. Actually she doesn't even have to speak to make me smile. I loved her "ranger girl" get up in Tripwrecked and how 'bout her mall walking in Before the Bell? I'm sitting her giggling just thinking about her.

TO: To date, have you heard that any of the readership has been inspired get involved or possibly even start a radio or TV station at their school?

JSF: I haven't heard about any new radio or TV stations, but I've heard about budding comic book readers and writers. I love when kids tell me about the comics they're now writing. Most of the kids I meet have not been exposed to comics outside of the newspaper (how sad is that?) and when they read WJHC they see how much fun comics are to read and want to read more comics.

TO: Did you hesitate naming one of the leads Janey, in order to avoid the "Is she based on you?" questions? Well, of course, I have to ask...Is she based partially on you?

JSF: Ah, the Janey question. I've thought about this a lot through the years because everyone does ask. No, she was not originally based on me. Actually my parents named me Janet. I changed it to Jane about 20 years ago but family and old friends still call me Janet, so I don't totally think of myself as Jane. And no one calls me Janey. The name came from a TV show in the 80's that had a character named Janey. I always loved the sound and feel of it and when I was naming my characters Janey Wells just came to me. Since I never think of myself as Janey it didn't occur to me that anyone else would. The name Wells isn't based on anything. All that being said, Janey is like me in some ways. I share her "anything is possible" attitude. When I come up with an idea I only see the possibilities, never the potential pitfalls. Creating the WJHC series was very Janey Wellsian. We also share a dry, somewhat sarcastic sense of humor. And both of us like to step out of the panel and take note of the absurdities around us. We are different in a couple of big ways. One is that she is eager to take on her nemesis. I'm more the type to try and navigate around difficult people. I'm also more mild mannered than Janey is. As Janey's character grew I realized that I did give her some qualities I wish I had. Can't tell you which ones - I'm not going to give away all my secrets.

TO: Where would you like to see WJHC as a project, say a few years down the road? Do you envision developing other comics series or graphic novels in the long term?

JSF: I would like to continue WJHC as a graphic novel series. I'm currently working on the next book. My dream would be to produce two to three books per year. I also think WJHC would make a great daily comic strip. And of course there's animation. That would be very cool. I would also love to develop other comics series. And I really want to write children's books. I have ideas but no time to work on them right now. Someday . . .

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