X1 Interviews Grace Randolph – Host + Writer of “The Watcher”

Grace Randolph is known as the host of Marvel’s, “The Watcher” a show that gives you information on the latest comic books, and all the back stage gossip from editors themselves! Grace is also the host, writer and creator of the YouTube sensation, “Beyond the Trailer”, where Grace goes beyond the trailer to tell you if a movie is really worth watching!

This week, X1, had the honour of interviewing Grace online, to ask her about things like how she first got into comic books and about the industry itself. Below is the interview – enjoy :).

Most Marvel fans, and viewers of this website, will know you as the host and writer of Marvel’s “The Watcher”, a show all about Marvel comic books. But what first got you into comic books?

My parents!  They would always buy me Archie Comics and Disney Comics, like Carl Barks’ Uncle Scrooge.  In fact, I still pick up Uncle Scrooge comics to this day, and I think “Life With Archie” has done a great job of evolving that brand for older readers.

You’re such an expert on comic books, what age were you when you first got into them?

As I said, I started when I was pretty little.  But I made the move to adult aka mainstream comics when I was in, hmm, I want to say early High School?  I don’t remember exactly when, but I’d begun to wonder why Archie didn’t just make up his mind already and – in frustration – my eye wandered to the adult section of the comic book store.  So I started to pick those up and I really enjoyed them!  Unfortunately my parents asked me to give up comics for the remainder of my High School years as they didn’t think it was an appropriate hobby for a young girl.  But then when I went to film school everyone else was reading comics, so I started up again and haven’t stopped since.  And once I made that decision, my parents were very supportive of it!

Do you remember the first comic book that you ever read?

I’m afraid not – bummer!

We know that you’ve had quite a few projects with Marvel, but you’ve also had some with DC too – they published you first ever mainstream comic! The key question is though – which comic book company do you prefer when it comes to reading comic books?

That’s a tough question.  They’re like chocolate and vanilla – depends what you’re in the mood for really.  My two favorite properties are X-Men and Batman.  For the whole time I’ve been reading adult comics, I’d say I’ve enjoyed Marvel and DC comics equally.  However, I must add that I am not a fan of the DC reboot.  I invested a lot of time in the DC Universe and really liked the stories they were telling.  I just hope this reboot is effective in bringing in new readers so it wasn’t all for nothing.

Who is your favourite superhero team from the Marvel Universe (Earth – 616)? Why?

X-Men!  Action AND drama!  Y’know, most women readers seem to really enjoy the X-Men, and I think that’s because they have such strong female characters.  It’s a shame that so many women are put off by the revealing costumes because both men and women wear the same kind of tight costumes anyway in comics, and there’s such great development of the female characters.

Who is your favourite X-Man and why?

It used to be Rogue, but now it’s Emma Frost.  There’s something very appealing to me about a reformed villain, and I think Emma is also very dynamic.  She’s witty and shrewd, which makes for a great read!  I also like her leadership qualities.  Maybe Emma should lead a team!  🙂

In the current X-Men SCHISM storyline, who will you be supporting: Cyclops or Wolverine?

Wolverine all the way!  I’m always in favor of changing things up, and I think the X-Men are due for a change.  Cyclops has had a very interesting run, but there’s so much going on with him personally that I’d prefer for him to step away from a leadership position for a while and explore that instead.  As for Wolverine, it’s time for him to step up to the plate.  Guy’s been around for a loooooong time and has yet to do so.

In your limited edition series, MARVEL HER-OES, you chose to portray your characters as High School students. Why is that?

That was the gig!  Marvel reached out to me based on some of my previous writing work re Her-oes, which they’d already partially developed.  They wanted to take several female Avengers and tell an alternate reality story where they teamed up in High School.  It was my job to take it from there. It was a great assignment because I was given free reign to create this new world.  I’m very proud of Her-oes and there are always kind letters trickling in from readers telling me how much they enjoyed it, which means a lot.

We all know that you’re a young lady that has worked in the comic book industry, and the Marvelites X-Men are both girls, it seems like most of the female population don’t really like reading comic books or that there are that many working in the industry. Do you think that there should be more women working in the comic book industry?

I think that’s beginning to happen.  The more women who read comics, the more who will work in the industry.  At the last three San Diego Comic Cons, there has been a remarkable increase in the number of women attending which is awesome.  Also, for some reason a lot of women creators tend to gravitate toward the indie books.  That’s great, but we need to start getting into the mainstream books too.  Gail Simone, Marjorie Liu, Nicola Scott, and Kelly Sue DeConnick are making some great headway, but we need more!

What are your views on the completely out of canon movie, “X-Men: First Class”?

I liked it! But it wasn’t my favorite Marvel movie of the summer, that would be Thor.  As for X-Men First Class, I thought it was excellent overall but a few things irked me.  I didn’t like it that every time there was an opportunity to defect from a team, it was a female character who took it!  (First Angel, and then Mystique.)  I also didn’t appreciate that Moira McTaggert only could remember a kiss from Xavier after having her mind wiped, and had the bad sense to share that with her superiors.  How unprofessional!  I preferred the female characters in the original trilogy, but maybe they’ll improve in the next X-Men film – which I’ll certainly see!  As for being out of canon, at this point I’ve made my peace that none of the comic book movies are going to be in canon.  If they can just stick to their OWN canon, I’ll be happy…

Finally, the Marvelites X-Men don’t really like the character of Jean Grey/Marvel Girl/Phoenix. But what do you think of her and do you think that she should be brought back from the dead?

I don’t like Jean Grey either!  Haha – how interesting we all feel the same way!   🙂  Personally, I 100% feel that Jean should stay dead.  Her death was such a turning point for the X-Men that it would be a shame to backtrack.  I also think the love triangle between her, Cyclops and Wolverine was getting old.  Then there’s the fact that Jean Grey just isn’t a very dynamic character.  She has no flaws and mostly serves as a reactionary character for other X-Men.  And she can serve that purpose just as well as a memory.  Grant Morrison did as much as anyone could with Jean and she should be left to rest in peace, IMHO.

It was a pleasure interviewing you Grace! And I’m so glad you accepted my offer :).

Thanks for having me as a guest on your website, Layla, and I’m honored to be your first interview!  Happy Wednesdays (when comics are released here in the USA) to you and all your readers!  🙂

Grace

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We hope that you’ve enjoyed reading this interview and that you’ve learnt a bit more about Grace. Be sure to check out Grace’s YouTube channel for “Beyond the Trailer”: http://www.youtube.com/user/BeyondTheTrailer

-X1