Hey all, I hope you’re enjoying the story so far. Today I wanted to talk a little about Hilla. When I started writing After-School Agent, I was mainly focused on Gordon. He was easy for me to write, since he’s basically me at 13 minus super abilities (and any tragic illness.) But I hadn’t really developed the rest of his family. So as I was re-writing the first issue, I started fleshing out their backstory. And I surprised myself by discovering that the character that was the most interesting to me was Gordon’s sister Hilla.
As the oldest, Hilla was expected to be the most responsible. And she absolutely was. Until, like all teenagers, she started to question her life and wanted to express her independence. Unfortunately, at the same time, Gordon was diagnosed with cancer. Hilla didn’t want to be any more of a burden on her family, so she returned to her role as the responsible daughter, helping out as much as she could. But now Gordon is healthy again. (Granted she doesn’t know how much healthier he is these days.) And so when we first meet Hilla, she’s just starting to re-express her individuality and rebel a little from her parents. And in upcoming stories we will see more of this side of her personality.
Hilla as a character comes from a long line of strong women in my life. Of course there is my grandmother and my mom. And more directly Hilla’s personality was inspired by my sister Lauren and my fiancee (and very soon to be wife) Abby. But she is also a product of the women I’ve been lucky enough to work with at Saturday Night Live, including writer/producer Paula Pell, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler. They are all successful women, who are also some of the funniest, most talented people I’ve ever known. And I think they are all exceptional role models for today’s modern girls.
Amy in particular is actively trying to set an example for young women. She has set up a website called Smart Girls at the Party.
http://www.smartgirlsattheparty.com
It profiles intelligent girls and all the interesting things they are doing with their lives. I highly recommend it. You can also follow them on Twitter.
http://twitter.com/smrtgrls
Go check it out.
Once again, Jeremy has done some great work. Go follow him @jeremydale on Twitter and check out his website.
http://www.jeremy-dale.com/
Please leave comments and let us know what you think of the story so far.
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So much for Gordon’s concentration…
Hilla is an interesting character, it seems. I always love the characters that “come of age” (to use a term far too overused in English classrooms). That was a fascinating period of my life, as I realized that my range of emotions grew (the example I always use was the fact that prepubescents can’t hold anger – it becomes tears soon), and I realized that I noticed a lot more things in my family (like, for example, the angry undercurrent that occurs between your mom and her sister-in-law that you never picked up on as a child). The free spirit thing and questioning your parents thing are two other facets of that period, though they are focused on a lot more (probably because they are more visible to the outsider).
hey, awesome page. Chance sounds like a stalker, though he’s just trying to be friends.
and I really like the whole background on hilla. I can’t wait to see the rest of her and her story as the comic unfolds.
that last panel cracks me up. “And they’re thinking… they’re pretty girls!” Even as a super-spy, Gordon is still a teen boy. I especially like the one of the far left.
Thanks @Tustin2121 and @Flo. I’m glad you all are so interested in Hilla. I can’t wait to highlight her more.
Superman has his kryptonite. And Gordon’s weakness is girls.
Oh dear, if the enemy finds out Gordon’s weakness… we’ll be seeing a lot of Bond Girl-type bad guys (except Gordon only WISHES he could get to second base, while Bond goes home — in SPACE!)