Olivia Cuartero-Briggs and Roberta Ingranata’s new monthly comic from Oni Press captures the excitement and mystery of classic teen detective tales with a decidedly modern sensibility. Jill and the Killers is one of Oni Press’ five new monthly comic series for 2024, spotlighting a wide-range of genres and creators. Cuartero-Briggs and Ingranata’s new series satisfies the crime genre selection perfectly, and you can learn more about Jill and the Killers in this exclusive interview.
Where did the inspiration come from for your new Jill and the Killers series?
Olivia Cuartero-Briggs: I’ve always been fascinated with the macabre. In 8th grade, when all the other kids were writing their term papers on past presidents or literary icons, I wrote mine on serial killers. When I was ten, I remember going on a walk with a friend, going on about my musings on death, and then realizing my friend had a look of horror on his face. He called me morbid. I called me curious. Curious that I often thought of what I would do if confronted with the clues to a murder mystery. What would I do? How would I solve it? And what types of crazy, terrifying situations would I find myself in if I did? Jill, her awesome friends, and Oni Press gave me full permission to play around in that “morbid” sandbox, and so far, I’ve had the best time doing it.
Teenage sleuths have been popular since the first days of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. How does Jill fit in with these type of teen detectives in 2023?
Cuartero-Briggs: It’s so hard to know how a book is going to land with readers, let alone where it might find a home amongst some of the most iconic titles in modern history. All I can tell you is what I hope for. For adult readers, I hope they find a fun, cozy nostalgia with Jill and the Killers. A story that feels like the ones they loved growing up: Stand by Me, Monster Squad, and the Scream movies, but fresh and exciting. For them, I hope it does what Stranger Things did for Gen X. That would thrill me. And for younger readers, I hope it sparks their curiosity. I hope they can see themselves in these characters and find comfort in their struggles and friendships, and that it helps them feel empowered enough to solve some mysteries of their own. And for all Jill and the Killers readers, I hope I can scare you, creep you out, make you laugh, and leave you wanting a whole lot more. I love these characters and premise, and I’m not ready to stop writing them just yet.
The combination of true crime obsession and subscription boxes is a real marriage of two disparate, and popular, cultural phenomenon. What made you put them together in your story as the piece that kicks off the comic?
Cuartero-Briggs: The idea of combining crime with subscription boxes has been done pretty brilliantly, long before Jill and the Killers. Box Killers, the fictional game in the book, was inspired by the Hunt a Killer subscription box company, which does an amazing job at putting together super fun cases, and sending you a clue at a time to solve before moving on to the next. (Now, I think there are more out there, and you best believe I’m going to play those, too.) But it was when I found out about Hunt a Killer that the thought came into my mind, “What if you were solving one of these games and found out the clues were actually to a real-life murder?” That was where the idea for Jill and the Killers started. Everything else was built off of that seed.
What does Roberta Ingranata bring to your scripts in terms of the character designs and action?
Cuartero-Briggs: I love working with Roberta, and have since she did my covers for Silver City a few years back. First off, Roberta is a master of subtle emotion in the faces of the characters she draws, which is so essential for a story like this, involving teenagers. No one says what they mean all the time, particularly young people, and Roberta enabled me to harness that honesty – of having Jill or one of her friends say one thing, but we can tell by their face what they’re really thinking. It’s a gift. And for a writer with two left hands, Roberta brings a real sense of comfort. She’s such a pro, and so easy to work with, that you always know the job is going to get done, and the story is going to be told the right way. That’s insanely valuable to us creators.
Which characters besides Jill is your favorite one to write dialogue for and why?
Cuartero-Briggs: Clyde is both the most fun and the hardest character to write. She’s so layered, has so many secrets, and so much of what she is, is a young woman she created to escape her past. Plus, she’s really, really cool, and it is always super challenging to write a character who is cooler than you are.
What have you learned about the medium after Mary Shelly: Monster Hunter and Silver City that you applied to Jill and the Killers?
Cuartero-Briggs: Mary Shelley: Monster Hunter was the first comic book I ever wrote, under the mentorship of Adam Glass, who was also my co-writer on the project. So, needless to say, I learned all the basics on that project. Panels, splash pages, page turns, how many elements you could have on a page, etc.. That book was my crash course. Silver City, then, was a more in-depth education on how to best capture a story in still images, how to vary angles and perspective to keep the reader engaged, and creating voices so distinct that you don’t need to look at where the tail of the bubble is pointing, you know who’s speaking. I brought all of that to Jill and the Killers, and – as I like to do – took things a step further: I incorporated humor.
Jill and the Killers is part of a series of new titles from Oni Press. Thought of being a part of the new launch?
Cuartero-Briggs: Deeply honored and freakin’ excited. Oni Press really is an amazing home for storytellers and adventurous readers, and they treat each book like its own special gem they’re taking out into the world. I can not tell you how lucky I am to have gotten to create Jill and the Killers with Oni and their amazing team.
Upcoming work/projects?
Cuartero-Briggs: I am currently writing the Fate: Winx Saga graphic novels with Maverick, the first of which will be hitting shelves in July of 2024. I also have an unannounced monster story I’ve been working on with Humanoids that I’m completely in love with, as well as another hush-hush comic book series with Mad Cave, that I’ll just tease is Squid Game meets Everything Everywhere all at Once on a subway train.
Jill and the Killers #1 will be released on January 31 with a variety of covers by Sanya Anwar (main cover), Marguerite Sauvage (pictured below), Alison Sampson, and Celia Lowenthal.
