Christian Gossett, Kristen Simon, and Superfan Promotions founder David Hyde’s Superfan podcast is back for Season Two, once again featuring conversations with comic book writers and artists about what they’re passionate about outside of the world of comics.
This season’s episodes include ones featuring Jim Rugg (on pro wrestling), Maia Kobabe (on K-pop), Johnnie Christmas (on Midnight Mass), Paul Pope (on Rowland S. Howard), Erica Henderson (on Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels), and Elsa Charretier (on game-based dog training).
We got a chance to interview co-host Gossett about his role on the Superfan podcast, as well as his recent work on Disney+’s Eyes of Wakanda and his role in creating Darth Maul’s famous double-bladed lightsaber in this exclusive interview.
How did you initially get involved with the Superfan podcast?
Christian Gossett: Thanks to Kristen, I had a wonderful evening meeting David and Dara Hyde at their beautiful home, and this was really the first time we’d met for any length of time. I’ll never forget it because it had been such a long time since I’d done something I love to do, which is walk through someone’s home and talk about their art collection. Why they have the pieces they have, what they mean to them, fun anecdotes about how they obtained them. I enjoy getting closer to people by communicating about the art they love, and after that evening I was hoping to do anything with David. So later on, when Kristen asked me to co-host the podcast, I jumped in.
What is the best part of being on a podcast and the most challenging?
Gossett: The best part for me is the recording. I love when we are making the show, meeting one of our brilliant guests, and giving them a chance to talk about something very meaningful to them. The most challenging part is, well, the same as I hear most people are experiencing right now, which is a general lack of living wages, making time incredibly precious. Further, what time we do have is fraught with a chronic subwoofer of stress running underneath as we juggle/manage our side hustles. It’s a brutal time.
Which guest from season one or two surprised you the most with their knowledge and passion?
Gossett: Something I’m very grateful for in being part of the podcast is that we chose a format that brings out the knowledge and passion of our guests to a very high degree. Marjorie Liu sharing with us that she is the caretaker of an Amaryllis that has been in her family for generations, Jim Rugg blowing our minds with the seemingly infinite depth of his knowledge, not only of pro wrestling, but also its place in world culture, what it means to our definition of heroism and conflict, the life of its practitioners, the history of their field, and on and on. Elsa Charettier’s elegant manifesto that would completely derail anyone who might suffer from an overly human-centric perspective on caring for their dog.
If you were to be featured as a guest on the podcast, what would your topic be?
Gossett: That’s a good question. I think it would be the films of Akira Kurosawa. He’s my favorite director for many reasons, and it would be a blast to just let loose sharing the many reasons that’s the case. It’s thanks to Kurosawa’s influence that the double-bladed lightsaber exists.
You created Darth Maul’s famous double-bladed lightsaber. How did you design it and how is it the best weapon for the character?
Gossett: Specifically, I designed the double-bladed lightsaber in 1992 for an ancient Sith lord named Exar Kun, who lived around 4000 years before Luke and the gang. It was one of many alternative lightsaber designs I came up with, all on my own. No one asked me to change the lightsabers, and when I did, they were very controversial within Lucasfilm licensing. They told me I couldn’t use them unless George himself approved them. These designs were the first time anyone had expanded on the idea I had, that Jedi from different warrior cultures would base their lightsabers on weapons from their specific traditions within the wider galaxy– a lightsaber’s power is a metaphor for a personal connection to the world and a sense of agency devoted to justice. So yes, Jedi would personalize them. This is the real answer behind how I designed it. From the inside out. From my love of the concept of the Jedi and martial history, combined with Lucasfilm Licensing handing me the Old Republic, which was a blank slate at the time.
In 1993, George saw my drawing, knew it was a good idea, and his approval ended the controversy. Later, during the development of the prequels, George handed the drawing to Iain McCaig and Doug Chiang, who modernized it from my ancient weapon to the modern version Maul uses. From that point on, you can’t have a new Star Wars show without its own special blade, and I think that’s marvelous. Star Wars works best when it’s working from the material that inspired George in the first place, like Kurosawa. George worked like an anthropologist. American Graffiti, THX, Star Wars, they’re all anthropology. They’re all intimately spectacular glances into a culture and its habits.
You recently worked on Eyes of Wakanda. What was it like bringing Wakanda and its citizens to life in an animated medium?
Gossett: This was another fantastic opportunity for me to bring my appreciation of global culture and martial tradition into my love for Wakanda as a setting. Black Panther is, by far, my favorite MCU movie. I am old-fashioned in my appreciation and expectation of justice, and the nation of Wakanda is a vibranium mine of possibilities on that subject. So I loved being part of Todd Harris’ show that expanded its history. Todd is a key member of that team of genius story artists whose work was so vital to the glory days of the MCU, not to mention the amazing work he did for Chad Stahelski on the John Wick movies. The metaphor of Wakanda is so powerful, layered, and relevant, and it’s ready for more discovery. If Marvel’s New York can have countless superheroes and memorable villains, so can Wakanda. I hope I get a chance to return there somehow. It was one of my favorite shows I’ve ever worked on.
Upcoming projects?
Gossett: My love for Manga goes back decades, so I’m thrilled to be writing a Manga-inspired project for Mad Cave Studios’ Nakama Press. It’s titled CTHULHUTOWN, and the setting is Hollywood, 1923. Bootlegger Isadora Callahan, her actress sister Prudence, and their steadfast friend Lucky McGann must face a supernatural cult determined to turn the fledgling technology of 1920s motion pictures into a tool for humanity’s downfall. From haunted mansions to hidden desert tombs, they battle monsters, madmen, and movie moguls determined to unleash an Elder God on Tinseltown.
You can listen to the Superfan podcast on Substack, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, and The Superfan website.
