Despite the COVID-19 pandemic causing industry wide delays and shut-downs, Marvel comics has found a way to continue to deliver new stories without interruption.
Marvel has released three audiobooks on Serial Box this year. Marvel's Thor: Metal Gods led the charge, followed soon after by Marvel's Black Widow: Bad Blood and the current series, Marvel's Jessica Jones: Playing With Fire.
To help promote Marvel's current audiobook release, we at ComicBookMovie chatted with Lauren Beukes, one of the writers on Marvel's Jessica Jones: Playing With Fire. The writer shared details with us about her fellow writing staff, what collaboration there is between the different Marvel Serial Box series, and more.
Check out what Beukes had to say for yourself below!
Joe: I spoke with Elsa Sjunneson, the deaf/blind writer who helped contribute to Matt Murdock's Daredevil in the series to help authenticate his disability. What can you share with me about the rest of the writing team and how you guys worked together to bring this project to life?
Lauren Beukes: Elsa, Vita Ayala, Zoe Quinn and I were locked in a room for eight hours a day in New York in May last year with Serial Box's's Julian Yap facilitating (which also included managing the excellent break policy and providing hot meals and all the snackage and caffeine we needed). It was goddamn glorious working with this group of smart as hell and creative queer pros to reverse engineer the mystery, riff off each other, push the story harder and higher.
Sam Beckbessinger, another regular collaborator, came on board half-way through, but she missed out on being in the room, which was the best part of the experience. We quipped and joked a lot and bashed our collective heads against the wall when we got stuck, but being a collective meant it was easier to find our way through, although our favorite line was 'And then Jessica Jessicas her way out of it.'"
Joe: Marvel's Jessica Jones: Playing With Fire is the third audio-comic to debut from Marvel, following Marvel's Thor: Metal Gods and Marvel's Black Widow: Bad Blood. Did you look to the prior outings for inspiration, or did the teams on these series collaborate at all?
Lauren Beukes: My friend Aaron Stewart-Ahn was head writer on Thor, so we'd talked about the process, but I hadn't read his at the time we kicked off on ours. We plunged right in, figured it out together, with Serial Box's expert guidance.
Joe: Can you share any fun trivia about Marvel's Jessica Jones: Playing With Fire?
Lauren Beukes: We couldn't resist covering her in glitter. Just because we knew how much that would piss her off.
Joe: Do you think there will be a season 2, or is that something you're unable to share at this time?
Lauren Beukes: I don't know! I won't be able to work on a second season, unfortunately, but I'd love to see what everyone else does with a continuing storyline!
Joe: If you could contribute to an audio-comic outing of any Marvel character, who would you choose and why?
Lauren Beukes: Into The Spiderverse's Gwen Stacy because I think my 11-year-old daughter would approve. She-Hulk would also be fun, and allow me to bring in social justice issues through her lawyering.
What do you guys think of these remarks from Beukes? Share your thoughts down in the comments, and be sure to check out the preview for Marvel's Jessica Jones: Playing With Fire below!
Marvel’s Jessica Jones: Playing with Fire is a 16-episode story you can read OR listen to on your phone and on the web.
In the series launching on Serial Box, Jessica Jones has made an art of ignoring her particular brand of super-powered trauma. But these days, she’s giving the whole “self-care” thing a try. Seeing a therapist, finding healthier coping mechanisms (read: no business-hours drinking), working toward not wanting to punch things all the time. Maybe even taking the occasional case that won’t eat her alive.
A simple missing persons case seems like just the ticket. But when a boy’s body turns up in what looks like a cut-and-dried OD, Jessica can’t let it go and dives headlong into an obsessive search for answers.
Marvel's Jessica Jones: Playing With Fire episodes #1-5 are currently available with the full 16-episode season costing $9.99. Find it on Google Play