Beau Smith is not a superhero.
However, one can easily trace his origins in the yellowing pages of the Bronze Age. As Stephen S. Beau Smith, his footsteps are preserved in time, fossilized in the letters pages of various DC and Marvel comic books. Smith was among the lucky few who were able to leap from fan to pro, selling his first script to Pacific Comics in the mid-'80s; alas, the company folded before it was published. Smith eventually made his debut via Eclipse Comics in 1985, where he also became vice-president of marketing.
Smith's knife-sharp marketing abilities and emphasis on likeable characters and high adventure in his comic books unmistakenly echo the influence of Stan "The Man" Lee. Ironically, his only work at Marvel Comics is limited to a Wolverine/Shi crossover in a career that has spanned over 30 years. Until recently, Smith is probably best known for a well-loved run on Guy Gardner for DC Comics in the '90s. It was a full tank of testosterone-fueled action that helped rescue the dark decade, but Smith's defining accomplishments are still ahead of him.
On April 1, the Syfy Channel will debut Wynonna Earp, a high-speed mash-up of Westerns, science fiction, and pulp horror, based on a character Smith created and launched in the '90s with Image Comics and now with IDW awarding it sparkling new No. 1. With Canadian actress and model Melanie Scrofano in the title role, Wynonna Earp will hit television screens as bullets fly and demons recoil in terror. Now in his 60s, Smith is on the verge of superstardom; just like Lee, he's finding his greatest success as he gets older.
MIKEY SUTTON: When and how did you come up with Wynonna Earp?
BEAU SMITH: Since childhood, I’ve had a love for the American Old West, especially the time period from 1875-1920. In reality, it as a short burst of a semi-lawless time, but like a shooting star, it ran hard and burned fast. It never takes civilization long to capture and tame everything. Rules and structure are built pretty quick. As any little boy during the late 1950’s through the 1960’s, I was crazy about monsters as well; high on that list were the Universal monsters. As a kid, and a budding young writer, I was always writing stories about Wyatt Earp fighting monsters in the Old West. It seemed pretty natural to me. Once I got into the comic book business in 1986, I really wanted to put those stories to print, but Westerns were on the wane during that time in pop culture, so I knew I would have to modernize it a bit, hence, Wynonna Earp, descendant of Wyatt Earp, Black Badge U.S. Marshal hunting paranormal criminals; again, it seemed pretty natural, or supernatural, to me.
It wasn’t until 1996, 20th Anniversary, while working for Image Comics, that it became a printed reality, much thanks there to Ted Adams and Jim Lee of then Wildstorm. Both Lee and especially Adams, strongly believed in the character and the project and wanted to make it happen. Adams has never stopped believing in Wynonna Earp. At Widstorm then, he said “Wynonna Earp should be a TV series!” This was before Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Supernatural. He continued to champion the project for the last 20 years and now as CEO and Publisher of IDW Publishing, he has made it happen.
SUTTON: In terms of her personality, was she modeled after anybody you knew personally? Or were there any heroic characters that influenced you in shaping her?
SMITH: Of course, Wyatt Earp, is the main influence. His life is one of great contrast and history. He was not a “White Hat” cowboy; he walked both sides of the street when it came to the law. Wyatt Earp was more of a businessman as much as he was a lawman. It just so happened that enforcing the law was what he was best at. He always had a very calm and composed nature in stressful situations as well as physical confrontations. It helped him survive from many without a scratch. His thinking became very focused and calculating when confronted. The same with Wynonna. Wynonna also shares a very reckless youth with her ancestor, one the readers and viewers will see in depth in the comic book and TV series.
SUTTON: Wynonna Earp has evolved through the decades. Has your approach in writing her changed as well? If so, in what ways?
SMITH: In the past 20 years I’ve always used the opportunity to write Wynonna Earp in her prime, 35-40 years old. I think that is a wonderful age to write a character, male and especially female. Now with the new comic-book series, I’m able to write Wynonna’s beginnings, her reckless youth in the Black Badge division and those that help mentor and mold her into the Wynonna that we have always known before. Being able to tap into the wonderful landscape that Emily Andras, the head writer and showrunner of the Wynonna Earp TV series has laid out, has been a true gift for me. She has added so many colorful layers to Wynonna Earp and her cast, that it has inspired me to write the new comic-book series as a hybrid of the Wynonna that the world has always known from the last 20 years with the new, brash, Wynonna that they will see on the TV screen. So, in a way, this is not so much for Wynonna to evolve, but as I like to put it, revolve.
SUTTON: Describe the process of how Wynonna Earp jumped from comic books to television. How did it all happen?
SMITH: As I mentioned before, Ted Adams is the force behind what we are seeing on the TV screen, April 1st, on Syfy. He has been the fuel that has kept the Wynonna Earp machine speeding forward onto TV; his passion and belief in the character, and the story is the core. He gathered other very smart, hard-working people around him to make this happen, Rick Jacobs of Circle Of Confusion and David Ozer, President of IDW Entertainment, as well as the wonderful staff at IDW. Ted has constructed the perfect machine of passionate believers to bring Wynonna Earp to the world, and it’s just the beginning. Granted this didn’t happen overnight. Wynonna has been on the desk of many in the past 20 years. She was optioned by Fox, walked in the video-game realm for a bit, but this is the first time she has been set in front of the right eyeballs. The Syfy Channel saw that Wynonna Earp was the direction they were wanting to go, and it was a perfect mesh. Passion on both sides working together. There was no pilot; we went straight to a 13-episode season.
SUTTON: How much creative input or control do you have on the TV series? Have you seen all of the episodes yet?
SMITH: I have not seen all the episodes as of yet. I have seen the first three in rough versions, with limited special effects and no music. I’ve seen all the dailies from beginning to end as well as almost all the early auditions for the cast. This and so much more I’ve been a part of. IDW Entertainment as well as Wynonna Earp Productions has made me such a part of all this from the start, when they didn’t really have to. It’s a wonderful experience that I continue to enjoy every day. Everyone, cast and crew, has made me feel a part of the family. Melanie Scrofano, the talented actress that plays Wynonna Earp, called me “Papa Beau” while we were all hanging out on the set. That right there is enough to make a guy’s day.
SUTTON: You recently visited the set of the show. What was that like, standing in the middle of your dreams and meeting 'imaginary friends'?
SMITH: It was a bit surreal, as some folks like to say. I was bit overwhelmed while at the production offices and the sets. To see WYNONNA EARP everywhere, and knowing that everyone and everything is there because of Wynonna Earp, was mindstumbling. I cannot stress how super nice the cast, crew, and production folks are. Not “Hollywood” nice, but nice from the heart and just as passionate about Wynonna as I am. The first time I saw Melanie show her Black Badge and say “I’m Wynonna Earp, U.S. Marshal” onscreen, I was grins from ear to ear. The set experience was wonderful in learning just how much work and how many people go into making at TV show. It truly makes me appreciate everything I see on the screen from any show. So much hard work and dedication.
SUTTON: Will you be writing for the TV series in the near future?
SMITH: You never know. We’ll see. My biggest treat has come from writing a comic book that others enjoy making into a TV series. Comics books are my cake. If I get to contribute a bit to the writing, it’ll be my icing. Hearing my words on the screen would mean I get to eat my cake as well.
SUTTON: Any updates on your other creator-owned work, Cobb and Parts Unknown? They're both perfect for TV or film.
SMITH: Cobb is in development. David Ozer, President of IDW Entertainment has a lot going on with Cobb and is working with some very talented folks with intense resumes right now. A lot going on that I just cannot talk about yet, but I will say it’s very exciting and, yes, I do have a lot to do with it. Parts Unknown is out there ready to be snatched up by anyone that has a budget low enough to make it the direct-to-video masterpiece that I created it to be. I am serious when I say I would love to see it done on a low budget and have the feel of the drive-in movie or VHS tape that I created it to be. Sure, if someone wants to make it a mega blockbuster, I won’t fight that, but I would be just as happy to see it fly under the big star budget like the UFO’s that snuck here from another world.
SUTTON: Will we see any Yeti on the show?
SMITH: Again, you never know, a budget increase could make that happen, so I suggest everyone watch the show and keep it on the air for many seasons to come; we may see Yeti and Bigfoot yet. Right now, Wynonna has her hands full with demon cowboys.
SUTTON: Comic-book characters are ruling TV right now; it's excellent timing for Wynonna Earp. How do you feel Wynonna Earp separates itself from the pack?
SMITH: Wynonna Earp has the same crew that worked on the film The Revenant and the TV series Fargo. It’s filmed in Calgary, Canada; we take the opportunity to use the beautiful scenery of Calgary as much as possible, I think the look of the show alone will set it apart from anything else that we are seeing on TV right now. What the southwest was to Wyatt Earp, the cowboy country of Calgary is to Wynonna Earp. Wynonna Earp also has a little bit for everyone, in the fact it has action, horror, crime and most of all a wonderful wit and likability that few, if any, shows have right now. The characters on Wynonna Earp will become the friends of the viewers, friends they’ll want to invite into their homes and devices for many episodes to come.
SUTTON: Will you make a guest appearance as Smitty on the series?
SMITH: All I can say is…watch out what you wish for.
SUTTON: Will the new comic follow the continuity of the TV series?
SMITH: I have taken the unique opportunity to make the new Wynonna Earp comic-book series a hybrid of both the TV series and what has come before in the comic book. This will insure that there is something for core fans of Wynonna Earp and a great entry point for viewers and first-time comic-book readers. No one gets left behind. Where I have always written Wynonna Earp in her prime, this deals with her start, when she was raw and learning; it also gives out some of her very interesting past. Buy an issue and see where it takes you.