Women In Comics Month: Interview With Kristen Gudsnuk

In honor of Women in Comics this March, PREVIEWSworld talks with creator Kristen Gudsnuk!

PREVIEWSworld: Tell us a little bit about yourself! What are you currently working on? 

Kristen Gudsnuk: I'm Kristen Gudsnuk, writer and artist of the comic Henchgirl. Henchgirl is a comedy/slice of life sendup of superhero comics. It centers around a young woman who can't find a real job, so she works for a supervillain to pay the rent. It's my main project right now.

PREVIEWSworld: How long have you been working with sequential art? What titles, companies, and creators have you worked with over your time in comics?

Kristen Gudsnuk: I've drawn comics for fun as long as I can remember, but I'm still pretty new to the industry. Henchgirl is my first published comic; it's being released by Scout Comics. Other than that, I have a few as-yet-unannounced comic projects. I'm also illustrating a middle grade book series, written by Jen Calonita, called VIP. Book 1 came out this December.

PREVIEWSworld: Did you have a mentor or hero in the industry that inspired you to pursue a career in comics?

Kristen Gudsnuk: Not really. I got into comics because I couldn't decide whether I liked writing or drawing more. But growing up, I was a huge fan of the manga writer/artist Rumiko Takahashi.

PREVIEWSworld: What stereotypes do you see surrounding women in comics? How could people of all genders go about breaking those stereotypes?

Kristen Gudsnuk: Whenever there's only one female character in a story, by default she becomes a stereotype because she has the burden of representing all women. So the first step of breaking stereotypes is having multiple female characters who a.) are different from one another, b.) have their own character arc, and c.) influence the overall plot.

A pet peeve of mine-- and I'm not sure if it's certain writers concocting their ideal woman, or trying ham-handedly to be politically correct -- is the perfect, inoffensive, confident, good-at-everything heroine. I don't relate to her, and her plot lines, by virtue of her overly virtuous characteristics, are almost always boring. I'm more interested in weakness and flaws, after all.

I also get annoyed at the lack of diversity in sexuality, race, and body type in comics. Happily, there are a few comics that are expanding representation in those areas, but they're still somewhat rare.

PREVIEWSworld: How do you want to see women represented in comic books 10 years from now?

Kristen Gudsnuk: It would be great to have more women writing comics: not just for diversity’s sake, but also to get new perspectives on iconic characters. 

See more Women In Comics Month interviews in our special section on PREVIEWSworld!