Zoe Thorogood and Claudia Leonardi’s Life Is Strange: Forget-Me-Not (Titan Comics, Dec.) continues the Life Is Strange video game spin-off series. In the sequel to True Colors, a pair of musicians, one of whom has psychic powers, comes across a mysterious teenager with powers of her own.
Thorogood, who writes the script for the Life Is Strange series, is also an Eisner Award–winning artist, known for her solo graphic novels The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott and It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth. She’s again up for an Eisner at San Diego Comic-Con 2024, where she’s a special guest, featured on a spotlight panel and at signings. (Check the final program at the Comic-Con website for details.)
What are you hoping to see at the convention?
I like all the gimmicky things. I waited for like two hours in line for a Tamagotchi last year. Cons are like the one place where I feel there’s no judgment. You walk into a con, and it’s like, “Okay, I can be myself.” Everybody has shared passion for nerdy things.
I try and spend as much time at my table as I can. That’s the funnest part of cons for me, being behind the table and meeting fans. I also love going around Artists’ Alley. I take mostly card payments at my table, so the cash payments I get, I’m like, “That’s my spending money. I’m allowed to put this back into the community, and I’m allowed to feel good about that.”
What is it like interacting with your readers?
Like every artist who’s done conventions, there’s always strange experiences, but for the most part, everybody is lovely and friendly and just happy to be there. I think people resonate with my work because I talk about mental health and trauma. A lot of people want to share their own experiences, which is nice. I’ve met people cosplaying as characters from my books—seeing somebody walk up to your table dressed as one of your characters is incredible.
You did a photo cover showing you in cosplay for Hack/Slack: Back to School. What was that like?
She’s technically Tim Seeley’s character that I was writing.
I think if it was my own character, I wouldn’t have done it....
I feel like that’s an unspoken rule.
What was your relationship with the video game Life Is Strange before taking on this comic?
I have been a massive Life Is Strange fan since the game came out when I was 14, maybe 15, a rebellious teen girl—I really connected with it. Even though I had resolved to only do books that I was writing and drawing, when I got the offer,
I thought, “I can’t say no.” The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott was inspired by the game, so it’s always been a big part of my life.
You’re working with artist Claudia Leonardi on the series. Does your process change when you’re writing for another artist?
When I’m writing for myself, I don’t tend to write scripts.
Everything’s in little scribbles and layouts. So, this was a strange experience, but rewarding. Claudia, she’s a brilliant artist. I was concerned, not because of her, but with myself as a control freak. You see the scenes in your head, how it’s going to play out, but obviously, you’re handing it to somebody else who has a different perspective and sees things in a different way. But every time her art comes back, I think, “This is so much better than what I would have done.”
