This Queer Cyberpunk Comic Is Action-Packed and Diverse AF

PRIDE: There's a lot of series with queer characters, but they are so very often just side characters. Why was it important to have a prominent queer protagonist in 'Quarter Killer?'

Vita Ayala: For me it was important, because queer folks deserve to be the protagonists of stories as much as anyone else. But, that is more my overall mind set. In THIS case, QK is our main character (though the book is pretty ensemble), and they are queer. So, the protagonist is queer. There are other queer secondary characters, as well as hetero side characters. The perspective of this book is Danny and my own, and that is a queer perspective, so making the protagonist queer was the only choice that made sense. 

Danny Lore: It’s important for me to show queer characters because that’s something that I craved so much growing up, and even now. The tides are shifting in really amazing ways, where we’re seeing queer characters in books across genres and styles, but also in the accessibility of those titles. Because it’s never been that we didn’t exist as protagonists, it’s that it has been a struggle to access those books! So every story I get to create, I try my darnedest to center queer characters, because then maybe someone—kid or adult—will find them, and see themselves in the center of the adventures that we enjoy! In terms of QK being the protagonist, it really boils down to: why the heck not? Why shouldn’t we have a Black non-binary protagonist fighting the system, alongside their husband and family? There’s no good reason, and so we decided to just be ourselves, and that means telling brown queer tales. 

PRIDE: What sparked the creation of 'Quarter Killer?' How did you all go about assembling this team to start working on the actual comic? How did you all get started in working with comiXology to release it?

Danny Lore: When Vita and I met, we immediately started coming up with bizarre stories, and this was the story. The story that we kept close to our heart because one day, come hell or overpriced quarter water, we were going to make it happen. When Vita introduced me to Jamie and his work, I was absolutely blown away by his style—the energy and style! Plus we’re all giant nerds when it comes to retro stuff, so it really did just come together instantly. It was all a question of where, and Chip was really passionate about whatever project Vita pitched being a dream project—and allowed us the space to really play with it! Add Ryan’s genius lyrical lettering to the mix, and QK was born! 

Jamie Jones: I met Vita a few years back at a convention and we really hit it off. And becoming "fast friends" in comics translates to, "We should make a book together." Little did I know that Vita and Danny had a gem of an idea that was Quarter Killer. They sent me some character names and setting ideas and I started sketching. I think the first sketch of QK was done almost three years ago. I had worked with Ryan Ferrier before on a back up comic for Violent Love (Image) and he’s one of my favorite people in the game and I was super happy we could bring him on.  

PRIDE: What do you think it is about cyberpunk, and sci-fi in general, that so many queer people are fans of?

Vita Ayala: I am not sure about other folks, but for me, cyberpunk is about marginalized people using the tools of oppression to change both themselves and their environment in a way that gives them (some) power. Cyberpunk is techno-noir, which, noir is another genre that I think a lot of queer folks connect with. The play with the tropes has always been very appealing, and the room for ambiguity and identity that other genres tended to shut down is something I love. 

Science fiction, as a genre that is concerned often with the future, appeals to me (and I think a lot of queer folks) because of how DIFFERENT things can be there. Gender, sexuality, family dynamics, all of it is fair game in sci-fi because it is not rooted in the NOW.  

Also, both cyberpunk and sci-fi have a lot of room for people of color and non-conforming expressions of self that are very much queer coded. 

Danny Lore: Vita and I are in agreement about the connections between noir, cyberpunk, and marginalization. I wanted to add, as well, that for me, cyberpunk is also a path to talking about transhumanism, about our relationships to space and reinvention, and therefore queerness as it pertains to self-identification. Cyberpunk is the exploration of what your body is, what your mind is, and where the two meet and where they don’t.  

PRIDE: Can you speak about the importance of POC sci-fi fans being able to see themselves represented in their faves comics? And did you all have any queer or POC role models in comics and other media when growing up? 

Danny Lore: I honestly came into my Blackness as a writer in a very round-about way. I was fortunate enough to have parents that really made sure that I didn’t see my Blackness as a problem growing up (but rather that other people had problems with it), but I didn’t engage it in the SFF realm almost at all until college, for various reasons. My Black role models, then, were usually in other genres. I watched a lot of SNL and MAD TV, lots of Living Single and Martin and Girlfriends, and that was where I saw and understood people like me. 

As I came to understand what being a Black voice was, and as I came to understand that as something I wanted to be, I discovered (and rediscovered) role models in the SFF world. 

That’s one of the reasons I think it’s so important to have people who look like us and sound like us and share our experiences across all genres! As an adult, I’m having to learn again and again what it looks like when we exist in horror, in science fiction, in fantasy, as fully fleshed-out individuals. And it’s never too late, but I think of the stories I could have told earlier had I understood that.