In April, Vertigo launched Vertigo Quarterly: CMYK, their latest anthology series featuring some of today’s hottest, and most talented creators. Each issue references the colors that compromise the four-color printing process: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. So far, the two issues released have kept up the quality I’d expect in any Vertigo comic, two more issues await to hit shelves.

We got to talk to four of the creators involved Rachel Deering, and Jody Houser who had contributions to Vertigo Quarterly: Magenta, and Matt Miner and Steve Orlando who will have contributions in the upcoming Vertigo Quarterly: Yellow.

We decided to ask all four creators the same questions about their experience, and history in comics, allowing you the reader to see how all four answered. We’ll be posting each interview one a day over four days (ish, we might skip the weekend). A big thanks to Steve Orlando who helped set this up!

Yesterday was our first interview with writer Matt Miner. Up next is Jody Houser who had her first work published as part of Womanthology and the awesome job of writing the upcoming Orphan Black comic from IDW.

Graphic Policy: How did you get started in the comic industry?

Jody Houser: I launched my first webcomic in 2007–I was primarily writing spec screenplays and short fiction at the time and wanted to have a visible ongoing project. I found I loved writing for comics and submitted to several comic anthologies when the opportunity came up. My first published work was in Womanthology: Heroic from IDW. I got to work with artists Fiona Staples and Adriana Blake and was pretty much hooked after that.

GP: How did you get to be a part of Vertigo Quarterly: Magneta?

JH: I’d previously met both Will Dennis and Sara Miller at conventions in 2013 and had kept in touch. As soon as news broke about CMYK, I emailed Will to say I’d love to pitch if there was an opportunity. It turned out that Sara was already planning to email me about doing a story for Magenta.

GP: When you signed up for the project, what were you told as far as what you could do with your entry?

JH: Aside from an eight-page story that involved magenta in some way, the sky was pretty much the limit.

GP: Did you talk to any of the other creators at all? Make sure you weren’t going to do similar things?

JH: The one creator I knew ahead of time was Rachel Deering, and we did chat enough to know our stories were almost polar opposite. Which is a good thing because I’d originally wanted to do a horror story before I went in the direction of Adrift.

GP: Did you go and look at the previous Vertigo Quarterly issues before coming up with your entry?

JH: Cyan came out a few months after I submitted my script for Magenta, so I didn’t really have the opportunity to see any issues beforehand. But reading Cyan and seeing the caliber of creators in there made me even more excited about Magenta.

GP: What’s it like working with Vertigo? That publishing name has certain panache when it comes to what they produce.

JH: It was an amazing experience and everyone helped make it far less intimidating than it could have been. Sara was an incredibly enthusiastic editor. She was the one who suggested Nathan Fox, who ended up being the perfect artist for the story. And even the people I didn’t work with directly have been wonderful. I got to meet Shelly Bond at SDCC this year, which was kind of mind-boggling.

GP: Did it being a “Vertigo” comic change the approach to what you put together for the issue?

JH: In one sense it didn’t–I always want to push myself out of my comfort zone and do my very best work with any story. But I think knowing the tone and “voice” of a publisher is always something to keep in the forefront when figuring out what story to tell for a project like this. I love playing with story structure and layered realities, and I knew that was a good path to head down for Vertigo.

GP: It seems anthologies have been a constant in comics, though never at the forefront. What do you think an anthology brings to the table that might be different from other comics? Why do you think we don’t see more of them, especially to highlight new talent?

JH: I’ve written about ten stories for anthologies and speaking from the creator’s side, it’s a great opportunity to really push your storytelling skills and to work with collaborators you might never get to otherwise. I think they can be a hard sell to readers sometimes, but it seems like Kickstarter in particular has helped with a resurgence in comic anthologies.

GP: What’s the difference between going about creating a short comic like this than a normal full issue?

JH: For me, I love the challenge of short comics, making every panel and every word count. It makes you a more efficient storyteller, which I believe in turn makes you more thoughtful when you have more pages to work with. I know it’s made me a better writer.

GP: What advice would you give to those wanting to get started in comic industry?

JH: Create comics! Anthologies are a great way to dip your toe in the water, and the internet means that you don’t have to worry about print expenses being part of the cost of entry. Create a webcomic, find an anthology that’s taking submissions. Just make comics.

GP: What else do you have on tap?

JH: My current big project is writing the Orphan Black comics for IDW. I love the show and I’m having a blast working on the comics. I wrote a story for an anthology called Rise: Comics Against Bullying that’s currently on Kickstarter. Aside from that, I have some creator-owned projects in the works, including two one-shots currently with the artists.