By Don E. Smith Jr. • 6/25/09

Aaron Stueve Writes Like An Egyptian

by Don E. Smith Jr.

For a woman who has lived 50 centuries, Isis is looking pretty good. Especially as she appears in her regular title for Blue Water Productions - The Legend of Isis.

Just for a little history about the title, it popped at first at Image Comics with Darren Davis as the writer, then Tidal Wave Studios and Avatar Press, then the title made its way to Alias Enterprises and then finally found a home with Blue Water Productions where Davis is the publisher.

Blue Water has been getting national attention recently with their “Female Force” and “Political Power” series - which are biographical comics told about persons in the world of politics and entertainment today.

However, The Legend of Isis is one of Blue Water’s foundational cornerstones and Isis’s current writer, Aaron Stueve, spoke with CosmicBookNews.com as part the continuing “Declaration of Independents” series.

CosmicBookNews: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk us! How would describe Isis?

Aaron Stueve: Isis is a lady from Egypt a long, long time who ends up in present day Los Angeles and she is stuck dealing with the ramifications of that.

She is a person out of time and she thinks Christianity is a myth and believes in Ra as the “true god.” And there are moments she does not understand the world around her.

Try asking about her “American Idol” and she will have no idea what you mean.

I like the comic, I mean it’s all Darren’s comic and the first two story arcs for Isis were Darren’s and I had just scripted the second arc.

But in the third arc, Darren said, “Do whatever you want.”

Right now, I am playing with Isis’s mind. It seems her memories are not quite what they were and I building to introduce a new villain. It’s been fun!

CosmicBookNews: Now does she have any friends?

Aaron Stueve: Well it’s not easy for her, and this is besides the 5,000 years into the future plot. But she was a queen back in Egypt and she really expects to be treated like that. In one of that earlier issues she had to get into a museum to retrieve her staff, she ends up beating up three cops to get in.

Her friend is a police officer who was with her and he was yelling, “You can’t just beat people up like that!” [LAUGHS].

CosmicBookNews: So is there anything going between her and the cop?

Aaron Stueve: Well, the cop has a girlfriend.

However, Isis does live an apartment upstairs from him in his house. So between the three, it makes for some tension there.

CosmicBookNews: How have comic book fans reacted to Isis?

Aaron Stueve: Well one guy started a fan club for the comic on Facebook. They can get to it by looking me up on Facebook and following my “friends” section.

But, I also heard from comic book shops in Omaha that they have been selling out of the comic.

CosmicBookNews: That is cool to hear! Now going back to Darren and Blue Water, how did you meet them?

Aaron Stueve: I met Darren through artist Greg Paulsen whose work has appeared in Blue Water’s Paparazzi as well as other independent titles like Black Tide and Dungeons and Dragons: Black and White.

CosmicBookNews: Let’s go back a little bit. Can you give a little background about yourself?

Aaron Stueve: Yeah. I am 31 years old and I live in Omaha, Nebraska with my wife Kim, and I am a father of 6 year-old Quintin and 3 year-old Addisyn, and we have two dogs and one cat.

CosmicBookNews: Now are you from Omaha originally?

Aaron Sueve: No, I grew up mostly in Davenport, Iowa and this where I first started reading comic books regularly.

Ultimately, I ended up getting a bachelor's degree in English, with a creative writing emphasis, from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois.

CosmicBookNews: So you are just a Mid-Westerner at heart.

Aaron Stueve: Yeah. But I've also got a bachelor's degree in secondary education with 7 to 12th grade language arts endorsement from St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa and finally I am about two months away from having my MFA in creative writing from University of Nebraska.

CosmicBookNews: And it seems you have education in your heart as well.

Aaron Stueve: I do. I'm currently a 9th grade English teacher at Bellevue West High in Bellevue, Nebraska, but next school year I will be a creative writing and video journalism teacher.

CosmicBookNews: With all this teaching have you anything besides Isis published?

Aaron Stueve: I've had a few short stories and poems published here and there on the web. I received the Wendy Fort Foundation's Award for an excerpt from my novel last summer.

CosmicBookNews: Very nice!

Aaron Stueve: Thanks! But right now I am looking for an agent for my novel that is prose and incorporates graphic novel elements – the great Lincoln, Nebraska-based artist Chris Smith click-trackheart.blogspot.com is helping me with the art.

And I am working with Michael Adams www.geckodojo.com on another project.

CosmicBookNews: Do you ever worry about the perception of comics being “for kids” ruin your “cred” among academia?

Aaron Stueve: Well comic books are good literature. In fact I used them as my focus for my Master’s Program. I detailed how books like Watchmen, Sandman, The Dark Knight Returns and The Ultimates can explore emotions and feelings with depth that some books just can’t touch on.

CosmicBookNews: Who have been some of your influences?

Aaron Stueve: Writers like Neil Gaiman, Stan Lee, of course, but I really liked a book by writer Junot Diaz who wrote the story of an overweight fanboy in the book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

CosmicBookNews: Before Isis and these other projects, had you written anything comic book related?

Aaron Stueve: A few years ago I actually wrote a few scripts for the now defunct comic book company called, ironically enough, Unknown Comics.

Unfortunately, very little of what I did for them ever saw the light of day. But it was a good learning experience.

I also worked for Broken Frontier’s website at www.brokenfrontier.com for a couple years as a regular reviewer and contributor.

CosmicBookNews: However, we love your work on Isis!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Aaron Stueve: Thank you!

For more information about The Legend of Isis, visit www.bluewaterprod.com.

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