When Amy Chu decided to go into the comic book business with her friend Georgia Lee, she signed up for a class on comic book writing. Amy found herself in a class full of guys with deep, detailed knowledge of the comic book world, but Amy had an advantage: years of making power point presentations as a strategy consultant had honed her ability to tell a story clearly, persuasively, succinctly, and on a deadline- all critical to writing comic books, which are about 20 pages long and come out every 30 days.
Amy dove headlong into the world of comic book writing, from writing KISS comics, which have been around since the 1970s, to giving Poison Ivy, the Batman villain, her very first series after fifty years, to writing Deadpool and Red Sonja, and her own Alpha Girl comics. She talked with us about her unconventional career path, what she likes about writing comic books, and the importance of representation. (Spoiler: Amy cares a lot about it, and was even a founder of a magazine about the Asian-American experience when she was in college!)
Amy Chu writes comics like Deadpool, Poison Ivy, and Red Sonja, but that hasn't always been her job. She's also started a magazine for the Asian-American community, consulted for non-profits, biotechnology companies, and pharmaceutical companies, and run the Macau tourism bureau in Hong Kong. Amy talked to us about following an unconventional career path, drawing on her past experiences as a comic book writer, and how she knows she's found her passion.
