Erica Schultz is a comic book writer who has done work on Daredevil, Xena, and Charmed through her career in the industry, but now she has a new mini-series called The Deadliest Bouquet coming to pre-order on Kickstarter on May 11, 2021.
The Deadliest Bouquet focuses on three sisters, all named after flowers by their mother. When their mother, a Nazi-hunter turned florist, is murdered two of the sisters, who fled to find a life for themselves are forced to return. Now their resentments, baggage, and disagreements have to be put aside if they will ever find out who
The series will have art from Carola Borelli, color from Gab Contreras, edited by James Emmett, and a cover from Kevin Wada.
We got the chance to ask questions to the writer of the series Erica Schultz, this is what she had to say about the launching series.
Eric Bryan Seuthe II: What inspired you to tell this Nazi-hunter/flower inspired character story?
- Erica Schultz: I can’t tell you where the ideas come from, but I blurted it out on the phone with Liana Kangas one day a few years ago and wrote it down. Once I gave it some more thought, I liked the idea of these three generations of badasses and the stress that brings on them.
I write a lot about family because I think family and all the good, bad, and ugly that comes with it is relatable to everyone. You always want there to be some connection with your audience and the characters, so family really is a universal way to make that connection.
The flower theme really came from working on the backstory of all the characters. I love the names Jasmine and Dahlia, and when fleshing out Jasmine’s move to the United States, I had her meeting a man, Lionel, at the Bronx Botanical Gardens. He was an amateur horticulturist and botanist, and the flower motif just sort of spread from there. Then they have their three daughters, Rose, Poppy, and Violet.
Eric: We reviewed the first installment of the series, it spends a lot of its time showing off the conflict between the sisters in the series, but hints toward the coming action of the series. How much of the series will focus on action, and how much will be focused on family drama?
- Erica: I think it’s a decent balance between family drama, the mystery of who killed Jasmine, and action. It’s a character-driven story, but the plot does twist and turn. You’ll get to see Rose, Poppy, Violet, and Jasmine kick some ass, don’t worry. There’s a long sequence in issue #3 that is all action. But I didn’t want this story to feel like an action-driven story where it’s just stuff blowing up like we had in M3. I wanted the story to focus on loss, grief, and the relationships between the sisters and Jasmine.
Eric: You’ve worked on Charmed, in comic form, in the past, a series that focused on female power and sisterhood. Did your work on that story help when writing the main characters of The Deadliest Bouquet?
- Erica: Writing about three bickering sisters with magic definitely helped, but Rose, Poppy, and Violet don’t have magic…Just kick ass abilities. That said, I think my biggest influence on the family dynamic was my own family. I’m one of three, and there’s a unique relationship between three siblings that I try to capture here. There’s this round-robin of alliances when it comes to arguments among siblings that can turn on a dime. It can get vicious in dysfunctional families, and let’s be honest… The Hawthorns are dysfunctional.
Eric: This isn’t your first Kickstarter for you, as you also launched Strange Tails on the platform. Why did you choose to start launching comics on that platform?
- Erica: Originally we had a publisher interested in The Deadliest Bouquet, but Covid put a big damper on that. Since we had already started the book, we still wanted to get it out there. Kickstarter was the best way to do so in this situation without conventions. James Emmett, our fantastic editor, has had loads of experience with Kickstarter (I Am Hexed), so I lean pretty heavily on him for his expertise. I’ll be stressing out until the end of July for all of this, for sure.
Eric: This Kickstarter actually launched at the beginning of April, and was canceled. What happened with the first launch, and what’s changed for this time around?
- Erica: Yeah, that was a total goof on my part. I hit the “launch” button thinking it was a pre-launch. We always intended to launch in mid May, I guess I just had an itchy clicker finger, so that “launch” in April was a total mistake. Let’s just pretend it never happened, ‘kay?
Eric: Your first campaign launched had a goal of only $5,500 for Strange Tails, now this book has a much higher goal of $20,000 for completion, what’s the reason for the much larger target?
- Erica: Strange Tails was a very different situation from The Deadliest Bouquet. Half of the art for Strange Tails was completed before we had even thought about a Kickstarter. Also, we were funding for Liana Kangas, Gab Contreras, and Matt Emmons to color the previously completed black and white art as well as have it printed. Strange Tails was also only 80 pages, give or take. The Deadliest Bouquet is over 120, so that also increases the asking price. But honestly, whether you’re asking for a dollar or a million, Kickstarter campaigns are fraught with stress and anxiety, so no matter the funding goal, I’ll be biting my nails and not sleeping.
Eric: With the relaunch coming in May for the comic, are you still expecting a January 2022 fulfillment date, or has the push of the campaign and other factors pushed back the release of the series?
- Erica: The first chapter is already completed, and we’re more than halfway done with the second chapter as I’m writing this, so the January 2022 date is still a go. As with everything, there can always be unforeseen issues, but we’re using a North American printer, so shipping times shouldn’t be very long. I don’t want to jinx anything, though.
Once the Kickstarter is live, you can access it Here, so don’t forget to back the project on May 11, 2021!.
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