by Ed Fortune
Josie Campbell is a Los Angeles-based television writer and producer who has written for shows such hits as She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous. She’s also the writer behind the latest DC Animated feature, Legion of Super-Heroes. We caught up with her to find out more…
STARBURST: You’ve written for absolutely some absolutely fantastic shows. How did? How did this project come about?
Josie Campbell: When I was at Warner Brothers, I actually worked with Jim Craig, who’s one of the producers, and I have worked with Alan Burnett. Jim had known me for a while. So he gave me a call and said that they were interested in doing some sort of DVD with Legion and Super Girl, and they didn’t really have any details. They just knew that they wanted to do something with Legion. And maybe Supergirl could be involved. I’m a huge super-family fan and a huge Legion fan.
What’s the pitch for this movie?
It’s a story about a young girl who tried to find her place and ended up in a crazy sort of fantastical sci-fi world where she’s getting to prove herself. And the people around her are getting to prove themselves and save the world despite the fact that a lot of people doubt that they can do it.
What is it about Supergirl that we want to put her through the wringer so much?
You know, I think if you kind of put your finger on it, which is a super girl has worse luck than almost everybody else. Clark definitely has his ups and downs. But ultimately, he was raised by a very loving family, he’s basically a Midwestern boy, and people really like him. But Kara, her life on Krypton just ended, and now she’s starting over from square one. So I think just that conflict inherent in her is so fascinating to play with. It’s so interesting to write! I also think she’s got a lot of resilience and a lot of grit and a lot of humour – you don’t bounce back from literal world-shattering events without sort of being able to sort of take a step back and look at yourself.
Why this particular line-up of the Legion of Super-Heroes?
Honestly, some of it is that I’m a fan. So I was getting to put in a lot of my favourites. I did a deep dive into every era I could, and was trying to pull out the generic feel from almost every era I could. I love Brainiac Five. It just felt natural to sort of have all of those characters – like Timberwolf and Shadow Lad, Bouncing Boy, and Triple Kick Girl, there’s something very useful and fun about that. I thought we fit really well with the sort of story I was telling.
Arms Fall-Off Boy? Really?
[Laughs] I love Arms Fall-Off Boy! That’s his power, but I love it. He’s always been a delightful soft favourite of mine.
What’s next? If you could grab a project and write for a particular character, what would it be?
You know, I’ve gotten very lucky in my career because I’ve been able to write a lot of my favourite characters. I’m writing The New Champion of Shazam! comic, which has Mary Shazam in it. So I mean, it’s really hard because in some ways I’ve gotten thrown a lot of my dreams and my heroes. I think if there’s a character that I’d love to write next, I’d love to write some Batman I’d love to write some Damian Wayne and some Catwoman. They’re fantastic. Outside of that, I’d love to write Spider-Man!
LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES is out now to rent/buy digitally, and is also available on DVD/Blu-ray!