Dystopian Dream Girl: Sarah Vaughn and Jonathan Luna Talk Their Android Love Story, "Alex + Ada"
Sarah Vaughn and Jonathan Luna talks about their hit comic book series "Alex + Ada."
Image via Complex Original
Love stories between humans and computers are as old as the concept of A.I. itself. Some are great (Her, Blade Runner). Some are terrible (Transcendence, Simone). Some make me feel like crying into my keyboard before they’ve even been released (Chappie). But though the space may be crowded, you’ve probably never seen one quite like Alex + Ada.
While tales about androids trend toward dystopian hell-scales or apocalyptic scenarios, Sarah Vaughn and Jonathan Luna's comic is set in a world much like our own. The big exception—that androids have become sentient—is certainly an issue, but it's not the literal end of the world as we know it. "I think with the quiet tone we wanted to set, we needed a quiet world," says Vaughn, who writes the series. "There are plenty of problems. There are a lot of tragedies. But it's a functioning society. There is a lot of joy in it too."
Luna is most famous for his collaborations with his brother Joshua on comics like Girls and The Sword, which have a similarly flat look and feel. But with Alex + Ada, his soft colors and simple lines have found their most appropriate vehicle yet. Because Alex + Ada's minimalist world is uncannily similar to our own, Luna and Vaughn are free to focus on the titular character's relationship. But though their love may be unconventional, it's more uncannily human than other fictional romances between two biological people.
I caught up with the two creators to talk Luna's evolving art, Vaughn's first foray into comics, and the similarities—or lack thereof—between other android-centric stories.
Nathan Reese is a News Editor at Complex. He tweets here. The latest copy of Alex + Ada is on shelves today.
Where did the initial idea of the Alex + Ada story come from?
Jonathan Luna: I’ve always been into sci-fi, and I was into androids and robots. I had finished The Sword in 2010 and I took a two-year sabbatical. I did a fairytale picture book [Star Bright and the Looking Glass], and over that time I had the idea of the story about a young man that falls in love with a female android. Usually, if an idea doesn’t leave my head, it’s pretty much a sure sign that that’s what I should go with. My brother [Joshua] and I decided to work on separate projects. When I was looking for a writer at the time, Sarah was helping to proofread my fairytale picture book. I knew that she was an artist and a writer. I saw her art, which I enjoyed, but I had no idea what her writing was like. When she was helping me, I just felt very comfortable talking to her. The idea of working with her just came naturally. One night we had dinner and pitched the idea of Alex + Ada, and I think she pretty much agreed to do it from that night. We started talking about it like around New Years 2013. We spent about three or four months just talking about the world, building it, creating the plot and I think I started I started drawing around April, 2013.
Sarah, what were your first thoughts about the story when Jonathan came to you with it?
Vaughn: I always want to work on stuff that I would want to read. I was like, would I read this? Yes, let’s do it! All he said in the beginning was that it's about a guy, a young man, who falls in love with a female android. That was pretty much it and it really intrigued me. I really couldn’t say no. The idea was right up my alley and [getting the opportunity] was a massive experience. It’s my first published comic as a writer and it’s been quite a journey as far as understanding what it takes to create a comic.
Sarah, what do you think the most difficult aspect of writing a comic month to month is?
Vaughn: It’s interesting because you have the whole story, so you have to get that from point A to point B. Then you also have these monthly issues, so you have to tell a story within the issue itself. Then that comic is broken down into pages, so you have to make sure that each page makes sense. It’s challenging and fascinating to me—like a puzzle, really. It all has to flow.
I’ve always thought about, for comics in particular, how strange it is that people review each issue individually. It's sort of like reviewing one episode of a television series—people do that too—but it's really part of this larger body of work. Do you think each issue needs to work as a self-contained whole?
Luna: I think so. It needs to stand alone, not in a short story sense, but in a sense that people are making opinions for every installment.
Vaughn: But they still need to want more.
It seems like the story is sort of fleshed out as an outline early on. As you’re producing each issue, are you going back and forth and talking about what needs to be on the page as well as how things are going to fit together?
Luna: Yeah, during those first few months that I talked about, we [created an outline] of the whole entire story. Every month, Sarah writes the issue and then I read it. I give her my feedback and she makes some edits. We do that until we have a good draft. When I start to draft some things visually. I used to use pencil and pen and then scan it into the computer and color in Photoshop. In the past, I edited out the lines in Photoshop too, but it's all started digitally in the first place.
It seems like a lot of stories about the future are really bleak dystopias, but Alex + Ada's world seems like a relatively nice place to live, despite the friction between humans in robots.
Vaughn: I think with the story that we wanted to tell we needed a stable environment. What we really wanted to tell in tone, was more of like an everyday story— what your neighbor might experience—rather than somebody who has to save the world. I think we wanted to create a world that was very much like our reality. But I’m not going to say it's normal, just because I don’t even know what normal is.
Luna: I like telling grounded stories that make it feel like happened today, even though it is set in the future. I feel like it's more relatable. And whenever there is a really cool, fantastic elements like futuristic technology, it makes it feel a little bit more amazing in a way.
To that end, the way people act is similar to how we might act. For example, when Ada’s power shuts down, she runs to Alex's friend's house and they’re just kind of like "Oh that’s cool that you’re a sentient android" instead of freaking out about it.
Vaughn: Yeah, I think the whole story is about sort of exploring the reactions to robots. I think what helps make it right is technology. The robots have been there for a little while so people are used to them on some level. I think with that in mind, it definitely changes the reactions they have.
Just personally, would you want to have brain implants with your phone the way people do in the book?
Luna: I wouldn’t do the implants.
Vaughn: I don’t know. I would definitely want a lot of people to do it before I did. I’m kind of a follower in that way. It’s like teleportation. I’m not going to be the first one trying that.
Luna: Yeah, I’m still against lasik eye surgery. I’m going to stick with glasses and contacts.
I wanted to ask about the grandmother character. She's so hip for an old lady. I was wondering if she was based on any one in particular?
Vaughn: She’s actually based on how I would love to be when I am her age. I would love to have no filter, not care, do what I want and enjoy life. So it’s kind of like that. She’s slightly based on my mom too—the most outrageous things. She’s actually weirdly enough a mix of me and my mom.
Was she in the original concept of the comic?
Vaughn: She wasn’t [in the original concept]. I think the grandmother showed up a little bit later. So, in that sense no, but definitely by the time we really started plotting the story she was a big part of it.
Luna: For the first draft of the first issue, my take on the grandma was that I like the contrast of someone who’s older, but more liberal. Older people tend to be more conservative
I know that it was originally conceived as a 12 issue run, is that still what you’re thinking for the series?
Luna: No, initially it was 12, but then we needed more time. So, we made it 15.
Why have such a limited run? It seems like there's a lot of places to explore in your world.
Luna: I personally like to tell stories with an ending. I always have. We decided from the beginning that was what we wanted to do.
Vaughn: Yeah, that’s actually my preferred not a story telling as well. That was part of why I was really excited to work on the project because I knew it would be sort of a finite series. Not that it's condensed, but there would be an end in sight. That really appeals to me.
Jonathan, I know for your last project Star Bright and The Looking Glass you had leared to paint. How it was for you returning to your artistically spare style for Alex + Ada?
Luna: Well, the look of Alex + Ada is very similar to my older comic books works. It’s weird because people don’t really see the way that I really draw which is just kind of unfortunate. My favorite tool to draw with is a ballpoint pen and I just love drawing in sketchbooks. Maybe I can do something like that in the future. I use minimalistic lines and coloring in comics because I do like the look. I’m inspired by anime and I like glow-y lighting effects. The reason why I used that style is basically for more economical reasons. I’m doing so much on the book that I need to not spend so much time on the art. That probably sounds horrible on paper [laughs]. There are so many more styles that I want to use in my career.
Surprisingly, I didn’t learn how to paint when I went to college and for my sabbatical I took a painting class. I know how to use color, but I didn’t know how to apply paint, use solvents and all the different kinds of tools that go with painting. I just really getting into pop culture surrealism and that was inspiring me at the time. I kind of wanted to play with in that direction. I still want too in the future, but I don’t know how I’m going to manifest that into my work.
Do you think that your work painting changed how you approach comics at all?
Luna: No, I think it is generally about the same. I like to use repetition of panels with a little bit of movement to show contrast. I like when facial expressions change. I like when things are subtle like that. Most comics are shot-by-shot, but I like to go moment-by-moment. In most comics, the angles change in almost in every single panel, but I like the panels that are almost like an animation in a way. The most interesting comment I hear on Twitter and stuff is, like I said, the art is fairly similar to my previous work. I think my work is tighter on Alex + Ada. That said, people think that the cleanliness of my art really fits the futuristic world.
Vaughn: In Alex + Ada, the color choices that Jonathan uses are just soft and perfect for the story.
Luna: I think so, but I’ve been using almost the same palette for the past 10 years. With Girls, that was a darker book, so I would make the lighting darker. In Alex + Ada, the lighting is a little brighter so, maybe that’s the difference, but generally my palettes has been just about the same.
Stories about people falling in love with androids seem to be fairly popular in sci-fi. Her comes to mind. So does Blade Runner. Were you worried about differentiating Alex + Ada from other works?
Luna: The funny thing is that we came up with Alex + Ada before Her was even in production. I’m not personally drawing from one or a few things, it's just the situation of a young man being in love with a female android. I think it is Sarah and my life experiences that’s kind of the fuel the work.
Vaughn: It’s definitely a mixture of both of us, but I do think on some level you need to be aware of other people’s work. At the same time, you can’t derail your story. I think what makes it different is our perspective on life and sort of how that does affect our story telling.
Luna: Fortunately, to my knowledge, there isn’t a story like Alex + Ada.
Vaughn: I haven’t seen Her yet. I haven’t watched it and I’m actually consciously avoided seeing it. As soon as Alex + Ada is over, I’m going to watch it and I’m going to be interested.
Luna: I watched it because I am a fan of a lot of the people involved in that movie. Plus, I wanted to make sure that we didn’t have something like it. Fortunately, it’s not. They’re two completely different stories. Similar but different.
The idea of falling in love with a computer seems to be something that everyone is fascinated by. People are wondering if artificial intelligence will actually satisfy these emotional needs.
Luna: It’s crazy how many similar stories have popped since we started working on Alex + Ada. Like Transcendence with Johnny Depp, you’ve got this new robot movie with Antonio Banderas, you’ve got Chappie from Neill Blomkamp. There’s a couple more movies out there. It’s really interesting, I think.