Today, Biff Bam Pop! is happy to reveal the cover for SCOOP Vol 4: #DeepFake, the fourth and final book in writer Richard Ashley Hamilton’s series from Maverick and Mad Cave Comics.
Here’s the logline:
Fake news, real danger! The exciting conclusion to the SCOOP series, featuring your favorite paranormal kid journalist, along with intergalactic and supernatural hijinx!
Sophie Cooper has overcome a lot in the last couple of years, all in the hopes of convincing the world that her dad is not a criminal. She’s solved some murders, outwitted a time-traveling mad scientist, gained psychic powers (only to give ‘em right back), raised a flying saucer from the Everglades — even while celebrating her Quinceñera, surviving high school, navigating a love triangle, and interning for the local TV news station, WMIA 7. But now Sophie faces off against the deadliest threat yet…herself! When a sinister Sophie doppelgänger appears on the scene, spouting fake news and debunking all that the real Sophie has worked so hard to achieve, our intrepid teen reporter must face facts. Will she ever prove her father’s innocence? Would anyone believe her anyway? Or have Sophie’s investigations only put a giant target on her family, her friends, and that which she values above all else — the truth?
I had the opportunity to speak with author Richard Ashley Hamilton about the final SCOOP books, as well as his creative history and inspirations, and what goes into creating a series like SCOOP.
Andy Burns: Richard, congrats on the upcoming release of SCOOP Vol 4: #DeepFake – how does it feel to have reached the end of this story and journey?
Richard Ashley Hamilton: Thank you, Andy! I guess it’s sort of a mixed bag of emotions for me right now. There’s always the relief of a book being done and off to the printers, although maybe doubly so for this volume because it had to accomplish so much. We tried our level best to tie up all of the plot threads from the previous three volumes while hopefully making #DeepFake a compelling story in its own right. So, it was an extra challenge to still make this entry all about emotion, not exposition. But I’m probably also going through a bit of withdrawal from not writing Sophie and Hal and the gang anymore, at least for the foreseeable future. Mostly, though, I just feel profoundly grateful to Maverick, Mad Cave Studios, and especially our fans for allowing us to tell a long-form story across four volumes in a very crowded marketplace. That kind of thing happens less and less these days, and it really means a lot to me to be this lucky with SCOOP.
Andy Burns: When you came up with the concept for SCOOP, was each book mapped out? Did you find yourself going to unexpected places while you were writing?
Richard Ashley Hamilton: I think it’s more like that thing when you’re driving somewhere, and the map app on your phone knows your starting point and your destination, but the GPS sometimes alters the route midway to save you seven minutes by avoiding traffic or a road hazard or whatever. So, yes, I knew where Sophie’s story started. And since the most important things to her are the truth and her family, I knew the difficult choice she would need to make at the end. Everything in-between was kind of a fun act of discovery for me and, I hope, the readers. In particular, our third volume, #SciFiWitness, took a lot of unexpected turns that surprised even me. The “girls trip” to Cuba with Sophie and her mom, the budding friendship between the two guys in our love triangle, Milo and Usnavy, the revealed layers of Veruca, who had been portrayed as pretty much a villain until then…I could not have predicted any of that stuff at the start.
But strangely enough, I went back and looked at my original notes for SCOOP, which go all the way back to 2008, before my first son was born. He’s seventeen now, Sophie’s age, and the plan was always to have this journey play out across four books. I’m not saying this to make it sound like I’m a genius or anything. It just goes more towards what I was saying earlier about my good fortune in telling this story the way I always wanted to. That almost never happens in my career!
Andy Burns: Sophie Cooper, the main character of SCOOP, has much in common with you. For those who don’t know, could you talk about how your journalism background helped inspire the character?
Richard Ashley Hamilton: Well, I wish I were as smart and brave as Sophie, so I take that as a compliment. But, yeah, when I was a teenager growing up in Miami, I interned at CNN. So Sophie’s internship at WMIA 7 and the whole cast of weirdos who work there are all based on this amazing experience from my life. In fact, my first day at CNN was also the day the fashion designer, Gianni Versace, was murdered outside of his home in South Beach. It’s still a terrible tragedy, and I never want to make light of it. But the truth is that I got to ride down to that crime scene in CNN’s news van and watch firsthand as the facts were developed into a story, then delivered to the world. A lot of this is recreated in our first volume, #BreakingNews, and all builds to a conclusion in Volume 4. Many of SCOOP’s sci-fi elements also come from my CNN internship, believe it or not. I received a lot of strange calls and faxes in those days. And I’m not sure if anyone ever plugs their back matter, but I go into this whole thing in much greater detail at the end of #DeepFake, for any readers who might be interested!
Andy Burns: What new element or twist in the SCOOP universe are you most excited for readers to discover in the series’ fourth installment?
Richard Ashley Hamilton: On an emotional level, that impossible decision Sophie must make between her family and the Truth, with a capital T. Going into this volume, I really didn’t know the answer, which was terrifying. But Soph spoke to me, as she usually does, and I’m very proud of her and the solution she offered.
On a purely plot level, I think we do some cool things visually and narratively with the very concept of deepfakes and the impact of real-time AI-to-video content on today’s news media. Like I said before, the first ideas for SCOOP sprang up a long time ago. But everyone involved in these books has made it a point to keep our stories as timeless as possible while addressing the uniquely existential challenges facing every reporter and audience right now. Basically, we tried to take the philosophical threat of AI deepfakes and concretize them into a more immediate physical menace for Sophie to face. The hope is that presenting these ideas in a more sci-fi way might help all of us wrap our heads around the very real dilemma we are facing at this moment in history. I’m still trying to figure it out myself, to be honest.
Andy Burns: Tell me about the creative team behind SCOOP Vol 4: #DeepFake.
Richard Ashley Hamilton: You mean the people who do the actual hard work, while I get to babble? My pleasure!
Starting from the outside in, Inaki Miranda has provided awesome covers for all four volumes of SCOOP, and I think his work on #DeepFake might be my favourite yet. It’s certainly the creepiest, with all sorts of hidden meanings buried in there. Justin Birch has stepped in to lead our lettering with this volume, and he’s done a seamless job of matching what’s come before while giving this chapter its own “voice,” if you will. No small feat, but I love the way Justin’s made our characters talk, and I can’t wait to work with him on more titles in the future. We also have a new partner in Rebecca Good, who’s joined Simon Robins to colour this book, again matching what’s come before but taking the palette to some really far-out places. There are two moments I’m thinking of, when Soph time-travels and at our big climax, where things get trippy!
Last, yet certainly not least, are our artist, Pablo Andrés, and our editor, Christina Harrington. I’m so glad that I get to call both of them my friends, but it’s still super tough to fully describe their contributions to SCOOP because they’ve each done so much for our series. Pablo has been with us since Volume 2, #BuriedLeads, and his artwork just keeps getting better and more thoughtful with each book, which is saying a lot. I suppose the simplest way I can put it is that Pablo makes everything feel real. Whether it’s a UFO or Chupacabras or just an intimate conversation in a newsroom, it all comes across as authentic and relatable. You will feel what our characters feel, and that is a testament to Pablo’s acting and his attention to detail. As for Christina, she’s the true unsung hero of SCOOP. These are difficult books to make, with twisty plots and big swings in tone and just lots and lots of stuff going on. But Christina makes it all hum in alignment, and her notes are both selfless and spot-on. I can think of at least a dozen examples, like how this volume opens and the splash page at the end of Soph’s travels through time, where Christina has taken our characters and story to a deeper, more universal place.
I know I keep saying “lucky” and “fortunate,” but that’s what I am to get to work with this SCOOP troop. And I also just want to highlight the rest of Mad Cave Studios, from their editorial and executive teams to their marketing and sales departments. Yes, this series is very much Sophie’s journey, but it’s also evolved into an ensemble with all of her friends and family and co-workers and Everglades monsters. And that’s kind of the way I think of Mad Cave. It’s one big group all trying to achieve the same goal of entertaining people through comics.
Andy Burns: For aspiring comic book/graphic novel creators, what advice would you give them in bringing their own stories to life?
Richard Ashley Hamilton: First, I would suggest that they make their own stories in their own way, even starting as small as an eight-page story to show that they can tell a sequential story, all while grounding it in their individual experience. It’s a strange thing that happens in fiction, but with SCOOP, the more specific and personal I make the story, the more I relate it to my own life, the more it speaks to everyone, even if they don’t share my background at all. So make sure each panel of each page in your comic feels like something only you could create.
Next, I would advise that they find a publisher as supportive and ethical as Mad Cave. For my money, they have the best deal for creators in the industry. Beware of any publishers that want to own some or half or all of your copyright. I realize many of us feel like we have to make certain concessions, especially when we’re starting out. Splitting publishing rights, entertainment, or merchandise rights is fine, within reason. But your copyright, your underlying idea, is incredibly valuable — it’s the “IP” everyone is after these days. I’d be very careful and protective of that copyright and also ask yourself: If a publisher tells you it’s no big deal to share your copyright, then why are they so intent on owning part or all of something that has no value?
Lastly — and I’m not joking — I strongly recommend that every creator find a good attorney and a good therapist. We all need a lawyer to protect those copyrights I just mentioned and to be our advocate in negotiating good page rates, a fair deal, and so on. By the way, Gamal Hennessy is just such an attorney, and he specializes in comics and IP rights, so definitely look him up. And we all need a therapist to be our advocate in every other aspect of life as a creative person. One of the reasons these four volumes of SCOOP are so meaningful to me is because of the sheer volume of false starts and outright rejection that preceded and have since followed them. You hear the word “no” all the time, so it’s really nice to have someone who’s always in your corner, rooting you on and helping you solve problems.
Andy Burns: With the conclusion of SCOOP, what can your fans look forward to next from you?
Richard Ashley Hamilton: Well, Maverick and Mad Cave have been kind enough to produce a hardcover collection of SCOOP, which will collect all four volumes in a single edition featuring an all-new cover by our very own Pablo Andrés, plus some other goodies. I love the image Pablo’s created. It really feels like a perfect summary of the mystery and fun and wonder that we’ve all tried to put into every page of this series. Anyway, that hardcover comes out next year.
I am also working on the second volume of my other Maverick series, TECTIV, with Christina as our editor again and with Marco Matrone returning as our artist. Marco has actually just turned in the final pages on another project we are doing together, this time with Papercutz, so still part of the Mad Cave family. That one hasn’t been officially announced yet, but it’s based on a Renaissance man who’s very near and dear to our hearts. We can’t wait to share more about it when the time’s right.
Beyond comics, I’ve written an interactive game experience for the Great Wolf Lodge resorts here in North America. It’s called MagiQuest, I’m really proud of it, and kids and families really seem to be enjoying it. So if anyone happens to be vacationing with Great Wolf or just visiting their water parks, I hope they check out MagiQuest, too. I also got this fun opportunity to help develop an upcoming line of action figures from MGA called Ninjombie. It is, as you might imagine, about ninja zombies who shoot slime out of their bodies. They are pretty fantastic, and I’ve worked again with Mad Cave to write six mini-comics that come packaged with each toy, one of which was illustrated by Pablo! So fans of TMNT and MOTU might want to keep an eye out for those soon.
As for SCOOP, we are treating #DeepFake as a final chapter for now, but who knows? In my mind, Sophie Cooper will always report again.
Thanks to Richard Ashley Hamilton for his time, and our friend James Faccinto at Maverick and Mad Cave Comics for making it happen. You can learn more about the publisher here.
