Episode #4:
"A Pedestal is a Different Kind of Box"
with Kelly Sue DeConnick and Adrienne Mayor

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On this episode, we're excited to bring you Kelly Sue DeConnick in conversation with Adrienne Mayor.

Kelly Sue DeConnick is a trailblazing comic book writer. She is credited with creating the new and improved version of the Captain Marvel heroine Carol Danvers that influenced the story foundation for the 2019 Captain Marvel movie. In response to criticism about her feminism, she created the series Bitch Planet, which has inspired a whole generation of female comic book readers. She moved from Marvel to DC comics where she reimagined The Aquaman series and, most recently, she completed DC’s Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons.

Adrienne Mayor, is a pre-eminent folklorist and research scholar in the history of science and classics at Stanford University. She has written more than a half-dozen award winning books, including the seminal works The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World and Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines, and Ancient Dreams of Technology. Her latest title, Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws, and Other Classical Myths, Historical Oddities, and Scientific Curiosities, was released in early 2022.

Though a generation apart, these two accomplished women begin their discussion with a mutual-admiration love-fest, and then dive into a spirited dialogue that includes super heroes, the myth of a female utopia, grieving like the Greeks and the consequences of having sex at Aphrodite's shrine.

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The wait is over, and the entire story of the Amazons can finally be told! Millennia ago, Queen Hera and the goddesses of the Olympian pantheon grew greatly dissatisfied with their male counterparts…and far from their sight, they put a plan into action. A new society was born, one never before seen on Earth, capable of wondrous and terrible things…but their existence could not stay secret for long.

When a despairing woman named Hippolyta crossed the Amazons’ path, a series of events was set in motion that would lead to an outright war in heaven-and the creation of the Earth’s greatest guardian! Legendary talents Kelly Sue DeConnick and Phil Jimenez unleash a reading experience the likes of which you’ve never seen, with unbelievably sumptuous art and a story that will haunt you-with subsequent issues featuring art by modern masters Gene Ha and Nicola Scott! One of the most unforgettable DC tales of all time begins here!

Kelly Sue DeConnick began her comics career writing the English adaptations of Japanese manga for Tokyopop and VIZ. After five years and more than 10,000 pages on books like SLAM DUNK, BLUE SPRING and SEXY VOICE AND ROBO, she transitioned to American comics with 30 DAYS OF NIGHT: EBEN AND STELLA at IDW and OSBORN: EVIL INCARCERATED at Marvel. Today, DeConnick is well-known in the mainstream market as the force behind Carol Danvers' reinvention as Captain Marvel (the book that gave rise to the Carol Corps and influenced the 2019 film, for which she worked as a consultant) and as the first female writer of an ongoing Avengers title in AVENGERS ASSEMBLE. In 2013, DeConnick debuted on the independent scene in a big way with PRETTY DEADLY, a brutal mythological Western co-created with Spanish artist Emma Ríos. Hot on the heels of that critical and commercial success, DeConnick and co-creator Valentine De Landro masterminded the sci-fi kidney-punch called BITCH PLANET. This (also Eisner Award-nominated) ongoing series has been met with rave reviews since its debut in December 2014. She made her appearance writing for DC Comics with the ongoing series AQUAMAN in 2018. She currently develops television with her husband and partner, Matt Fraction, as Milkfed Criminal Masterminds. DeConnick co-founded and co-owns GOOD TROUBLE PRODUCTIONS with Andrew Aydin, Valentine De Landro, Matt Fraction, and Vaughn Shinall. Their first major project, RUN, produced with Congressman John Lewis and Abrams Comicarts, is in stores now.

The real history of the Amazons in war and love

Amazons―fierce warrior women dwelling on the fringes of the known world―were the mythic archenemies of the ancient Greeks. Heracles and Achilles displayed their valor in duels with Amazon queens, and the Athenians reveled in their victory over a powerful Amazon army. In historical times, Cyrus of Persia, Alexander the Great, and the Roman general Pompey tangled with Amazons.

But just who were these bold barbarian archers on horseback who gloried in fighting, hunting, and sexual freedom? Were Amazons real? In this deeply researched, wide-ranging, and lavishly illustrated book, National Book Award finalist Adrienne Mayor presents the Amazons as they have never been seen before. This is the first comprehensive account of warrior women in myth and history across the ancient world, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Great Wall of China.

Mayor tells how amazing new archaeological discoveries of battle-scarred female skeletons buried with their weapons prove that women warriors were not merely figments of the Greek imagination. Combining classical myth and art, nomad traditions, and scientific archaeology, she reveals intimate, surprising details and original insights about the lives and legends of the women known as Amazons. Provocatively arguing that a timeless search for a balance between the sexes explains the allure of the Amazons, Mayor reminds us that there were as many Amazon love stories as there were war stories. The Greeks were not the only people enchanted by Amazons―Mayor shows that warlike women of nomadic cultures inspired exciting tales in ancient Egypt, Persia, India, Central Asia, and China.

Driven by a detective's curiosity, Mayor unearths long-buried evidence and sifts fact from fiction to show how flesh-and-blood women of the Eurasian steppes were mythologized as Amazons, the equals of men. The result is likely to become a classic.