The Evolution of a Protagonist

Catwoman, but cyberpunk.

That’s how the idea began many years ago. I’ve been reading comic books since I was about 12 years old. More than 30 years later, I still do. I love creator-owned comics, X-Men, Green Lantern, Ms. Marvel, and of course, Batman. The Caped Crusader has been one of my greatest comic book loves for a long time. I know a lot about the character, his rogue’s gallery, and the extended Bat-family.

Even on Book Riot, a site filled with whip-smart contributors with deep knowledge of all things bookish, they often turn to me with Batman stuff. Hey, DC Comics, looking for a writer for Batman? Holler at me. Seriously.

I’ve also adored cyberpunk since I first came upon the genre. It’s hard to recall exactly when that was, though. I remember playing Shadowrun games when I was a teen. I read both William Gibson’s Neuromancer and Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash in my early 20s.

I feel like being intersex played into my loves of comic books and cyberpunk. As a child, I didn’t feel entirely comfortable in my body. I grew up knowing about these “birth defect” and surgeries from when I was a toddler. I knew that under my Underoos, I didn’t look like other little boys. I was also the brainy kid who was gullible and bullied.

Then there were superheroes, these costumed figures with exceptional abilities who fought the bullies. They pushed back against injustices. I’ve long held that wish-fulfillment is part of the appeal of comic books. If I’d had a utility belt or a Green Lantern ring or a mutant power, nobody could have made fun of me and gotten away with it.

In adulthood, cyberpunk brought a similar, if more mature form of this wish-fulfillment. Well, the post-humanism part of cyberpunk, at least. The body is just another thing that you own, yours to do with as you please. To change. How young me wished I could change parts of myself to just be like other guys. This was long before I knew the word “intersex” or understood how gender is just a social construct.

That’s a long way of describing how Elise Corto-Intel came to be. I thought about Catwoman, the sometimes-hero, sometimes-villain, sometimes love interest of Batman. Cool under pressure and often having good justifications for no-so-good actions, she’s always been a fascinating character. I imagined Selena Kyle in a cyberpunk universe with cybernetic modifications, and that combination grew into her own character in my mind.

Elise Corto-Intel.

In Jayu City, five major corporations run their boroughs like company towns of old. Everyone living there works for the company. They buy what they need and get all of their services like security and healthcare through the company. There are no laws, only corporate regulations.

Under this premise, Elise’s job is to steal corporate secrets from other companies. It’s not illegal. It’s just part of doing business. It’s Elise’s job, and she loves it. From there, it was thinking about what type of person would love that job. Someone who loves thrills and adrenaline, someone who is comfortable being uncomfortable. Someone who leaps in feet-first, sometimes without thinking strategically.

There was one part of Catwoman that I left behind, however, and that was her sexuality. The comics have always leaned into the seductress angle, sometimes the dominatrix angle with her black leather costume and whip. I left that behind because so much of cyberpunk has been hypersexualized toward the male gaze. I get it. Sex work is work. The body is just something you own. But I wanted to push back against those tropes of the cyberpunk genre.

And so, Elise is asexual. Sex-averse asexual, to be specific. I did a lot of research into people who are asexual and romantic at the same time. Aromantic asexuality made sense to me, but not romantic asexuality. I asked an ace friend of mine, Brynn, to read The Hermes Protocol, and they gave me amazing feedback that really shaped Elise’s sexuality and several scenes in the book.

Elise is still growing and forming, of course. Necropolis Alpha is already written and due out in January 2024. I’m most of the way through the first draft of the third book in the series. The more I write her, the more she evolves. She grows. Everything she goes through shapes her, just like a real person. That’s the evolution of Elise Corto-Intel from three-word idea to fully realized protagonist.

But seriously, DC Comics, holler at me. I’ll write Batman for you.