Guest post by The Love Interest author Helen Comerford
Helen Comerford is a Black mixed-race British debut author and is passionate about Black British and mixed heritage representation. She centres her diverse cast of characters in narratives they have historically been excluded from and celebrates their joys, strengths and everyday teenage experiences. She is fuelled by a love of all things super-powered, feminism, and chocolate raisins. When she’s not writing, you can find Helen hiking around the Welsh countryside with her dog, Cocoa. The Love Interest is her debut novel.
About The Love Interest: A swoony, speculative and entirely electric YA debut with a humorous and satirical take on the conventions of the superhero-verse, for fans of Michelle Quach’s Not Here To Be Liked and the Marvel Universe.
The superhero genre is not, historically, a feminist one. Although there were a few super-powered men in comic strips before him, Superman is arguably the first ‘classic’ American superhero. It was a genre centred around powerful men from the very beginning. But I still love superhero stories. They’ve got stakes, action, comedy, romance and people trying their very best to do the right thing. So, when I set out to tell a feminist superhero story, there were a few keys things I wanted to focus on;
The role of women in superhero stories
Women are so often cast a defenceless bystander or love interest in superhero stories, there to be kidnapped, threatened or even killed as a way to move the story on. This is the first thing I turn on its head. My protagonist, Jenna, gets cast as a Love Interest, looks at the history and the expectations surrounding the role, and runs as fast as she can in the opposite direction.
Agency
In superhero stories, men are sometimes good, sometimes bad, but they are almost always certain and they can sway lost women to their cause (ie Gamora, Black Widow and Mystique in X-Men: Days of Future Past). In The Love Interest, I wanted my characters to know who they were and what they wanted from the outset. Jenna battles a patriarchal system that doesn’t make it easy for her, but she is always striving for self-determination. In a story that subverts the trope of the Love Interest, the only happy ending can be one where the protagonist gains control of her own story.
Knowing a superhero would actually be sort of awful …
To create fully developed characters who interact with a superhero and his world, I had to consider the effect it would have on their lives and their mental health. Jenna starts the book with anxiety and this just gets worse as the press hound her and the world pressures her into a role she doesn’t want. (Is this unsubtly mirroring the pressure society puts on us to be in relationships? Yes, yes it is.)
It also affects Jenna’s family life as her dad and sister are drawn into the drama. Showing the effect of the superhero’s arrival on their family unit was really interesting.
Representation
I am mixed-race and was keen to place a mixed-race protagonist at the centre of my story. When I was growing up superhero stories had some characters from the global majority in them. I got the see a cartoon Storm leading the X-Men into battle and … actually, it was just Storm. Although, I could have probably found Luke Cage and Black Panther if I’d gone off to buy some comics. There are a lot more exciting characters now, not least my current MCU favourite, Kamala Khan (aka Ms Marvel), but the diverse cast of characters featured in The Love Interest is a gift to my younger self.
And an honourable mention for Hero Outfits
Up until very recently female superheroes have either been half naked or wearing something skin tight. I know, I know, Captain America’s sculpted muscles are on display, but the standards and expectations of female costumes are different. It’s the same problem that the female sports teams have in the Olympics. Why does a woman need to show off her upper thighs in order to compete in international sport or save the world? Watch this space for some fun costumes in The Love Interest’s sequel …
If you enjoyed my meander through feminism and superhero stories, you’re going to love my book. The Love Interest is available now for all your feminist, superhero and rom-com needs.
