The popular and fan-favorite Creator Incubator Class #1 series Born Sexy Tomorrow recently turned 1 year old and completed its first season! To celebrate we asked creators VVBG (Michi and Archia) to share about this huge milestone and their action-packed, space-adventure series a little more.
1. Congratulations on Born Sexy Tomorrow turning 1 year old! Since the series first released, in what ways would you say you both have grown as creators?
Thank you! We’re very proud of our 1-year old baby! As creators, I think we both got a lot better. We’ve never done a long-form comic like this before, and it was a lot of work!For me (Michi, the writer) this was my first time writing a real comic script. One of the hardest things I had to learn was how to think of the story in visuals and not just in text. When you write a comic, you have to think about each of the shots and the framing, and what’s in the shot. Thankfully I had Archia’s (the artist) help for this (she’s a genius xD ) but now I know how to approach comics not just as a writer, but as a director.
This was our first professional opportunity, so we took it very seriously, and for Archia it was her full-time job. In the beginning, I used to fight for keeping clever lines or jokes we loved - but the deadline was king. We both had to learn to not be precious about things like that, in order to deliver a good story, on time. By the end, I was like, “if we can’t fit it in, cut it!”
We must sacrifice our egos for a good story. The story is more important than both of us!
2. For those who haven't read the story yet, can you tell us a little bit more about Born Sexy Tomorrow and some the inspirations behind it?Born Sexy Tomorrow is a wacky sci-fi space adventure slow-burn romance! It’s the story of Blaze Galaxy, self-proclaimed Defender of All Humankind - a studly space captain who, despite his massive muscles, can’t defeat his fear of commitment, and J-450N (Jason), the adorable assassin cyborg who imprints on him.
We first got the inspiration when we were watching "Pop Culture Detective’s" video on YouTube about the Born Sexy Yesterday trope in sci-fi, in which a hyper-skilled life form suddenly comes into being.
While this character has the body of a (very sexy) adult, they have the innocence of a child and must be taught the ways of the world by our hero. It’s a fun enough trope, but this type of character is almost always female, which we thought was kind of unfair. So we thought to ourselves, why not flip the script a little? Let’s make the type of content that we want to see!
3. What's your favorite part about creating these type of characters?
The unlimited potential! Archia and I were both in fandom for a very long time, so for years, we had been creating stories using other people’s characters and other people’s worlds. BST was the first time we built characters from the ground up. You get to be the creator, you set the canon, you are the Word of God. Both exhilarating and a bit scary!
For Jason, our favorite part had to be seeing how cute he turned out. And then we see him get cuter throughout the comic, as Archia gets to draw him more and more.
Blaze changed a lot from his original inception. Archia and I are both drawn to a certain type of male protagonist in media - the antihero. He’s overconfident, egotistical, hardened, talented, deeply flawed - an asshole that’s good at his job. And no matter how crappy of a person he is, the audience roots for him anyway. We wanted to make Blaze this type of character, except made for an audience that wasn’t the usual heterosexual male - an asshole hero for the rest of us.
4. So Born Sexy Tomorrow recently completed its first season (congrats, again! :D), what's next for both of you?
After so many aliens, spaceships, and planet designs, Archia needs a little break from sci-fi. So we’re both working on new projects with Tapas - separately!
I have been working with a Korean artist on a different series - it’s a romantic comedy about a gentleman thief and the streetwise pickpocket he takes in. It’s set to release in the next couple of months; I hope it will steal your heart! And Archia is working on her next solo project. Meanwhile, we’re formatting Season 1 of BST for a book print!
We do have a lot of ideas for BST Season 2, and we’re excited to get back to it when the time comes! Creating comics takes a while, so we’re thankful for your patience.
5. Thanks for chatting with us, VVBG! Anything else you'd like to say to your fans?
I know every creator says this, but we truly do have the best fans. They’re just great, especially the ones who have been with us from the very start. The fanworks are all amazing: the fanart, the cosplay, the fan videos!! We love their sense of humor - we read the comments to each other and literally laugh out loud. We also love their in-jokes, and how observant they are!! Sometimes we’ll write a hint in the dialogue, or put in background detail, and we say, “Hm, is this too subtle?” but they always notice it!
So, to our fans: THANK YOU, we are so grateful for you and your appreciation, your understanding, and your patience! We love you and respect you!
Thank you for tuning in to our Q&A session with creator duo VVBG! Please look forward to their new projects coming to Tapas very soon! In the meantime, if you haven't read Born Sexy Tomorrow yet, what are you waiting for?! :D