The Unstoppable Wasp #1 Elsa Charretier cover

Jeremy Whitley is the creator of Princeless and has written My Little Pony, Civil War II: Choosing Sides, Jem & the Holograms, and more. Now he’s chronicling the adventures of Nadia Pym in Marvel’s The Unstoppable Wasp. Whitley tells Westfield’s Roger Ash more about this upcoming series.

Westfield: For those unfamiliar with her, who is Nadia Pym?

Jeremy Whitley: Nadia is the daughter of Hank Pym aka Ant-Man and his first wife Maria. While most people are familiar with Hank’s second wife, Janet Van Dyne aka The Wasp, back in his early days before he became a superhero, Hank was married to Maria. Maria was a political refugee and was kidnapped and held by her home country, which is part of what spurred Hank to become a hero.

Hank found out later that Maria had died in prison. What he never found out was that she had been pregnant when she was taken. Maria gave birth to Nadia and Nadia was recruited into the Red Room (the same program that trained Black Widow) where she was trained to become an assassin and spy. When her trainers noted her aptitude for science, they made her part of a special program, where her mission was to study her father’s work and replicate the process by which he created Pym particles. She is able to do it, but instead of turning her findings over, she uses the particles to shrink herself down and escaped to go find her father in America.

Unfortunately, she arrived not long after Hank’s death taking down Ultron. However, Nadia has not let that dissuade her from carrying on his legacy. Nadia broke into Hank’s lab and made herself a suit and wings, becoming the Unstoppable Wasp. She’s since joined up with the Avengers and received the blessing and mentorship of her would-be stepmother Janet Van Dyne.

Westfield: What attracted you to the character?

Whitley: Well, I’ve always loved Janet as the original Wasp, so new Wasp comics were always a exciting idea. But the first time I read Nadia I was immediately drawn to her personality. She’s excitable and bubbly and optimistic. She has every reason to be upset about how her life has turned out the past sixteen years, but instead she has chosen to be excited about the potential her future holds. I think super hero comics as a whole could use more optimism and excitement.

The Unstoppable Wasp #1 Elizabeth Torque variant cover

Westfield: What can readers look forward to in The Unstoppable Wasp?

Whitley: My mission for Wasp is for it to be an exciting and fun science adventure book. Something in the same spheres as the original Fantastic Four or Doc Savage. Nadia will be putting together her own team of girl geniuses to help shape the future of the Marvel Universe. We’re going to be big and unlike anything else, right from the very start.

Westfield: Her father is well known in the Marvel Universe. Will he be making any appearances in the comic?

Whitley: Well, he’s currently dead as far as anyone in the Marvel Universe is concerned, so he won’t be dropping in for lunch dates any time soon. But who knows what the future may hold.

Westfield: Aside from Nadia, who are other characters readers will meet in the series?

Whitley: Well, in the first issue we will have a couple of guest stars in Ms. Marvel and Mockingbird. In addition to that, Jarvis and Janet are going to be recurring characters in Nadia’s life. The most important characters to the series though are characters we’ll be introducing in the first arc. Nadia is recruiting a group of young scientists whom I think our readers are going to fall instantly in love with.

Westfield: You’re working with artist Elsa Charratier on the book. What can you tell us about your collaboration?

Whitley: Elsa is wonderful. I was already a big fan of her work at DC before I got the chance to work with her. Her style reminds me of the great Darwyn Cooke.

When I found out I was going to be working with Elsa we started chatting through twitter right away. She’s full of amazing ideas and her sense for page structure and storytelling is just amazing. She comes up with great ideas on how to enhance the storytelling of the book. I couldn’t be more happy with our collaboration!

The Unstoppable Wasp #1 Nelson Blake II variant cover

Westfield: Any closing comments?

Whitley: The Unstoppable Wasp is available for pre-order now and is scheduled to be released the first week of January. I can’t wait to share Nadia’s world with everybody, so keep your eyes open for more updates and previews as we get closer. If you love fun comics and smart women, you won’t want to miss out on this one!

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The Unstoppable Wasp #1