It was either late 2012 or early 2013. In July, Kelly Sue DeConnick had taken over writing Carol Danvers’ solo title, which was now re-dubbed to CAPTAIN MARVEL, and the fanbase for the character became known as the “Carol Corps.”
At some point on her Tumblr accont, Mrs. DeConnick expresse that she wished the Carol Corps has ID cards and Dog Tags, like the KISS Army. Well I couldn’t supply dog tags, but I could certainly work on an ID card. I sketched something up, and that night after work I jumped into Photoshop and got to work. I sent an early version over to Kelly Sue for approval. She had a couple of tweaks, so I made those changes, and we arrived here:
The above ID card is size a little large, as it was designed to be the same size as comic convention entry badges. I later thought a card which could fit in your wallet wouldn’t be the worst idea, so the following is credit card-sized:
Hey, are you a fan of Captain Marvel Carol Danvers? Just print one of these out, stick your face in the box, and sign the “Authorized Cardholder” line. That’s it! You’re in! Welcome to the Carol Corps!
And now for a fun personal story that I kinda love, but you can just skip if you don’t care.
In 2017, I eneded up in the same Portland, Oregon comic store that Kelly Sue DeConnick and her husband, comic writer Matt Fraction (Hawkeye, Satellite Sam, ODY-C, etc.), were doing a signing. I bought the first Hardcover collection of Fraction’s Sex Criminals comic (a story about a girl who can freeze time when she climaxes, and then meets a boy with the same power, and they use this ability to rob banks and stuff) and asked him to sign that. And then I asked KSD to sign my Carol Corps ID badge. She looked at it for a second, then looked back up at me and exclaimed, “YOU made this! What are you doing here?”
Deciding to play it cool, I responded, “I’m literally right off the airplane and here to see you.” Which was mostly true; My friends from Optimystical Studios (who had made the Carol Corps dog tags Kelly Sue had suggested the same day I made the ID cards) put me up for a weekend so I could visit the Pacific Northwest for the first time. The day before I flew up, I got a text that basically said, “Kelly Sue and Fraction are doing a signing tomorrow, do you want to go?” Of course I did. So my friends picked me up from the airport and we went directly over to Katie Pryde’s Books With Pictures shop. Also, yeah, there’s actually a woman named Kate Pryde, like the X-Men character Shadowcate, who runs a comic book shop. Real life is weird like that.
Anyhow, upon confirming my identity, Kelly Sue got up from behind the table, jumped up and hugged me (she’s really short, but you’d never know it from her gigantic personality). When Matt asked who to make the autograph in the Sex Criminals book out to, “Andy, right?” Kelly Sue immediately corrected him, “It’s PSYCHO Andy!” So that was pretty great, especially since I hadn’t actually said my name at any point. They already knew who I was.
KSD and I talked for a few minutes and she signed my ID badge. Fraction, meanwhile, drew various dirty body parts in the book I had just bought. I would’ve liked to talk more, but there was a line going out the door, so I didn’t take up much more of their time. Regardless, the whole experience was a fun bit of validation for what I had contributed to the Captain Marvel fandom.
And we took a “duckface selfie” together, because that’s what you do when you meet Kelly Sue DeConnick. And yeah, I am well aware that her duckface game is much stronger than mine.
