Behind the Scenes / Q&A with Team Cat

Hey Guys-

North America experienced the time change, but the UK did not! So the actual time for the Q&A will be 5pm GMT/1pm EST. Sorry for the confusion!

Good Sunday everyone!

So, I guess my first question to my co-panellists is, how did you end up getting roped in to all this Cat-shaped shenanigans?

Lovely question! To me, the multi social approach to Cat is really important. I think it's so vital to be engaging with different audiences on Twitter, Facebook and the website. It shows that, these days, you can't just use one platform if you want to spread the word about something, as they all offer rich possibilities to interact with others in different ways.

With the difference in time between Cat's presence in the 1990s, I think it's great, as it makes me think about those times, and the mediums we didn't have then, or had, but used more often. I think that even though she's in the 1990s, it still just fits perfectly

I was initially approached by Suze Shore, who is also a personal friend, to create a website for a "comic project [she'd] been working on". She was really modest about the whole thing with me, and it wasn't until she introduced me to Will that I really understood the impact that this comic could have on people, and how big it could become. After that I was sold on the whole thing, and it's been one of the most fun, most exciting projects I've had the opportunity to work on.

For me the multimedia/multisocial approach to Cat is really important. I'm involved in a lot of fan communities, and of course I study fandom as an academic, so I already do a lot of research on the importance of social media in sustaining fandom. Having a text - be it a book or a TV series or whatever - is one thing, and for big things like Star Trek or Foo Fighters you could make the case that the text is enough.* But I think especially when you're a new and emerging product (for want of a better word) the more people you can access and more importantly engage with on different levels, the better. That's why I think having the Facebook and Twitter accounts as well as the forum is important in addition to the website.

As far as how we deal with having a web presence when Cat is in the 90s, that's not too difficult to do. There are so many fandoms out there which have a web presence for shows that may have finished years ago (The X-Files being a case in point) that I think it's pretty easy to differentiate between X happening in the text and Y happening online.

What I do find really interesting though as Cat and Urbanite's Twitter accounts - I'm not sure how they're going to play out as the comic evolves but I'm looking forward to finding out.

*although there is still fan engagement at things like cons and on the Foos' Facebook page.



I first heard about MSCSI from Will through a series of interviews/email conversations I was having with him for an article I'm writing on/about/with him. We were talking about the confessional voice in academia - especially in fan studies - and one of the things that he shared with me were some of the early illustrations. As time went on and the launch got closer he asked if I knew of anyone we could contact to review the comic during preview week, so I got in touch with people I know on Twitter, then I found myself included in the Team Cat emails and a couple of weeks ago was asked about setting up/moderating a forum.

How about you Riv?

Ooh good question! I guess the main things we don't have yet are YouTube and Tumblr presences. Those - especially Tumblr, I think - are two important areas to look at not only for accessing a wider range of viewers, but in engaging with fans and encouraging fan participation. I think there's scope for Cat/MSCSI on Tumblr especially as a lot of fans and fandoms have migrated over there in the last few years, and as a primarily visual medium it's well suited to a comic. I'd like to see some GIFs being made (I'd love to do it myself but have no clue how to) as they're easy to reblog and circulate, and would fit in well with that aspect of Tumblr.