Interview with Pat Shand - Charmed Season 10 #11 (SPOILERS)

Under the cut you can read my interview with Pat Shand talking about the events of #11!

The interview contains spoilers.

Click "Read More" below to continue.

INTERVIEW

CHARMEDCOMICFAN: Barbas’ monologue through the issue going from one sister to the other trying to decide who to go after was fantastic! In your mind does Barbas want to kill the Charmed Ones or does he want to only see them suffer?

PAT SHAND: You know, I don’t know if Barbas sees those as mutually exclusive. I think, had he killed Prue instead of Shax, he’d be satisfied in a way. Or, at least he thinks he would be. He’ll always see Prue as the “one that got away” because she died by someone else’s hands, and now she’s alive – but she’s something new. To him, his Prue is gone, and he mourns that. In his own fucked up way.


CCF: Am I correct to assume that what Coop’s saying to Phoebe is about the Court of Love? We don’t know much about what the Court is going to be about. Will it be about Coop potentially having broken a Cupid law by resurrecting Ben or will it be about his relationship with Phoebe?


PAT: There’s a reason I kept that conversation silent, so I won’t touch on that here. The issue isn’t really about a literal Court of Love, even if they do show up in the issue. It’s about each character and their relationships at this point in the season. We get narration from almost every major character in that issue.

CCF: About Paige’s visions (?). We know she was having problems with alcohol in her teens but in these black/white flashes she looks as she is now. Are these visions fake, planted by Barbas?


PAT: No, those are flashbacks. Paige looks as she does now to show how present those still feel for her. But those happened as is – Barbas didn’t create those or plant those. His actions made her remember, though, so while he is still the puppet master here, it doesn’t take much more than a nudge for Paige to revisit those darker times.

CCF: Henry was harsh with Paige but his arguments stand. Paige being a Charmed One is putting her family at risk. Is Paige not really understanding him and think he is overreacting or is she feeling trapped because she wants her family safe but at the same time she can’t just stop being a Charmed One?


PAT: Both of those. I mean, she’s right, that Henry knew what he was getting into – but again, does that make things better? A lot of her issue right now is wondering if he’s right. He’s less uncertain in his point of view here – Henry is the kind of guy who decides on something and sticks to it, even if he’s wrong. Is he wrong here? I don’t know. That’s not for me to decide on, but it did feel like the natural place for the characters to go. The question is, though, is he feeling this way because of the reasons he’s saying, or is there an underlying crisis making him express himself this way?

CCF: Now about that very surprising ending of the issue. Are the old enemies we see Tyler turning into the ones that you will follow moving forward or is any defeated enemy from the past possible to return?


PAT: We’ll see a bunch more. I just wrote #15, which has a couple of cool ones we haven’t seen.


CCF: Is what happening to Tyler closely connected to the fact that he is Archai? And is the visit he had to the Demonic Wasteland a factor?


PAT: You had to know I wasn’t going to answer this one! I’ll say this, by #15, you’ll all know exactly what’s going on with him.

CCF: It’s been some time since we saw the Old Ones. With the old enemies returning in this issue where do the Old Ones fit moving forward and will we see them soon?


PAT: Has it been a long time? Maybe you’re not looking in the right places! This season is going to end up more connected than I think even I planned at the beginning.


CCF: In the backyard we see Tyler being sucked in the portal. While he is away Barbas arrives and then Tyler returns when Barbas is defeated. Is the Barbas we see there, Tyler?


PAT: The end wasn’t meant to be ambiguous. Barbas and the other demons physically manifest in Tyler’s body. Whoever is in control of this – Tyler, Barbas, the other demons, who knows? – didn’t want Tyler to be seen transforming, so it was done off-panel.

CCF: Is Tyler going to unwillingly be the Big Bad of the season?


PAT: You’ll know the Big Bad when you see them, that’s a fact. Or maybe you did already see them? Kind of?


CCF: You are a huge Buffy fan. Did you draw any kind of inspiration from the 7x01 episode when The First Evil was taking the form of every major past Big Bad, one after the other?


PAT: There’s definitely a parallel to the scene, but I hope in the end this is a lot scarier than the First. It was more of an opportunity to show some creepy faces we won’t necessarily get to explore fully in the comics – you know, something for the fans to write about on Wikia.

CCF: I am sure no one was expecting to see Shax in this issue. He immediately calls out Prue’s name. Are we gearing up for Prue VS Shax round 2 and will we possibly see Prue care about revenge when she encounters him?


PAT: Yeah, I mean, that was the big thing with #11. I was doing this Barbas issue, and when readers saw that his focus would be Paige, a lot of people said they were disappointed it wasn’t going to be about Prue. I hope this set them at ease, because Barbas, to me, is not the monster under Prue’s bed. Shax is. That’s a far, far more interesting dynamic to me.

CCF: About next issue. You’ve shared a sneak peek of the Charmed Ones having drinks with Kyra on the beach which is hard to imagine after what is going on in this issue especially for Paige and Phoebe. Can you tease us (just a little bit) on what’s coming in #12?


PAT: A conflict between Shax and Prue. And, also, a conflict between Prue and someone far more interesting than any demon who would have any bones to pick with her, Shax and Barbas included.


CCF: You announced that the season will have 22 issues. Has the structure of Volumes 3 and 4 changed from the last time you gave us an update?


PAT: I don’t remember the update I gave. The first two trades will have six, though, and the second two will have five.


CCF: Thank you very much for your answers and for one more very exciting issue, Pat!


PAT: Can’t wait for next month!

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You can find Pat on Twitter and Tumblr.