There are essentially two ways to do a comic strip (as I see it): with or without a continuing story.  The intro of Spy Gal is when I realized that I just wasn’t capable of doing one-off jokes.  I ALWAYS have a story to tell.

Spy Gal was originally supposed to be a character named Star Woman.  She was going to do and say all the same things as Spy Gal, but her design was totally different.  It was only when I sat down to write out the story of Star Woman’s introduction that I realized that, really, she’s a spy. Star Woman wouldn’t sneak into a place.  She’d bust down the wall and take care of business.  I rethought the character, gave her a new name and an Emma Peel-inspired design and Spy Gal was born.

Of course, Star Woman was still a character I was kind of fond of, so I filed her away for later…