Whoopi Goldberg is undoubtedly a big part of Millennial and Gen Xers pop culture experiences. From her beloved role as Guinan in the Star Trek franchise to the Sister Act movies, us sci-fi and musical nerds feel like we’ve known her our whole lives. Now, the acclaimed EGOT winner and host of The View is stepping into yet another arena with The Change, a graphic novel featuring a superhero who is unlike anyone we’ve met before.
Isabel’s a grandmother who loves gardening, ganja, and her grandson Fury. When she begins to experience the symptoms of menopause, she gets a few new abilities that she didn’t quite expect. You know, those of the pyrokinetic and electrokinetic variety, among other fun things. Now, it’s up to her to fight crime and injustice in her tight-knit community while facing a turning point in her personal life. We caught up with Whoopi Goldberg (no, you’re freaking out!) to talk about The Change, her new memoir Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me, and the real-life heroes that inspired her iconic journey towards fame.
Nerdist: I absolutely loved The Change, especially its heroine Isabel Frost. She’s quite unorthodox with such a killer outfit and a personality that just jumps off the page. Can you tell me more about how you crafted that character and what made you want to write this story?
Whoopi Goldberg: Well, 20 years ago, I was going through “the change” and watching all of these superhero movies come out and not seeing any superheroes [like me] with the exception of Storm. [There were] no black women, nobody with an uneven chest, and nobody whose butt is really big. [laughs]
And I thought, “Well, if you’re going to b**ch about it, you better write it! You better do it yourself!” And so I created it and I took it to Marvel and they loved it. Then, I got their conditions and their contract and they basically said, “You’d lose all control over it.” There was no guarantee she was going to be a Black woman and that she’d be going through the change.
They wanted the rights to use this idea. And I thought, “Well, the idea is too good, so I’m just going to hold onto it. I’m not going to let y’all have it.” They loved it, but they wanted to do what they wanted to do with it. I’ve tried for 20 years to figure out how to get it together. And friend of mine, Jamie Paglia, I said to him, “So I’m writing this thing about a superhero and she’s going through menopause and she’s a certain age and it’s something I want to do.”
It took forever! Now I’ve aged out of [the change]… but I wanted to make sure that [menopausal women] were part of this conversation about who can save the world… you have all these superhero origin stories from different planets [and] those characters had parents. Were their mothers superheroes too? What happened to them? Usually they kill everybody off, but if they were there, they would be a certain age now and they would be going through whatever changes they’re going through. So I believe that there’s a place for lots of different women in this arena. Dark Horse Comics was kind enough to say, “Yes, we believe that too. Write it and we’ll put it out there.”
That’s awesome. And it seems that Dark Horse stuck to your vision. You know, one part of The Change that hit my heartstrings was the relationship that Isabel has with her grandson Fury. It provides a great foundation to the story. Why was it so important to have him be a part of her hero’s journey?
Goldberg: It was important because I have three grandkids and they have always seen me as a superhero, even though they are grown now. I knew I had to have a little kid who recognizes what’s going on. Isabel has grown up and she’s stopped doing a lot of things and didn’t do things she wanted to do. She did what many women of a certain age do. They drop their lives to pick up a life with their partner and their children and move forward. [Fury] recognizes all of these things that Isabel sort of forgot about. She’s a gamer and she knows that these things happen there, but she would never put it together [in real life].
Right, he can see and believe the supernatural things going on. Fury is also that audience surrogate to kind of help bring the reader along with the journey, right?
Goldberg: Yes!
He’s great at giving us a new perspective on this world. Interestingly, The Change leaves us with this big cliffhanger. Where is the story going next for the “Pyro Princess,” as she’s called on TV?
Goldberg: Wouldn’t you like to know? [grins] It is my hope that if people really get behind [the book], Dark Horse will say yes to a series.
Hey, I have to ask, even if I know I won’t get a straight up answer! Fury’s grandmother is his hero and you are such a pop culture hero for many of us Millennials and Gen Xers. Who were your heroes when you were younger and what were the nerdy things you loved?
Goldberg: I was into comic books! My heroes were really in my house. It was my mom and my brother. Those are the folks who said, “There’s more to the world than you’re seeing here. Look at this. What about this? You could do this. Who is that? That could be you.” All of these things were presented to me by people who I now see maybe didn’t have the encouragement that I got and maybe didn’t have the kinds of talents that I had at the time. But they recognized it in me… I don’t know who I would’ve been had I not had those two. My brother was amazing. I wasn’t ever a “pain in the butt” as a little sister to him. We went on adventures.
I love that! How sweet.
Goldberg: Yeah. And there was my mother who, I think, as a Black woman, felt that people were trying to limit her imagination. So she poured all of that into our brains and I believed that everything was possible. Those are my heroes.
And look at where that got you! Your accomplishments are amazing, including The Change. You’ve also written your memoir, Bits and Pieces. Why did now feel like the right time to tell your story and open up about your family?
Goldberg: I was forgetting things. It was just the three of us: my brother, mother, and me. I know this is going to sound naive, but it never occurred to me they wouldn’t be here. I mean, I knew it, but I ignored the fact that one day I’d be the lone repository for our history. And so I thought, “Okay, let me remember some stuff.”
Recording your personal history and your family’s history is so vital and important. With the level of fame that you have, how do you really decide what parts of your life that you want to share with the world? How do you find that line between being open and not oversharing?
Goldberg: In this world that we live in, there is no way to keep your personal life personal. Nobody has a personal life. In the days when I was getting famous, we had the National Enquirer. So there’s not a lot about me that people don’t know. What the memoir does is tell you my perspective, the person who lived it. This is just “cleaning house” in a funny way. Just to say, “You thought this happened? No, this didn’t happen like that. This is what went down and this is why they said it happened like that, to keep you thinking other stuff was going on.”
Got it. And so you got to narrate the audiobook for Bits and Pieces, correct?
Goldberg: Yes!
What was that experience like?
Goldberg: That was lots of fun! I could take my time and make a story less wordy by saying a couple of things, and then you get it… when you’re narrating, it allows you to have your voice and feel how you’re feeling about any given thing…
Absolutely. One last question in regards to The Change. If you could describe that book in three words, what would you say?
Goldberg: Nothing is normal.
Truer words have never been spoken.
Whoopi Goldberg’s The Change is currently available via Dark Horse Comics and bookstores. Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me is available to purchase here.