Jane Wiedlin’s CV is a bit like that brilliant vintage store you discovered last time you were milling about in Soho – eclectic, unpredictable and full of fascinating nooks and crannies. Having found fame as one fifth of The Go-Go’s – the first all-female band who wrote and played their own songs to top the US albums chart – she went on to score a solo smash with the irresistible ‘Rush Hour’, pop up as Joan of Arc in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, front a pop-punk combo called froSTed, lend her vocal talents to animated sitcom Mission Hill and appear alongside Verne Troyer on US reality show The Surreal Life. Phew! Now she’s created her own comic book with Simpsons illustrator Bill Morrison – the brilliantly barmy, unmistakably Wiedlinish Lady Robotika – so when we found out she was appearing at Comic-Con to promote it, we just had to grab her for a chat. Warning: this interview contains what is known in the business as a “knockers anecdote”.
Why are you in a wheelchair today?
“I’m not normally in a wheelchair. I’ve been on crutches, and now I’m using a cane, but I couldn’t really do that with so many people about [here] so I got in the wheelchair. My knee’s healing though and it doesn’t look as bad as I expected. Some people have gnarly knee surgery scars but I’m really happy with how mine’s looking.”
Is it true you fell off a cliff?
“It’s actually a good story! I live in San Francisco and there’s a park called Corona Heights which, like the whole city, is really vertical. I had guests over from the midwest and I wanted to show them the beautiful lights of the city, and they wanted to have a lightsaber battle because we’re nerds, so off we went to the park with our lightsabers. It turns out they have the opposite effect of flashlights – you see this bright lightsaber but everything around you is completely black! I was coming down the mountain with my lightsaber and then I literally stepped off the cliff – one minute I was on the hill, the next I was falling. It was gnarly. I remember thinking, ‘Don’t lose your lightsaber!’ Then, once I hit the side of the cliff and started rolling, I remember thinking, ‘You’re going to die if you don’t stop yourself’. I fell about 20 feet and I heard my knees explode when I landed. Now I have to hobble around like an old lady, but at least it’s for a dramatic, exciting reason!”
Where did the idea for Lady Robotika come from?
“Well, three years ago I met Bill Morrison – he’s worked on The Simpsons and Futurama and he’s a great artist and writer – and we became good friends. He suggested we do a comic together because he knew I loved the same sci-fi stuff as him – robots and aliens and flying saucers! Both of us love things that are vintage-looking so we wanted it to be old-school-looking rather than computerised. As for the story, we just jammed together and it was really good fun. Most celebrities who do a comic don’t actually contribute much – they just say, ‘Use my name!’ – but this is really my baby. I co-wrote the story and I would have helped with the art if I wasn’t so hopeless!”
What’s the release plan?
“The first issue’s been out for a week and the next issue comes out in a month. There are going to be six issues telling the story of how I became Lady Robotika – I play a gig and after the gig I get abducted by aliens, they experiment on me and I end up becoming a cyborg. After that I become a superhero! When we’ve released all six issues, we’re going to bind them into a hardback graphic novel. I also have an album’s worth of songs inspired by the comic so I want a special issue of the graphic novel that comes with music. I’ve got about 12 or 13 tracks and they’re very Jane Wiedlin and semi-Go-Go’s-esque. I never want to say I’m too much like The Go-Go’s because the band is really a product of all five of us, but there’s definitely a Go-Go’s element to these tracks.”
You’ve said there are plans for a musical too…
“Yes! It came to me in a flash when I was on a plane. I realised I have a great story, a great character and all these great songs, so right then and there I plotted out a whole musical. When I got home I went through my catalog – I have hundreds of songs I’ve written – and put the whole thing together. It’s virtually ready to go and I’m just waiting for a hotshot Broadway producer to say, ‘Show me your project!’ If there are any hotshot producers reading this interview, come and see me! I have a great project.”
The Go-Go’s farewell tour was cancelled because of your injury – was that gutting?
“I was super-guilty and depressed, but there’s nothing you can do when you have an accident like that. One of the things we had to decide was whether the girls should get a replacement and go on without me, but because it was supposed to be the farewell tour we decided it should definitely be all the original members. It’s postponed but we’re hoping to reschedule.”
What’s the latest on that?
“I have no idea! We have to wait for me being able to walk again and right now I’m still hobbling. Once I get to that point, I have to find out what’s wrong with my other knee because I actually injured both. This knee’s not nearly as bad so hopefully I won’t need any more surgery, but I don’t know for certain yet. Then there’s the matter of scheduling! Belinda (Carlisle, lead singer) has got lots of stuff coming up so she can’t really commit until we find out exactly when we can do it.”
What made you decide to call it a day after the farewell tour?
“Well, Belinda wanted to move on and it was a business decision not to go forward without her.”
Could there ever be another album?
“I don’t think so and that’s funny because we’ve been a band for 32 years. I didn’t want to break up, but now I’ve had time to get used to the idea, I’m more OK with it than I was. If I was in charge, I’d keep doing The Go-Go’s forever, but it’s a band so everyone has their say. On a positive note, if I don’t have The Go-Go’s to fall back on, maybe I’ll try even harder to get other things going!”
(Your bandmate) Gina Schock’s recently co-written songs for Miley Cyrus. Is that something that would interest you?
“Yeah. I did the co-writing thing all through the ’90s and I got one hit out of it – a Keith Urban song called ‘But For The Grace Of God’ – but then I got burnt out. Gina’s really good at working at it and all the necessary networking, but that takes a lot of energy. I’d definitely like to do it though.”
Is there a Go-Go’s song that you think is particularly underrated?
“Maybe not a song, but definitely the album God Bless The Go-Go’s. It’s such a good album, full of great music, but most people never heard it and that’s a real shame.”
Is this your first Comic-Con?
“No! I’ve been coming for years and I love it! I’ve been a geek since I was a little kid so the first time I came here I found my people! This is my first time as a comic book professional though and that’s really exciting. I’ve been a few times to sign autographs as a celebrity in Autograph Alley upstairs, but it’s almost a different planet on this floor. This is the biggest event of its kind in the world as far as I know so you have to be here.”
Do people bother you much when you’re here?
“It’s been mild this year – usually they just say they love the comic or they’re happy to meet me – but in the past there have been weird people. At Super-Con a young man came up to me and said, ‘I like your knockers!’ I was like, ‘OK, I’m really glad you like them, that’s great…’ I’m not shy and I’m not a prude but it was such an off-the-wall comment that I just started laughing. I mean, what am I going to say? ‘Thank you – I like your balls’? Actually, I really wish I’d said that!”
Jane Wieldlin – songwriter and guitarist of the Go-Gos to guest on 
