Broken Frontier

Quite often a book catches my eye after only the briefest of glimpses. Wraithborn was one of those titles that leapt off the Previews page. Obviously, this has a lot to do with series artist, Joe Benitez. Joe cut his teeth on smash hit books like Weapon Zero, The Darkness and Magdalena. Series writer Marcia Chen started out in the industry as an inker, before taking on the mantle of script writer for such books as Ascension and Magdalena...

Jason Berek-Lewis: Welcome to Industrial Evolution and Broken Frontier. As you know, I am a HUGE fan of the book, so this is quite a thrill.

Joe, could you start off by letting us in on Wraithborn’s origin … How did the project begin?

Joe Benitez: After working on the Magdalena Blood Divine mini, Marcia and I talked about working together on a creator-owned book. We both agreed to make the main protagonist a female, so I pitched her some concepts I had for books with female leads. She was drawn to the idea I had for the wraith.

“Wraith” was the name I had for the project at the time. The basic premise was: a young girl has a power forced on her by a dying warrior/being. Marcia took the concept and created back-stories and also fleshed out the characters. We considered self-publishing and also approached various publishers, and eventually settled at Wildstorm.

So here you are! Marcia, could you give us a brief summary of the story so far and an insight into the characters?

Marcia Chen:  The story begins with a look at “future Melanie” - or “Wraithborn Melanie” - as she battles a horde of demonic creatures and coolly executes the girl who accidentally summoned them. We then go back and see that before she became Wraithborn, Melanie was just an awkward, timid teenager trying to get by in high school, not at all like the heroic fighter, nor the cold-blooded killer, if you viewed it as such, that we saw in the beginning.

While visiting her mother’s grave, Melanie inherits the Wraithborn power from a dying warrior, but she’s completely unaware of it.  Others, however, are not. 

The Immortal Brijit, the mercenary Kiara, and a mysterious sword-wielding masked man have each discerned that Melanie is the new Wraithborn host and are equally determined to find her and take the power for themselves.

Marcia, who is your favourite character to write?

Marcia: I guess Melanie, because in telling her story, I’m in a way telling my story, drawing from my own life experiences – from experiences/feelings that a lot of people have had, albeit exaggerated and dramatized. Like feeling shy or awkward, or lost and overwhelmed, or dealing with extraordinary or tragic events, or having to make tough decisions that no one else likes or even understands. 

Kiara is interesting to write too, ‘cause she’s so hardcore, but there are reasons for that. Just like there are reasons why Melanie eventually transforms into her “Wraithborn” persona, there’s a story behind why Kiara acts the way she acts.

Joe, who is your favorite character to draw?

Joe: In this arc, I’m torn between Valin and Kiara. They’re both really fun to work on and for completely different reasons. Valin is an amalgam of some of my favorite male characters in comics, ala Snakeeyes, Gambit, Punisher, Batman, Wolverine:  dark, sleek, tough. Kiara is just a bad-ass chick. 

I have to say that my favorite is future Melanie, or should I say Melanie as the full blown Wraithborn as seen in book #1 and the promotional  poster. She exudes attitude, confidence, sexiness. She’s dark and agile, and she’s got the best traits from both Kiara and Valin. Aesthetically, she’s everything that I dig in a “kewl” comic book character.

Joe, I really enjoy your sense of character and costume design. What inspires you artistically?

Joe: It really depends on the book that I’m working on, and what type of feel and attitude I want to convey.

When I designed the armor for Weapon Zero, I wanted to give the feel of futuristic and alien technology, so I borrowed heavily from H.R. Giger and Japanese anime. On Magdalena, I wanted to infuse the Catholic imagery that I grew up looking at with mediaeval armor, to give the character a sense of history and, obviously, a connection to Catholicism.

With Wraithborn, I want to give off a feel of dark menacing evil with the costumes. A sense of hell on earth, sort of like what Mel feels or will feel when she takes on the mantel of the Wraithborn. I’ve been incorporating a lot of leather and blades. I’ve also incorporated a bit of medieval armor again, to give a sense of history to the characters.

I’ve been heavily influenced in the design of the characters by Misumune Shirows-Intron depot blades, Nirasawas-Nira works and Clive Barker’s “Tortured Souls” action figures. I take bits and pieces from each and put them together in, hopefully, a different way.

Just like all the projects that I’ve worked on, Wraithborn is in a constant state of change when it comes to the look of the characters.  I don’t think I’ve ever been 100% happy with any of my designs, so I tweek.

This question is a little blunt, but to the casual observer, Wraithborn could look like another 1990s Bad Girl title in the mold of Witchblade, Avengelyne, Lady Death, Purgatori, etc. What makes Melanie Moore/ Wraithborn so different?

Marcia:  Melanie isn’t a bad girl, she’s a good girl. At the heart of it, Wraithborn is about the transformation of a sweet, innocent girl into a seemingly cold and ruthless warrior.  And, if we get a chance to continue the story, the transformation that the male lead, Valin, undergoes as well.

Joe: I think people that do that are just generalizing and simplifying certain types of books. It seems that any book with a female lead that wears certain type of attire is automatically labeled a “bad girl” book.

You hear “bad girl”, and automatically you think XXX-rated boobs-o-plenty and thongs galore. I tried to give Mel/Wraithborn mood, attitude and sex appeal in the vein of Psylocke, Elektra, Catwoman, Huntress. I wanted to create a total bad ass female character,  a tough “don’t fuck with me” type of chick.

If you’re a fan of that type of character, then you should give Wraithborn a try.

       

At this stage, Wraithborn is a limited series of 6 issues, is that right?

Joe: Pretty much. At this point, there doesn’t seem to be any plans for further issues at Wildstorm.

After issue #6, do you have more stories to tell?

Joe: Wraithborn has an ending. This was just the origin story. This arc does tell you where the book is heading, and you will also get some insights into things that will and have happened to Mel, depending on how you see the story.

Marcia:  We have a lot more stories to tell, and hopefully we’ll be able to share them with you.  Joe and I started out with a lot of problems working together, trying to find a balance between story and art, but I think we’ve got a good system now, so stuff’s only gonna get better! 

Do either of you want to give the website and forums a plug?

Joe: Sure! Visit Wraithborn! If you wanna ask any questions or just drop us a line, visit our forums!

I really appreciate your time!