Broken Frontier

Tamora Pierce, author of over twenty novels and self-proclaimed “geek”, has signed an exclusive deal with Marvel Comics.

Best known for her breaking of the male warrior fantasy mold, Pierce has made solid, action-packed adventures for young female readers a reality. Her books have captured the imagination of lovers of the fantastic across the world and rung interesting changes on the classic tales of the hero's journey.

Her fiction titles include ALANNA: THE FIRST ADVENTURE, WILD MAGIC, LADY KNIGHT, STREET MAGIC, TRICKSTER'S QUEEN, THE WILL OF THE EMPRESS, and this fall's TERRIER.

Growing up in Rural Pennsylvania, the proud-to-be-a-hillbilly Pierce devoured fantasy and science fiction novels at a rapid pace, digesting what they offered and then constructing her own worlds of wonder. Encouraged by her father, Pierce dove into writing and strived to correct what she saw as the genre's greatest flaw: the lack of strong female warriors.

Now, she brings her unique voice to the House of Ideas, industry leader Marvel Comics, where she will have access to one of the most finely-tuned fictional universes of all.

“To say that having Tamora at Marvel is a coup for us is to make a pointed understatement,” says Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley. “Her name is synonymous with female-oriented fantasy literature, her works bestsellers, and her fans devoted and illuminated. That she was willing to sit down with us, listen to what we had to offer, is one of the best things that has happened on my watch at Marvel. Tamora’s vision of what fantasy and science fiction can aspire to is nothing short of ground-breaking, and what we look forward to her producing with the House of Ideas is really and truly something to look forward to.”

“Her first project will be WHITE TIGER. Tamora’s going to revisit the concept, linking it to the original Tiger and creating a new female hero with street smarts, guts, and a whole lotta obsession. I hope all Marvel fans will take a look and join us on this new adventure.”

"Working with Marvel is the realization of one of my longest-held dreams," says Pierce.  "The first believable kick-butt female heroes I ever encountered were Marvel Comics 1970s Colleen Wing and Misty Knight.  Ever since reading the Daughters of the Dragon and discovering how powerful a good female comic hero could be, I've wanted to try my hand at creating for Marvel.  Working with my Marvel editor, Ruwan Jayatilleke, I've become convinced that White Tiger is going to very seriously rock!"

WHITE TIGER, as introduced in Brian Michael Bendis’ celebrated DAREDEVIL run, is getting some artistic love, as well.  Legendary artist David Mack will be providing painted covers for the series as well as creating the character designs.  “I had a blast redesigning the White Tiger character,” says Mack.  “One of the charms of working on a Marvel project is the spirit of collaboration involved.  I loved working with George Perez’ previous design, and with the suggestions of Tammy and Joe Quesada to make the covers to this series something unique and very special.”  To see more of Mack’s designs and work, be sure to visit http://www.davidmack.com.

Pierce will be joined in the White Tiger script writing by her husband, web designer and former Video magazine writer and Computer Game Entertainment editor Tim Liebe. While Liebe is co-writing episodes 3 and 4 of the arc, he and Pierce have worked together on the plot from the beginning to make the story as taut and action-packed as Pierce's books.  

"You don't talk about how a person learns to be a superhero," says Pierce.  "You have to show her learning how to do it.  Most of the time, the price of that learning involves a lot of bruises on somebody."