Broken Frontier

BF introduces FRAGGLE ROCK WEEK!

Every day this week, BF will be talking with creators, artists and writers involved in bringing Fraggle Rock to comics about their favorite Henson moments and their experience with the Fraggles and Archaia, all gearing up to this month's release of Fraggle Rock #1.

Today BF talks with Heather White, writer of the main story in Fraggle Rock #1.

BROKEN FRONTIER: What is your first or fondest memory of Jim Henson and his creatures?

HEATHER WHITE: My first real memories of any original Henson property are of being obsessed with The Great Muppet Caper. I thought that the whole water ballet/musical number was unbelievably gorgeous. It still has a great power over me too, I watch it now and still become painfully envious of how glamorous Miss Piggy is. I was also a huge Muppet Babies fan. It was my Saturday morning routine to rush home from ballet class and watch it while eating a bagel with cream cheese. I thought it was a very grown-up breakfast -  one that my hero, Miss Piggy, would approve of.

BF: This deal between Archaia and The Jim Henson Company is a deal of pure fantasy and creativity. The creatures of Henson always had the highest appeal to the fantasy of adults and children alike and to have that turned into comics is something extraordinary. How do you perceive this collaboration?

HW: I think it’s a perfect fit. I’m a big Mouse Guard fan, so I was quite familiar with Archaia before Fraggle rolled around, and always thought they were amazing. Finding out that they were teaming up with Henson just seemed brilliant – Archaia is great at telling stories, and really cares about storytelling. Henson has all of these great properties and a history of being amazing storytellers. I think the Archaia values work really well with the Henson reputation, and that Archaia can really do the Henson name justice.

BF: Of all the Henson characters, which is your favorite?

HW: Wow! That is the hardest question I have gotten yet! If we’re including Muppets, it is REALLY hard! I’ll give you my top three. Miss Piggy, Boober and Ludo. And Gonzo. And Rowlf. And Sir Didymus. And Rygel XVI. And Sam the American Eagle. And Fozzie.

BF: Hard to pick just one, I know! The magic of Henson and his amazing characters triggered an instant love. To me that is! How are you planning to tackle that magic on paper?

HW: I completely agree. There’s so much magic in everything Henson has put out. I know that, for me, I had to really think about what I wanted to read, as a fan, and stay true to that. If you are telling a story that you love with characters you love, there’s bound to be a little magic in it. It think that is part of why Fraggle is so loved by us fans – the people who created it put so much love and humor into it. I think it really shows.

BF: I totally agree. Can you tell me something more about the adventures you are planning in Fraggle Rock #1?

HW: Sure! I really wanted this first trip back to Fraggle Rock to have the same feel as the original episodes. The first story is an adventure featuring the main Fraggles, particularly Red and Gobo. There’s even a trip out to the Gorg Garden, and you’ll see a lot of familiar faces - both involved in the story and in the background.

BF: With all the different groups like the Fraggles, Doozers and Gorgs and fan favorite characters Gobo, Mokey, Red, Wembley and Boober, what is the biggest challenge in getting the characters in a comic, like Fraggle Rock #1?

HW: The biggest challenge for me, in that aspect, was that I really wanted every character that I love (which is far too many) to be featured in the first story. Luckily, the story I came up with required me to focus more on the Fraggle five, and I think that is important in the first issue – we wanted to make sure all the main characters were re-established for the older fans and introduced properly for the new fans.  So we did a little extra work to do that in a way that didn’t eat up story space.

Thanks for the awesome questions! They were really fun! 

Fraggle Rock #1 goes on sale in April 2010 with the Fraggle Rock/Mouse Guard Flip Book out on May 1, 2010.