Broken Frontier

Once again, Marvel Comics held one of their legendary conference calls, this time to discuss White Tiger, slated for a November release. Series writers Tamora Pierce and Tim Liebe were on hand, as well as Series Editor Ruwan Jayatilleke and host Jim McCann.

The conference call began with Tamora talking about her move to New York, one that she wasn’t so sure she was happy about. “We’ve been coming up here in the winter to do audio books, so we can’t say we were suckered, but October snow is a little extreme.” White Tiger Editor Ruwan Jayatilleke then jumped in to take credit for Tamara’s move, claiming that he drove her to upstate New York.

Pierce next talked a bit about her literary background, and her best-selling books. “I write for teenagers. I write in two fantasy universes, one is somewhat like Europe, while the other is more like medieval Middle East and Central Asia. In the Europe Universe, it’s a series about a lady trying to become a cop. It’s set 200 years before any of the other books, and is the one best known to make the bestseller list. I have two female knights in those books, the first one is a girl who passed for a boy for 8 years, and made sure everyone knew about her coming out, that she earned her shield. She’s also my oldest-running character. Then there’s Lady Knight, which was my first book to break the number one on the New York Times Bestseller List.”

“In my other universe, my most recently published book is “The Will Of The Empress” which came out last year, and in that my four  young wizards work with metal and lightning and the usual. That brought them together to deal with the world politics. And that hit number one on the New York Time Bestseller List as well. It keeps me off the streets.”

When asked about her love for female characters, Tamora responded, “I grew up in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and I’m a very unorthodox feminist. Basically, I started out writing what I wanted to read, which was women kicking butt. Especially in kids lit and adults lit, there still isn’t equality of male heroes to female ones. Not that I have anything against guys, I have one at home and he can be trained to perform simple tasks and grasp simple objects – and he’s fun to write with. We have a nice synergy with our writing on White Tiger. Until there are as many female heroes as male heroes, I’m going to be drawn to female characters.”

Tamora’s husband Tim Liebe jumped in: “I think the point needs to be made that there is no parity at all. There are 2 to 3 female heroes to every 8 or 9 male heroes. And a number of them are mages rather than warriors. There are not enough Supergirls.”

As for any other females that are positive role models, Tim said “Ripley from the Alien series. Black Canary from the DC universe (sorry about that Marvel!), there’s also Ms. Marvel – who I really like. Look at the Marvel universe, there is Ms. Marvel, Wasp, Misty Knight – the women in the Heroes For Hire comic. I was really impressed with that series, seeing Misty and Colleen coming into their own as heroes.”

Ruwan felt that “this is a really great feet of clay kind of story” while referring to White Tiger. “I think beyond the strong feminist archetype, I think there is something for anyone who likes strong visual storytelling.”

Tamora addressed the setup of the White Tiger series: “Basically, she is getting ready to take her first steps as her own hero. Up until now we saw her as Angela Del Torro – FBI agent. We have seen her in the same outfit, how she is going to deal with having the amulet. But we haven’t gotten to see her being a hero. So, we really got to start with her from ground zero as a costume. And in fact she embarks on a search for a costume in the very first issue. So unlike other comics, we get to go from the ground up.”

Liebe chimed in to add: “Actually, I’d like to say that she is already in Daredevil comics, “Not All Hero’s Where Masks.” Where she stands up against her superiors and loses her job over that. So we already see her in an act of heroism.”

Has seeing what’s been going on with other female characters influenced Pierce? “Not really,” she says. “Angela has been pretty enclosed. She hasn’t really dealt with any of the other women apart from the Black Widow. And Elektra, but that was about it.”

“We do show at some point that she knows Misty Knight and Colleen Wing, through her connections with her uncle, the original White Tiger. So in a sense they are kind of an extended family, but we don’t get to introduce them at this point.”

Concerning the first series, it was a bit rough, so what attracted Tamora to the character? “Partly it was the legacy; partly it was Hector’s ties to the original Daughters of the Dragon. When I was forming my adult writing self, the most effective female heroes in fiction, I found, were Misty Wing and Colleen Knight. It’s had an incredible effect on me, shaping what would later become my own personal warriors.

“I was overjoyed when I heard they were bringing the characters back, as I thought I was the only person in the known universe who knew they existed. Tim didn’t even know who they were. I had to tell him, then go on Ebay and buy all the things! I felt there was a chance to go with this character and go off in a different direction. I got to come in and say ‘Well, this is a different character, she’s genetically different, and that was then, this is now’.”

The series differs from the original further in that “the original White Tiger was 17 or 18, and Angela is 28. She’s a proven FBI agent. Who’s gone under fire as a cop and agent, her body has stopped going through all those changes. She’s a different person from what the original was.”

Tim also added: “her upbringing is different as well. She comes from a family that has a strong martial arts background. She could kick butt before anything ever changed.”

Seeing how much Pierce loves strong female characters, will she bring them into White Tiger? “Oh man, we’re just trying to survive the first arc.”

“It’s one of those, in the future, if the book is a success and Marvel wants to continue with it, we’re thinking: yes. We like these characters, we respect these characters, and we want them. There’s also the case where other writers want to do things with these characters. But if we get the chance, yes.

“God knows we’re having fun with Black Widow. And I never thought before we started that I’d ever say ‘I’m having fun with Black Widow.’”

At this point, Tim states he likes Black Widow, but Tamora believes he in fact likes the character’s unzipped black leather catsuit. “She still needs a bra.”

Jayatilleke explains: “Tamora and Tim have had an open creative reign. What you’ll see is that Angela hasn’t been acting in a vacuum even though this series takes place prior to the Civil War. You’ll see her in the Marvel Universe. You’ll see some familiar faces. They have a brand-new villain in issue one, and though they haven’t told me how the arc is going to end, they have a couple more surprises.”

So, what familiar faces can readers expect? “Well, we can’t tell you the new villain, but he has a very nice smile, and a very good sense of smell. And he has a wonderful sense of humor. But there’s Daredevil, and there’s Spider-Man. Luke Cage. That funny looking guy that’s been going around in Daredevil’s costume. And we dropped the White Queen in. Oh, and Dr. Kurt Connors will make an appearance, and you’ll see Deadpool too.”

With Pierce’s backgrounds, will there be a surge of younger readers to the book? “Oh definitely,” she says. “We’ve had a lot of people saying that they don’t read comics but will give this one a shot. It’s particularly gratifying to hear someone say that they don’t read girl comics, but they’ll check this one out.”

It’s important that Tamora’s fans know that they can find comics by going to Marvel.com or calling 1-888-Comic-Book, as she may bring an untouched readership to the industry. Luckily, most of Tamora’s fans know how to find comic shops through her personal website, www.tamorapierce.com, and passing the word around on www.sheroescentral.com.

Tamora stressed that White Tiger would be dressed properly. “She looks attractive, but at the same time, she looks practical. I think the fanboys will probably miss the boobs fixation, and the large portion of naked flesh, but I think she looks good.”

“Phil Briones is an artist that came across my desk,” says Ruwan, “and he’s been amazing. I think he gets how to draw a female character without her being naked running down the streets. He’s drawn a great character that is easy on the eyes, but hard on the criminals.”

Liebe was extremely impressed. “I think he’s been doing a great job, and forms an excellent visual compliment to what we put down on paper.”

“One of the things that he does better than some of the other people is how he does action,” Pierce added. “When [Briones] does action you can see and hear the people moving. He has this gift for dynamic motion. I fell in love with his stuff and this guy can do action like nobody’s business. A lot of people center on the fact that I’m a female writer and I’m writing a female character, but the fact is that I wanted to write an action hero. And that’s what she does, and that’s what Phil does. And it’s a perfect match.”

Check out White Tiger when the book hits the shelves on November 15th. And keep your eyes on Marvel.com, TamoraPierce.com, and BrokenFrontier.com for any further information.