Barbara Gordon: Breakout writer Mariko Tamaki gave insight on the mini-series and what to expect Barbara being behind bars.
Tamaki talked about how the mini-series got started. It started when the Bat-editors thought of how to put Barbara in the most foreign place for her. As Oracle, she is instrumental to helping coordinating the Bat-Family and getting them critical information.
I started talking with [editor] Rob Levin about doing a Barbara Gordon story and he had the idea of the prison and what it means to drop yourself into the lion’s den. What does it mean for this character, who’s been such a team player, who has been such an integral part of keeping the team together, to suddenly be lifted out of that world and put in a place where she has no allies? The idea that she would do that because she feels indebted to saving the people who are at risk in this space…
I’ve written characters in prison before. I obviously have no desire to go to prison, but I’m very fascinated by sealed ecosystems and what it means to be in a place that you can’t get out of. What does it mean to be stripped of the weapons and the gadgetry and the tech and just to have to go on your instincts?
The Art of ‘Barbara Gordon: Breakout’
Mariko Tamaki also discussed Amancay Nahuelpan’s art in the series. Not only have they collaborated before on Crush & Lobo, but also they have a lot of rapport.
Amancay Nahuelpan and I are teamed up again. We previously worked on Crush & Lobo, so this is our chance to work together again. I’ve never been a heavy-handed describer. As a writer, my job is to be consistent and clear, and to pay attention to plot and to character, and to make sure that I’m never crowding an artist to where they can’t do what I’m asking them to do on the page. The best part of comics is when you one hundred percent trust that the person you’re working with has got all of that stuff figured out and you really just have to give them all the information they need to do their job.
I’ve worked with so many people with whom that’s true. Amancay has questions sometimes, and we are figuring out the world and the nature of the world, but as soon as he drew this prison, it was like, “Oh, we’re good. He one hundred percent gets this.” I always toss out some movie references and TV references, so we’re on the same page.
Influences and Inspirations of ‘Breakout’
Obviously, since Breakout is set in a prison, Tamaki talked about the prison television and movie influences on the series.
I’m a big fan of Oz, so I had watched that, and I was looking at Birdman of Alcatraz, and Stalag 17 was also a big influence. I love the kind of resourcefulness that’s in those movies, especially any kind of World War II prisoner of war movie, like Bridge on the River Kwai. All those movies that are so much about making a world out of what you have. The economy of those things. That’s definitely a huge part of the inspiration.
It’s a challenge writing this kind of story because you’re trying to not have everything set against a set of bars. You know what I mean? You have to move people around, but you have characters who can’t move freely, right? So, you have to be kind of aware of those things. There are a lot of challenges, but the best decisions come out of challenges. True resourcefulness comes out of a lack of options.
Barbara Gordon: Breakout #2 hits comic book shops on June 11th.
Source: DC.com
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