Will Pfeifer: Of Amazons and Catwoman

By Tim O'Shea

To say Will Pfeifer is a man who can write diverse female characters is an understatement considering he is writer of the upcoming Amazons Attack miniseries (set to launch in late April 2007). SBC wanted to get his take on the upcoming six-part miniseries, as well as his ongoing work on Catwoman. After reading the interview, be sure to check out the Amazons Attack five-page preview here.

Tim O’Shea (TOS): To fully appreciate the miniseries, will readers need to be reading the main WW title?

Will Pfeifer (WP): Amazons Attack is a stand-alone series, meaning you could read it and nothing else – no comic book, no novels, no billboards, subpoenas or cereal boxes – and still understand what’s happening. But to get a little more perspective – especially the perspective of a certain super hero with the initials “WW,” you’ll want to pick up her book, too. And it’ll be worth it, trust me. I’ve read some of Jodi Picoult’s scripts, and they’re a lot of fun.

TOS: A number of writers have tackled writing the Amazons over the years, I was curious if any particular storytellers influenced your approach toward portraying the women?

WP: I can’t think of any specifically, no. I did some research into the actual, mythological Amazons, but even more than that, I thought of them as the greatest army in the history of the world, then tried to consider how the dedication to honor and bravery would contrast with what seems like – at first, anyway – a brutal, uncalled for attack on innocent Americans. No all of them are in agreement with this brand-new war, believe me.

TOS: This project reconnects you with former Catwoman collaborator Pete Woods. From your perspective over the time of you two working together--where have you seen Woods grow as a storyteller--and how has he helped you to improve as a storyteller?

WP: I’ve always thought Pete was a helluva talented artist, from the very first conceptual sketches he did before our run on Catwoman even started. But after that, when I saw his work on Action, I was, as they saw, blown away. He just took everything to another level, bringing a scale and sense of end-of-the-world bigness that fit perfectly with Superman. And, having seen his art for the first issue of Amazons Attack, I can safely say he takes things even further here. I realize that’s what every writer says about his artist, but I’m telling the truth here, Tim. Am I ever. His work on that first issue has pushed me to make things even crazier in the second, and I can see that trend continuing right though to the last panel. It’s really the best thing about collaborating in comics – the constant stream of inspiration.

TOS: Can you detail who some of the cast will be other than the Amazons? In attacking America, who are they going to run into--the Washington DC in the DC universe is fairly rich with supporting characters for you to incorporate in your tale, one might think.

WP: Right off the bat, they kill almost everyone in D.C. Well, not quite, but it’s a brutal attack that came out of nowhere, and before the dust settles, the Amazons have wiped out most of the city. From that point, dozens of familiar DC (but not necessarily D.C.) characters join the fray, rescuing the survivors, rebuilding the city and, of course, fight, fight fighting. I don’t want to get too specific about who’s going to show up, but with a situation like this, you know the Justice League is going to be there, and they’re going to bring the big guns. The Really Big Guns. And that’s only the start. By the end of the series, almost everyone in a costume will be involved in one way or another.

TOS: Over at Catwoman, Gotham has always played an important part in the book, so who came up with the idea of letting Catwoman knock around Metropolis for an arc? What's been the best part of writing Catwoman in a new city?

WP: That was my idea. I always like the image of Catwoman – all dark and mysterious and shadowy – stuck in Metropolis, the sunniest, most optimistic city in the entire DC Universe. Being the cynic she is, she finds the whole place a little bit silly, from the gold-plated architecture all the way to its Boy Scout of a super hero. Naturally, she discovers it’s a pretty dangerous place, too, especially when you’re there to rip off Lex Luthor. I had a great time writing it – it’s always fun to take a character and play them off something that goes against their nature. Plus, with someone like Selina, who isn’t exactly a hero and isn’t exactly a villain, it’s fun to view a place as iconic as Metropolis through her eyes.

TOS: How hard is it to write an adventure title like Catwoman and still somehow work in the fact that Selina is a single mom?

WP: It’s a little tricky, but I happen to have a 20-month-old daughter running around my house to constantly remind me just how time consuming having a child can be. Selina’s baby, for me, serves the same sort of purpose as that trip to Metropolis, though, admittedly, on a much larger scale: You take a character like Catwoman, who knows exactly what she’s doing in her element, then you either throw her out of that element (by, say, sending her to Metropolis) or throw something into that element (like, say, a baby). The trick – for both her as a character and me as a writer – is to keep both her career as Catwoman and her role as a mom balanced. Or, more specifically on my part, it’s to keep it off balance, but dramatically interesting. You don’t want her to come off as the worst, most irresponsible mother of all time, but you also don’t want the book to turn into DIAPER CHANGING MONTHLY.

TOS: As a writer getting to explore new possibilities (by changing Catwoman's status quo) what's been the biggest benefit or enjoyment from writing the book? Where have the characters and stories taken you--where you might have not expected to go as a storyteller otherwise?

WP: Selina remains a fascinating character. She’s dark, like the guy in the Bat costume, but not overly so, and she’s very, very smart and self aware. I’ve always tried to play her as the smartest person in the room, always looking for the element that’s going to turn a bad situation to her advantage. I’ve also always liked playing her as someone who realizes the world she lives in – a world of super villains, costumed heroes, giant gorillas and alien invasions – is a crazy, silly, scary place, but it’s also a hell of a lot of fun. She’s not quite normal by real-world standards, but in the anything-goes atmosphere of the DCU, she’s about as close to normal as we’ve got.

The whole “Selina has a baby” storyline went off in all sorts of directions I didn’t initially expect. I knew the broad strokes – Sam is the dad, Sam dies before the baby is born, Selina has the baby, etc. – but all the details, like exactly how Sam died – and more importantly, how he died heroically – was something that slowly took shape in my head as I was writing the issues leading up to issue 62, where the whole story of Sam ‘n’ Selina was revealed. I found that I learned more about the characters as I wrote those earlier issues, and 62 would have been very different if I had written it first. And that’s the sort of process I go through with most of these storylines, building the characters and storylines as I write them, issue by issue. It’s chaotic and sloppy, but it’s fun.

TOS: Any visit to Metropolis has to include Lex Luthor. Some writers really enjoy getting to dialogue Lex--has it been fun for you, given your seeming ear for dialogue?

WP: Lex appears in issue 64 and 65 – sort of – but yes, he was a lot of fun to write. That combination of blinding intellect and overpowering ego is always an entertaining mix, and I tried to bring it across in his appearance in these issues. On a side note, I’d have to say that issue of All-Star Superman with Luthor and Clark in prison is one of the best – maybe THE best – Lex Luthor story I’ve ever seen. Great stuff.

TOS: Is there anything you'd like to discuss that I did not ask?

WP: I’d just like to shamelessly remind everyone that Catwoman: The Replacements is now available at your local comic book shop, chain book store or Internet reading emporium. It collects six issues of my post-One-Year-Later run, with art by David and Alvaro Lopez, and it’s a lot of fun.

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