This is a continuing multiple post discussion of Ed
Brubaker’s comic book spy story, Velvet that started last year and is its
second story arc of the series. I gave a presentation at Wondercon last year on
the series and am revisiting and updating my paper. You can find Part I post on Wednesday June 3, 2015 and Part II post on Tuesday, June 9, 2015.
Velvet Templeton: Eight Years In the Making
One could say that Ed Brubaker was groomed for writing Cold
War era dark noir. He grew up living on military bases and his father worked in
Naval intelligence from the 60s through the 70s. His father was a big fan of
spy movies and he always took Brubaker to see the Bond films. Brubaker had an
interest in Hollywood that was cultivated by the fact that his uncle was a
rather famous screenwriter during the 40s and 50s, which was the height of film
noir. Seeing his uncle’s bound screenplays were an inspiration to Brubaker to
want to become a writer, as well as creating a deep seeded interest in the era.
One has only to look at Brubaker’s output over the years to see the result of
his fascination with noir and the Cold War. It was about eight years ago as he
was writing Criminal that Brubaker
conceived the idea of Velvet.
He studied several sources as he developed Velvet’s
character and back-story. He read non-fiction 50s and 60s spy stories as well
as spy fiction greats Ian Fleming and John Le Carre. In addition, he referenced
Peter O’Donnell’s Modesty Blaise (1963 –
2002) comic strip, the television show Mission: Impossible (1966 – 1973) and femme fatale Black Widow from S.H.I.E.L.D., introduced in 1964. From these sources,
stereotypical women’s roles were revealed: the Girl Friday, the femme fatale,
the object of desire, the damsel in distress, and the sidekick. Brubaker said
in an interview, “I kept thinking that the female characters were way more
interesting than the creators would let them be. I started to build Velvet and
when I figured out her backstory, I felt like she was really powerful –
especially in a world where women weren’t allowed to be that powerful” (Comic
Book Resources, July 9, 2013, “Brubaker
Prepares for Cold War Espionage in ‘Velvet’”). He felt that writing about a male
spy like James Bond would have been boring and hence he was more interested in
the story that the women could tell instead. In particular, Brubaker wanted to
explore the inequality of treatment and differing views between men and women
via the spy narrative. What better way than to take one of the stereotypical
portrayals of women as a starting point?
Brubaker took on the Girl Friday character because he could
place her in the best position – assistant to the director of a secret agency
where she would have access to highly sensitive “For Your Eyes Only”
information. While being a secretary typically has negative connotations,
Brubaker felt someone in the Miss Moneypenny’s type of position would have had
to be very intelligent and analytically minded to evaluate top-secret reports.
And, she was probably smarter than the director she supported. He then went a
step further with his development of Velvet. In another interview, he said he
thought, “what if His Girl Friday was actually an ex-field agent? And it’s
like, ‘well why isn’t she in the field anymore? What happened to her?’” (Geek
News, July 11, 2013, Image Expo: Ed
Brubaker Talks Femme Fatales, Cole War Spies, and More). What happened in
Velvet’s past that would cause her to hang up her pistol and take a desk job to
become the personal assistant to the director of a covert intelligence agency?
And what would happen if she had to face that life again?
Morality and sexuality were two other aspects of gender
difference that Brubaker wanted to explore through Velvet. He wanted to convey
that “she’d have a whole different view on morality and what she’s willing to
do with her body, probably a completely different view on sex than an average
housewife back then would’ve had” (Comic Book Resources, July 9, 2013, “Brubaker Prepares for Cold War
Espionage in ‘Velvet’”). While filmic Miss Moneypenny was given limited screen
time with only a brief flirtatious interlude with the hero, Velvet would
provide the reader with insight into a liberated woman’s perspective. It was
also an opportunity to expose the sexual double standard that existed then and
as the forum comments I opened with in Part I suggests, it’s still considered
normal for a male spy to have many sexual encounters for pleasure and for
obtaining secret information, but for a female spy engaged in the same
behaviour, she would be considered a slut.
In Part IV, I’ll discuss Velvet’s story in the first story
arc, “Before the Living End” (Issues #1 – 5).
© Copyright. Michele
Brittany. 2011 - 2015. All rights reserved. All text, graphics, and photos are
protected by US and International Copyright Laws, and may not be copied,
reprinted, published, translated, hosted, or otherwise distributed by any means
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