Tempest, the Child Assassin Featured in Shattered, The Asian American Comics Anthology, Out Now
by Kai Ma
Her name
is Tempest—and no, the moniker has nothing to do with Hurricane Sandy. The
name, rather, is a nod to the storm that occurred the night she was kidnapped
from her bedroom as a child. She’s a 13-year-old assassin, trained and raised
by a covert organization that shaped her into a merciless killer. She’s also the
character I created, with artist Eric Kim, for Shattered, the Secret Identities comics anthology that dropped November 6.
What goes
into creating a comics character? This was new for me. My comics background
didn’t go far beyond thumbing through Archie and Ranma ½, devouring Joe Sacco’s Safe
Area Goražde and Palestine, or
watching My Neighbor Totoro as
a teen on acid. But I had to start somewhere. I re-read some Ranma, the beloved gender-swapping
martial arts Japanese manga series, and Love
and Rockets, by alt-comics pioneers Los Bros Hernandez, as well
as Shortcomings and the Optic Nerve series
by Adrian Tomine—who illustrated this week’s excellent Sandy and prez election-related
cover art for The New Yorker.
The story
began to unfold, along with Eric’s artwork. On the eve of her 13th birthday,
Tempest is nearly the perfect assassin: a killer without ties to others,
without even a sense of self. During a crucial battle, she kills her masked
opponent. Once she discovers the face behind the mask, she realizes she has
made a horrifying mistake and vows to never kill again. She escapes—as depicted
in Eric’s early sketches.
