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Interviewing Leather is a Web Original short story by Eric Burns-White of Websnark (and formerly of Superguy) about a guy named Todd interviewing the supervillainess Leather for a rock and roll magazine. Deconstruction of Comic Book Tropes ensues.

The fourteen-part story is finished and can be found here.

Tropes used in Interviewing Leather include:


  • Affably Evil: Leather is generally pretty friendly.
  • Badass Normal: The superhero Darkhood is pretty much an amalgamation of Batman and Green Arrow.
  • The Cape: Leather refer to these as "old school" heroes.
  • Captain Ersatz: Many people are mentioned who are very close to "real" comic book characters.
  • Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Mocked. Leather considers being a costumed criminal a lifestyle choice. If Leonardo Lucas wants to play with giant robots, so what?
  • Dark Action Girl: The titular Leather.
  • Dating Catwoman: Leather can't sleep with normal humans because she Does Not Know Her Own Strength and finds that supervillains make poor boyfriends. If it wasn't for this trope...
  • Deconstruction: Leather has a lot of things to say about Comic Book Tropes, especially those concerning Superheroes. Inverted in the last two chapters when the Superhero Darkhood refutes pretty much everything she says, making the story a Deconstruction of supervillain motivations.
Cquote1

 Darkhood: We don?t need villains to be heroes... but some villains ? like her? They need us to need them.

Cquote2
Cquote1

 "Some heroes have sanction ? they work with the police, they follow procedures, they file reports. Freelancers were vigilantes. Depending on the city, the cops might turn a blind eye to them, but technically they were breaking the law."

Cquote2
  • Taking the Bullet: Leather in the Backstory.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: Leather makes it clear that she is a thief, not a killer.
  • Trick Arrow: Badass Normal Darkhood have a lot of these, including net arrows, electric arrows and gas-bomb arrows. Partially subverted, since he also use pointy arrows. Y'know, the kind that makes people bleed. He still doesn't use them to kill people, though.
  • Weird Trade Union: Leather's henchmen are unionized.
    • So are the outlaw teamsters who pack up, transport, and unpack all that cumbersome equipment you find in those constantly-being-relocated supervillain lairs. Yes. The supervillains have their own moving company. As well as their corporate affiliate, a temp agency for forensic technicians who specialize in removing evidence from crime scenes.
  • What You Are in the Dark: When she stopped one robber, Leather thought for a few moments, then took the money, paid off her bills, and decided on a life of villainy rather than virtue.