The Continuing Characterization of Gigi Gutierrez

Every good writer has an inventory of characters in the back of his or her mind. Even though these characters seem to appear out of thin air, they are a culmination of a solid foundation embellished by inspiration and the imagination. A well-rounded character is necessary to undergo a change in a story, be it in a gradual or forceful fashion. In Pretty Vacant, Gigi is that character.

I recently had a conversation with my friend David regarding the origins of my Gigi character. If you follow this blog, you should remember that I based Gigi off my acquaintance Colleen.

However, I also told David that I based Gigi’s athletic, outdoorsy body off of Raquel Welch (sorry, Colleen!) circa 1970, the young actress who danced with Bob Hope and US Servicemen during the Vietnam War, starred as a roller derby star in Kansas City Bomber…
…and danced this rather kitschy number in her own television special!


At the beginning of Pretty Vacant, Gigi’s character starts off a little naïve. Sure, she’s attractive, tough and brave, but she doesn’t realize the danger posed by the Still Life Corporation. Gigi thought Still Life wanted her image as a mannequin model, not knowing they wanted her body as a model mannequin!

I patterned Gigi at this point after Leela from “Doctor Who”:
Leela was savage and strong, but lacked the knowledge to keep herself from blundering into situations where the good Doctor had to save her. Brains over brawn was a common theme throughout her tenure on the show from 1977-1978:


Later in the story, and with a little luck, Gigi barely escapes from the fate originally planned for her. After learning what Still Life is capable of doing, she fights back to save herself and her friends in her own dynamic style.

I really enjoyed this kick-butt version of Gigi, as I was able to use Sarah Walker from “Chuck” as my inspiration.The super-cool CIA super-spy Sarah is incredibly good-looking, highly capable and strangely mothering. My favorite part in Pretty Vacant was when Gigi threw a baseball as a weapon. Coincidentally, my favorite fight scene from 2009 showed Sarah using a broken cd and a tire pressure gage in her brawl against a Chinese Triad leader.


As I write this, my friend Danny is hard at work penciling my next Pretty Vacant story. It was difficult for me to think up a suitable sequel now that Gigi is Sarah Walker-capable, but the basic premise for Pretty Vacant: Vegas Showcase is still about Mad Scientists making money to fund their evil experiments. Since Gigi is more skillful, Still Life has to be that much more diabolical.