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Players Interview: Mathew TannerA candid conversation with one of the most affluent and well-respected superheroes of both Earth and the surrounding space. |
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| As one of the world’s wealthiest
and most prominent men, Mathew Tanner has captured the interests
of many people. We at Players are no exception. As a prominent businessman
and scientist, he has gained the respect of the corporate world, but it
is as the leader of H.E.R.O. that he has gained worldwide fame.
Prior to his association with H.E.R.O. "Doc" Tanner was instrumental behind the scenes in Vietnam as an officer in the special forces. During a still classified mission, Tanner was injured and his soon to be lifelong friend saved his life. From that point, he and Ace Braddock have maintained a lifelong relationship. Upon returning to the states, Mathew Tanner took an interest m his father’s expanding company. He began to do more and more experimentation in technology. At the same time, his sister Diane was making a name for herself in the medical field. It was during this time that both Mathew and his father began to develop enemies. It was during an attack on the growing power of the Tanner family by one of these enemies that his sister was crippled by a sniper. These attacks did not sway the Tanner family resolve. This attack and others like it led to Mathew Tanner’s involvement with the group called H.E.R.O., his marriage to Huntress, and his prominent position in the world. Now Tanner and H.E.R.O. are at the forefront of crime fighting around the world and even on the moon. To interview such an influential man, Loyal Sterling performed some of her typical magic. Her report: "With the H.E.R.O. hotline in place, getting in touch with Doctor Tanner was fairly easy. However, trying to schedule an appointment was another story. After several false starts, we were finally able to meet for a short time in his Tanner Industry offices. " "Telling his secretary to hold all calls, we began our interview with the love of his life and the mother of his children, Huntress." Players: How did you meet Huntress? Tanner: She was part of the group known as H.E.R.O. when I joined. Players: What was it that drew you to her? Tanner: A feeling of power. A feeling of power yet not corrupted power. Innocent power as it were. A feeling of strength. I guess a yin for my yang, I suppose. Players: How do you feel about the plight of the American Indian? Tanner: I feel that the American government should do something to back the treaties that were made with the Indians although it was so long ago. I feel they should have the right to have some recompense. For example some place to live that they can call their own. Players: I understand that Huntress is in the process of assisting them in her own way; with her own talents. How do you feel about her being away from H.E.R.O.? Tanner: H.E.R.O. is an organization dedicated to the solving of world problems. This is one of the problems the world is experiencing. Just another facet of her helping to solve things that have come down in the history of this nation. It’s an extrapolation of H.E.R.O.’s work, there’s really no difference. Players: What led to your association with H.E.R.O.? Tanner: I was being followed by some unknown individuals and they happened to be in the same location when an altercation broke out. They helped me. Then I basically hired them to find out what was going on and what was happening. Players: So at that point, they were a mercenary group? Tanner: Yes. Heroic Endeavors and Rescue Operations has been an organization dedicated to working for individuals and organizations to help solve their problems in dangerous situations, straight security situations; but for some time it’s been, yes, a mercenary group. Players: How did you reach your position with H.E.R.O.? Obviously it was originally a client/patron relationship. Tanner: As I became more involved with the group, found out more about them and worked with them more and more closely, I became more involved in their investigations. We traded work back and forth for quite some time. They are fine people. They helped me with my problems. It was a natural partnership and as I added more resources and computers and different technical aspects to the group to be able to handle more, I put more assets into it; I began to own more and more of it. We set up a corporation to reflect the amount that each individual had done for the group, the amount they had donated and the amount they had given of their time and their money and their material goods and based stock on this and that is where we are now. Players: What of the latest activities of the Crimelords? The sudden demise of their leader and the existence of a new leader -- in your territory as a matter of fact. How do you feel about that? Tanner: I think it is unwise to comment on that aspect considering it is still open as an investigation. Players: You have seen many of the members of the H.E.R.O. team come and go. What causes the turnaround and who is the most notable? Tanner: Every member of H.E.R.O. is notable for something or some action or some ability. Many of them don’t really go. Many of them are absorbed in the organization and work covertly or work at our other bases. As you are aware, we have about a hundred world bases. We have an organization that trains our agents and trains other superheros and super-powered individuals to work for H.E.R.O. Many of them are involved with that. Regrettably, occasionally we lose one in action, in combat, in some terrorist action. We lost a notable member of our group in the battle with the alien threat at the moonbase. Prism was a valuable member of our group and it’s regrettable that she died in an atomic explosion, murdered. Notable members. I don’t think about them one above the other or in a list of strengths and weaknesses, I think of them all pretty much equally. I think of them all as having the drive, the courage, the spirit necessary to be a H.E.R.O. member. To desire more law, order and justice and the ability to enforce it. I think of them each for their strength. Each is notable for some strength and there’s really none that stands out to be quite honest with you. Of course, Gravitron has always been a special member. He has always been someone who has been really special. And Huntress, she has a special place in my life, but other than that, none really notably over the others. Players: What about the H.E.R.O. movies, what brought those on? Tanner: The desire of movie theaters to make a buck, I believe, was the initial instigation. We all thought it was an interesting idea to let people see what really happens, what it’s really like. It’s been a good recruiting tool, it’s been good for gathering new people interested in helping with the cause. The cause of justice and peace and so forth. We’ve gained quite a few people because of them. It never hurts to have publicity. The PR is worth every dollar spent on it now in the movie theaters. Players: What about as a deterrent. You say it works as a recruiting tool, but does it also work as a deterrent to crime? |
Tanner: There are no statistics
that have been developed to cover that question. I would imagine that just
as in any case it is the old gunfighter rule. The young, brash gunfighter
has to challenge the old grizzled veteran, the one who’s been around so
long, and find out who’s better. I suppose it’s going to happen that way
when people see it in the movies. It is going to spread some desire to
test our mettle as it were, but I haven’t seen a whole lot of that. I would
think it is more of a deterrent from the view point that, in the long run
it is a deterrent, as youngsters grow up from adolescence to adulthood
they’ll develop a respect for the law and order and justice. They will
learn from our activities and learn from what they see on the big screen.
It seems to be a valuable medium these days get a message across and our
message is "It’s okay to be straight; to not drink or no to take drugs,
and you can still make it big in the world. You can still be somebody.
You can still do things. You can still make your mark on the world." Many
people have gone to the other angle of dealing drugs to make money, because
they see it in the neighborhoods around them. We want to show them that
there are other things out there, and from that angle it’s been a very
valuable tool. Showing young people another way that they can deal with
their lives. I think we really need role-models in the world. If there
is one thing I hope, is that we can be role-models.
Players: As role models, do you refer to H.E.R.O. in general or each individual? Tanner: Each individual in H.E.R.O. has their own way of being a role-model. Wraith has his own way of influencing people. Yes, youngsters do find Wraith fascinating and they do tend to get a little rowdy when it comes to Wraith, but he has his own way of handling law and order (or law and disorder) and I won’t say it’s right or wrong; it works. It gets the job done and he stays in the law doing it. That’s the important thing in that there are different ways of handling it. Each of us has our own methods, our own sense of justice and the pursuit of justice; and I think it gives young people in general a wide enough variety of people to pick as their heroes. There’s a flavor for everybody. Someone for everyone’s taste basically, male, female, minorities, different angles. The straight hero angle of going after the criminals and beating out justice. There are many ways of doing it. Players: You have a fairly decent turnaround in the actual superhero element. Obviously, Huntress has been out of the limelight now as she’s working with the American Indian population. Who all is involved at this point? Tanner: Many core members are still involved in different ways. As you mentioned Huntress is involved in the reservations and helping settle the Indian problems. Carl is involved in our legal matters. He’s involved in heading our world obligations, such as the ones outside the sphere of our earth. They can get really sticky legally and he’s required to have quite a bit of time spent that way. Although he’s a valued member of the group; he is, at least at this point, spending time with our legal matters. Nerissa and Gravitron are working on cleaning up the world’s oceans. Again, its the people that don’t seem to be actively working on cases for H.E.R.O. We really decentralize a lot of that; we spread it around the globe. We have agents at every base able to handle everyday affairs. When everyday problems arise they are capable of handling them. We are only going to be called in anymore when there is something that can’t be handled by ordinary authorities or home bases or our teams. I think each of the heroes that have been or are active in the group have their own causes. They have their own things they are interested in. I’m interested in the homeless. I’m interested in young people. I think young people are a very valuable resource. I really don’t think young people are as bad any many critics claim they are. I think young people have a lot of energy, and if directed can do a lot of positive things. I really believe strongly in young people. By young people I mean adolescents, teenagers, people who all the critics say are turning to crime and drugs and drinking and all the bad things. I believe with proper direction they can be a very positive force in the world. So, each of us has our own projects that we are working on, and time to time will be lower key. We go and come and it’s not such a high pressure situation anymore. We’ve been able to overcome much of the negative that has happened. We’ve been able to displace many of the "villa ins" and our presence is not always necessary on the spot at any given time. So yes, people do come and go. but not really ever permanently. Very few of them actually get fired. I mean burn out, of course, in any law enforcement agency or interaction, is a reality. People tend to get burned out, they get tired of seeing crime, they get tired of having to deal with it. Policemen are an example, they get lots and lots of vacation time. We sort of do the same thing with our people. Give them some time off, give them sabbaticals. And occasionally it can happen where they feel they can’t handle it anymore and they want to go off. Players: You personally have faced a lot of foes. Is their any one in particular that you consider your arch-nemesis? Tanner: The work of individuals for the furtherance of evil, as it were, have been a real problem for me. There have been individuals that have been perpetrators of crimes. There have been people that have become great thorns in my side for whatever reason. The fact that remains, they’re wrong. Let me extrapolate on that. Before his death, for example, Ulrich Von Holton was one who, looking back, caused some problems that I wasn’t aware of at the time. Other people that I consider problems now - again, I’d like to fall back on the answer of saying that I’d rather not mention names simply because investigations are ongoing. No sense in warning the enemy. Players: Are there any enemies that you felt sorry for? Tanner: Yes, there have been enemies that I have come to find out, for one reason or another, were people that were misguided or twisted in some way, or had been warped to believe the way that they believed. There was even an individual who ended up dying in an asylum, that was driven mad by a love for my mother that couldn’t be realized. She was married to my father, she loved my father, she didn’t want anything to do with him; and being rebuffed continuously by her drove him over the edge. He, for a time, was quite an opponent on the sidelines; secretly pulling strings, causing problems for us, and he has passed away. He died of natural causes in a home. He just snapped finally, and was in a coma for some time and finally died. Him I felt , sorry for, strangely. The evil that he did I couldn’t respect and I had to dislike him for, yet how can you dislike or hate someone whose only real crime was loving your mother. It’s a strange world. Real life situations do happen, and yes, I’ve felt sorry for people that for one reason or another have been lead to the things they are. For their childhood, for relationships they have been in that have driven them over the edge. Things happen. Players: If there is one person in the world that you could recruit for H.E.R.O. that otherwise would have nothing to do with the organization as a member, who would it be? |
Tanner: I’ve never given it
a moment’s thought. Names come to mind: Gorbachev, the Pope, the Queen
of England, the President of the United States, the head of the UN. Yes,
there are many people that would be nice to have on your side. They all
sort of have their own organizations and things and agendas to work on.
As far as individuals, it’s hard to say. I’d say anybody with a true respect
for law, order and people; and the desire to see justice done. I’d say
it’s a broad category that would fit just about anybody that I would welcome
into the group as a member or at least as a trainee. But individuals, none
that I can really put a finger on.
Players: Obviously in your business, accidents happen have you ever killed someone inadvertently? Tanner: Like many law enforcement officers that have to come to blows with individuals that perpetrate a crime and don’t cooperate in being brought in; regrettably, yes, I have had to use deadly force and people have died in the process. It does happen and just like any law enforcement agency we prepare for it. I’ve been injured grievously in law enforcement actions. So I think the opposite of this side of the coin is only fair. Players: You have an interesting bodyguard that dresses slightly archaically. How did he come about? Tanner: Sir Alazar, the Gilded Champion, has ‘been a student of medieval culture and ways for all of his life, really, and has decided that this is his best way of helping in the pursuit of justice. He has his own powers and abilities, but they are all sort of based on that persona he has chosen from medieval history, the medieval way of life. The weapons he wields are highly technologically made; very sharp, very finely crafted. With his armor and so forth being very highly crafted and finely worked, it gives him protection. His skill is extremely good with the use of these weapons, so he’s trained based on his lifelong study; and it merged, as it were, with his lifestyle. Players: The woman Lola. Fairly recently, after being involved with H.E.R.O. for quite some time, announced that she was an alien. How did she come to find H.E.R.O. Tanner: Trapped on a world about which very little was known after crash-landing her vehicle here, she came seeking anyone wanting to listen to her and help. H.E.R.O. at that point in its history was such an organization. She didn’t really want to go to a major world government, not wanting to give an advantage to one government over another. She looked for people who she felt were people that had her same ideals of justice in that way of life that makes people free, and found our beliefs and way of living to her liking, and she stuck around. Her origin being very mundane, I mean, it’s so comic book like, but that’s exactly how it happened, she ended up crash landing here. Players: Wraith of course is a mystery to all, I understand? Tanner: Oh, of course, no one knows anything about Wraith. Sometimes we wonder. He has a way of coming and going, I can say that for him. He makes quite an entrance, too. Players: How do you feel about the miraculous cure of the ozone layer? Tanner: We’ve worked and researched for quite some time on this ,and frankly it’s still an ongoing process. I would rather not go into details of it, but with our ability to reach space we are doing research; and over a period of time it is working to close it up, healing it. Once we are sure that it is finished, we will make it public as to what we did, but for now I would really rather not say. But we are working on it. It is still something that is in the process of being done. Players: How do you feel about the rumors of Blue Devil being a Hellspawn demon. Obviously the religious zealots of the world will jump on that with both feet. Tanner: Blue devil is a kind of icon for the progressive religious movement. They have latched on to him as a symbol of all that is wrong with the world, but that is quite the contrary. Blue Devil is a very active part in H.E.R.O. and a very active part in moving the world toward better. Simply stated, and as you or anyone could have read in news or seen over the airwaves, he was the unfortunate victim of an accident. He simply is a fusion of technology and skin, as it were, and it doesn’t come off any longer; so it’s basically what he was made up as at the time and he’s stuck with it. But I assure you there is nothing demonic about Blue Devil. Players: And the stunt man, Morgan Knight? Tanner: He’s a military man with standard military training and martial arts. He’s pretty straight forward along the Chuck Norris thing basically. Put Chuck Norris in the real world, fighting crime, enforcing justice and law and order, and you have Morgan. Players: How do you feel about the reporter that’s been tagging along, Lin Xian? Tanner: Ah, she’s found a soft spot in one of the member’s hearts. She’s a very nice young lady. She’s very intelligent, very tenacious, like a bulldog. She’s sure to make a real name for herself before it’s all over. Players: Does she cover H.E.R.O. accurately? Tanner: She covers H.E.R.O. the way she sees H.E.R.O., and generally I’ d say, yes, accurately. She has her own viewpoints of things as we all do, but generally I don’t have any problems with the way she covers H.E.R.O., it’s pretty accurate. We give her pretty much mostly unlimited coverage of the things that we do. She’s been a friend to members of the group. Players: In closing, do you have any words of wisdom for our readers? Tanner: I believe this world has many possibilities for if not being a Utopia, then being as close as anyone really needs. It requires people to understand that we are all human (or at least most of us). That even though some of us have abilities above those of normal humans, we still are, after all human, and we’re in this thing together. I think that with cooperation, love, the right choices made by people, things can really become very pleasant, very cooperative, very fruitful. I think there is enough material sustenance in the world for everybody to live on the planet. I think that we are developing techniques to move people out off the planet to accommodate greater population. We have the communication means to be able to speak to them once we do, we have the means to feed them once we do, we have the means to feed our people. There is really no limit to what man can do if man cooperates at a race. The old "united we stand divided we fall" is very true. We will only fail if we hurt ourselves. United we fought off the threat of an alien menace, united we’ve overcome famine, we’ve overcome many problems of the world. But it takes perseverance, it takes a desire. I like to think that members of H.E.R.O. have that desire, or a personification of it. I would like to think that we have been having a hand in the recent upswing in democracy and the rights of individuals and the things that are happening right in the world. I believe we have quite a bit to do with that. The downfall of criminals, the downfall of the criminal way of life. I would like to see more people take up the gauntlet, I would like to see more people decide that it’s okay to be human and it’s okay for others to be human and to live together. |
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