Line #3 ComicBook/Whiteout


1	[[quoteright:306:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/whiteout720.jpg]]
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3	''Whiteout'' is the first comic book written by (at the time) crime novelist Creator/GregRucka, published by Creator/OniPress as a 4-issue miniseries from July to November 1998, and follows USMarshal Carrie Stetko's investigation of a murder at [=McMurdo=] Station in Antarctica.
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5	A sequel, ''Whiteout: Melt'' (September 1999 to February 2000), deals with the theft of hidden nuclear weapons from an ex-Soviet base. A [[LiveActionAdaptation film adaptation]] of the first book was released in 2009, directed by Dominic Sena and starring Creator/KateBeckinsale, Creator/TomSkerritt, Creator/GabrielMacht, and Columbus Short.
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8	!!''Whiteout'' contains examples of:
9	* AlmostKiss: Carrie and Lily. Repeatedly.
10	* ButchLesbian: Carrie, though she still wears her hair in a feminine style, and she was married to a man in the past. The second series revealed that she isn't purely lesbian.
11	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Carrie killed a crook whose testimony would have been integral to a major trial, but she wasn't fired because she killed him in the course of saving her superior, whom the perp had incapacitated. And her husband died of cancer just before their first anniversary.
12	%%* DeadpanSnarker: Carrie.
13	* EmptyQuiver: ''Whiteout: Melt''.
14	* EerieArcticResearchStation: The story follows USMarshal Carrie Stetko's investigation of a murder at [=McMurdo=] Station in Antarctica. The sequel, ''Whiteout: Melt'', deals with the theft of hidden nuclear weapons from an ex-Soviet base.
15	* {{Fingore}}: Carrie has to have her right index and middle fingers (left middle and ring fingers in the movie) amputated due to frostbite-induced gangrene.
16	* FlashbackNightmare: The [[RapeAsBackstory incident that led to Carrie's assignment]] to Antarctica is presented in a hypothermia-induced hallucination.
17	* HumanShield: Gets done to Carrie. See below.
18	* IndyPloy: When Lily encounters a hostage crisis. See below.
19	* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: Lily taunts a killer using a HumanShield into pulling the trigger because she knows the extreme cold will prevent the pistol from firing. At least, she hopes it will.
20	* LovelyAngels: Carrie and Lily in the first ''Whiteout'', but averted in the film adaptation.
21	* RapeAsBackstory: Carrie was sent to Antarctica after she killed a suspect in her custody who had tried to rape her and had already nearly killed her boss.
22	* ReassignedToAntarctica: Literally, in Carrie's case.
23	* ShoutOut: Carrie drinks coffee out of a ''ComicStrip/DykesToWatchOutFor'' mug.
24	* ShownTheirWork: Greg Rucka did extremely detailed research into the nature of Antarctica before he began writing the first story. Details on the Antarctic environment, the operations of the research stations and international treaties concerning the continent are woven into the narrative.
25	* UnresolvedSexualTension: Lily and Carrie have a lot of tension between them, [[WordOfGay deliberately]], to reflect the same tension that often arises in {{Buddy Cop Show}}s. Thoroughly resolved without Lily in ''Melt''.
26	* USMarshal: Carrie.
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28	!!The film contains examples of:
29	* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the comic book, Carrie is somewhat heavyset and not particularly attractive. In the movie she's ''Creator/KateBeckinsale''. Yeah.
30	* {{Chickification}}: Greg Rucka mentioned that he did not like the film adaptation because they made Carrie weak, although as he said, "At least they got rid of the scene in the script where she hears someone following her and ''runs away'' -- what was she gonna do, call the cops?"
31	* DeadFootLeadfoot: The aviation equivalent. The Soviet pilot catches a stray bullet in the back of the head and slumps forward on the control yoke; putting the plane into a nosedive.
32	* FakinMacGuffin: Carrie and Pryce discover that the canisters Haden is attempting to escape with have been swapped for ones containing jellybeans.
33	* {{Fanservice}}: There is a scene of Carrie taking off her clothes and [[ShowerScene taking a shower]]. Full showers are not allowed at [=McMurdo=] to conserve water.
34	* {{Fingore}}: Carrie has two fingers amputated after developing gangrene due to frostbite. She later threatens to cut off Haden's fingers while interrogating him.
35	* HarmlessFreezing: Averted. While running away from the killer and losing her gloves, the heroine falls and touches the Antarctic ice with her hand. After returning back to her base, she shows a frostbitten hand to the doctor, who is then forced to amputate two fingers.
36	* HostileWeather: An imminent storm forces base command to move up the shutdown of the base by three days. Circumstances force Carrie, Pryce, Delfy and Doc to miss the last plane out, meaning they will be stuck in the base for 6 months. Then the final confrontation with the killer takes place outside during gale force winds and whiteout conditions.
37	* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: Carrie and Pryce assault Haden and then threaten to [[{{Fingore}} cut his fingers off]] while attempting to extract the location of the canisters.
38	* LectureAsExposition: Doc gives the new arrivals at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station a lecture on exactly how dangerous the Antarctic environment is to the human body, and also tells them [[TitleDrop what a 'whiteout' is]]. This means that the viewer knows how much danger the characters are in later, without having to pause the action to explain it.
39	* LifeOrLimbDecision: Carrie ends up getting two of her fingers frostbitten, and her doctor friend has to cut them off in order to save the others.
40	* ReadingsAreOffTheScale: A particularly ridiculous example, where someone says that the ''radar'' went off the charts. Given that radar isn't actually used to measure anything, how it can go "off the charts" is a mystery.
41	* RightBehindMe: Carrie is attacked by the prisoner they are guarding who has somehow escaped from her partner. After a brutal fight she wins and rushes to check on her partner, only to find him on the radio announcing that the prisoner has just escaped and killed Carrie in the process.
42	* ShovelStrike: When Carrie catches up with the murderer after he has killed Rubin, she brings him down with a blow from a shovel, and then hits him several times while he is on the ground for good measure.
43	* ShowerScene: Kate Beckinsale has one for purely {{fanservice}} reasons, even though "Hollywood showers" are not allowed at the South Pole due to water restrictions.
44	* SlashedThroat: Mooney is killed by having his throat cut. When Carrie finds him at Vostok base, he is still trying to speak and blood is still gushing from the fresh wound.
45	* SpottingTheThread: Non-incriminating example. After meeting Pryce at Vostok, Carrie is originally suspicious of his story of being a UN investigator flown in to Antarctica. She also quite reasonably believes he could be the man who [[spoiler:killed Mooney and attacked her, because the assailant was wearing full-face cold weather gear. But on the plane ride back, Pryce develops a nosebleed, and Carrie realizes that Pryce has not had time to acclimate to Antarctica's low humidity, and couldn't have been at Vostok long enough to kill Mooney and ambush her.]]
46	* TongueOnTheFlagpole: When Carrie is being chased at Vostok, she loses one of her gloves. When she opens the metal door, her hand freezes to it and she has to tear off a large chunk of skin to free herself. The hand later gets infected and requires the amputation of two fingers.
47	* TreasureChestCavity: The canisters are concealed inside the body of one of the murder victims, so they will be flown out when the base is evacuated.
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Context ComicBook / Whiteout