I’m a big, if fairly recent, fan of your work so I was thrilled to see you were doing this AMA! Historia is possibly my favourite WW book (and I’m a huge WW fan), and I love the rest of your work like Bitch Planet and Aquaman as well.
My first questions is simply, do you have any plans for a follow up to Wonder Woman Historia?
On a related note, I was wondering if there were any unused ideas for Bitch Planet that you ended up working their way into Historia given that the two have (very loosely) similar concepts?
Lastly, I remember an afterword in Bitch Planet where you discuss the tricky place of violence, how it can have catharsis in fiction, but is also a poor solution in the real world and yet it proves to be historically crucial in making the world better (for lack of a better word). I personally went through these thoughts when reading Historia. The initial violence of the Amazons while ‘justified’ left me unsettled if it was a notion of ’endorsement’, but as the story goes on the acts of violence become ones of uncertainty and necessity rather than absolute justice. I guess that ended up more praise than an actual question, but I’d be interested if you had anything more to say on the matter.
Originally Posted by
DeConnick
I love that you're interrogating those ideas! Yeah, it's complicated, isn't it?
I mean, comics -- superhero comics specifically -- externalize conflict as violence. Fights and action sequences are a vital part of the genre.
And you know, Phil and I talked a lot about this -- he initially (and I hope he comes here to correct me if I'm putting words in his mouth) was uncomfortable with the Amazons as violent agents. My argument was two-fold -- 1) they're defined and identified as warriors. Yes, violence should be the last resort, but when it comes time, that is expressly the role of the warriors; and 2) This is fantasy. I am a five foot tall woman who has always kind of looked like a child. I can teach any man in any room about violent fantasy, I promise you. The notion that women are somehow above rage or violent fantasy is dehumanizing. A pedestal is just another kind of box.