New WW Creative Team: Tom King and Daniel Sampere

[HestiasHearth]

"Thinks WW is the best person in the DCU, better than Superman. Talked again about how she's a rebel who's more radical in her beliefs and will take a step beyond just doing the right thing, status quo be damned - has no reservations about breaking the law whereas Superman is a bit more deferential to it. Says in the first issue she makes choices that Superman wouldn't"

Hmm. I hope that they surprise us and NOT make this about Diana purposely breaking some criminal's legs or some other "totally badass" (and totally out-of-character) thing.

[WonderScott]

Radical empathy could mean an ability to empathize with people in situations where they’re being taken advantage of in some way or treated inequitably and unequally and placing empathy first when dealing with a situation.

It reminds me of “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure that you seek.”

Or as Luke Skywalker and Yoda put it before Luke popped into that Dark Side cave on Dagobah.

Luke: “What’s in there?”

Yoda: “Only what you take with you.”

Or something like that.

[HotBoy]

Sorry, what response?

My apologies. I meant to quote this post and quoted yours by mistake.

I don’t know what it means to have “radical empathy”, it sounds a bit silly…as well as frightening. The way King describes Wonder Woman she seems a bit dangerous actually, I’d be afraid of her...

[SiegePerilous02]

The world is increasingly dangerous right now, and I don't view "too much empathy" as one of the causes.

Diana being empathetic is "dangerous" in all the right ways that the world needs.

[Vordan]

DC has two very big problems on representing Wonder Woman: confirm her queerness, and take back the clay origin.

Well, see, Tom King right now is like, the top star, the right eye of the comic industry. He's probaly the still active writer with most power of decision, the guy who can do almost anything to his characters. And now we know he wants to bring those two points to the table.

If we want those two things to happen, there's literally no one on the industry left in a better position than Tom King able to give Diana her clay origin and a saphic relationship.

So, if these two things don't happen during the whole run... we'll know it's imposible and all hope will be lost. Because if Tom King can't do it, no one will.

King pretty much all but said he was not making WW queer. He knows people want it but he basically says “it’s complicated” which is code for “sorry but we’re not doing that, DC doesn’t want it”.

[Garrac]

King pretty much all but said he was not making WW queer. He knows people want it but he basically says “it’s complicated” which is code for “sorry but we’re not doing that, DC doesn’t want it”.

What I get from hearing Tom King on interviews is that if the oportunity rises he's willing to, but if he doesn't manage to do it, we'll know we'll never get it on the regular series because DC. And as I said, the same goes for the clay origin.

I guess the other big bet would be Tom Taylor, but I don't want him on the title for other reasons tbh.

[Frontier]

I’m very happy that King seems fond of Circe (because he was a Homer buff lmao) since she is my favorite. Given he also seems to want Cheetah as more of a frenemy that means Circe might be the one he builds up as her nemesis. Also great to hear he’s putting a hold on the gods for a while, that needed a rest.

King doesn’t like Psycho though, mind control powers are hard for him. He struggles with how to have the hero fight them. Saying he’ll work on it makes me think he wants to use Psycho but is struggling to find an approach. I’ll be honest, returning to something I said before, I think the only way to really make Psycho into a legit threat is to accept that a virulent misogynist with mind control powers is probably going to use them for rape, same as Marvel’s Purple Man. Psycho using his powers to traffic women and sell them into sexual slavery is the obvious route to take for him, but that would be an intense storyline that may not be best told by a man.

Given he and Gunn work closely together I’m surprised he doesn’t just ask Gunn what the plans are. Gunn does like some New 52 stuff so maybe he digs Azz’s run? He liked New 52 Suicide Squad which is why Harley was on his team.

He actually had a great take on Superman in the interview imo, at least in how Diana sees him as being someone who hides extreme rage behind a smile and kind attitude. King’s big take on the difference between the two is that Diana is supposed to be rocking the boat in everything she does whereas Superman will do that in extreme circumstances, but is normally very hesitant for fear of becoming a tyrant. Wonder Woman will be much more aggressively political in his run which sounds good to me!

I feel like Gail Simone and Greg Rucka used Psycho pretty well.

[Ascended]

He actually had a great take on Superman in the interview imo, at least in how Diana sees him as being someone who hides extreme rage behind a smile and kind attitude. King’s big take on the difference between the two is that Diana is supposed to be rocking the boat in everything she does whereas Superman will do that in extreme circumstances, but is normally very hesitant for fear of becoming a tyrant. Wonder Woman will be much more aggressively political in his run which sounds good to me!

That's what gets me with King. He's *so* close to really getting Clark, but where he misses the point, he really, really misses the point. And it makes me sad, because King could be one of the great Super writers if he stopped being distracted and influenced by a global reputation and legend that has never actually fit the character.

I agree with him about Clark hiding a deep rage behind a smile. Yes, that's very true. And to King's credit, that's a deeper insight than a lot of writers bother with. But the very idea of Superman is all about rocking the boat. You can't become Superman with the idea of maintaining the status quo. And I'm curious what he'll dig out of Diana in that regard.

Diana's far more of a radical than Clark is, I agree with that. The comparison works; she is indeed much more overtly political. But not because Clark's hesitant to involve himself, he simply takes a bottom-up approach rather than a top-down one. Diana will go after the politicians, Clark doesn't like to waste him time with them. The line about Clark fearing he'll become a tyrant? That's the same kind of BS that writers will use to justify Batman's no-kill code; just an easy excuse to keep the setting familiar and intact.

[Will Evans]

That's what gets me with King. He's *so* close to really getting Clark, but where he misses the point, he really, really misses the point. And it makes me sad, because King could be one of the great Super writers if he stopped being distracted and influenced by a global reputation and legend that has never actually fit the character.

I agree with him about Clark hiding a deep rage behind a smile. Yes, that's very true. And to King's credit, that's a deeper insight than a lot of writers bother with. But the very idea of Superman is all about rocking the boat. You can't become Superman with the idea of maintaining the status quo. And I'm curious what he'll dig out of Diana in that regard.

Diana's far more of a radical than Clark is, I agree with that. The comparison works; she is indeed much more overtly political. But not because Clark's hesitant to involve himself, he simply takes a bottom-up approach rather than a top-down one. Diana will go after the politicians, Clark doesn't like to waste him time with them. The line about Clark fearing he'll become a tyrant? That's the same kind of BS that writers will use to justify Batman's no-kill code; just an easy excuse to keep the setting familiar and intact.

But it still applies and has applied to Clark’s modern depictions for the last 30 years. Probably ever since Byrne had him kill off the Phantom Zoners from the other universe. So much so that it affected Clark mentally. You may not like it but it’s true.
There is a fear that Clark does not want to end up like Injustice Clark or any of the 100 “Superman-riffed off” characters that writers depict who are “evil Superman.”

[VonHammersmark]

The world is increasingly dangerous right now, and I don't view "too much empathy" as one of the causes.

Diana being empathetic is "dangerous" in all the right ways that the world needs.

It's a good thing to have empathy, however, “radical empathy” is possibly too much of a good thing...the world certainly doesn’t need more people with “radical views” and quote unquote “no reservations about breaking the law” in order to do what they deem to be the right thing, that’s for sure

[SiegePerilous02]

I feel like all the members of the Trinity are pretty radical in their own ways, and became superheroes because they wanted to upend the status quo. Diana as a queer female character is going to tackle it from a more unique angle than the other two, and be more radical about it because she comes from outside mortal society, but describing Clark as deferential to the status quo still rings false.

There is plenty of precedent for Clark to passively guard the system without being active to change it....but there is also precedent for Diana to not live up to her roots established by Marston and Perez either (including the infamous "I'm not a feminist because I'm not a joiner" issue from the 70s).

Kinda shows that comparison/contrasts between Superman and Wonder Woman don't really do either of them favors. Usually it's Diana being undersold, but it can sometimes be Clark. And neither one of them can succeed at changing the world for the better because of the DC would stop publishing stories with them

[SiegePerilous02]

It's a good thing to have empathy, however, “radical empathy” is possibly too much of a good thing...the world certainly doesn’t need more people with “radical views” and quote unquote “no reservations about breaking the law” in order to do what they deem to be the right thing, that’s for sure

How would people being empathetic to a radical degree be "too much of a good thing"? What do you think that would look like to the point it might be worrisome?

Because a lot of bodies are piling up because of a lack of empathy in the world (among other things). And the laws don't always have the peoples' best interests at heart, so sometimes breaking them is the moral choice

[Gaius]

Think folks are getting too worked up over that quote, King also said he’d probably say Superman was the better person than Wonder Woman if he were writing a Superman book because that’d be the book he’d have to promote.

[Vordan]

That's what gets me with King. He's *so* close to really getting Clark, but where he misses the point, he really, really misses the point. And it makes me sad, because King could be one of the great Super writers if he stopped being distracted and influenced by a global reputation and legend that has never actually fit the character.

I agree with him about Clark hiding a deep rage behind a smile. Yes, that's very true. And to King's credit, that's a deeper insight than a lot of writers bother with. But the very idea of Superman is all about rocking the boat. You can't become Superman with the idea of maintaining the status quo. And I'm curious what he'll dig out of Diana in that regard.

Diana's far more of a radical than Clark is, I agree with that. The comparison works; she is indeed much more overtly political. But not because Clark's hesitant to involve himself, he simply takes a bottom-up approach rather than a top-down one. Diana will go after the politicians, Clark doesn't like to waste him time with them. The line about Clark fearing he'll become a tyrant? That's the same kind of BS that writers will use to justify Batman's no-kill code; just an easy excuse to keep the setting familiar and intact.

Well he did say that he’d probably have a different opinion on Supes when he actually gets to write a Supes book, then Supes will be his favorite and Supes will be the radical.

Think folks are getting too worked up over that quote, King also said he’d probably say Superman was the better person than Wonder Woman if he were writing a Superman book because that’d be the book he’d have to promote.

Yeah I had a laugh at how mercenary that statement is, but it’s true! In her own book, Wonder Woman should be written as the greatest hero and the best of her generation. Ditto for everyone else, in their books they are the center of the DCU. That’s why I don’t get worked up about Supes jobbing in other peoples books anymore, it’s their books and they can be the leads (even if I would rather he just not appear at all). Makes me wonder if King will bring in the other heroes at some point like he brought in Supes and Wondy into Batman? First arc will be just Diana focused, then we might get more of the Wonder Family, but if he gets a long run like he wants, I could see him branching out even further.

Only non-Wonder I’d like to see in Diana’s book right now is Zatanna.

[Mantis-Ray]

Well he did say that he’d probably have a different opinion on Supes when he actually gets to write a Supes book, then Supes will be his favorite and Supes will be the radical.

Yeah I had a laugh at how mercenary that statement is, but it’s true! In her own book, Wonder Woman should be written as the greatest hero and the best of her generation. Ditto for everyone else, in their books they are the center of the DCU. That’s why I don’t get worked up about Supes jobbing in other peoples books anymore, it’s their books and they can be the leads (even if I would rather he just not appear at all). Makes me wonder if King will bring in the other heroes at some point like he brought in Supes and Wondy into Batman? First arc will be just Diana focused, then we might get more of the Wonder Family, but if he gets a long run like he wants, I could see him branching out even further.

Only non-Wonder I’d like to see in Diana’s book right now is Zatanna.

Really, the real answer is that Superman and Wonder Woman should team-up to make the Bat-Trinity job (Batman, Joker, and Harley Quinn)