New WW Creative Team: Tom King and Daniel Sampere

[Frontier]

Yeah, he's not the only one who brings it up and it always reeks of arrogance.

Waid does it also and I can see why he'd want to play down good WW stories not written by him given his own terrible legacy on the character.

I'm not sure Waid's ever done that though?

[Gaius]

EXCLUSIVE: Dawn of DC Creators on the Future of DC's Comics and James Gunn's Support

"ctrl + F"-ing for the relevant parts;

This would also be a good opportunity for you to elaborate on how you're bringing that approach to Wonder Woman since you can now talk about that title a little bit. Is there anything you can tease for all the Wonder Woman fans who will be curious about your take on the character?

Phillip Kennedy Johnson: Way to bring it back. Classy, Gregg.

King: Yeah, I'll be honest, I did not want to do Wonder Woman in the past. I've tried doing Wonder Woman in the past. I feel like I've failed a few times. I mean, I've done okay, but it's always been intimidating. I think it's intimidating for a lot of people because she's just a hard character to get right. There's a lot of people [in] the 80-year history of Wonder Woman who have swung and missed on this character. I was at George Pérez's funeral last year, and they did one of those things where George had recorded something to be played at his funeral. It was an interview with him about his career. Everyone was crying, of course, and he said that's the thing he was most proud of in his life. He's like, "They offered me Wonder Woman. I was scared shitless, but I took it on and made it something special." And I was like, "Oh ****, man. George is challenging me. [laughs] He's calling me out." I felt like he [was] pointing a finger at me and calling me a coward.

I was like, "Yeah, maybe we can do something good like George did with his run. Something essential to the character." My take on it is Wonder Woman as a rebel. Wonder Woman -- not as part of the system but as someone against the system because to me, that seems to be what she was when she first began, when [William Moulton] Marston put her together. Superman fights for truth, justice, and the American way. Batman fights to enforce the law. Wonder Woman fights for something beyond that. Something beyond justice, beyond the laws of America. She fights for something pure and something more peaceful. So that's what it's about it. The first arc is called "Wonder Woman Outlaw" because it's her against the system rather than her working for it.

Williamson: Have you told that story to Daniel [Sampere]? Because you know, Daniel, the artist on Wonder Woman worships George Pérez and Phil Jimenez.

King: The thing about our industry is we're always on the shoulders of giants. I feel like that's why we're here because we read some Walt Simonson comic or some Jack Kirby comic when we were seven. So it's always our job to honor their legacy by moving it forward as they moved it forward. I feel like we're all just here trying to do that. I feel like all those titans are constantly calling me [a] coward every time I read one of their old comics

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges that come with writing legacy characters who exist in such a rich universe?

King: I find Wonder Woman to be quite a challenge. It's good, I think I'm doing my best and I think I'm getting what I want out of it. Daniel's art is beautiful, but it's definitely a challenge. I mean, she's a complicated character and lots of things have been done with her, and not all of it [has been] consistent. You know, from her original conception, which had to do with the alternate way you look at society, and then her, then [Robert] Kanigher coming in and making her just a horrible, almost anti-feminist thing. Then Perez putting Greek stuff in it all the way to [Greg] Rucka reforming her. There's been so many different iterations of [Wonder Woman]. She's always both a warrior and an embracer of peace at the same time. She has like this central contradiction to her. [Plus], both portrayals of her on TV and film which have different, wonderful things about them that merge together. It's definitely a challenge. If I keep my focus on finding things like that one moment [in] Batman where I had him get up and say, "We're still here." I was like, "Let's get that kind of energy into Wonder Woman." If I just keep that as my North Star of like, she is good, she's an awesome hero. Then we're going to add huge, huge moments so that each thing will be an event, that will be great. But yeah, I find this to be very challenging. Fun, but challenging.

King: I did a mission statement for Wonder Woman. First time I've done that in any comic. It was a bunch of things. It was like, no sword, all lasso. Stuff like that. I have a 12-year-old daughter who wore Wonder Woman costumes and had a Wonder Woman rope and I just looked at her and [thought], "What does she love about this character?" I wrote all that stuff down.

[Hypo]

King's no sword, all lasso comment has assuaged some of my fears.

[HotBoy]

King's no sword, all lasso comment has assuaged some of my fears.

Mine too. Thank Aphrodite.

[Alpha]

I got fired up with that lasscomment too.

On various ocasions I talked about how Tom King was our best bet for increasing sales on Wonder Woman and still having a potentially good run for Diana. I wasn't surprised when DC announced him. The synopsis for this forst arc doesn't sound interesting to me, and I disagree with the sentiment that Diana is complicated in terms of characterization, because I think you just have to look at the right writers, namely how William Messner Loebs wrote her personality. I'm glad that's one of the wroters King gave a nod to in another interview.

I'm as cautious as anyone else.

[WonderLight789]

One thing i didn't like in what king said. Who needs superman impacting WW? Make sure him and batman stay away from her and her lore.

[Frontier]

"ctrl + F"-ing for the relevant parts;

Now I'm more cautiously optimistic, especially knowing he was inspried by his daughter, mentioning she's still an ambassador of peace, and she's ditching the sword.

[Gaius]

One thing i didn't like in what king said. Who needs superman impacting WW? Make sure him and batman stay away from her and her lore.

It's marketing talk to entice customers to buy as many books as they can so they feel they're getting a bigger story than they are.

[Nyssane]

King's no sword, all lasso comment has assuaged some of my fears.

That was a pretty great comment, and I feel similarly. Also him looking at his daughter for what she finds inspirational in Wonder Woman gives me some hope too.

[LordUltimus]

Any mention of the origin?

[HotBoy]

Any mention of the origin?

No. And in the current series, they keep vacillating between the two.

[DABellWrites]

There's a difference between constantly having issues and having issues every couple of hundreds or thousands of years. If they did a 5 year war, thats a small fraction in the Amazons time on the island and doesn't kill what the island is about.

We didn't have anyone mad with what Historia did with the island and there are times they go to war throughout WWs history.

Maybe not here, but I'm sure there were people who didn't like it. Plus, how much attention did the book get? Anyways, what you mention is in-story. I'm thinking more towards in real life. How many modern stories actually showcase Paradise Island as it should be? And by modern, I mean since 1987.

[DABellWrites]

It's marketing talk to entice customers to buy as many books as they can so they feel they're getting a bigger story than they are.

I don't think it is. He did write that one Mod Era story where Diana calls Clark a cop. I'm confident this is what King thinks about Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman.

[OBrianTallent]

I feel a little less trepidation about how he sees Diana and maybe he wont do horribly on the title. I really liked the comment about no sword and all lasso. Maybe if he's writing a book that can inspire his preteen daughter, he wont stray too far from the core concept of Wonder Woman.

[Natamaxxx]

Any mention of the origin?

I hope it never comes up if it’s not relevant to the story he’s writing.