New WW Creative Team: Tom King and Daniel Sampere

[Frontier]

If the main WW book keeps selling well that can hopefully be used as motivation for more Wonder Woman titles.

[Psy-lock]

What's weird is that she's not even getting any one-shots, Elseworlds, Black Label stuff, etc. She's been getting a decent amount of those in the past few years, but now that her book is actually selling, there's nothing.

[Frontier]

What's weird is that she's not even getting any one-shots, Elseworlds, Black Label stuff, etc. She's been getting a decent amount of those in the past few years, but now that her book is actually selling, there's nothing.

Elseworlds and Black Label feel like 98% just about Batman at this point.

[SixSpeedSamurai]

What's weird is that she's not even getting any one-shots, Elseworlds, Black Label stuff, etc. She's been getting a decent amount of those in the past few years, but now that her book is actually selling, there's nothing.

Projects take time. Hopefully they are getting green lit now.

[Gaius]

What's weird is that she's not even getting any one-shots, Elseworlds, Black Label stuff, etc. She's been getting a decent amount of those in the past few years, but now that her book is actually selling, there's nothing.

Yeah, I can live without a second ongoing title but I would want more of this stuff.


(obligatory Historia sequel please comment)

[SixSpeedSamurai]

You know what? I am dying to see how the brawl goes mainly because I am intrigued about how these particular group of villains works as a collective entity to bring down Diana. I mean, I kinda think that none of these people are necessarily fans of working with others, but they surely must have some sort of plan if they expect to capture one of the most powerful superheroes in the DC universe, right?
Things I hope I don't see in the brawl:
-Any of the Wonder Girls dying
-any of the villains dying.
-Angle Man being reduced to a joke or cannon fodder (hence the previous entry on this list Lol)

Also...with Circe and Frail in the line up, I cannot imagine either of these two NOT betraying the task at hand. Why would either of these women simply do what some random new WW villain tells them to do?
But I am excited about next issue for sure.

Angle Man = Kite Man, first thing that came to my mind when reading issue #5. Tom's going to use him like he did with Kite Man, hell yeah!

[Skytten]

Angle Man = Kite Man, first thing that came to my mind when reading issue #5. Tom's going to use him like he did with Kite Man, hell yeah!

I think he will go the Kite Man route, but that he actually is really powerful while also being incompetent in fights. Maybe some weird powerful attack/moves what to call it suddenly to show it.

[LordUltimus]

I heard that Tom King said his Diana is inspired by Gal Gadot portrayal. If that's true, no wonder Diana just has weird dialogue and barely has any facial expressions outside of scolding and smiling.

[Vordan]

I heard that Tom King said his Diana is inspired by Gal Gadot portrayal. If that's true, no wonder Diana just has weird dialogue and barely has any facial expressions outside of scolding and smiling.

He said in the Word Balloon interview that Gadot is an influence on his take yeah. But King’s characters always tend to be pretty stiff and formal. A Tom King Spider-Man book would kill it on the drama but be awful on the comedy .

[Gaius]

I heard that Tom King said his Diana is inspired by Gal Gadot portrayal. If that's true, no wonder Diana just has weird dialogue and barely has any facial expressions outside of scolding and smiling.

He's said he's pretty much taken stuff from a lot of WW stuff, he's said the same about Lynda Carter. In regards to Gadot, yeah he says he writes WW with an accent.

I think the only run he's said negative stuff about was Kanigher.

[Primal Slayer]

Some past interviews

https://www.youtube.com/live/oV3K2sz-SVU?feature=share
Hardest character he's ever had to write.

Revamped SO MANY TIMES its hard to find out who she is as a character.

Villains REVAMPED SO MANY TIMES.

Can take Superman/Batman back to their first issues and find out who they are. Cant do that with WW.

People describe her the same way you would Superman. Through reading previous runs, has found a more definitive/distinct way to describe WW. She rebels against the status quo, tries to make a better world.

Drew lore from Perez run. Personality from Gails run. Phil for the Wonder Girls. Best advice was from Perez.

Tom King did a Word Balloon interview, dropped tons of new details:

- Reiterated that the first arc is gonna be primarily about Diana (though Nubia is still queen of the Amazons and appears in at least the first issue), but said he plans to get to Nubia, Donna, and Cassie and wants to do a long run where he gets to include the whole Wonderfam. Doesn't want to control them so much that other writers can't do what they want with them

- The series is gonna have 10-page backups about the broader world of WW/the Amazons (some written by King, others not)

- Not a lot of mythological stuff or Themyscira in the run - wants to really have her on Earth interacting with the world like Superman and Batman do. The book is gonna be heavily based in Washington DC

- Asked about whether he's going to show Diana's queerness: "It's tricky but it also isn't, you're just gonna have to read the book." Interesting...

- Asked about Trinity's father: That's part of the mystery and it's possible that she doesn't have a father. Said the run is gonna explore how Trinity "comes to exist" or something sort of pointedly, which kinda hints that it's not gonna be a traditional birth

- Hippolyta is going to be an important part of Trinity's story

- When asked about the clay origin, he basically said as subtly as possible that DC won't let him make a definitive statement but he's pro-clay origin and pushing to make it canon. Also said he considers the Perez run definitive WW canon

- 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

- Thinks WW has a really good rogues gallery and his favorite villains are Giganta and Circe, but the first arc is gonna have a new villain

- Gave huge praise to Historia (and apparently Kelly Sue and Nicola are gonna be on Word Balloon on Thursday to do a vol. 3 deep dive)

- Thoughts on WW's supporting cast: Likes Steve and Etta but feels like some work needs to be done with them, Steve being in the military is immediately gonna drive conflict between him and Diana. Some people asked about Ferdinand and he laughed and said "we'll see"

- Likes Rucka's Rebirth approach to Cheetah where she's not purely a nemesis, thinks sometimes she and Diana are better allies than enemies which is going to inform how he deals with her in his run

- Diana's gonna talk to animals. And the jet's gonna be there. Did not confirm or deny a Jumpa appearance

"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 ****less, 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.

[HsssH]

They are yes, but John's last ongoing seemed to sell abysmal.

From data that we have it sold at around same level as Cloonard's WW run.

[Garrac]

He's said he's pretty much taken stuff from a lot of WW stuff, he's said the same about Lynda Carter. In regards to Gadot, yeah he says he writes WW with an accent.

I think the only run he's said negative stuff about was Kanigher.

Oh boy, that's easily the worst Wonder Woman run ever written, lol. She has had some bad stuff, dont take me wrong: Amazons Attack, the Finches, Robinson... but Kanigher...

It's also baffling how the man spent more than TWENTY YEARS writing the same character, and when he was interviewed in the 60s about leaving the title... he didn't even have nothing to say. Didn't care at all.

[Skytten]

From data that we have it sold at around same level as Cloonard's WW run.

Sure, but it was a new number 1. Wonder Woman yes had Infinite Frontier, but was a 770 issue they don't bring in as many readers. While the other new Wonder book, Wonder Girl started of with amazing sales, which cratered because of delay. Which shows other Wonder books can sell.

[Fuzzy Mittens]

Even then, King said he saw alot of potential in the rogues gallery Kanigher cooked up. Which Angleman goes to show, being Kanighers pet villain during his run and all.