NIK: What was your inspiration for your very popular decision to start pushing Kon-El & Cassie into a relationship?
PAD: It wasn't any sort of conscious inspiration, so much as it was working on a "juvenile" level with a pairing that many people have mused/written about on an adult level (namely Superman and Wonder Woman.) But between Superboy's cockiness and Cassie's naivite, I figured it would make for some potentially interesting developments.
NIK: What do you feel that Kon-El sees in Cassie and what do you think Cassie sees in Kon-El?
PAD: I'm not sure he sees anything in Cassie yet. I don't even think he's really aware of how she feels about him. And Cassie just thinks he's incredibly cool. I don't think they're remotely at the stage of love.
NIK: What has been the reaction from the editors and writers of SUPERBOY and WONDER WOMAN on this relationship?
PAD: They seem rather willing to play off it, seeing how it develops. Still, as much as the fans are taking this and running with it, I have no intention of turning the book into Young Heroes in Love. The relationships should play a part, but not become THE keynote of the book.
NIK: How much control do you have over this relationship? Could Karl Kesel or Eric Luke essentially kill it?
PAD: Well, it would be more along the lines that the editor of those books would say, "We're squelching it" and I'd have to deal with the fallout. But no one seems moved to do that at this point.
NIK: If you had the chance to write the SUPERBOY or a WONDER GIRL series, would you like too?
PAD: Nah. I'm happy with what I'm doing.
NIK: What makes Wonder Girl a great heroine in your mind?
PAD: She's an ordinary girl thrust into extraordinary circumstances and rising to the occasion.