Comics Alliance: "You Are Now Leaving Paradise Island." (Azz/Chiang Interview)

[SonOfBaldwin]

From Comics Alliance:

Azzarello and Chiang’s Wonder Woman has been praised for putting forth an epic, cohesive and narratively self-contained superhero drama with flourishes of the urban fantasy that once defined DC’s Vertigo imprint, but has also been criticized for the changes it made to Wonder Woman’s core myth. What’s not in dispute is that the pair have created the most memorable and talked about Wonder Woman story in years — maybe in decades — and to mark the conclusion of their work, we caught up with Chiang and Azzarello to look back at their run and talk about their novel take on the feminist icon.

http://comicsalliance.com/wonder-wom...it-conclusion/

[Blacksun]

"CA: Well the differences weren’t just in the story – it was clear from the first images we saw that this was not a Diana we’d seen before. The costume design, the way she moves on the page, her bearing and attitude. Were there any particular inspirations, or any real-world figures you looked to when figuring out what you wanted “your Wonder Woman” to look like?
CC: Not really, it was more a general feel. For me, once Brian’s script came in and I saw what her voice was, then you immediately get an image of how she’ll carry herself. She’s very confident, and while she’s not necessarily flamboyant, she’s very striking. She’s an Amazon warrior, and when she walks in a room, all eyes go to her. She handles herself like royalty, she’s very confident, and very powerful. And someone like that tends to be quieter than you’d expect.


Read More: Interview: Brian Azzarello & Cliff Chiang Talk 'Wonder Woman' | http://comicsalliance.com/wonder-woman-interview-brian-azzarello-cliff-chiang-exit-conclusion/?trackback=tsmclip"


This.

[WonderScott]

This quote from BA is the same thing I've argued among my friends and comic shop pals.

"Like, why is Batman so relevant? It’s because he gets reinvented, constantly. There are a lot of stories you can tell with that character. And there are a lot of stories you can tell with this character too – that was our approach."

[borntohula]

This quote from BA is the same thing I've argued among my friends and comic shop pals.

"Like, why is Batman so relevant? It’s because he gets reinvented, constantly. There are a lot of stories you can tell with that character. And there are a lot of stories you can tell with this character too – that was our approach."

I fully agree! And I really hope recent run, Morrison's WW and the Sensation comics makes more people to realize that.

Bruce has his trauma, Diana her mercy/love. That's what makes them interesting. Not what gimmicks/gadgets they have at their disposal.

[Dr. Poison]

This quote from BA is the same thing I've argued among my friends and comic shop pals.

"Like, why is Batman so relevant? It’s because he gets reinvented, constantly. There are a lot of stories you can tell with that character. And there are a lot of stories you can tell with this character too – that was our approach."

There are some folks who would argue with you and BA that with how many "bold, new directions" Diana has been taken in over the last several decades, she's been reinvented plenty.

[Nite-Wing]

Wonder Woman has been reinvented so many times because her character has been a mess for a while. Comparing her to Batman is fundamentally wrong because his changes almost always go from a nice new direction back to the default of how he was created. Wonder Woman is being reinvented over and over and her default is pretty offensive when introduced under today's social climate

[Dr. Hurt]

Brian Azzarello: Well, we don’t play very well with others! [laughs] Before we got started, we talked to [DC Co-Publisher] Dan [DiDio] and editorial at DC and submitted an outline, and said “this is gonna take three years,” and they said “great, go for it!”

Really? I thought it went like this:

- We can tell this story in a year.
- Can you stretch it out some more?
- I guess we can abduct Zola a couple more times and do it in two years.
- A little more would be nice.
- Ah fine... i'll drag it out as much as i can. You want slow? I'll show you slow.

CC: Not really, it was more a general feel. For me, once Brian’s script came in and I saw what her voice was, then you immediately get an image of how she’ll carry herself. She’s very confident, and while she’s not necessarily flamboyant, she’s very striking. She’s an Amazon warrior, and when she walks in a room, all eyes go to her. She handles herself like royalty, she’s very confident, and very powerful. And someone like that tends to be quieter than you’d expect.

I really like this.

Like, why is Batman so relevant? It’s because he gets reinvented, constantly. There are a lot of stories you can tell with that character. And there are a lot of stories you can tell with this character too – that was our approach.

PREACH IT.

[Dr. Poison]

Really? I thought it went like this:
- We can tell this story in a year.
- Can you stretch it out some more?
- I guess we can abduct Zola a couple more times and do it in two years.
- A little more would be nice.
- Ah fine... i'll drag it out as much as i can. You want slow? I'll show you slow.

LoL! The "secret origin" of the Zola-go-round!

[Gaelforce]

Really? I thought it went like this:

- We can tell this story in a year.
- Can you stretch it out some more?
- I guess we can abduct Zola a couple more times and do it in two years.
- A little more would be nice.
- Ah fine... i'll drag it out as much as i can. You want slow? I'll show you slow.
I really like this.


PREACH IT.

Re-inventing is one thing, but Diana desperately needs some consistency. Batman has been reinvented, but he's still the son of the murdered Waynes, raised by a butler named Alfred in Wayne Manor at Gotham City, took on the mantle of the bat because 'criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot,' trained as a martial artist and detective, has the bat cave and gadgets, and is good friends with James Gordon.

Diana's home city, supporting cast, Amazons, power levels and, now, origin and family have all been changed over the decades.

Enough is enough. Reinvent is one thing, but stop totally trashing all that came before and rebooting from scratch, please.

[Dr. Hurt]

Re-inventing is one thing, but Diana desperately needs some consistency. Batman has been reinvented, but he's still the son of the murdered Waynes, raised by a butler named Alfred in Wayne Manor at Gotham City, took on the mantle of the bat because 'criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot,' trained as a martial artist and detective, has the bat cave and gadgets, and is good friends with James Gordon.

Diana's home city, supporting cast, Amazons, power levels and, now, origin and family have all been changed over the decades.

Enough is enough. Reinvent is one thing, but stop totally trashing all that came before and rebooting from scratch, please.

I completely agree with your point. I guess i should i have been more specific.

That said, a lot of people had a problem with the darker tone, Chiang's different than usual artistic style, the focus on the gods, and so on. So that i dont mind. I do mind the reboots and changes just like you described.

[Mel Dyer]

Honestly, what is the big deal here?

If there'd been no changes since the Golden Age, the Flash didn't stay a frat boy, who sniffed some crazy chemicals, and Green Lantern would be a millionarire industrialist, who found a magic lantern! Hawkman would still be a reincarnated, white Egyptian prince. So, now Wonder Woman is a warrior goddess, who was raised by Amazons...

And I can't see how what Chiang and Azzarello did with WW is any different.

[DochaDocha]

I would echo any sentiments that while reinventing can be successful, that doesn't mean the greater the reinvention, the greater the success.

I feel like this sort of "reinvention" should be compared less to what Batman went through and perhaps more to what Superman did in the John Byrne Man of Steel years. The parallels are more evident (for me, at least) when you look at how drastic the changes were from year n to year n + 1 in each of Byrne's and Azzarello's respective stories. Incidentally, I don't think Byrne's reinterpretation had long-run benefits for Superman, but that's not something that can be proven one way or another.

When you look at the evolution of Superman after Byrne, DC started positioning the character closer to his pre-Crisis elements. I do believe Byrne's model would've been more strongly rejected by DC if not for things like Lois & Clark and the animated series, which very heavily relied on Byrne's direction. In other words, whatever other media uses as its model, assuming it uses a comic run as its model, will ensure a longer lasting legacy for said run. Azz's legacy is already cemented, but whether his reinvention just gets ignored in place of the next reinvention, or gets editorially-mandated to be preserved, likely depends on what happens in the upcoming movies.

I think if reinvention is what kept Batman relevant all these years, maybe the type of reinvention needed for Wonder Woman should've been mostly tonal and not factual, e.g. who her father is, the behavior of Amazons, etc.

[Awonder]

Thanks for sharing the link, SonofBaldwin.

I like that they give credit to the other members of the creative team. Tony did a great job on designing Poseidon and Hades. And I love how Chiang describes Diana here - reminds me of a scene in the Rucka/Johnson run where Diana, Artemis, and Philipus walk in the White House.

I agree with Gaelforce that Batman is not a great example as he doesn't get the same type of drastic changes to reinvent him.

And I didn't care for this little bit:

BA: ... And as far as the criticism goes, I think that was maybe just five or six noisy complainers – it’s the nature of the Internet, I think.

That's not handling criticism "like a man,"* Mr. Azzarello (*to borrow his choice of phrase). Sure, the Internet is the Internet. And some of the criticism may seem unfair; but it also seems unfair to dismiss it all and toss it out as just "noisy complainers."

[LoneNecromancer]

That's not handling criticism "like a man,"* Mr. Azzarello (*to borrow his choice of phrase). Sure, the Internet is the Internet. And some of the criticism may seem unfair; but it also seems unfair to dismiss it all and toss it out as just "noisy complainers."

He's taking the piss.

Though I'd still doubt that he cared, if he did care about what people on the internet thought he probably wouldn't have taken part in Before Watchmen.

[Dr. Poison]

And I didn't care for this little bit:


That's not handling criticism "like a man,"* Mr. Azzarello (*to borrow his choice of phrase). Sure, the Internet is the Internet. And some of the criticism may seem unfair; but it also seems unfair to dismiss it all and toss it out as just "noisy complainers."

^^^This.