Greg Rucka back on Wonder Woman

[RealWonderman]

BEAUTIFUL!! I have to say...I think the best thing that ever happened to Diana's costume (besides the skirt, which i love) was the removal of all of the white. The red blue and gold color scheme (bracelets not withstanding) is so much cleaner, and prettier, really.

That said, PLEASE can we lose the superfluous SHIELD. And the sword.

[Last Son of Krypton]

REBIRTH WONDER WOMAN Is 6'2", 'Strong, Striking' & All Woman: http://www.newsarama.com/29250-rebir...all-woman.html

Newsarama: Greg, what can you say about the unspecified “unimaginable loss” that kick starts this new volume of Wonder Woman?

Greg Rucka: It’s the solicits text. [laughs]

I don’t want to spoil anything, and it matters a great deal to me that people be able to pick up Liam’s Wonder Woman #1 fresh after Wonder Woman: Rebirth #1 by Liam and Matt Clark. I don’t want a trail of breadcrumbs.

Solicits are meant to hype books, but I believe that was written before I actually completed the first script. I know exactly what they were referring to however, and now I can say that Diana has lost a couple of things.

Nrama: Greg, this is your second major run with the Wonder Woman character, and I know fans don’t want to forget it – and don’t want you to, either. But how has the character changed for you, and how have you changed?

Rucka: It’s been well over a decade since I’ve written Diana consistently. A lot has happened in the interim, and it would be rude to say they didn’t happen. It’s crucial that we want to honor what we’re working with, and what has been done before, and use it where we can to the best of our abilities.

And speaking personally, I am a very different person than I was then. So the kind of stories that I believe would honor and serve Diana best are different than when I was writing her in 2005, and I think that’s crucial.

My relationship to Wonder Woman has changed. If anything, I adore her even more. She’s still my favorite of all the superheroes, hands down. She’s the winner for me: from what she represents, to the nature of her heroism, and the kind of stories she can tell. She has an aspirational nature that I found when I was given the privilege of writing her the first time. And in that sense, I’m doubling down here on the things I believe make her so great.

Nrama: Liam, your storyline, “The Lies,” is set in the modern day. What about the story made it something you wanted it to be, beyond just Greg’s name and the character involved?

Liam Sharp: Actually, I’ve been associated to this project for the longest, even before Greg and Nicola came on board. Which was a funny situation, because obviously there can be different views on the characters involved. But as soon as Greg became attached, we jumped on the phone for an hour and a half and both were very happy by the end of the call.

I always told Greg that I get nervous working with new people, but it was exciting to find out how much he and I had in common. My wife was listening in casually to our conversation, and after about two minutes she said “Don’t worry, Liam. It’ll be fine!”

Then we didn’t stop talking for an hour and a half. The great thing about being paired up with Greg is that we get along on so many levels – politically, philosophically, and more. There’s an awful lot of crossover.

And when he told me the story, I was excited. It’s nice when you go into a story and fundamentally care about it, as I do. Yes, it’s fantasy. Yes, it’s a comic book, but telling stories matters to us; it’s a reflection of ourselves. Inherently, we’re going to do a better job if we’re telling a story we care about and believe in ourselves.

Nrama: And for you, Nicola?

Nicola Scott: Ever since I’ve been on the more professional side of the business, every time I’m asked about what my dream project would be I’ve said: “Doing a Wonder Woman origin story with Greg Rucka.” But I’ve always presumed that would never happen. So to find ourselves in a position where it’s actually happening, it’s a bit overwhelming.

Greg and I have had conversations about this for years, and we have had several ideas. Now, the hard part is boiling it down to 20 pages per issue. You know, we have to make it real and not just this ephemeral group of ideas. In the process of that, it requires us to make some decisions on how things happen, what things happen, and how things are taken. It’s become, by necessity, an incredibly decisive process, and that in itself is quite tricky.

Greg and I are lucky we have so much history between us, because it means we have faith in each other to deliver on our intentions. But there’s a trickiness of finite decisions on all of ten years of talk.

Nrama: How are you approaching defining a young Diana Prince as opposed to the modern-day version?

Scott: We’re kind of using the best ideas of what has come before, certainly visually. We’re trying to use a lot of in-continuity history, but refocusing it for the story we’re trying to tell.

One of the initial ‘locked in’ decisions was how old she was, visually, in our first story. And she’ll look different than in Liam’s story, as that’s set ten years down the road. There, she’s been out in Man’s World for 10 years. Those ten years affect her in a way that the thousands of years leading up to this point hadn’t really. She’s been living a really sheltered life up until this point in our “Year One” story.

Nrama: Liam, what do you hope to evoke with readers in how you draw Wonder Woman?

Sharp: When I came onto this book, the thing that really surprised me was how much thrilling action there would be. Of every book I’ve ever drawn, Wonder Woman has the most to offer. Here’s so many angles to it. Whether it be the magical, the mythological, or even the modern aspects inherent to our story, there’s a lot there. And also the superhero aspect, but that’s quite a ways off.

Looking at previous work, I’m coming into this off of Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang’s European, vaguely “real world” feel. It’s the real world rather than a stylized version of it, so I’ve been doing a lot of detail – and a lot of crosshatching. Its mid-Atlantic, European, more inspired by old school Barry Windsor-Smith. It’ll definitely feel like a “lived in,” believable world.

As Nicola said, our version of her in “The Lies” is ten years older than the one she and Greg are doing in “year One,” so she’s been touched by this world and its affected her. You’ll see it in her face and in her armor that she’s not as invulnerable as she might always seem to be. She has a humanity, and we imbue her with that.

We’ve also talked about her size. She’s 6’2” and strong. She’s going to be striking when she walks into the room. She’s big – not ‘model’ thin. She’s powerful, but not ripped like a bodybuilder.

She’s a powerful woman. ‘Woman’ became a big part of it; she’s Wonder Woman, not ‘Wonder Teenager.’

Nrama: I have to ask about the format of the book: two concurrent storylines, running in alternating issues, one drawn by Liam, one by Nicola. How did that idea come about, and how do you think it’ll affect readership of the book in serialized format?

Sharp: That’s Greg. [Laughs]

Rucka: My fault. [Laughs] If it fails dismally, everyone can point at me and laugh.

But it matters enormously to me that, given the nature of the schedule, that Liam and Nicola get the time needed to draw these stories.

In my initial conversations about doing Wonder Woman again for DC, I talked about how Liam needed to be given the time to “own” the book; you have to be able to grant that to your collaborators. One of the dangers of a pressing schedule is that it can potentially alienate an artist; as invested as they might wish to be, a harsh schedule could disallow them from doing that and force them to step away. I really wanted to prevent that, and not have Liam finding himself on a series of late nights working until 3am under looming deadlines.

And looking at the story we wanted to tell, this format was perfect. Do this “Year One” story, and let that run pretty much contemporaneously with “The Lies,” which is a “Year Ten” story. As soon as I had that, Nicola was our first call. Our creator-owned series Black Magick was in a place where she could step away from it long enough to do this.

These stories are very distinct from one another, but they are also intrinsically linked to one another. The cliffhanger at the end of Wonder Woman #1 isn’t answered in #2 however, so you’ll need to wait until #3 when Liam returns to see that story. But what happens in #1 and #2 feed into things and set up questions for later. There’s questions presented in Wonder Woman #1 that you won’t really see the full shape of the answer until you get to Wonder Woman #6, “Year One” part three. And I think that creates lovely dramatic tension.

I didn’t want Liam and Nicola to be off in separate corners not talking to each other and not having their stories affect one another. We’re all in this together.

This phone call with the three of us and you wasn’t a difficult one to arrange, except for schedule. We all get along, and we’re all in communication – and I think ‘communication’ is the key to getting the best out of comics collaboration. Creating something more than the sum of the parts.

Sharp: I have a panel of Nic’s art in Wonder Woman #1. I won’t say how or why, but it will all make sense, and I think there are a few moments like that.

Scott: I’m looking forward to the three of us doing panels at conventions. We’ve been talking to each other so much about the project by phone and online, but it would be very nice to get in the same room together with an audience.

Nrama: And have you three compared schedules for what convention that might be?

Rucka: Rose City, this September. We’ll all be in Portland.

[GodofBoredom]

6'2? What's the point in making her that tall? That's considerably tall for a man, nevermind a woman.

[RealWonderman]

6'2? What's the point in making her that tall? That's considerably tall for a man, nevermind a woman.

I don't get too hung up on these things, but I think that's about how tall gal was with her boots...6' or 6'1". It looked good in real life.

WW BM SM.jpg

[Sterling]

6'2? What's the point in making her that tall? That's considerably tall for a man, nevermind a woman.

Well Wonder Woman isn't just tall for a woman; she's tall by any standard. That being said specific character heights don't matter in comics, since I'm sure no editor at DC is telling the artists to make sure [character name] is [character height].

[Dr. Poison]

Diana isn't a regular human so her being 6'2" doesn't seem strange to me.

[GodofBoredom]

I don't get too hung up on these things, but I think that's about how tall gal was with her boots...6' or 6'1". It looked good in real life.

WW BM SM.jpg

With her boots, sure.

Gal Gadot is 5'10'', and I think that's basically the perfect height for Wonder Woman.

Tall for a woman, but not freakishly so. With heels, she clears 6 feet.

For reference, Ben affleck is a bit over 6'2. Look at him next to Jennifer Garner, who is already 5'8, which is above average for a woman in the USA:



Now, imagine him wearing heels, and you have Wonder Woman.

That's...odd.

[Javier Velasco]

"Sharp:And also the superhero aspect, but that’s quite a ways off."

That's a bit of a disappointing statement for a superhero comic, even more so given the slow pace of Rucka's previous run. Also, have to add to the not a fan of Diana as a physically imposing. To me, that puts her into a She-Hulk, Big Barda, Thundra category, which I believe Marston was trying to do just the opposite.

Ah well.

[Nyssane]

I don't see how anyone has an issue with that -- she's always been tall. I've always thought of all the Amazons as being around 5'10" to well over 6 feet.

[Javier Velasco]

I don't see how anyone has an issue with that -- she's always been tall. I've always thought of all the Amazons as being around 5'10" to well over 6 feet.

I don't have an issue with fans who like her tall. But the statement that "she's always been tall." is incorrect. Marston went out of his way to tell us how slim and slight Diana was. The idea being that her strength was a surprise to those who underestimated her as being a "mere woman."

Up until the first crisis, WW was always portrayed in much this manner. Shorter than the male characters that she would be standing next to.

After the crisis, she has been drawn 50/50. Sometimes as a tall woman. Sometimes as a slight woman. It wasn't until Darwin Cooke's Final Frontier that the idea of WW as a "taller than most men" character was floated.

[vasir12]

Comicosity Interview: Rucka, Sharp, and Scott Rebirth WONDER WOMAN

Matt Santori-Griffith: Thank you ALL for taking time to chat about Wonder Woman. It’s a real thrill to have all three of you on at once.

I want to start off simply by asking each of you: who is your Diana? Is she a warrior? Super-hero? Ambassador? God? All of the above? None of the above?

Greg Rucka: All and none.

Nicola Scott: To me, she’s everybody’s friend. Her defining personality trait is that she’s quite possibly the most inclusive, compassionate, and calm person in the DC Universe. It’s hard for anyone to not feel a little ray of sun on you when she’s around.

GR: Yeah, I love that. I have nothing to add to that. I’ve always maintained that when Diana smiles at you, it’s the best thing that could have happened to you all day.

NS: Yeah! You’ll never forget it.

Liam Sharp: She’s like the archetype. She embodies what’s best in people. She has a wisdom born of ages and ages of experience, but she still has this youthful vitality. She communes with the gods, but she also has this pragmatism that comes along with science.

So, she really embodies such a gamut of what humanity is.

MSG: As this is a “rebirth” and not just another series relaunch, what is one thing that you are bringing into the series that you feel has been missing of late?

LS: I think what I’m bringing to it is an Old World European bent on the mythological aspect of the series. I’ve always loved that material, whether it was Greek, Roman, Nordic, or Celtic. I think a lot of comics have a sanitized representation of those kinds of stories. I’m sort of interested in the anthropological aspects of the mythologies — where everything intersects. I want to embed a richer, deeper, less well known look into it. All sorts of Easter eggs that you can relate to and rediscover.

I’m getting a bit Windsor-Smith on its ass. [laughs]

NS: I feel like with the “Year One” story, this is her first venture into the outside world, so we’re getting to play with Diana’s optimism and innocence. She’s living a very balanced, but reasonably sheltered, rich existence until now. And it gets turned on its head in one day.

Suddenly, there is a great, big, open door. And there are choices. And a sense of adventure. It’s a nice opportunity to work on that kind of story, because it’s Diana at her most raw, but shiny and good-to-go. She’s ready to experience what the world has. I feel like that’s a story we haven’t gotten with Diana for a really long time.

GR: Nicola talks about that optimism. I think one of the things that I’m really eager to explore with her further is not naivete, but certainly in “Year One” a genuine innocence. And how in “The Lies” that has tempered her as a woman.

We meet her at 18 in “Year One.” She’s 18, but she’s not 18. She’s lived through thousands of years of being 18. Then, we come to her later and this is a Diana who’s had the 10 most significant years of her life. And has been so profoundly affected by them. It’s changed who she is and molded her.

The things that have remained true and the things that have, for one reason or another, fallen away, or been diluted, or been mislaid — those are all aspects that are fascinating to me.

MSG: Central to Wonder Woman is always this idea of “Truth” with a capital T. How does that idea resonate for each of you going into this first set of storylines?

LS: It’s funny, because truth is an elusive quality. It rests entirely on perception. For greater part of our history, the earth was quite evidently flat. It was true to say it was flat.

In a weird way, the central theme of our story is this idea that the world is not flat after all, speaking metaphorically. What is reality and what is truth? She has a lot of those types of questions.

GR: And the difference between what is truth and what is fact. I think Diana is very good at discerning the truth, especially in people.

I’m always fond of the fact that the lasso is not the thing that compels the truth. Diana compels the truth. She is very difficult to lie to. You don’t want to. You want to tell her the truth. And that’s a byproduct of who she is.

LS: I love that in your scripts, Greg, that you refer to the fact that other characters know this. It’s embedded in the world’s psyche. Everyone knows that she only tells the truth. That’s never questioned. And if you know that going into the story, it’s something you can really play off of.

NS: Everyone has their own version of the truth. It’s what you believe. It’s what you think you’ve experienced. Everyone remembers their history from their own perspective, and that is their version of the truth.

I feel like one of the things that we’re doing with the story is challenging the truth. Diana’s truth and everyone else’s experience of the truth as we get to what is actually reality.

MSG: So, if there’s one thing going into Rebirth that you’re already surprised by or most proud of, what would that be?

NS: In the “Year One” story, certainly the first issue is playing a lot with culture. I feel like we’re seeing moments on Themyscira in particular where we’re getting a sense of culture. It’s not so much plot-driven in that first issue. It’s more like, here is what life is like. It’s denser and richer than we usually get to see, in really simple ways. I think that’s really lovely.

LS: Yeah, it’s really elegant what you’re doing. It’s gorgeous.

From my point of view, I know that I’m doing — hands down — the best art I’ve ever done for a mainstream title. That’s partly fueled by the fact that the character is so amazing. Way more amazing than I ever expected.

There’s so much richness to this book. I know that I could draw this book forever because there’s no end to what could happen here.

But more profoundly than that, what I’ve found as a whole on this book is that we are united in our views of the world and what we feel about it. I know how humane Greg and Nicola are as individuals and that shines incredibly powerfully for me. I feel like I’m involved in telling a story that’s morally aligned with myself. It means something. It has a gravity. I feel like I’m telling something important, even though it may be a fantastical comic book story.

It’s so great. So often when you get a job, you’re telling a story that might not have any sense of morality that I can relate to. You know… I’m a pussycat. [laughs] I’m sort of a pacifist hippie, and all my work has sort of been associated with this hyper-violence. I wonder if that would be my legacy. So it’s really beautiful to be associated with something I really care about.

GR: I guess I’m going to be a little pedantic, because there’s no one moment that’s surprised me the most. I mean, when people see the last page of Wonder Woman #1, their jaws are going to hit the floor. And I know, because mine did. And I look at a panel Nicola did of Hippolyta and Diana hugging. It’s just sublime.

And the collaboration on every level here is so active and strong. I sit down and start writing an issue, and all the conversations we’ve had are changing the story. I started the latest script and all the stuff that’s in there wouldn’t have been without my discussions with Liam. They just wouldn’t have been there. I’m sitting down to work on another issue and I have my passel of notes from my last discussion with Nicola.

Half the problem is trying to cut down. How are we going to get everything into 20 pages? It’s just been wonderful. It’s really been such a fantastic collaboration on every level. I can’t speak highly enough of it. I really can’t.

LS: I’ll second that.

NS: Yeah. We’re all incredibly lucky.

MSG: OK. One last thing. Lightning round with a one word answer: other than Diana, what character are you most looking forward to working with?

GR: …

NS: ….

LS: Tough question.

NS: Hmmm.

MSG: This was the stumper question? [laughs]

NS: OK, well, I feel like for the “Year One” story, it’s Steve. He plays a big part. His story is as important as Diana’s.

LS: I don’t want to say who I would say because it will spoil things. What I will say is way down the line, it’s my kind of thing, and don’t expect it any time soon, but we have an idea for Ares that you’ve never seen before. I’m looking forward to one day hopefully begin to explore that.

GR: Steve.

We’ve joked among the three of us that we’re going to make someone out there in the world go into a comic store on Wednesday and pick up an issue of Wonder Woman and say, “Oh cool! Steve Trevor is in this one.” I’m not sure those are words anyone has ever said aloud. That’s what we’re going for.

The launch issue for a new era of Diana’s adventures, entitled Wonder Woman: Rebirth #1, hits stores and online on June 8, with Wonder Woman #1 following just two weeks later on June 22.

For more on DC Rebirth, check out our interview with writers Scott Snyder and Tom King on Batman: Rebirth #1.

[vasir12]

Really excited to see their take on Themyscira. I feel like that's always neglected.

[Tayswift]

I don't see how anyone has an issue with that -- she's always been tall. I've always thought of all the Amazons as being around 5'10" to well over 6 feet.

It was recently that wonder woman started being tall. I think it is ok, it looks powerful and she is a amazon. it fits

GR: Nicola talks about that optimism. I think one of the things that I’m really eager to explore with her further is not naivete, but certainly in “Year One” a genuine innocence. And how in “The Lies” that has tempered her as a woman.

We meet her at 18 in “Year One.” She’s 18, but she’s not 18. She’s lived through thousands of years of being 18. Then, we come to her later and this is a Diana who’s had the 10 most significant years of her life. And has been so profoundly affected by them. It’s changed who she is and molded her.

The things that have remained true and the things that have, for one reason or another, fallen away, or been diluted, or been mislaid — those are all aspects that are fascinating to me.

so this seems to confirm that johns changes will be adopted.

[vasir12]

That's cool. I find it better that she's thousands of years old.

[Dr. Poison]

This quote from the interview above made me smile:


"We’ve joked among the three of us that we’re going to make someone out there in the world go into a comic store on Wednesday and pick up an issue of Wonder Woman and say, “Oh cool! Steve Trevor is in this one.” I’m not sure those are words anyone has ever said aloud. That’s what we’re going for."