While we brought you news
earlier today of writer J. Torres stepping in to write DC’s
Wonder Woman for issues #11 and #12, the question still hung there – who will be the new ongoing writer on
Wonder Woman?
"Wonder" no more.
Speaking to retailers this evening at the Comics Pro Membership Meeting in Las Vegas, DC’s VP – Sales Bob Wayne made the announcement: beginning with issue #13, and going on for the foreseeable future, Gail Simone will write the
Wonder Woman series. The news comes with a bit of surprise still attached to it, as clues to Simone’s new writing assignment seemingly began to fall into place last week, when it was announced that
she would be leaving Birds of Prey, replaced by
Sean McKeever.
Newsarama was able to speak with Simone about the new gig.
Newsarama: First off Gail, how long has this been in the works? Has this been something that was out there along with the relaunch, or was this all kind of sudden?
Gail Simone: To my knowledge, it was pretty sudden, for my part. Dan Didio called me into his office when I visited New York City (and the DC offices) for the first time during the New York Comic Con. So it was, stay in the beautiful Parker Meridien hotel overlooking Central Park, see three Broadway shows, attend a really fun convention, get VIP seats for David Letterman (thanks, Mike Carlin!) and get offered
Wonder Woman all in the same week.
It’s gonna take a lot to top that week, for me, actually.
So to answer your question, it might’ve been in Dan’s head for some time, but it was pretty recent stuff on this end, which is great, because if I’d had to wait months before starting writing on it, I think I would have burst at the seams from excitement.
It’s just a book I want to write. I’m dying to do it. When I first started in comics, it was the one book I really made it clear I didn’t think I should take, partly because of fear of typecasting, but also because it’s just such a huge, important character.
The superheroine, not just in comics, but in all media, period.
But I got over the stage fright, and got to write her a few times, in
Birds of Prey and
JLA: Classified, and I realized, DAMMIT, I love this character! I mean, it was just an amazing feeling. That feeling some writers get when they write Batman or whomever, that’s me with Diana, except times ten and covered with sprinkles.
NRAMA: Wait – who’s covered with sprinkles? Batman covered with sprinkles looks like Wonder Woman?
GS: Next question.
NRAMA: You're a busy person given your work, and on top of that, as was made clear last week, you had to give up
Birds of Prey, which you loved like tweens love MySpace in order to take this on. What made you do it?
GS: Yeah, as recently as a few months ago, giving up
Birds of Prey was simply inconceivable. I still feel I’m not completely done with those characters, as I just adore them. But
Birds of Prey was a successful book before I came aboard and it will continue to be after I left. It’s going to sound silly, but look at whose hands I’m leaving the book in, Sean McKeever and Nicola Scott. That is a killer combination.
The thing is, after it really hit me that I was being offered
Wonder Woman, I knew I’d have to leave a book, because I’m
not doing Diana’s stories in my spare time. This is getting everything I have. It can’t be just another assignment. It has to be damn near a mission.
With
BoP, knowing who would be doing the book, it was the book that I knew would flourish, and that’s what made the choice for me. I still agonized over it. I’ve said it often that friends always tell me not to get so attached to the characters, as they belong to DC, or Marvel or whomever. But I just find I can’t write that way. If I’m not attached, then the script is lousy. So saying goodbye is rough. I came across a blog post that was from a foreign site, and the headline was, “Gail Simone Abandona
Birds Of Prey!” which made me feel guilty in two languages.
But the thing is, what was great about
BoP was how it could appeal to so many people, particularly wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, etc. who didn’t normally read comics. I have utterly lost count of how often someone’s said that it was their gateway drug.
And of all the books I do, I think
Wonder Woman can have that same quality, that same allure for people who really have nothing against comics, but haven’t yet found the doorway in.
That’s so ridiculously exciting to me. I know of so many people, men and women both, who love the Wonder Woman character, and are dying to read her book, but sometimes have a hard time getting past the baggage. That’s one of the things Allan was fantastic at, I though, presenting a compelling, very, very clean reality for someone new to jump aboard.
NRAMA: If you ask a majority of fans – and we were seeing this as late as earlier today - putting you on
Wonder Woman was a no brainer, and some had been calling for it for months now. Had you seen those calls? Did you agree with 'em? Put any credence to them?
GS: Oh, yeah. DC’s gotten petitions, I’ve won the Wonder Woman writer of the year thing twice without having ever written her book.
NRAMA: That’s kind of nutty, right there…
GS: A little, yeah. But you’re right - the readers have been relentless. They thought I could do it before
I thought I could do it. So they deserve the credit or blame, really. It really started getting loud after Diana’s appearance in
Birds of Prey. Something in that portrayal seemed to strike the right note. It just...I don’t know, it seems a great fit to me.
NRAMA: Of course, that also brings up the issue of you're a woman writing Wonder Woman, the most popular female superhero in the world. When it comes to Wonder Woman, does the writer's gender matter?
GS: No, I think most of the best
Wonder Woman writers have been male; Greg Rucka, George Perez, and Phil Jimenez, just to name a few. Not to slight the small handful of females who have written here, they did great work as well.
I don’t know, maybe there’s a bit of life experience that helps, or a different perspective, but I’m never inclined to pigeonhole by things like gender or race. I frankly would just as soon not worry about such things as a reader
and a writer. It feels a bit antiquated, to my mind.
When people talk to me about Wonder Woman, they seem to be talking about other things in my writing that they think will suit Diana, more than just the gender thing.
NRAMA: Looking at your body of work to date, you've written Superman, you've hit Batman a time or two, as well as dozens of other characters. Where does Wonder Woman fit on that lineup in terms of difficulty to tackle?
GS: I just don’t see it as ‘difficult.’ It’s a joy, an honor, a pleasure, a thrill. It’s exhilarating, is what it is. She’s a dragon. She just kicks so much ass.
I think, and I mean this with affection, but I think occasionally people have tried to burden her more with message than with character, and you know, when a writer tries that with Superman or Batman, they’re instantly called on it. It’s not the whole of the character. But it’s a common approach with Diana.
NRAMA: Yeah, but many argue that WW has the same problem Superman or Batman do in that case - that they've become so much larger than life, and mean so many things to so many people...
That said, does Wonder Woman still "work" in today's world? She comes form a matriarchal single-sex theocracy that preaches peace, yet are the planet's fiercest warriors, despite a lack of an ever-present enemy...playing devil’s advocate, and not pulling punches here, if someone claiming to be from a world like that showed up in our…“man’s” world, she'd end up marginalized, not warmly accepted and certainly not seen as having much of value to offer…
Or would she?
GS: Eh, bleah, that just isn’t what this book is going to be at all, to be frank. Look. It’s simple, and it’s never outdated.
The book is about the best goddamned warrior planet Earth has ever known, and she happens to carry a mystical arsenal around just for the hell of it.
If a writer can’t make that interesting and fun, they really shouldn’t be writing superheroes.
There are layers upon layers of the character, and we’ll get to them all. But let’s just make it very clear that Diana is the premiere asskicker in the DCU, period. Batman and Superman have other things that make them special. Diana is the one who occasionally carries an
axe if someone gives her lip.
This is actually in my first issue, but the quote is, “When a giant robot attacks Metropolis, send Superman. An alien attack? Get Green Lantern. When a car is hijacked by an escaped loony, turn on the bat signal, by all means. But if an
ARMY shows up on your doorstep, that’s when you call in Wonder Woman.
Simple.
NRAMA: Okay. Good point. So – larger picture, how do you see Wonder Woman? Of any character in the DCU over the past handful of years, she seems to have swung the most in terms of how she's portrayed, from competent ambassador to secret agent to slightly out of touch stranger in a strange land. Where on that continuum do you put her?
GS: This is a great question. First, I hate the supposed ‘dichotomy,’ that she preaches peace while fighting. This is not contradictory at all. It’s not ‘a’ or ‘b,’ it’s ‘a’ AND ‘b.’ It’s like saying a cop is a hypocrite when they say they want to keep the peace, just because they might have to wrestle a perp to the ground on occasion. Diana’s both. She loves the light, but she’s right at home in the dark, too. She can
do dark.
I actually contacted a lot of my favorite Wonder Woman writers when I got the news. I knew very well in my heart what I wanted to do, but I wanted to share the wisdom of the people who got it right, as well. So I talked to the master, George Perez, I talked to the whipsmart Jodi Picoult, I talked with Phil Jimenez who has always been a terrific supporter. Greg Rucka was wonderfully gracious at the Emerald City con. And I talked at length with Allan Heinberg, as well. Allan and Geoff Johns have been harassing Dan to get me on the book for some time. It’s been Wonder Woman 101 for me, in fact. These people all love Diana and are devoted to her, so their universal blessing is really nice.
I had a direction and definite ideas about her character, but I think it’s very important not to give readers whiplash, or New Direction Fever, as it’s commonly called. I want people to be able to understand by page three of our issues who Wonder Woman really is, but there are echoes of all the great work that came before, in the background, as well.
Of course, since she’s punching a monkey off a waterfall on page three, maybe that’s not the best example.
On second thought, no, it definitely
is.
NRAMA: Monkey off a waterfall?
GS: Monkey off a waterfall.
NRAMA: You’re going to get letters.
GS: Bring ‘em.
NRAMA: Touching on some of the specifics both of the modern take and general – as we’ve seen both in Heinberg and Picoult’s issues, she’s still got the “Diana Prince” identity. Why does she need a secret identity?
GS: This was one element I had some resistance to, but eventually it hit me, that while we as readers may ask that exact question, if you look at it from Diana’s point of view, it’s a whole different question. She’s someone who wants to understand people, yet really
has spent most of her time up in the clouds.
Plus, I’m telling you, Diana Prince as a secret agent in some of these first stories, it’s just going to be hot.
Way hotter than you might suspect, I think.
NRAMA: How does she relate to her contemporaries within the DC Universe?
GS: If you’re Diana’s friend, she loves you unreservedly. That’s all there is to it. I’m not a fan of bitchy Diana.
NRAMA: How do people in the DCU see her?
GS: Oh, I think the more cynical you are, the less of the
actual Diana is visible to you. So to some, yeah, she’s a hot babe in a swimsuit. People with souls (in comics reality, I’m talking here!) tend to see more of what she’s really about.
NRAMA: One thing you absolutely adore about Wonder Woman?
GS: Holy moley, just one thing?
GS: Just one…for now…
GS: Maybe those boots. Those boots are awesome.
She’s the best Princess in comics for one thing. We’re going to be hitting a couple themes hugely in the first stories, things that have always been in her story, but I don’t think have really been examined for what they would do to a person’s mind. That’s the most fun thing right now!
NRAMA: One thing you're not so crazy about?
GS: I think she’s got a handful of great villains, but needs a lot more. We’re on that like cheese on a puff.
NRAMA: And just so we’re all clear, where are you going to be picking her up when you start?
GS: Right after J. Torres’ two
Amazons Attack tie-in issues, so, issue #13.
NRAMA: And a rough idea of your plans you're going to launch with?
GS: Rather than tease this stuff this early, let me just say that I think what Diana needs most right now is velocity and some focus. The recent writers have all been brilliant. But this is someone saying, okay, I’m on this book, I’m gonna
stay on this book, and I’m putting everything I have into it.
Everyone I know wants to see a kickass Diana, and we’re going to deliver that if it kills us. Hell, we’re gonna deliver that if it kills
you.
And your
dog.
In the first arc alone, she rips through enough villain ass to fill a dump truck. And what would be a huge climax to most stories is just the start for this first year. Honest.
Finally, about the art team. I can’t say who it is yet. But if the readers all made a list of who the best possible Wonder Woman art team would be, I bet this would be the number one choice. It’s that good.
NRAMA: And finally, any big broad teases as to directions you'd want to go? Issues you want to tackle?
GS: Left, and ATM fees.
I said too much already. Can’t help it.
I’m
excited.