Superman and Wonder Woman are, for the first time, dating as part of DCU canon in the New 52. It’s a decision DC is backing with a new book, Superman/Wonder Woman, from Charles Soule and Tony Daniel. We got a chance to sit down with both of them and talk about the challenges of building a book you rarely see on the stands around two of the biggest characters in comics. Plus, we’ve got a look at the first few pages of the book.
Daniel, of course, has worked on Batbooks for DC for quite a while, while Soule has become a key writer of the New 52, working on Red Lanterns and taking over on Swamp Thing. One thing that came through clearly in the interview; this is something they’re both excited to work on, and different from their previous work.
Gamma Squad: What’s it like starting a team-up book from the ground up?
Charles Soule: For me, it’s absolutely fantastic! I was thrilled to be asked to do this, it was a huge privilege to be writing Superman and Wonder Woman. The idea that Tony and I would get to define this book and lay the groundwork for what this story will be and what these character are to each other.
Tony Daniel: It’s such a big deal to be the ones who start this thing. We’re definitely going to start it off with a bang and lay the groundwork for what will hopefully be a long-lasting series. We’re having a blast with these characters. They’re two of my favorite characters to work on,
Gamma Squad: This is a rare book; superhero couples are rare in the first place and they almost never headline a book. What are some of the challenges you guys found in building that?
Soule: For me, the first discussion I had with the editors were about how to depict this couple in a way that’s compelling and interesting, what other reference I could bring to the table, what I thought it would be like to them. I’m writing them as a mature couple. They’re not teenagers, they’re not old people, but they’re adults. It’s not all “Oh my God, look, they kissed!” It’s really more about what it would be like for a couple like this to maintain a romantic relationship in the face of everything they deal with. There’s mayhem swirling around them all the time, and the fact that they can find a little bit of peace with each other is really interesting to me. What happens to a couple like that where they come up against extraordinary pressures? There’s a lot of depth to it, which I think is fun.
Gamma Squad: Superman and Wonder Woman have been in print in decades. How did you find something distinct?
Daniel: My function with these characters, how I feel working on them, I feel fresh and reinvigorated. For the last six years I’ve been working on Batman, and that’s based more in reality. Batman’s not fighting giant robots, he’s not flying. Superman and Wonder Woman… there’s such a different feel to the book. It’s so different it’s refreshing to me, it brings a new energy to the work. It’s going to look different from my past work just because of the subject matter alone. That brings out new challenges for me, and I love new challenges in my art. I’ve been doing this for twenty years, almost, and this is my best work to date. And think that has to do with the characters involved and the story we’re going to be telling here.
Soule: For me, one of the things that really attracted me was that they were in a relationship, and that was territory that just hadn’t been explored too much in comics in general. Superman and Wonder Woman haven’t been together very much. You get your occasional Dark Knight Strikes Again or Kingdom Come that references. I found it to be very fertile ground, and as Tony said, the nature of this project is going to make it feel very different. There’s nothing else out there right now that’s like this.
Superman/Wonder Woman debuts October 9th.
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