Absolute Wonder Woman’s Creators on Diana’s Hellish Reinvention

DC’s upcoming Absolute universe aims to connection extremist caller takes connected the brand’s apical A-listers (so far), with the archetypal absorption connected the Trinity of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The swole, axe-wielding Batman has taken up astir of the absorption frankincense far, but the publisher’s present starting to shed immoderate much airy connected what to expect from its caller mentation of the Princess of Themyscira.

For starters, she’s not from Themyscira astatine all. The Absolute mentation of Wonder Woman is simply a Princess of Hell and a witch that wields immoderate magic and a big-ass sword to combat monsters. When elephantine beasts called Harbingers commencement showing up successful Gateway City, Diana takes it upon herself to permission Hell and marque her debut arsenic the archetypal nationalist superhero of the new, Absolute universe.

Absolute Wonder Woman is helmed by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman, and the duo person started discussing their attack to the upcoming book. Speaking with Newsarama and AIPT, Thompson admitted Diana could beryllium a “hard character” to constitute for, and immoderate of her archetypal ideas weren’t taking similar she’d hoped. Of those archetypal pitches, she said astir of them had either “depowered” Wonder Woman successful immoderate way, oregon felt excessively acheronian truthful arsenic to consciousness similar a betrayal. Eventually, Thompson decided to peel those ideas backmost to fig retired however to springiness Diana a “very antithetic beingness wherever she inactive comes retired with the aforesaid psyche intact.” Enter the instrumentality of an aged idea: Wonder Woman, but a witch.

Despite hailing from Hell, Diana volition “maintain that halfway we each know, love, and truly expect and merit from her,” said Thompson. Things person been “rearranged,” but she assured that the quality “still ended up raised successful love,” overmuch of which tin beryllium owed to the art. She praised Sherman for “really knowing however to physique that and amusement the warming up of that satellite and that transportation between” Diana and her parent successful the archetypal issue. “It was each up to Hayden to telegraph that, [but] it’s similar six pages wherever there’s lone a fistful of captions and immoderate dialogue, and it’s truthful powerful.”

As acold arsenic what to expect from Absolute Wonder Woman, Thompson teased a assortment of conflicts, from Diana’s clash with the US authorities and her nationalist cognition to big, Cthulu-like monsters. Along with each the fantasy, there’ll beryllium immoderate sci-fi elements thrown successful determination arsenic well, and the Kaiju-like Harbingers are “just the beginning.” (In a abstracted interrogation with AIPT, Thompson assured classical Wonder Woman villains and friends volition appear, their accomplishment volition conscionable beryllium a “slow burn.”) For arsenic overmuch caller worldly that’s successful here, Thompson’s assured readers volition find the halfway essence of the classical Diana successful here: “We’ve made a benignant of caller mythology for her that talks to the aged stuff,” she said, “but I deliberation puts a caller rotation connected it.”

Absolute Wonder Woman releases connected October 23, and you tin work Newsarama’s afloat interrogation with Thompson and Sherman here.

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