Covering Convergence: Simonson and Brigman On Superman: The Man of Steel And Steel’s “High-Tech Facelift”

The two-issue miniseries will feature art from Simonson’s Power Pack collaborator June Brigman, who is probably best known for her more than a decade-long run on the Brenda Starr newspaper strip, and will follow John Henry Irons — the character co-created by Simonson and artist John Bogdanove during the “Reign of the Superman” event following the Death of Superman.

Simonson and Brigman joined ComicBook.com for a chat about the miniseries, which launches on April 15 from DC Entertainment.

This isn’t the first time Louise has come back to the Superman: The Man of Steel title; just before Flashpoint, you and Jon Bogdanove did that RetroActive special. What is it like, being so closely associated with that time and place?

Louise Simonson: It’s wonderful to be associated with such great comics and such a great group of people. Superman: The Man of Steel is a book I’m really proud of and working with Jon Bogdanove, Mike Carlin, and the whole Superman team was a highlight of my comics carreer. It was a crazy time to be doing comics, but I think we made it work.

Louise, You obviously rose to notoriety at a time when the comics industry was a little different; we’re much more conscious of these sorts of milestones now, but when you were on this book I believe you were the first woman to write Superman on an ongoing basis. Did it ever occur to you at the time what a big deal that was?

Simonson: I knew it was a big deal for any writer to be handed a Superman book, and especially a new title like Man of Steel. I was completely aware of how lucky I was that Mike Carlin liked my work and thought I’d do well on Superman. That would have been a big deal for any writer! But I wasn’t offered the title as a “woman writer.” If my being female had anything to do with anything, the credit goes to editor Mike Carlin for thinking outside the box.

Can you give us any hints as to why Superman is missing? We know that in the Week One books he’s trapped in Gotham, but is it more complicated than that in Week Two?

Simonson: I don’t have a clue about what’s happening over in Gotham. Sorry.

I know Jon Bogdanove was asked to do an arc for another property but he had other commitments.

June Brigman: I believe it was Marie Javins who asked us. We worked with Marie for many years on Teshkeel’s The 99.

You’ve had a lot of recent experience in comic strips. Is it fun to work on the different canvas of a comic book again?

Brigman: We were the art team on “Brenda Starr, Reporter” for 15 years. But during that time we also worked on comic books for Teshkeel, the occasional Marvel job, and a graphic novel adaptation of “Black Beauty”. But it’s great to be drawing superheroes again. Drawing superheroes is what interested me in comics in the first place.

You’ve worked a good deal with Louise in the past, but I don’t believe you’ve drawn Steel for publication before, and for the most part your central characters haven’t had full-facial masks. Was it fun to stretch from what many fans would recognize as your kind of wheel house, but to do it with a partner you have such a good relationship with?

Brigman: I love drawing superhero action, and Weezie is great at writing this kind of big ol’ superhero throw down stuff. The script she gave me is a lot like the old school Marvel style of scripting, where the writer just gives the artist a brief description of the action on each page, without nailing down every little thing. I definitely prefer this method of working with a writer. Of course, it helps that Weezie knows exactly what she’s doing and never over-writes.

Is the cover of this issue the first time Walter has drawn Steel? That seems so unlikely, but I can’t think of another instance!

Simonson: Walter says he can’t think of another time he’s drawn Steel…and gotten paid for it, anyway. He may have done sketches at a convention.

Do you approach writing John Henry differently here than you did back when he had his own title, or did you intentionally try to recapture where you were at that point in time since that’s when the book is set?

Simonson: I tried to recapture the past…plus a year, since the different cities are under the dome for a year before the story arcs begin. That means using the old Metropolis and old characters like Bibbo and Professor Hamilton. But also creating a new status quo for Steel and his niece and nephew.

John Henry brought the kids to Metropolis as tourists and just happened to be there when the Dome dropped. He needed to settle in to a whole new (old) environment. And, of course, with Superman away, he feels responsible for keeping Metropolis calm. He’s renting a floor in Professor Hamilton’s building, and, when he’s not being Steel, he and Ham are working together, trying to figure out what the Dome is and how to escape it.

The stakes are high, for Steel and for Gen-13, and that helps. It also helps that a lot of people already know and like these characters. So you try to keep them in character, make them react realistically within the context of the story, and let the events play out to their logical conclusion.

This is the first time anybody has seen Gen 13 in a while. Can you tease anything about their stats quo in the story?

Simonson: Well… Fairchild, Grunge, Burnout, Rainmaker, and Freefall have been trapped under a dome in La Jolla for a year. They’ve been hanging out together—they are friends—but they loved the adrenaline and action of super-powered adventures so they’re feeling a bit bored. When the dome drops, they are a bit out of practice and this leads them to act more precipitously than they might have otherwise.

Brigman: I wasn’t too familiar with Gen 13. But I think of them as teenagers, whereas Power Pack hasn’t entered their teens yet. Or at least, not when I draw them. Gen 13 have bodies that are more developed. Teenagers have adult proportions, so the differences between a teenager and an adult are subtle. I wanted the girls to look like healthy young women, not porn stars. And I wanted the guys to look like high school jocks.

What has been your favorite aspect of drawing Convergence? It seems like there is a lot of potential for cool, fun, weird stuff in a book like this.

Brigman: I guess my favorite part has just been getting to work with Weezie again. It’s just like the old days, except that now I have more appreciation for her writing skills. Oh, and I also love drawing Steel, especially after he gets a high tech facelift.