DC's Absolute Wonder Woman Team Reinvents an Icon with Magic, Hell's Armor, and More
Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman talk all things Absolute Wonder Woman, including new symbol, magic, and more!
DC All In is fast approaching, and the anticipated special issue will also deliver the equally anticipated launch of the Absolute Universe. This new toybox will feature completely new takes on DC's icons, starting with the DC Trinity of Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman. All three books are taking some big swings, and that especially goes for Wonder Woman, which is shaking up Diana's foundations and forging a new Wonder Woman who wields magic, commands a powerful magical sword, and wears armor that was forged in the depths of hell, and that's not to mention the skeleton pegasus she rides or the new symbol emblazoned on her armor. ComicBook had the chance to speak to writer Kelly Thompson and artist Hayden Sherman about rebuilding an icon from scratch, and it wasn't the easiest of feats.
An Imposing Challenge
Thompson was all in (no pun intended) on writing Wonder Woman, but initially, she had a difficult time nailing down the central idea. At one point she was actually close to walking away from the book, but then the idea of a Witchy Wonder Woman changed everything.
"So sometimes all of a sudden when it clicks together like it did for me with Witch Wonder Woman, which there were other parts of that sentence that I can't really share, but that was the gist of it. It really just opened up. Then I think what we were able to do was really just keep the soul and the compassion and the core of Diana, and then we just changed everything all around her and made it wild and cool and interesting and sort of new," Thompson said.
"Hayden was incredibly instrumental in getting that right. I don't think, honestly, I never would have asked for a different partner. I think they brought so much to it, so much of themselves to it, so much that feels. I think we've talked in some of these interviews, Hayden said they haven't worked a ton in superhero comics, only a little bit for the last couple of years, but I think that ended up being an incredible strength for us because they just come from a different perspective," Thompson said. "They have a lot of different ideas that you haven't seen a million times before in superhero comics. And it, it just works. I love it."
"This was a similar thing, Kelly talking about almost quitting early on. Kelly and I've talked about this a bit. When it was first offered to me, I was like, I don't know if I'm the person that's going to be able to land the ship," Sherman said. "I don't know if this is gonna work, and that was before when they just asked Wonder Woman and didn't tell me anything more. And it's like, I don't know, back then, still doing a lot of creator-owned stuff at that point with Scott and things. And it wasn't until hearing the pitch and everything, oh, this rocks. This is great. I didn't have, like, a clear vision for it in my head, and it was definitely not that easy, but it was the kind of thing that, oh, this is starting to make sense. This can build. There's something here, and it's just fun to continue."
A True Symbol
One of the things you'll quickly notice is Wonder Woman has a new symbol, and there was a lot that went into its design. It was important for Sherman to make the symbol just as present and unmistakable as Batman and Superman's, and that meant tweaking how the symbol is represented on the costume and armor.
"For the symbol, that was actually really important to me going into it. Because, like you were saying, Batman's symbol is historically just, boom, on his chest. Superman, can't miss it. And Wonder Woman, I think in part because it's a classic design, but it's generally a kind of bathing suit type design that's a little bit more form-fitting there," Sherman said. "So as a result, the symbol tends to get very abstract and hard to actually notice as a symbol sometimes depending on the artist. And that's also used to different advantages. There are different things you can do with that, but I really wanted this to be unmissable, unmistakable, and just there, ever-present. It doesn't matter what angle you're seeing her from. Like, that is a W on her chest, and I wanted it to feel like it was taking up space and... I don't know, like, the punctuation mark."
"Well, and it's great that the Batman logo turned out to be pretty functional too, but ours is functional in a different way. And that's really important to me because it doesn't really, as you get to know this Wonder Woman, you know, it doesn't really make sense that Diana would, like, put a logo on herself," Thompson said. "I think how the armor is made and what the person who's helping her make it, that's how you get that symbol without Diana going, I'm Wonder Woman. Do you know what I mean?"
"Like, so there was a lot of thought process into how we get here. We knew we needed it. We wanted it integrated. It's core to the character, but how are you going to do it in a way that makes sense to what this world is and who she is and where she came from? And I think Hayden was right on the money with how that should look," Thompson said. "I also just really appreciate that it's super functional. It's not anybody's fault. But the very nature of putting a symbol on a woman's chest like that is really difficult because it's really easy for it to become this sort of sexualized image, which is not what anyone's intending, but when you put a Wonder Woman symbol on cleavage, like, it's going to happen. So it's a tricky little design problem that is fine for OG Wonder Woman. I think especially, you look at the way they integrate the costume right now, I think is a very clever way they've done it, but for us, we need to look even further and I think it fits with who she is here. I think Hayden just nailed it."
"You know, listen, like let's not pretend we're not interested in her being a sex symbol, too. I mean, has anyone seen the Dan Panosian covers that are going around that are so good? Yeah, fortunately, hot like that, we have no problem with that. I'm just saying, for it to make sense inside, for it to be an earned thing that really works for her, it had to be something different for this Diana, and I hope that will pay off in spades. I think there's more. There are a lot of hints to how that comes about in 3," Thompson said. "I don't know if they are hints, but there are like, any savvy reader can be 'oh, okay, I see how they got there', and I hope it'll be fun. Like, we have a lot of really fun stuff to roll out. We're rolling it out a little more slowly, but I hope we're rolling it out in a way that's going to have real emotional punch. I think if you like the first issue and the way that we sort of build that to the end, I think you'll be in for a treat for the series because we're trying to do a lot of that. "
The Sword, Magic, and A New Back of Tricks
Part of the fun with Absolute Wonder Woman is all the new tricks at Diana's disposal, and much of them come from her use of magic. That includes the ability to conjure a deadly sword at a moment's notice, and fans have taken notice of it, with frequent comparisons to Final Fantasy and Cloud's Buster Sword, which Hayden is all for despite the differences between the designs.
"I do find it just like, on the idea of calling it a Buster Sword, I love that people are calling it Buster Sword, and I totally respect it because I, too, love Coud Strife," Sherman said. "But it's funny to me that even in like covers and in variants and fan art that I've seen online, like, the way that I've designed the sword is to be just like a big meaty rectangle, and people are so seeing the Buster Sword that they even chop off the little end of it and like straight up make it Cloud sword. Yeah, I'm down with honestly, I mean, it's fun."
As for the magic side of things, Thompson teases the cost that comes with it, though Thompson also reveals that Diana is always prepared, and her incredibly useful magical pouch allows her to approach things a bit more like Batman in some ways. " I think I always try to approach magic as magic has a price. I think this Wonder Woman is a little bit more Batman because of the magic. Like, a lot of magic that she's doing is stuff she's got in that pouch that's pre-prepared. Like, I can use this to do that or the other, so it's a little bit more she's got some Batman tricks because of her different bag of tricks she's playing with, quite literally. We gave her a magical pouch that has infinite space or connects to a portal or, you know, like a pocket dimension that she can reach into or whatever we want to call it," Thompson said.
"We created that at first, just because we didn't want her carrying that sword around all the time. Like, it's really clunky for her design. You want her to be able to utilize it and then get rid of it. So there was a lot of that stuff, and I thought about having her just draw out of thin air, but that's a complete lift from among, I'm sure, other things, my own thing called Storykiller. So I didn't want to do that. That's how we ended up with the magical pouch, but it also made sense because, A, she's magic. Let's lean into the fun things that she can do with that that isn't just energy shield, or, you know, whatever," Thompson said.
"And it was also like, our design was necessarily really complicated. Like, it's not a clean, slick design. She's building these things in hell. You have limited materials, so it's going to look a little rougher, and we don't want her to also have a giant buster sword and lassos on her belt, multiple lassos. Like, you gotta trim back," Thompson said. "I think when we were designing I was even hesitant about the pouch because she was already so overloaded. And then Hayden's like, no, no, no, let me take care of it. And like the next design they sent in, it was just perfectly integrated. I was like, oh, my God, it's right there. I didn't even notice it, so it was great. It's one of those things where you have a limitation, and instead of running from it, you try to lean into it, right? And you end up with something cool."
Thompson also broached the concern of Wonder Woman potentially being overpowered but assures that there are checks and balances worked into the equation to keep that from being an issue. "I will say that while the magic of Wonder Woman, I haven't really seen people saying this, so I probably shouldn't bring it up and raise this issue, but I was worried people would think she was just going to be so dramatically overpowered, but I would say there are limitations to the magic," Thompson said. "She pays prices for that sometimes. It's nothing unlimited. She's also not a master magician. Like, she's a witch, and she can do a lot of this stuff. She was raised in it, but she's not, that's not her primary skill set. Her primary skill set is still more Wonder Woman-based."
"I would also say that there are a few things that we will reveal where Diana has some very distinct disadvantages that maybe the magic helps compensate for or whatever. So I think, don't worry about her being too overpowered. Just be excited about how creative we're going to be able to get with some of these solutions," Thompson said.
Absolute Wonder Woman soars into comic stores on October 23rd.
What do you think of the new magic-powered Wonder Woman? You can talk all things comics and Wonder Woman with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!
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