Now onto The Super Heroes of DC panel! #C2E2
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
We’ve got @HackinTimSeeley (Injustice v Masters of the Universe)@robertvenditti (Hawkman, Freedom Fighters)@misscecil (Female Furies, Shade)
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
First question: what is a superhero?
Tim: comes from Superman, comes down to save people.
Rob: someone with something extra, hero with something more.
Cecil: have a different moral DNA— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Cecil: they’re what human beings ascribe to be.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Seeley: Superman becomes like us by being like us.
Cecil: we are human and we only know humans.— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Would you define Swamp Thing as a superhero?
Seeley: well he’s a monster who does superhero things.— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Would you define Swamp Thing as a superhero?
Seeley: well he’s a monster who does superhero things.— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Pages from Swamp Thing Giant pic.twitter.com/T2QTIJdlzV
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
And more. pic.twitter.com/b175d0apP3
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Seeley: We are in the age after the Modern Age. We’re in the age of superheroes fighting each other with different viewpoints. Different than just fighting criminals. Age of Moral Relativism. Postmodern Age
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Is there a particular age, Golden, Silver, that you align with?
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Venditti: I didn’t start reading comics til after 2000 so I can only read those things in retrospect. Came into reading with Astro City and ABC
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Research for Hawkman was the first time reading Silver Age stories.
So much fun. Even the ads.— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
And Marv Wolfman has just showed up!
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Wolfman joked he keeps getting stopped by people talking to him.
Venditti: no one stopped me. *laughs*— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Cecil: (still on Age question)
“I feel like Adriana and I are doing that with Female Furies” trying to honor Kirby and the 80s— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Channeling Kirby but Adriana doing her own thing.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Pages from Female Furies 2 pic.twitter.com/lZIcdhFZU7
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Cecil: Female Furies are an elite fighting force for Darkseid. Stationed on Apokalips, part of Kirby’s Fourth World.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Wolfman: each era has had something fun and interesting.
Loves the 60s, first time people did experimental work.— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Continued belowHow do you keep superhero stories fresh even if these characters have been around so long?
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Seeley: the world helps with that. The world moves on and the character stays similar.
You ask new questions about how these characters interact with our world— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Cecil: as a woman, I want to look at the invisible cracks that haven’t been looked at before and bring those into the modern era.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Wolfman: if the character is real and you treat them correctly the story will fall into place
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Wolfman: what is it today that makes this character interesting?
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Cecil: I feel like the audience, as a consumer, we are more sophisticated in how we consume stories.
We’re ready for different kinds of stories.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
“How do you navigate those changing moral aspirations?”
Cecil: well we argue about whose right is right.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Seeley: there was an era we agreed fascism was bad and we knew what being American was. The next era of superheroes is we need to figure out what we agree on.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Seeley: people still love aspirational heroes. We haven’t changed but the medium has changed and the world has changed.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Venditti: its a valid question whether the dark adult heroes had unintended consequences.
Seeley: Watchmen and TDKR, the takeaway is not it’s cool when heroes are jerks
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Cecil: superheroes are our new mythology. They’re so malleable. The center is so solid.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
“How do you differentiate a superhero and antihero?”
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Seeley: heroes can be jerks.
Doing the right things for wrong reasonWe agree that’s bad but we route for them.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Wolfman: if a hero goes into action without being prompted, they’re doing a right. An antihero says “dammit well I guess I have to do this.”
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
“How do you navigate legacy heroes and characters and history?”
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Wolfman: it comes down to who the character is. If you know how they’ll react you can do whatever.
It made sense for the age group of Dick Grayson to get rid of those “stupid green pants.”
Everything is built into the character.— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Seeley: by design the big 2 characters and heroes aren’t supposed to age a lot. We want to change with them and it’s hard.
Every era gets to grow up with Dick Grayson.— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
There are problems though. What do you do with Nightwing? You gotta make him Batman, but you have to change him back at some point.
Illusion of change vs. actual change.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Continued belowVenditti: you have to find a way to change things without changing anything.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Venditti: when I pitched Hawkman I read the Wikipedia page and I just said oh he reincarnates over time and space duh, and then that was my story.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
@THEBRYANHITCH art from Hawkman 10! pic.twitter.com/PhCTcDcFjA
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
“Do we think the legacy characters think their mentors are aspirations to what they want to be?”
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Seeley: yeah you make Robin as the access to Batman. Wally is the reader. You could be the Flash. Robin, Superboy are you.
Cecil: or Supergirl— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Seeley: we’ve segregated the age range which makes the legacy characters harder.
But Tim Drake in the 90s made Batman a huge seller.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Cecil: I’m still new at superheroes.
With Shade the goal was never for her to be Shade the Changing Man— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Gerard Way just said: alien posses girl’s body who is a bully.
Go nuts.— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Cecil: seemed natural for Loma to be obsessed with Rac Shade, so that there was a connection to the older book but she could have her own arc.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Cecil: I wanted to make a character where the baton could be passed and someone else could come into the character.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Seeley to Venditti: you don’t read comics til 2000, was it hard to go in and buy a book with high numbers?
Venditti: yeah I bought number ones.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Seeley: when I was a kid we just had books with high numbers so I just picked those up.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Venditti: all the stuff was self-Contained. Even if it is was a high number it was a one-off.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Cecil: there’s going to be all these kids watching DC Super Hero Girls and they’re going to know those characters and know the core of those characters.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
“What was your first superhero encounter?”
Venditti: Superman II
Seeley: Spider-Man followed by Batman. All in toy form.
Cecil: Adam West Batman! She invited him to her 4th b-day party.
Cecil’s mom knitted her dad a Batman costume and Batman showed up at the party.— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Wolfman: Superman on television (entirely on accident before remote controls) went and bought comics after seeing him on television.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Wolfman: “what Superman is about does not age.”
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
“What has been your favorite superhero story to work on?”
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Venditti: I kinda always love what I’m working on now.
Continued below
Seeley: writing Superman and He-Man right now!
Cecil: I’m still emerging, but I got to reboot a Ditko character and I’m writing new history for Kirby characters— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Wolfman: at Dc, writing Superman. Everyone says they have problems with him but I love him. At Marvel, Spider-Man definitely
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
“A character you want to work on?”
Venditti: definitely Superman.
Cecil: I’ve always loved Lois Lane, she’s always in the back of my mind. Superman too.
Wolfman: I’ve written most major characters but I wanna writing Deadman.
Seeley: Firestorm. Coolest looking character.— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
“Who is your favorite DC superhero?”
Seeley: Superman
venditti: Superman
Cecil: the Trinity
Wolfman: Bepo the Super Monkey— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
On to the Q&A!
“What Batman story would you like to see in an animated film?”
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
To Venditti, “you just bought a $200 Hawkman, what did you do for Green Lantern?”
– well so much of that was in trade I didn’t have to buy a ton. Much of the Hawkman stuff was out of print. Venditti is trying to find all the Silver Age Hawkman stuff.— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
He has 5 issues left to find!
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
“Biggest regret on a series?”
Venditti: I wish I’d have been as good as Geoff Johns when I started Green Lantern.
Seeley: wish he’d of kept a Viking line in Injustice/He-Man
Wolfman: staying on a series too long cause you like it and you’re not advancing it.— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Cecil: new to monthlies, gonna take my regrets as lessons to do better next time.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
“Marv what when into changing Dick into Nightwing.”
“Tim, did you look at Marv when you started Nightwing and think how you could mature the character?”— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Wolfman: dick’s only book was gonna be Titans and he had to be older and more responsible. Worthy of being a leader. Had to break free from what he was. Wanted to be his own person.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Seeley: there was a lot put on Nightwing, more like Batman, more like Daredevil. I wanted to make him a fun guy again and back to what made him different than Batman.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
Wolfman: when Batman’s parents are killed he tracks down the villain. All he is is about revenge for so long. Dick’s parents killer were capture by Batman immediately and he didn’t have to grieve for 30 years. Doesn’t operate from revenge but to help ppl how Batman helped him.
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
To Marv, “if you were given another Teen Titans run what would you do?”
Wolfman: I wouldn’t do it. I could write the individual characters again, but I don’t have any desire to write the team again because I did it before.
Would love to do a Starfire story.— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
And that’s a wrap on another panel!
— Multiversity Comics (@multiversitycom) March 22, 2019
