WonderCon 2014: Cliff Chiang

Cliff talks about wrapping up WONDER WOMAN with Brian Azzarello.

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18 Comments

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Lvenger

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That Wonder Con print Chiang did looks utterly gorgeous! I've already made it my new AV as a result. And that was a good interview, Chiang gave out some interesting details. I'd guessed that this book was plot driven a while back and it seems to work just like Pak says he works with Kuuder on plotting issues. Wonder Woman is hands down my favourite current DC book at the moment and I can't wait to see how the series will end and who'll survive this ordeal. And I hope Orion comes back for the final battle too, Azz handles him awesomely.

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Jonny_Anonymous

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Edited By Jonny_Anonymous

Great interview! I'm really gonna miss these guys on WW.

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Lvenger

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Edited By Lvenger

Great interview! I'm really gonna miss these guys on WW.

I'm still teared up about the news that the creative team on my favourite DC title are ending their run

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Jonny_Anonymous

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Edited By Jonny_Anonymous
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Hassun

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Edited By Hassun

Azzarello's Wonder Woman is the only current DC book I'm still reading.

It's going to be a sad day when even that one disappears. Especially because it could make the other, infinitely crappier Wonder Woman the only one you can read.

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CantDance93

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senglord

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Most people decide what they will read from the big Group titles when they are not already familiar with the creative teams.

If fans of Batman did not already know not to touch anything written by Geoff Johns regarding Batman, we definitely knew after Earth One. The fact that Batman is DC's flagship is the result of Johns' inadequacy to write an ensemble. Wonder Woman and Batman are only the two worst examples. This drives away people who do not know the WW team from giving the title a shot.

Money is tight for most comic buyers, and taking a risk on a solo title is op. loss on another title in print or three online. Group titles are designed to give good entertainment for the money, and in so doing spur the risk on a character that seems like a good fit. Johns did bad things with all characters he was not in ultimate control of. Batman is all talk, Superman is all tank and no soul. Wonder Woman is a demigod sociopath. Flash is a non factor. Cyborg gets five pages of love for every other arc. Aquaman was a boss. Hal Jordan was a boss. MM was a boss. Vibe was a punch line that did nothing. Hawkman was too much of a psychotic to spur anyone to pick up his title. And the lost goes on.

This rant really concludes with the question of whether the directors of DC actually want their print franchises to work or not? His Justice League titles are like the trial run of the next animated movie meant for Tweens. And they have been getting lax of late.

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Rainja

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Edited By Rainja

Bitter sweet news. I think Cliff Chiang art is GARBAGE but i did enjoy Mr. Azzarello's writing. Hopefuully, the new team has a good writer and a good artist.

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Breadspread

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Edited By Breadspread

Great run!

Any news on what Chiang or Azzarello are doing next?

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Ultron345

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@senglord: I am a bit lost as to how you attribute your gripes (none of which I agree on but opinion are opinions) to Johns. Yes he is the creative director but I doubt he is micromanaging every book DC publishes. Especially when he was writing 3 titles of his own at the start of the new 52.

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senglord

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Edited By senglord

@ultron345: My issue with Johns was that he was writing the two biggest team books in DC. JL and JLA were his to manage, and the fact that Batman, Superman Unchained, Superman/Batman, and Superan/WonderWoman all outsell the two core team titles. The only reason for that is failure of creativity from the creative team of the two lagging titles. Which is a failure of Johns as a writer and a manager. The core league title was the big draw for years, then fail.

My issue with the failures of characterization of characters in JL and JLA, Batman and Wonder Woman being the most different from the team Books and their core titles. The result is that few people will be drawn to a JL member's core title from what gets put into the team books. And well written comics do not get the love and fans they need because most core titles are more of the same of what is in a team book.

If someone writes a poor solo title, they fail the title. If they write a poor team book, they fail every title tainted with their character's membership. Johns wrote GL and Aquaman. They were the best characters in the JL. They were the second and third best selling solo titles. Johns goes as far as to have Stargirl consider the real big three to be "Aquaman, Superman, and Wonder Woman" shortly after he leaves the GL title. You may think that Batman is not close to being one of the three most powerful superheroes on Earth, and you would be right. But does anyone seriously think that Aquaman is a match for Firestorm, Flash, Element Woman, Swamp Thing? Or, maybe New 52 Arthur could go toe to toe with Martian Manhunter? SMH on so much attempts to smooth over how failure of lead in titles cause failures down the shelf.

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oldnightcrawler

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@hassun said:

Azzarello's Wonder Woman is the only current DC book I'm still reading.

It's going to be a sad day when even that one disappears. Especially because it could make the other, infinitely crappier Wonder Woman the only one you can read.

my thoughts pretty much exactly.

oh well, so long, DC, it's been a slice

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Ultron345

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@senglord: Uhm as far as I know the only title that regularly outsells JL is Batman, which is not a slight to Johns but a credit to Scott Snyder. JL is usually in the top 5 sales wise and barring that definitely top 10. Furthermore that is not a new trend. Spiderman usually outsells the Avengers doesn't he (I don't keep track of Marvel titles)? It's just a trend of the top characters having the most pull. As far as JLA goes it hovers around top 10 which is very good for a DC book.

I don't get all of the hate for Johns' WW as well. It is by no means even close to what Azzarello has been doing but that is to be expected. He has an entire series to dedicate to flushing out WW as a character. Johns has 5 or 6 characters to juggle. Is his WW fantastic? No. Is she bad? Not in my opinion.

In closing I think Johns' JL has been pretty damn good ever since the Atlantis crossover but hey that's my opinion. The numbers kind of back that claim up seeing as how I can't remember the last time JL was outside the top 10 in sales. I am also willing to wager now that JLA has become JLU, and Johns is no longer writing it, that JLU won't consistently do the numbers JLA did. Only time will tell though.

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kennybaese

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Man is it a bummer that these guys are leaving this book. I get that they have a finite story to tell, but it's all so great. The Finch's have some pretty huge shoes to fill.

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CaptainMarvel4Ever

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God I'm going to miss their run. Still, I am happy they can end it on their own terms and tell a very complete, very self contained story. This run will live on in history as one of the greatest runs of Wonder Woman ever. I defiantly know it's my favorite book from the New 52, and will live on forever as one of my favorites. Chiang's art is absolutely amazing, from ancient ruins, to New Genesis, his art has really taken me on a journey. WB, Azzarello and Chiang have given you the ultimate source material for a script, and I beg you to use it.