SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for "Wonder Woman" #31, on sale now.


James Robinson has returned to DC Comics, where the Eisner Award winning writer has been tapped to tackle a story pitting Wonder Woman against a villain he believes may become the Amazonian demigod's Lex Luthor or Joker. That's not to say that he doesn't think Giganta is great, too; the super-sized supervillain appears in Robinson's first issue of Wonder Woman, and despite a seemingly easy defeat, he says the oversized villain plays a much larger role in the overall "Children of the Gods" story arc. And, of course, Robinson also teased some details about Wonder Woman's brother Jason, who makes his comic book debut in the next few issues.

Now, one of a select few creators to write Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman in their eponymous solo titles, Robinson also discussed the impact of Patty Jenkins' game-changing film starring Gal Gadot, Lynda Carter's performance on the 1970s' TV series and comic book runs by George Pérez, Phil Jimenez, Greg Rucka and Liam Sharp on his understanding of the iconic William Moulton Marston creation. It should also be noted that Robinson loves the oft-maligned white costume/superspy era of Wonder Woman by Denny O'Neil and Mike Sekowsky.

Robinson also discussed collaborating with artists Carlo Pagulayan, who is delivering interiors for the "Children of Gods" arc, and Emanuela Lupacchino, who is drawing interspersed "Times Past" stories which are not unlike the ones he created with Tony Harris for their acclaimed series, Starman.

CBR: Is Wonder Woman a character you've been wanting to writing in her own series for some time? And did you have any trepidation taking on this assignment considering the current hype surrounding the character?

James Robinson: The answer is yes, to both of your questions. Of course, I had trepidation. As someone pointed out to me, I am now in a relatively small and illustrious group of creators who have written the Trinity (Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman) in their own respective titles as opposed to writing Justice League or even Action Comics or Detective Comics, where even though they are the star, their name isn't the title of the book. That was every exciting. But at the same time, following Greg Rucka's amazing run, and with the eyes of the world on Wonder Woman in a way that I don't think anybody anticipated, based on the film being such a phenomenal piece of work and everything that it was, yes, I had trepidation.

Wonder Woman has always had a very ardent, passionate and focused following, and I did not want to undo all of the wonderful things that Greg, Nicola Scott and Liam Sharp did, but I also wanted to make the book mine for the period of time that I am on it. While it was absolutely a little bit daunting, and I was nervous, as I have written my scripts and got more into it, I think I have risen to the occasion. Hopefully, it's a run that people will like for what it is and for the story that I want to tell, and the story that DC wanted me to tell, too.

Were there any other runs with the character that you read or re-read in preparation?

Honestly, I do know the character pretty well. We all have different runs of the character that we hold to. One of my favorites run is when she was quite de-powered, white clothing version (by Denny O'Neil and Mike Sekowsky). I loved that version. I also loved the first season of the Lynda Carter TV series when it was set in the 1940s. They had a year or so of the Earth-Two Wonder Woman, and she encountered Justice Society characters. As people who know my work know, I love Earth-Two and the Golden Age DC characters. That's another version that I loved. And of course, the George Pérez and Phil Jimenez runs. There really have been so many great arcs with Wonder Woman that I have followed and enjoyed.

But Wonder Woman is now somewhat of a new character – all of the DC characters are, thanks to the New 52 and Rebirth – so I really didn't look at anything other than what Geoff Johns had done and Greg had done and other creators since the New 52 was launched, because I didn't want to muddy my vision with too much of the old stuff. But at the same time, I couldn't help it. As you'll see when you read the entire arc, there are still elements of the Pérez run and the Phil Jimenez run that I touch on or at least acknowledge in my own way.

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The first word in your first issue is "Brother," and a lot of the buzz surrounding your arrival on Wonder Woman is the fact that you were going to be introducing her brother Jason. What can you tell us about Jason, and were you surprised by the reaction when his existence was revealed?

Basically, we know that [Diana] has a brother, and we know his name is Jason. That's all the information that Geoff gave us at the end of "Darkseid War." There were questions. Does he have powers? Does he not have his powers? Obviously, what does he look like? They're twins, so is he a male version of her? Does he look different? That's an obvious one, and it will be revealed when we finally meet the character. But also, is he good? Is he bad? He's grown up not living on Themyscira/Paradise Island, so how has that affected him, without the mother that gave birth to him? There are these questions that we will learn about. Who raised him? Who were his father and/or mother figures? All of these things will be revealed over the course of the arc.

One of the things that I enjoy doing, which obviously I am known for with Starman, years ago, is doing "Time Past" stories, where we would go into the pasts of these characters. It's not as extreme as we did with Starman, jumping back to Victorian Times or the 1940s. It's a relatively short period in the past. We'll get to see what Grail has been doing with the baby Darkseid, which is the other big thing we learn in the first issue: Grail is in it. We see what she's been doing and what her goals are. We'll also see how Jason grew up and became the person he is when we finally meet him.

I love that you call Darkseid, which I always pronounce Dark-side, Dark-seed. It warms my heart. [Laughs]

Why does it warm your heart? You know I live to give you pleasure, Jeff, but I am just curious why you wouldn't pronounce it Dark-seed. I'm English, so that's one thing, but I know Grant Morrison had the Darkseid Club in Final Crisis, etc. Now that I'm thinking about it, of course it's Dark-side, but I've always called him Dark-seed. I grew up in England reading New Gods. My first memory of [Jack] Kirby's New Gods is reading those 52-page, extra-large comics. I've always called him that. I guess it's me being English though I guess Grant Morrison is Scottish, so I guess I don't really have that as an excuse either. I guess we should pronouncing things the same way.

Superman has Lex Luthor and Batman has the Joker, but Wonder Woman is without an iconic archenemy. Yes, there's Cheetah but she doesn't really match up with Wonder Woman in terms of strength. There's Giganta too, but Wonder Woman makes quick work of her in your very first issue. Why is Grail a worthy adversary?

I should say that Giganta appears to be a throwaway character in the first issue, but she actually has a quite important role in this arc. That's thanks to the input of [editor] Chris Conroy and [assistant editor] Andrew Marino. I've really enjoyed working with those two. They're fantastic. Their creative input and support has been absolutely invaluable. That said, again, Giganta is not just a throwaway character for just one issue so Wonder Woman can flex her muscles in the first issue. She plays an important role moving forward.

In terms of Grail, one of the things that make her a worthy adversary is that she is part Amazon. In many ways, she is Wonder Woman's superior. Part of the story is that Wonder Woman is half-Amazon and half-daughter of a god, namely Zeus. Grail is half-Amazon and half-daughter of a new god, Darkseid. I think that makes them perfect antagonists. Grail is a vital and important part of this whole storyline, but the idea that she might actually stay around and become Wonder Woman's opposite, at least in terms of superpowers, in the way that the Joker is the flipside of Batman and Lex Luthor is, in many ways, the flipside of Superman, is really exciting for readers, and future writers of Wonder Woman could do well to keep her in mind.

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For readers that are confused by Darkseid's age, maybe we should discuss quickly why the ruler of Apokolips revealed in Wonder Woman #31 as an empowered tween.

When we last saw Darkseid in "Darkseid War," he was killed and then reborn as a baby to [Crime Syndicate member] Superwoman. [Grail then took the baby.] I have to say, I just couldn't stop laughing, because Ema Lupacchino is drawing the "Times Past" stories, and she just drew the grumpiest, meanest little baby that I have ever seen. [Laughs] It just warms how mean and grump this little Darkseid looks. We'll see how he goes from being a baby to a teenager -- not even a teenager, but 10 or 12 years old. We will see that progression, how he is aging incrementally, and the cost that takes on various characters that we will encounter throughout the story.

You mentioned Ema and her fine work, but what can you share about the art of Carlo Pagulayan? He seems to have really captured the strength, power and grace of Wonder Woman.

He's a Filipino artist and obviously lives in the Philippines, but not Manila or one of the other major city centers, so it's really hard to communicate with him. I don't think he has email half the time, so it's like Christmas every month where I won't hear from him, I won't see anything, and then this beautiful artwork just appears. Normally when you work with artists, you see a page and then you see another page. That's what it's like working with Ema on the "Times Past" issues. She lives in Italy, which is much more urban-politan, so every week or so I got some finished pages and layouts for pages that she hasn't finished yet. There are constant updates, and you get a sense of how the issue is progressing. Whereas with Carlo, there is a bounty of lovely artwork that appears every three weeks, so it's more of a surprise versus working very closely with an artist. But I think that we are working pretty well together. I'm sure it drives some artists nuts -- I write pretty detailed scripts -- but I think in this instance, with the lack of communication, that's probably a good thing. It's a pleasure to work with him, and Ema, too. I feel very lucky to be working with both of them.

I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you about Steve Trevor, as he has always played such a major role in Wonder Woman's life since she ventured off Themiscyra to the world of man. Will he feature prominently in this storyline?

I realized partly from Greg Rucka's run, and partly from the movie, how great Steve Trevor can be. In the past, he's been a weak male foil -- not like Lois Lane, who is such a strong female character. He's never really come across as a strong male character and it's only really of late that I feel that he's started to shine. I'm having a lot of fun with the character, making him strong, and not just a male version of the female supporting characters that we normally get with superheroes. I have had a lot of fun making him into a hero in his own right, and a strong partner for the strongest, most powerful woman in comics.

You mentioned earlier that this is a story that this is a very specific story that DC Comics wanted you tell. Will it be tying into the Doomsday Clock storyline that Geoff Johns is writing?

I don't want to muddy other people's plans and storylines, but I will say that Darkseid is one of the big heavyweights of the DC Universe. Funny enough, I had a conversation with Dan [DiDio] earlier today about the future of the DC Universe, and there will be things that come out of this arc involving Darkseid that I think readers will be delighted with.

Wonder Woman #31 by James Robinson and Carlo Pagulayan is available now.