Change is constant, and the DC Universe is no exception. Over the decades, the publisher's library of iconic characters have undergone major relaunches and the occasional reboot in an attempt to excite longtime fans while offering new readers the opportunity to leap into their rich universe. This year, the historic publisher has unveiled Dawn of DC, a yearlong storytelling initiative which features, according to the publisher, "Epic storylines and superstar creative teams that forge the future, one hero at a time."Following the events of Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths and Lazarus Planet, Dawn of DC has already launched new titles, including Superman and Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent, while creating new entry points in titles that were already publishing and more launches are on the way in 2023. Fans are keeping a close eye on DC's latest initiative to see if it follows through on its promises, but what's it like being one of the writers behind this yearlong strategy? Plus, as the publishing division focuses on Dawn of DC, there are major changes happening with upcoming films as DC Studios co-head James Gunn continues to show comics an unprecedented amount of support.In an exclusive conversation with CBR, Tom King (Wonder Woman, Batman: The Brave and the Bold), Tom Taylor (Titans, Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent), Joshua Williamson (Superman, Green Arrow, Knight Terrors), Tini Howard (Harley Quinn, Catwoman), Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Action Comics, Green Lantern: John Stewart), and Chip Zdarsky (Batman) discussed why they're personally excited about Dawn of DC, how they've approached the storytelling initiative, and how it feels to see so much support from Gunn.RELATED: World's Finest Fan Q&A: Chip Zdarsky - BatmanCBR: What are you hoping to accomplish within the Dawn of DC initiative?Joshua Williamson: We were coming out of Dark Crisis and [had] just gone through a year of darkness. When we were getting to the end of that, we wanted it to be a bright and [happy] DC Universe. We had a lot of goals [to make] the books feel a bit more light, but still having high stakes [and] danger. When I was looking at a lot of the books I was working on, I didn't want to go backward. I wanted us to get down to what we love about the characters and build on that, add to that mythology, and then keep that ball going forward. I didn't want us to be like, "We're done with Dark Crisis. Now everything's going back to the way things were." We've already done stories like that, [and] initiatives like that. With this one, I was like, "Listen, this is what I love about the characters," and [put] all those pieces back on the table. That's something Philip [Kennedy Johnson] and I talked a lot about. We were going into Superman. It was like, "Let's get all these pieces back on the table and start moving them forward." With something like Green Arrow, the subtitle for Green Arrow is "Reunion". It's like taking all these things I love about Green Arrow, getting them back, getting all these characters that have been gone for the last 15 years, getting them back, and moving forward and making sure that [the] books felt like they had a fun energy and a very fun tone, which is funny. I set up that with Dawn of DC. Then the first event I'm doing right after his Knight Terrors, which is supposed to be this horrible, scary, terrifying thing. But it's still really fun. It's got Deadman in it. Deadman makes a lot of jokes throughout it, so it'll still be really fun.But yeah, that's what Dawn of DC was. We looked at what was going on with books like World's Finest, and you look at books that were going on with Nightwing, and even what Chip [Zdarsky] was doing in Batman, where it was like high energy and action but also a new take on those characters. That's the kind of stuff I saw going on in DC, and I think you'll see that's what we're doing in the Superman books. You'll see it in Green Arrow when that comes out and other books we're working on.Tom King: When I first heard about Dawn of DC, I was like, "God damn, Donny Cates is finally coming over!"Chip Zdarsky: Oh, my god…King: [laughs] I've been working on a joke for two weeks! It's all I had! I didn't prep for the interview at all! I just got distracted by that joke! I have no idea what this Wonder Woman thing is! [laughs]Zdarsky: I'm just leaving this Zoom… [laughs]Williamson: Tom, you want to talk about how it's been a long time since you've been in continuity? That was something we talked a lot about as you wanted to come in and play in continuity again.Zdarsky: Yeah, welcome back to the constraints of continuity! The handcuffs, the shackles of history! [laughs]King: Very much so. I usually write two kinds of books. I write these navel-gazing books where the hero dies in Issue 12 that I love and are sad. You know, heroes look out the window with rain with beautiful art. Then I sometimes get to write another kind of book like Superman Up in the Sky or Supergirl, which are just books about how awesome a DC character is. I try to go deep, but at the end of the day, I want to put the spotlight on how cool it is to be Superman, how awesome it is to be Supergirl, and how transcendent it would be to have these people in our world.So when I heard about Dawn of DC, that's what I thought it [was]. It's the idea that we're going to put a new highlight on these DC characters. At the same time, James Gunn is introducing a whole new universe and a whole new momentum to everything we're doing. So to me, this is like a DC renaissance. It's a time to say how awesome this universe is and how far it can go, and how it can reach multiple generations of audience and saying, "Look at these characters and how they shine." So to me, that's what Dawn of DC is. These characters aren't broken. They don't need to be fixed. They don't need to be deconstructed. They just need to be put into place where you can see what they can do. And that's what it is.Williamson: Tom, I want to tell you… I'm really proud of you. It only took you 10 minutes to namedrop James Gunn. [laughs]King: That's J-A-M-E-S… [laughs] I was like, "Do I drop James Gunn or do the Donny Cates joke? The Donny Cates joke is gonna kill!" [laughs]This would also be a good opportunity for you to elaborate on how you're bringing that approach to Wonder Woman since you can now talk about that title a little bit. Is there anything you can tease for all the Wonder Woman fans who will be curious about your take on the character?Phillip Kennedy Johnson: Way to bring it back. Classy, Gregg.King: Yeah, I'll be honest, I did not want to do Wonder Woman in the past. I've tried doing Wonder Woman in the past. I feel like I've failed a few times. I mean, I've done okay, but it's always been intimidating. I think it's intimidating for a lot of people because she's just a hard character to get right. There's a lot of people [in] the 80-year history of Wonder Woman who have swung and missed on this character. I was at George Pérez's funeral last year, and they did one of those things where George had recorded something to be played at his funeral. It was an interview with him about his career. Everyone was crying, of course, and he said that's the thing he was most proud of in his life. He's like, "They offered me Wonder Woman. I was scared shitless, but I took it on and made it something special." And I was like, "Oh shit, man. George is challenging me. [laughs] He's calling me out." I felt like he [was] pointing a finger at me and calling me a coward.I was like, "Yeah, maybe we can do something good like George did with his run. Something essential to the character." My take on it is Wonder Woman as a rebel. Wonder Woman -- not as part of the system but as someone against the system because to me, that seems to be what she was when she first began, when [William Moulton] Marston put her together. Superman fights for truth, justice, and the American way. Batman fights to enforce the law. Wonder Woman fights for something beyond that. Something beyond justice, beyond the laws of America. She fights for something pure and something more peaceful. So that's what it's about it. The first arc is called "Wonder Woman Outlaw" because it's her against the system rather than her working for it.Williamson: Have you told that story to Daniel [Sampere]? Because you know, Daniel, the artist on Wonder Woman worships George Pérez and Phil Jimenez.King: The thing about our industry is we're always on the shoulders of giants. I feel like that's why we're here because we read some Walt Simonson comic or some Jack Kirby comic when we were seven. So it's always our job to honor their legacy by moving it forward as they moved it forward. I feel like we're all just here trying to do that. I feel like all those titans are constantly calling me [a] coward every time I read one of their old comicsTini Howard: I'm coming on to the Harley Quinn title with the amazing Sweeney Boo on art, and that comes out this month. That's been exciting for me. It's crazy how different it is from my work on Catwoman, but it's still just as fulfilling in a completely different way. It's exciting to me to take over Harley in this moment because she has done a lot of really cool public soul searching. She's in movies, and she's in an incredible TV show now. We're coming off of Stephanie's [Phillips'] run and Riley [Rossmo's] run with Harley, where they took her through one kind of journey, and Sweeney and I are taking her through another. We're calling it "Girl in a crisis." What's more Dawn of DC than a crisis? [laughs] You mentioned the animated show. What is it about this comic that can speak to people who love that series?Howard: Oh, well, for one, I'm a big fan of what that show has done with regard to letting Harley show her weaknesses. For a long time, when there's a character who's been through the wringer, people try to rehabilitate them and give them a lot of wins. It's fun that Harley's had a lot of wins because now we can challenge her in a really big way. We can challenge her position in the DC Universe. She's an incredibly popular character. She's like a pillar at this point. That's a lot of what we're getting into. It is a great book to pick up. A big part of it is a love letter to the weirdest parts of DC Comics and some of my favorite stuff. Who better to confront that than the weirdest girl in DC Comics? So for the weird girls who love the Harley show because it celebrates weird girls, you'll really like what Sweeney and I are doing.Tom Taylor: It's a continuation of everything we've set up with Nightwing in the first place. Nightwing is this ultra-positive book that highlights these fantastic characters that for a while haven't been, as Tini just said, These are pillars. These are characters that should be pillars. So I'm working with a lot of what people would see as legacy characters that are now stepping into the spotlight. You've got Nightwing, Jon Kent Adventures of Superman, Titans, [who] are about to become the flagship superhero book at DC Comics, taking over for Justice League. I feel like Dawn of DC is really fulfilling the promise that there was for all of these legacy characters to step up and become the best heroes they can be. That's what I'm excited for.Zdarsky: When I heard of Dawn of DC from Josh, I was super excited because I think he's right. I think Tom's right. It's about drilling down to what these characters are, how inspirational they can be, and having these awesome superhero stories, which I tried to do with my first arc of Batman. But with the Dawn of DC, part coming in, I'm glad everyone's gonna do lighter stories because we're going a little dark over here [laughs]. I feel a little bad. We're actually going to delve pretty deep and present a lot of ethical dilemmas with Batman. But I feel confident in doing that because Tom Taylor's doing Nightwing! He's shiny [and] beautiful, his butt is fantastic, [and] there are beautiful streams of light everywhere. So that takes a bit of the pressure off me. I can be like, "Oh no, no, everyone else is going light. It's okay if I put Batman through the wringer extensively."Coming over to DC with Tini around the same time from Marvel, we already had a built-in friendship and relationship. I was so excited she was doing Catwoman. I knew all her plans, and I had my initial Batman plans, and we were kind of like, "Hey if we're buddies over here, let's be buddies. Let's have fun with this." We're working on some big Batman/Catwoman stuff. My Favorite kind of stories pose ethical dilemmas, and the reader will be like, "Oh, this is a tricky one. What side am I going to be on with this?" Batman and Catwoman are different enough characters that bring their own perspectives. So it should be fun… Oh god, I hope it is!King: Better not be grim and gritty on Batman, man. That's just…[laughs]Zdarsky: Oh, I know! I'm a fool! I'm a damn fool! [laughs]Zdarsky: All I can tease is maybe Batman and Catwoman will kiss. I don't know. That's the Dawn of DC right there -- some kissing action.Johnson: Now that the other Superman title is back with Josh and Jamal [Campbell], Action Comics is about keeping the focus on Metropolis, the super-family, and trying to apply a lot of world-building -- the kind of world-building that people responded to so well on The Last God at Black Label and also in the "Warworld Saga." People really seem to like when the world gets bigger and older, but also newer, and when you see these corners of the DC Universe get fleshed out and blown out into this much richer thing. I mean, it's still, first and foremost, a Superman book, of course, but I'm also trying to develop the house of El a little more. We're trying to develop Metropolis a little more. I've always wanted this way before I got this gig back when I was just a kid. I've always wanted Metropolis to be as distinct in an instant, just from a glance, as Gotham was. Metropolis is supposed to be the city of tomorrow. There have been different takes on that over the years. Right now, we're bringing in technology from Krypton, from the Fortress, from Warworld, [ and] from the United Planets. We're going to show the world what's possible in one city when we all work together with a common goal.Action Comics is about world-building [and] taking the traditional Superman cast of characters and his rogues' gallery and making each one deeper and more interesting and complex. Like Metallo -- he's just an image, right? He's this guy who looks a certain way, and that's what we know about him. We're blowin' him way out and giving them a real depth and history and making him more complex in a way that I think serves the readers very well. That gives Josh and Jamal the space they need to make a proper Superman book.In this other book, we see his whole world get bigger around him. That's what I want to accomplish in Action. Tying it together with those other books is so rewarding, man. It's so cool to see the Lexcorp tower with the new design. If there's any change in one book, we see that change applied in the other book, too. And there'd be a little throwaway comment that pays off something that happened in the other book. As a reader, as a little nerd, I'm reading it like, "Oh, I know what he's talking about. That's so cool!" It's just so fun to tie all the books together. I'm having an amazing time. If I had to sum it up in one word, I would say world-building.Dawn of DC is like an ideal celebration of comics as mythology. The thing that sets DC apart, for me personally, is that it's not just a story. It's not just a shared universe in the way that everyone's trying to do. It's a mythology. DC continuity is not just monthly comics. The Justice League is not just a cast, it's a pantheon, and the continuity carries weight. It's fun [and] inspiring. But it's also like this larger-than-life story about Gods. It has this poetic and Prose Edda quality. There's this awesome celebration of world-building and comics. Dawn of DC is the ideal celebration of comics as mythology. We're really celebrating and exploring the things that make each character what they are while also adding this gigantic tapestry of mythology that's going to outlive us. Whenever I'm writing a DC comic, in a way that I don't necessarily approach with other publishers, or other kinds of stories, I try to remember it's not just a story with a number in the corner that's going to hit one specific month and it's over. Nobody gives a shit anymore. It's writing creation myths.Zdarsky: The idea that it'll outlive us all is a really freaky one that I struggle with sometimes. I came from the world of newspapers, where the next day, whatever you did before was just trash. It's litter or at the bottom of a birdcage.Johnson: Yeah, that applies to a lot of different art forms, right? I mean, even games. You pour your life into making a video game for years, and then it hits on one specific day. The next week, everyone's talking about the next thing like no one gives a shit anymore. This though... This mythology just goes on and on and characters like Superman... You're writing a story about this alien who came to us and represents teaching how best to be human. He represents the very best of us in all things. You're writing a Superman story. You're writing your philosophy on humanity. Batman is this whole other thing, like what you can make yourself through force of will, you know, just sheer force of will, and you know, endless money. [laughs]They're bigger than they are. John Stewart is that for me, too. John Stewart is too often painted as a little one-note, in my opinion. Sometimes he just comes off like he spits out military jargon. I get it. You're writing a team book. You got to give everyone little lines like, "How do I make this feel like this person?" Superman is hopeful, you know? Diana's peaceful, Batman scowls, Flash's fast and quippy! And you know, John Stewart used to be a marine. I want to see more.I see John as the architect that he was in the beginning and the person who gives their life for the greater good -- the thing larger than himself. His being a marine was part of that, but he's the consummate Lantern -- the one who always should have been a Lantern -- not just with his military background but with his brilliant architect's mind that has been fettered by the concept of three-dimensional space. He's no longer fettered. He's the perfect Lantern, so I'm telling the story of John Stewart that is meant to feel like mythology. I'm telling a story of a Greek god who became a man.Dawn of DC needs to pull in new readers while also appealing to longtime fans of the DC Universe. How are you handling that balancing act, and why should fans, both new and old, be excited?Taylor: I think it's an incredibly exciting time to be a fan of DC Comics, I think every book that's coming along, and the creative teams that are [are] involved are incredibly exciting. Obviously, being a big part of the Superman group, I'm getting to read action, I'm getting to read what Josh Williamson and Jamal Campbell are doing on Superman, and, you know, in that Chip and co. on Batman, and it's just a really great time. I read these books, and I'm like, "This is the DC I want to read!" There's this [huge] concentration of creators who are also uber fans like myself writing these books [and] going, "I want to give you everything that [I've] wanted to see for years," and this is giving us the chance to do that.Howard: Yeah, I mean, first of all, Tom said it. I'm a huge DC fan. This is very much like, wow, this is an era of books that I'm loving reading right now. I'm really, really enjoying as a fan! Hearing Tom talk about Titans, I'm like throwing my fists in the air because I'm just a huge fan of that and so excited to see what's happening. Yeah, it's really incredibly exciting. Being super fans is a big part of it, you know? It's just crazy to me as a fan to be here and, and making these big strides.Taylor: Every time I talk to a creator, even just talking to Tini before, she's just been offered something. She can't talk about this because she hasn't said yes yet. But it came in her email and [she was like], "They just asked me to write this cool thing, and I'm like, yes!" Everybody who's being approached to write and everybody who is writing on these books are huge fans. I just think that's that's a great Dawn for DC.Howard: Yeah, and speaking to the Dawn part of it -- I can talk loosely about something I've been planning with the Gotham office that's coming up. If you've been reading Catwoman, you see that Selina is under more and more pressure, [and] she takes on more responsibility in Gotham to try to be [a part] of the organized crime, but not as we've seen her before when she really stepped into her role as a mobster queen. This is her trying to operate as Catwoman, but it's an enormous amount of pressure on her. I'm really glad that I'm in an office where I've got this idea that Chip and I kind of started forming and pitching for something that really is going to bring what we've been building to all of Gotham. It's so exciting because it's exactly like Tom said, we're writing the kind of story that I would want as a fan. It's the kind of thing where you get that feeling that you're making yourself happy. I think that can sound selfish, but I think as a writer, you have to listen to that. Like, you have to be like that inner fan that giggles because you're connecting with their fans like you who are [going to] feel that same way when you get that giggle when you think of that idea, and you're like, "I can't believe no one's done that!" That's constantly exciting. It feels like we're doing something new and exciting, at least in my experience.Williamson: Well, I think the fact that we have a lot of new story arcs [releasing] around the same time, like we have the stuff with Superman, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern, and we have a lot of new number ones that are coming in, a lot of fresh starts. Everyone is keeping their eye on this [and] making sure that these books are accessible. It's interesting because I made Superman as accessible as I could. I tried to make it that if you haven't read Superman in the last five to ten years, you could pick it up, but if you have been reading it for the last five to 10 years, it's still acknowledged, it's still tied in. We had stuff in the first issue that immediately connected to stuff that Philip was doing an Action and that Tom Taylor was doing in Superman, but we tried to engineer and so that was very much for that type of reader. I tried to make it as accessible as possible. But Green Arrow was very different. Like I tried to make Green Arrow accessible, but Green Arrow was very much written for Green Arrow fans, especially for lapsed fans that maybe haven't read the last 10 years.The kind of stories we're telling at DC and the quality of the stories is really high. Especially when I look at the stuff that we're planning with Dawn of DC, I'm hoping people check it out. I think there's a lot of material there, and everyone is doing fun, exciting stories. I think we're all keeping an eye on that idea that we want to make sure that if you haven't read in a long time, you can still jump in right now there's something for you. And we're not throwing anything away. Like we're not breaking anything, we're just building at this point. And I think that's a great time for DC like my favorite times of DC is when we're adding to the mythology. We've definitely had eras where it was about breaking, and now, we're in the building of it. Like I said when we first started, we're taking all of these things that we love about these characters, and we're showing why we love them. We're just adding to those characters and their mythos. A new reader that's coming in will probably get something new for them.I came to DC during a time when there was a lot of new stuff being added. My DC fandom was when Tim Drake was being introduced. Then there was Bart, Connor and Cassie, all new characters are being added. That allowed me as a fan to take ownership of those things, right? My point of view [with] Batman came through to Tim Drake. My point of view of Wally West and the Flash family, some of it was through Wally, but then once Bart got there, I really was able to take ownership over Bart. That's the value of adding new things to these mythologies. So it's like, if it's Phillip's Action book, he's introducing the Super Twins. So that's [one] way a new person could come in and take ownership of those characters. If we're just constantly adding new things, it just makes it more exciting. For a new reader to be able to come in and claim ownership of some of [those] things, and use those new elements as a point of view, [it's] like a window into that mythology.So if you're a reader that's been around for a long time, you can go into it knowing those things that you love are not being discarded. If you're a new reader coming in, you could have new elements to claim ownership of, and then you can use that as a window into the mythology. Sorry, it's a very long answer! [laughs]Zdarsky: I just want to say that Josh's first issue of Superman, I think it's pretty close to being just like the perfect comic, because it really does kind of play and build upon the history and the continuity while being so fresh and inviting to new readers. I think any issue one should strive to accomplish what the team did on Superman. Yeah, that's all, I just want to throw a little compliment to my guy, Josh.Johnson: There's that thing at the beginning [that] was really dope. I remember when I first read All-Star [Superman], [it was] a really concise Superman origin [story].Williamson: Oh yeah, there's no way to beat it.Johnson: I was like,"Well, that's the best that's ever going to be!" This book does a very Josh version of that same thing, which I just fucking love.Zdarsky: I heard that All-Star Superman is one of James Gunn's favorite books. Is that true, Tom? [laughs]King: Uh, what I like about Josh's book, [laughs] [is that] it's [the] perfect answer to your question of how do we appeal to fans who have been around for 50 years [and] fans were coming in for the first time to the shop to see like, what really [can be] a jumping on point for the entire comic community, Dawn [of] DC. We're lucky that in DC those two fans want the same things. The classic versions of these characters are incredibly appealing to new fans. Joshua's book is a great example. If you're a brand-new fan, and you want to read Superman, you should see a Superman that has Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Lex Luthor, [and] see that dynamic. You want to see the romance, big twists, [and] big evil -- but if you've been a fan for 50 years, that's also what you want.That's the lucky part about DC is that some of these characters, and especially the core three we work on -- Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman. There is a sort of ideal that appeals to both old and new [fans]. Our job is to capture that. With our artists' help!Williamson: Jamal brings it. I remember a really early conversation with Jamal and [he] got exactly what we were going for where it feels like an iconic Superman story, but very modern. Like Jamal, really brought it across the finish line with that. Since Chip paid me a compliment, I'm going to pay Chip a compliment, but also a tease compliment. I've read Batman 900. I have never been more angry and jealous in my entire life in my professional life than when I read that comic book. It's very, very good, and the stuff that happens in it, I was like, this bastard. [laughs]Zdarsky: Highest compliment I can receive! "This bastard."Williamson: You know, it's funny, because you were talking about this before, like you were saying, "Tell me if I'm speaking too spoilery with you." But you [said], "Oh, my book is gonna be so grim. It's gonna be this gritty Batman book!" Then I read 900, and it's one of the best celebrations of Batman ever [made]. I read it and felt like [it was] so good. It's so fun. It's dark, too. There's definitely some really dark stuff in there, but it's balanced out with shit that I think really make people smile and laugh when they read Batman 900 and I think people are going to be really surprised by how awesome 900 is.Zdarsky: Well, I think there's got to be a balance. I mean, no matter how dark and gritty a book gets, if there isn't [any] fun in it, then the dark and gritty doesn't work because you need a bit of that balance. Like, you need Batman to be on the ropes, but then he survives a fall from the moon. He does something fun. That balance is super important. Thank you for that compliment though. That's kind, [but] also wrong.King: Now, now you tell me this! I wrote 100 issues. You couldn't have told me that in the beginning?! All that pain that could've been avoided! [laughs]Zdarsky: You balance it with introspection. Some darkness, but the balance was with the romance. You were smart. As long as there's the balance.King: I feel like the darkness balances the gritty! That's what I was always told! [laughs]Zdarsky: You went too dark, we need more gritty! [laughs]King: That's right! Pull back on the dark! Add the gritty! [laughs]Zdarsky: For real, that was your balance. When you were doing Batman, there were a lot of light moments as well.I love the double date issue so much. It's like one of my all-time favorites. But yeah, when you went dark and gritty, there was always that balance [between] the romance and love. You're [a] romantic at heart.King: I'll say one difference with Dawn of DC is, you know, I've been in DC for 10 years but we [all] came up together at basically the same time. Like, we entered comics, we've been in crappy artist alleys and crappy hotel conventions together. We've been side by side for a decade and [have] come through the trenches and now, here we are organizing the best characters in fiction. It makes it easy to [create] a shared universe because my best friends are writing the best books.Zdarsky: Did you just call me one of your best friends?King: You're my best Canadian friend. [laughs]Zdarsky: Okay. I'll take it, I'll take it.King: None of us have [the] hesitation to be like, "This is my universe, you can't touch it!" I think they're building awesome universes, and I want to build that with them. This is a universe that's [beginning] in a new place, but it's much more tied together. In terms that things actually count, Superman is going to have an impact on Wonder Woman, [and] what happens in Batman is going to impact Superman. The world is [cohesive], not [separated].Zdarsky: Yeah, I'm actually looking forward to that part a fair amount. When I started on Batman, the storyline that I had was just kind of go, go, go. There actually wasn't a proper break for figuring out where it ties into anything else. Now, with Dawn of DC, I feel okay. We can actually kind of reset a little bit on the same page, in terms of continuity, and more accurately reflect what's happening in the other titles, which is part of the fun, [that's] why I loved collecting comics when I was a kid.Williamson: That was one of the goals [for] Dawn of DC. We recognize -- and I'm partially responsible for this with Dark Crisis going on, that when Chip was starting with Batman and Dark Crisis was [running], Batman was dead. [laughs] Then we had Batman vs. Robin, and Lazarus Planet happening. There was a lot of stuff going on [in] the last few years. I think one of the things we looked at with Dawn of DC was that was how do we start communicating with each other and how we try to find more ways to line with each other? Just the idea that we're able to connect without contradicting each other. That's something [important] with Knight Terrors, too.Knight Terrors will end and then the same day, Chip has a story that picks up immediately after. We're trying to find ways of making it closer in terms of what's going on, here's [what] we're tying up, and you can really see it now. Phillip and I text at night and share ideas. We bounce things back and forth and we try to share where we can to try to find ways of just making it so that things do feel more connected and I definitely think that right now. We're all people who talk to each other like what Chip was saying he talked to Tini, and I talked to Tom and Phillip, and we all communicate with each other [more] than I think we have in recent years and it allows us to sort of build a more cohesive DC, but also we're having fun with each other. We're friends, and we get to share ideas. We're building this mystery with Amanda Waller. Because of Amanda Waller during Dawn of DC people can pick up on that and use some of the pieces from [her story] and it makes us feel like we're having this cool connective tissue. I don't want to say if you're reading everything you get [the] bigger picture, but that's kind of what it's like.In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges that come with writing legacy characters who exist in such a rich universe?Zdarsky: Sometimes, it's hard to find a new way in when everything has happened to everybody. I found that especially when I was doing Spider-Man over at Marvel, because every supporting character has been dead, a villain going crazy, whatever. Finding new things to say with the characters can be a little challenging. I've said this before, but when I [was] reading Batman, I got an email from Mark Waid, friend to all -- also enemy to all -- in which he congratulated me and said just so you know, Batman is the one fictional character who has the most stories written about him, good luck coming up with something new.That's the tricky part. Sometimes it's like, [you're building] off something that came before. I referenced Tower of Babel, a Mark Waid story of all things, in the opening of my Batman run because I wanted to build off that. Grant Morrison stuff was there, and I wanted to build off that. With the Grant stuff especially, the tricky thing was not being scared of playing with stuff. I hold their run in such high esteem that I know I'm not going to necessarily do it justice, but also, they played with Zur-En-Arrh, the Silver Age and kind of bringing them into the modern era as a concept. And so I feel like it's kind of my obligation to kind of do the same as well and play with the stuff that's existed before, even if it is terrifying. Whether it works or not, I don't know, but you have to play with that history, even if it feels daunting.Williamson: The number one thing is, is this a book that you would buy? If you saw this in the rack walk into the comic book store, would you be like, hell yeah, and when you get home, [put] that book will be top of the stack? If you're not that kind of way where you can't look at your own book that way, I think there's a problem and that's always a challenge. Having those moments to take a step back and [think about], [whether] I would I actually enjoy what I'm writing.RELATED: Batman Writer Answers Fans' Questions About New SeriesJohnson: My answer to that question is [that] it's been an adjustment for me to think about these stories in terms of both arc and issue because I tend to think in terms of the long game and making the whole arc was really awesome. I have to make sure there's something in every issue. There has to be a short term and long term payoff without pandering and [being] gross. [laughs] You know, I don't I don't want to [feel] like I [need to] throw in some Bat something somewhere in this issue to make people like it or whatever. I don't want to just put in some random thing like, "We're gonna change a costume today!" or are have a first issue of whatever. There has to be some kind of short term that's really fun, but makes organic sense to the story so there's a reason to pick up not just every issue of the arc, but every issue on its own. So if that's that's the challenge of comics that I've had to kind of adjust to, but it's rewarding.King: I find Wonder Woman to be quite a challenge. It's good, I think I'm doing my best and I think I'm getting what I want out of it. Daniel's art is beautiful, but it's definitely a challenge. I mean, she's a complicated character and lots of things have been done with her, and not all of it [has been] consistent. You know, from her original conception, which had to do with the alternate way you look at society, and then her, then [Robert] Kanigher coming in and making her just a horrible, almost anti-feminist thing. Then Perez putting Greek stuff in it all the way to [Greg] Rucka reforming her. There's been so many different iterations of [Wonder Woman]. She's always both a warrior and an embracer of peace at the same time. She has like this central contradiction to her. [Plus], both portrayals of her on TV and film which have different, wonderful things about them that merge together. It's definitely a challenge. If I keep my focus on finding things like that one moment [in] Batman where I had him get up and say, "We're still here." I was like, "Let's get that kind of energy into Wonder Woman." If I just keep that as my North Star of like, she is good, she's an awesome hero. Then we're going to add huge, huge moments so that each thing will be an event, that will be great. But yeah, I find this to be very challenging. Fun, but challenging.Johnson: Having a North Star [for] a character is pretty huge. Superman might be my first [series] where I was like, here's the mission statement, right? That's always got to be in every issue, no matter what. The thing that's got to be there every single time.King: I did a mission statement for Wonder Woman. First time I've done that in any comic. It was a bunch of things. It was like, no sword, all lasso. Stuff like that. I have a 12-year-old daughter who wore Wonder Woman costumes and had a Wonder Woman rope and I just looked at her and [thought], "What does she love about this character?" I wrote all that stuff down.Zdarsky: [I] was just going to say I was having a conversation with -- namedrop -- Matt Fraction this morning because I wrote in my newsletter about summing up superheroes like Spider-Man really succinctly. I wrote, "Can't, but must." He was saying that there was a [time] at Marvel that he was trying to come up with three word things for each character. Like, Iron Fist was kung fu billionaire and he said Thor, [who] he was still work shopping, it was like, "God's my dad." I really loved that, [it was] very succinct.Williamson: [Tom] Brevoort in one of the Spider-Man hardcovers, was saying that one of the rules they had for Brand-New Day was that, "Spider-Man wins, Peter Parker loses; Peter Parker wins, Spider-Man loses." I think you can also apply that to other characters. I remember having this conversation with Dan [DiDio] years ago. We were talking about The Flash, and I was like, "What do you think is missing from the book?" He said, "You know what I think you need -- what I think is really missing?" We were walking into the building and I [thought], "Cool, this is it! He's going to tell me this thing that was missing!" He was like, "You don't use the Flash ring enough. [Let] the costume come out!" [laughs]You know what? He was right! People care about that stuff. When I did my first draft of Superman number one, I turned it in and the editor really liked it. They had some notes, and one of them was basically, "Cool, I can do if you give me more pages. Can you give me more pages?" They said, "Yeah, okay, we'll give you more pages." I [felt like], alright, cool. Score!King: Wait! That's a thing?! You can respond to notes [saying] get me more pages?! [laughs]Williamson: Do not act like you've never done that, Tom! I learned it by watching you! [laughs]Zdarsky: I [did that] once. I asked for an extra page, and the editor said, "I'm taking you down a page. Screw you."Williamson: So I went back to the whole book. I thought, what's missing? I [realized], "Oh, I don't have Clark ripping his shirt open to reveal the Superman logo." I added that beat to the first issue because that's something that you have to see. Then Jamal told me that when they were working [they] didn't really accept the weight of what they were doing. It was that moment when they were drawing Clark ripping the shirt open that they felt like, "Oh my god, I'm drawing a Superman comic book." You know what I mean? It was the first real click for them. It's that kind of stuff you have to have in there.Taylor: I think it's all about building on what's come before and finding ways to twist [that]. Take what's happened in continuity and not ignore it, but find ways to take it in directions that haven't been taken before. Looking at Nightwing, [and] what we set up there for the first time, we've not been in Bludhaven before, but we've never seen Nightwing take on an entire city and inherit billions of dollars, transform the city in different ways, and take on all forms of corruption. It's about taking these characters that you love [and] working out what you'd like to see them do when you know you love them. We love the stories that we've read in the past, and now we get to take those stories and build upon them. [Instead] of, "Okay, I'm going to break these toys in this interesting way." It's more like, "I'm going to take these toys I love, get to play with them. I'm going to mash them together in ways that have never been done before." So yeah, I guess that's what we're talking about.We're talking about legacy. They've never really been this before, the Titans have never quite been the Justice League before. We're also taking Jon Kent and [putting] him into the multiverse and having him visit the Injustice world. To me, Jon Kent is a very pure version of Superman, who's quite he's younger and very passionate because of how young he is. He wants to see some change. So going into a world where he can see the change that has occurred because of a Superman who has suffered great trauma and tragedy, and turned that into something where he feels like he's creating [a] utopia in paradise. Seeing how John's going to view that and how that's going to challenge him is very exciting. It's taking everything that, particularly Injustice, did in the past. I mean, I think Injustice is like 10 years old now, which is terrifying, but going back to visit that world, with this new character that's only been around for about as long as Injustice, that hasn't grown up, hasn't been bisexual for that long, and is finding his identity stepping into there is looking at the past and morphing it once again, and twisting it once again in really exciting ways.Howard: I think one struggle that I have learned to get past is [that] any version of the character that you write that is unique and real enough for people to identify with, other people are going to really hate. It's just a fact. Like, if you say anything of substance, someone will hate it. If you're not saying anything of substance, people will be lukewarm. It's a struggle. I think that if you're going to make a version of this character that really leaves a mark, it has to be unique enough that people are going to have a take on it, whether that's something you have to get used to because as a fan, you love loving these characters with people, right? You're used to arguing and forums about like, who's better or whatever. As a professional, you can't do that. You just have to go to sleep at night being like, I've done the best I can in the hand this character in my hands. I've written something that was meaningful. And I hope when I go to heaven, Jack Kirby gives me a high five.The advantages are endless. If you're me, the people that have written the characters that you love are enshrined. The fact that I'm that for someone, or could be that for someone is insane to me, that's an insane amount of legacy. That's the upside. [It's] weird and wonderful.Taylor: I had this weird epiphany a few years ago where I [wondered] if I walked into a convention and seen me now [whether] I'd be too scared to talk to me. I was like that for the first three or four years of conventions. I was like Joe Kelly, or something. I'm not going to talk to them. I'm not going to talk to them. I'm just going to stand here. Like the first time I met Grant Morrison, I didn't meet Grant Morrison, I [was] just near them. I can't say how I did that.Howard: Guess who's never met them because [they've] always been too scared to? I have been in meetings, I've sat down in across from people who have been like, have we met? I'm like, no, I've been too scared to meet up until this moment because I'm such a fan.Taylor: It's terrifying. So yes, taking that is incredibly exciting. Yeah, it's nuts. We get to play in a ridiculous world. We love it.James Gunn, the new co-head of DC Studios, has been showing the source material a ton of love on social media, even promoting specific collections and creators. How does it feel to see this?Williamson: I was glad to see DC having a voice. I mean, I think DC was lacking a voice for a while. Having somebody out there that not only has a voice for the company, but [who's] also like, look at these really cool books, and [promoting] the creators! Like you said, I don't think we've really seen that. It's really exciting to have somebody out there actually talking about DC, being that voice and redirecting it back to the source material. It's really powerful.King: That is not at all corporate synergy or any sort of marketing plan, that's just James Gunn speaking from his heart. He loves those comics. He read them, and he [talks] about them. I mean, that's what makes me so excited for where DC is going. The people who making the product love the product. We are as big of fans of these things and want them to be good. It feels like a family building something together. It's wonderful.Johnson: Yeah, agreed. I think it's clear that the multimedia stuff is being led and made by a superfan. I'm just very hopeful that we're going to see a time of unprecedented cohesion and sharing between source material and all the other media coming out of Warners.

Zdarsky: I don't give a shit about James Gunn until he mentions my work, frankly. Once he does, he'll be my best friend. [laughs]

King: Wait, what?! I'm right here! I thought we had an agreement?!

Zdarsky: Oh, I'm so sorry, Tom. I wouldn't be working at Marvel or DC if it wasn't for James Gunn. After he did Guardians of the Galaxy, the weekend after it opened, a Marvel editor contacted me and said, "Hey, did you watch Guardians of the Galaxy? James Gunn put Howard the Duck at the end! I think we have a shot at launching a Howard the Duck series now." [laughs] That was my first gig at Marvel. The funny thing is, I got that job and I wrote Howard the Duck for a good amount of time. Then James was like one of the first [of the] higher ups people on Twitter to actually like, go out of his way to publicly talk about Howard the Duck, and that he enjoyed it. I'm like, "Oh, well, that's really nice." So yeah, I actually owe my career to James. I take back what I said earlier.

King: Dude, I have that same story. The day Guardians came out, I got called for Omega Men, which was my first solo book that I was a real comic book writer on! So I have it from the exact opposite side.

Taylor: Yeah. It's really, really refreshing. It's exactly right. For me, comics are the single greatest storytelling medium in the world. Like, yes, I am the co-creator of a TV show as well. We have four seasons of a show on Netflix and all the rest of it and around the world. I've got toys over there. But comics are the thing that I am the most excited for and most passionate about. [That's] the thing that I love the most. Whenever people are like, why I don't do more TV and films -- [it's] because I like comics. That's my favorite thing to do. I feel like for James Gunn, he's always been a comics fan, but he was a creator. Well, before he was making movies, it's wonderful. That's what you want from the co-head of a studio. Seeing him talk about the comics. I'm like, "Yes, keep going!" I know he was reading my Suicide Squad when Bruno Redondo and I were writing. I got to know [that] James is a fan of what [I was] doing.

You want them to continue acknowledging that and seeing the comics pop up [at] the end of the trailer. Seeing this is what I think so many of us as creators have wanted when we go to the cinema. In the preview, we want to see [fans] go and buy comics. Find new books, this is what this material has come from. Let's celebrate the creators who created these stories that are informing everything you're watching on your screen at the moment, be it from the MCU, the DCU, whatever. The source material is the reason these stories are so good. They came from the single greatest storytelling medium in the planet.

Howard: Yeah, I mean, I think there are so many fans that are just so hungry for what's next with these movies that someone like James saying, Well, this is what I'm looking to send people scrambling. I'm sure there's an article that pops up that [talks about] what James Gunn might have taken from Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo's Suicide Squad. And that's wonderful. Like, that's so cool. It's cool, as writers, seeing how people respond and adapt to your stuff. It's exciting when someone doodles fan art of a run I'm on and [tags] me. It's also exciting when you know that someone who is up there on a screen in front of, you know, a billion people has your words in their head. As a writer, it's just exciting. We're, we notoriously feel unappreciated, like as a species writers do. When people with power go out of their way to appreciate us it's really exciting. You know, we're just a notoriously underappreciated class, if you ask us.

Is there anything else you'd like to say to all the DC fans reading this interview?

Taylor: It's a really great time to be a DC fan to be a comics fan. Especially the [fans] that are coming for Titans and Green Lantern. There's something coming in the Gotham universe that's getting a lot of fire under a lot of people, it's going to be really exciting. There's something that's going to spin out of Titans that's huge and massive. I think I've been writing Adventures of Superman for the last few days. What's happening in that book is some of the [most] twisty a stuff I've written in a very long time. It's a great soap opera, plus all the stuff that people liked about Injustice mixed together in a very hopeful book. I think it's a great time to jump on board. If you've been wondering where to jump in, [now is] the time go to your local comic book store and buy comics.

Howard: Tom touched on this, but like, the thing that I'm most excited about is all the creators that I'm working with on DC right now hanging out in Gotham with Chip, Ram, Josh, Matt, Willow and everyone. I's just it's such a good room, I sit in a room with these people. I'm like, "Damn we're good!" It's a really exciting group of writers and artists. If you're coming back to DC Comics, this is a good time for that. We're building to stuff in Gotham that will affect all of it. It's going to be like some of those moments in the past where Gotham feels fundamentally changed. We watch everyone respond to it. I'll say that the thing coming that brings about the change is very human and very organic and very real. This one isn't. This one isn't a cosmic threat. It's very personal.

King: If you've been outside of DC, or you've been hesitating this is a great jumping on point. This is beautiful art and a beautiful story. Yeah, this is just a good place to start reading some DC.

Zdarsky: Yeah, everyone's giving it their best and hopefully it comes across [that way] on the page.

Williamson: You know, we are fans of these characters, we love their mythology. We want that to appear on the page, and I think it is. I'm hoping people check that out.

Johnson: Yeah, across the line, Dawn of DC seems like everyone's trying to give everybody the best jumping on point that we can. Like, if somebody walks into a shop and goes, "Hey, I'm curious about this character or about you know, whatever," there's just a very clear beginning of where they should start. We're trying to give people both, you know?

Dawn of DC comic books are available at a comic shop near you.