This article contains spoilers for Duo #1, on sale now from DC.
In the wake of Milestone Media's relaunch, the DC Comics imprint is expanding its scope with a new line of comic books set on Earth-M, introducing new heroes and fresh twists on familiar characters and properties from Milestone's fan-favorite history. Kicking off the Earth-M line is the six-issue miniseries Duo, created by Reginald Hudlin and Denys Cowan, with the series written by Greg Pak, penciled by Khoi Pham, and inked by Scott Hanna. Reimagining the classic Milestone series Xombi, Duo follows nanotechnology experts and romantic couple David Kim and Kelly Vu, whose lives are upended when their latest experiment is sabotaged, resulting in David gaining Kelly's consciousness as he becomes a bona fide superhero.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Greg Pak and Khoi Pham shared the lengthy development time behind Duo, explained the new series' overarching themes, and teased what fans can expect next from David and Kelly's super-powered merger into a single hero. Also included is preview art from Duo #1, penciled by Pham, inked by Hanna, colored by Chris Sotomayor, and lettered by Janice Chiang.
CBR: You both have been working on this title in some shape or form for the past five years. How was it getting the call to reimagine David Kim?
Greg Pak: About five years ago, Reggie Hudlind gave me a call and said they were going to come out with some new Milestone books. It was incredibly exciting. He pitched me this reimagined Xombi idea. Xombi was this tremendous series from John Rozum and Denys Cowan. Denys and Reggie had been talking about a new take on the story, which essentially boils down to the core idea of how would you handle things if the person you love the most in the world was stuck inside your head and could see and feel everything you saw and felt and knew what you were thinking at all times?
We talk about people being able to finish each other's sentences, but if you were literally in your lover's mind, that's a real test of love. That immediately felt like a tremendous story to play around with, and we can layer superheroes, nanotechnology, and immortal enemies on top of that, and you've really got something.
The nanobots themselves almost have a painted, wuxia quality to them, swirling around with these golden streaks.
Khoi Pham: When I talked to Greg about this concept, there are a lot of themes going on here. It's a very streamlined story, but with a lot of themes, you can see and not see in it. One of the things that stuck out to me was this marriage of science and life, metallic versus organic. This couple created this nanotechnology, so I wanted it to be organic but also not quite so clear. Are we dealing with [something] inanimate, or are we dealing with life?
I wanted the nanobots to be a character. It's very subtle, but whenever you read around the book, the nanobots react like a puppy or child. When they're feeling affectionate, they create [the shape of] a heart. I don't [know] if a lot of people pick up on that, but it's really fun for me to play with this voiceless character. That was my motivation and guide in terms of how to draw the nanobots.
Pak: I love the way Khoi ran with it. He killed it. I think there's a tendency in sci-fi sometimes to go with a real clean, almost sanitized aesthetic. This is essentially a love story, so it felt like it had this heart and organic stuff, and Khoi absolutely delivered with that. Chris Sotomayor is our colorist, and Chris brought in these golden hues that make it so warm and inviting, but then there are times when things aren't quite so warm and inviting, and it shifts. It's been a real team effort, but I'm really happy with how it's come together.
When we first see David and Kelly, they're already engaged but still feel like they're in that relationship honeymoon phase. How is it to keep sight of their romance while testing that dynamic by putting them inextricably together?
Pak: It's funny because you write a lot of stuff sometimes, and you know what you're doing and what your story is, but as you work on it, you figure out what your story really is. There's always these levels upon levels. One thing that I was thinking about as we were working on Issue 6 is that one reason why they're such a successful team as characters is because they're complementary. They have different strengths and are each drawn to different parts of a problem and calculate things from slightly different angles. That makes for fantastic creative synergy, but if you have to cram together with no other space under these kinds of circumstances on a personal level, does it work? Those kinds of conundrums are where the juice is for the story.
Pham: I love the setup here because, to me, when I was younger, this story resonates because what is scarier than relationships? [laughs] This is fantastic, and when Greg was telling me, I was almost cringing and thinking what's this going to reveal about me? It's really neat and fun to play in that arena of discomfort and fear. Yes, there are external villains, and that's always great, but there's the psychological and internal conflict and antagonists that include yourself. It's fun to explore those things in such a visual and exciting way. It is a descendant of Xombi, the horror story, but this is more about discomfort and other fears across the board. That's really fun.
How was it designing the bad guys Duo faces in this opening issue, these genetically engineered goons with long arms and hunched necks?
Pham: This goes back to a conversation we had five years ago, so the details are a little hazy, but I felt like I was trying to communicate discomfort. My idea was how much of it is really discomforting and how much of something that is intrinsically scary do we bring to it? With Greg, this concept of merging faceless mechanics with organics, those themes play out a little bit. Putting it in that gray area, there's so much gray in this story. It was just fun to force people into that gray area and make them uncomfortable. When I designed them, I thought we were going for discomfort, so that's what I went with.
Pak: I remember one of the things that we talked about was this notion that, if you glanced at them, you might not notice anything. If you looked closer, you'd be like, "Holy crap, those things aren't human!" It was a cool challenge that you more than rose to, to create something that could be walking around and maybe not draw too much attention, but you look a little bit closer, and you're terrified. It's a pretty neat thing you did there.
Pham: Thank you! People will walk past things and just not look because they don't want to get involved and literally look straight ahead. It played on these notions of what people are afraid of.
Other than David Kim and the prominence of nanotechnology, what did you want to retain from Xombi in Duo, and what did you want to consciously change up?
Pak: Once we got the hook from Reggie and Denys, you just have to then focus on where that takes you. The original series is amazing, but one thing we didn't bring over from the original series is the supernatural stuff because it was a different setup and scenario here that wanted a more science-based explanation of what was going on and of the world. I did love this dense world from the original series and this notion that almost anything could happen. You don't know what's around the corner. That's a great tone, and I hope we were able to channel a little bit of that.
How about expanding Kelly's role to serve as this true counterpart to David's transformation?
Pak: The pitch from Reggie and Denys would only work by making Kelly an incredible character. The book is called Duo, we have two main characters, and it's about Kelly and David trying to figure out what the hell they're doing. What I love about it is, when the book begins, they are right there next to each other, literally finishing each other's sentences and seem to be on the exact same page.
If we're doing our job right, the further the book goes, the more you see differences and how different people who love each other so much can actually be and what it takes to make it work despite all those differences. Figuring out what those differences were and finding ways to play the conflicts and visuals, that's the heart and soul of writing the book. Khoi and the rest of the team have done an amazing job.
Pham: The thing about Milestone is it's about playing with people's expectations a little bit. This was a good opportunity to play with those expectations, even inherent expectations if they've read Xombi and play with those expectations. With the Kelly character, for me, I wanted to depict a darker-skinned Asian, and she was the perfect opportunity to do that. I put a Wonder Woman logo on her t-shirt to push unexpected things and see how people handle it.
After sitting with this project for five years, what has surprised you the most about this process as the series launches?
Pak: It's been a surreal experience because, in comics, you've just got to make those deadlines. You write something, and sometimes, two months later, it's on the shelves. You can write something, and the next day, you'll see layouts, and two days later, you'll see the first [penciled artwork]. It moves so fast that you don't have time to second-guess a lot. You make some choices and keep that train moving. With this book, we did almost five issues. That by itself is remarkable, to do so much of a book before the first issue comes out, and, on top of that, the whole thing got delayed a few years by the pandemic.
To come back to it and re-immerse yourself and remind yourself what the heck you were doing through this whole thing... We made this thing, so we knew what it was, but after it's been so long, you go back and reread it, and it's almost like reading something you didn't even write. You're reading it while trying to understand what this is all about, and that's an incredible gift because it lets us see what things are doing.
In the first issue, the first two pages are pages that we did three years after that first issue was written because, going back after seeing the whole story, we needed this intimate moment between them before all hell breaks loose. There are also subtle things happening there with dialogue that pay off much later. It's a huge luxury to be able to do that -- a rare gift in comics, to be able to make those kinds of tweaks in this kind of way.
Pham: To come back with extra fire and be gifted with this extra time, that was a lot of fun. It was definitely a lot easier to be working with these pros, with Scott Hanna on inks and Chris Sotomayor on colors. [Editor] Andrea Shea has been the glue to bring this all together.
Pak: And Janice Chiang on letters, especially since it's such a complicated lettering job with completely different internal and external voices. Everybody's been firing on full cylinders, and Andrea really deserves a lot of credit here. This book has gone through several editors because that happens over time, and she was able to come in at the end and look at everything and just notice all kinds of stuff that we missed. [laughs]
Tom Brevoort, over at Marvel, has said that every single comic book that goes out has a mistake in it just because the pace is so unrelenting, but Andrea absolutely lowered our mistake level vastly and just improved so many of the moments. She asked the right questions and things got a little deeper everywhere.
Written by Greg Pak and illustrated by Khoi Pham and Scott Hanna, Duo #1 is on sale now from DC Comics.