Summary
- DC All In is a collaborative effort by leading creators to create a cohesive narrative across the DC Universe.
- The flipbook narrative style in the upcoming DC All In Special promises big surprises and impactful events.
- The aim of the initiative is to bring traffic back to comic book stores and to emphasize the importance of physical over digital copies.
It has only been a few weeks since DC Comics has announced its upcoming initiative, DC All In. The ambitious new push will not only restructure the main continuity with new creative teams, but will also usher in the new reality that all fans are talking about: the Absolute Universe.
One of the people responsible for DC All In is Superman Author Joshua Williamson. During the DC Comics announcement, it was announced that Williamson, along with Scott Snyder, Daniel Sampere and Wes Craig, would usher in this new era for the DC Universe with DC All-In Special No. 1Screen Rant spoke with Williamson and Sampere about the upcoming one-shot and what’s next for the DC Universe.
Screen Rant: Josh, you’ve talked so much about DC All In. I don’t want to make you repeat yourself, but what does All In mean to you?
Joshua Williamson: Well, let me talk about the origin. Scott and I had been talking about this idea for about five years, the two stories with the Core Line and the Absolute Line, why we talked about it. And then about two years ago we really started talking about it. So the idea was, “When we do this, it can’t feel like they’re separate. It’s one story,” right? And then we started talking about all of us, like, “We’re all in this together.” And we started saying that all the time. We all say it and that’s what it meant from the top down. It wasn’t an initiative. It wasn’t a reboot. It wasn’t a relaunch. It was a moment where we could say, “We’re all in this together, doing the same thing.”
You and Scott Snyder both mentioned New 52 and Rebirth when talking about DC All In. Did you have the inclusion of those two initiatives in mind when you were trying to formulate what DC All In was or should be?
Joshua Williamson: Yeah, we both worked on it. Scott worked on New 52, I worked on Rebirth more than he did. So we figured out what works for both. New 52 was about being new, and Rebirth was about embracing the core and the classic. And we thought, “How do we find a way to do both at the same time?” We started really evaluating both and looking at each other and saying, “What were the key elements of both that we liked, and how do we apply that here?”
We have the DC All-In Special which is itself a double narrative. It’s a flip book, so we get two stories in one. Do you want to talk about the story you’re creating, especially in the wake of Absolute power?
Joshua Williamson: It’s a story where Superman is evaluating exactly what the DCU looks like right now. But it’s a moment of happiness. It’s Superman saying to everyone, “We’re all in this together.” We’re all in this together. And I always make this joke: Superman goes around the DCU and says, “We’re all in this together because Danny has to draw every hero.”
Daniel Sampere: That’s literal. It’s literal because they’re all in the same room (laughs)
Joshua Williamson: It’s definitely going to have an impact on every DC book for the next two years. We really have this massive plan. There’s a character who talks about it in the book and says, “This is a moment of peace and prosperity.” It’s a big moment of celebration. But there are some things that happen that create catalysts that then ripple down the line. And some things that happen in this issue have massive implications. And then Danny just pulls the crap out of it and builds in some really big surprises. There’s some stuff in there. I think people are going to say, “What the hell is going on here?! What is this? What is this?” There are some big surprises in the book.
Daniel, as an artist, would you like to talk about the technical aspects of working on the flipbook style for DC All In Special and what it was like for you?
Daniel Sampere: I didn’t know what a flipbook was. So they explained it to me and I thought: “That’s a great idea, but it seems complicated.” You have to make a double cover. But it has to be flipped. But it has to work when you look at it from both sides at the same time and you only look at it from one side. I’m happy with how it turned out.
Joshua Williamson: We communicated a lot, used a lot of whiteboards. I wrote the outline for everything. I literally had to write down what was happening on each side of both pages to see how things were related and how it actually worked. But there are reasons why they are related and how they are related. It was a very interesting process.
On Absolute power Scott talked on the panel about using All In to bring traffic back to comic book stores. That seems like something you want to hold in your hands, not digital. Is that something you had in mind for the special?
Joshua Williamson: That was something I thought about years ago when I really felt like this special offer was something that people should buy in the stores. Before we even knew what the special offer was, I thought, “This is something we want to offer people in the stores. How do we do that?” So we started with a flipbook and it was really interesting.
At Dawn of DC you were responsible for Superman, Green arrowAnd Batman and Robin. You step back a little and put all your energy into Superman. Yes. What does that mean for you when you go all in?
Joshua Williamson: I feel like I’m re-prioritizing for this book. I’ve definitely been very burned out over the last few years, I’ve been very tired and exhausted. It was hard because I love Green Arrow and Damian, so it was hard to have to say goodbye to those characters and then put all my effort into making sure Superman was the way I wanted him to be. But it’s funny with Superman because I almost have too many Superman ideas, so I thought, “I need to make sure this one really, really works.”
Daniel, you are still working with Tom King on Wonder Woman. You’re focused on the sovereign narrative at the moment, but is there anything in the “all-in” era that you’re particularly excited about?
Daniel Sampere: Yes, starting in October. It’s going to be a new story arc. It’s a continuation of the Sovereign story. I think it’s safe to say that Trinity is going to be born. And things are going to be pretty intense. It’s going to be really great and things are going to get a little mixed up for Wonder Woman. We’re already talking about future plans for future stories. We have so many new ideas. It looks great.
Back to SupermanJosh, Lex Luthor was an important part of your story. It’s become clear that he’s really changed. You’ve also tied that change into fatherhood and his relationship with Lena. What can you tell us about Lex in the future?
Well, he’s still who he is, but his memory was wiped during “House of Brainiac.” This story is far from over. Yes, I have a lot more to do with him. I wanted to make sure we continued this journey with him and Lena now that she’s taking care of him. It’s hard not to say much, but the story is far from over.
Waller has been a major threat throughout the Dawn of DC series, but with DC All In we’re switching to Darkseid. Do you want to talk about this major shift in overarching villains?
About three years ago, we had this conversation about how all of our villains were big cosmic villains and we hadn’t had a human villain in a long time. We’ve had a human villain for two years, now it’s, “Who’s the greatest DC villain of all time? We’re going into this big story. Who’s the greatest villain of all time?” And it’s Darkseid. But with Darkseid, there are some big twists coming, I hope we surprise people when they fully get into it.
DC All-In Special No. 1 will be available from DC Comics on October 2nd.
