Chiang Reflects On New Gods, Greek Gods & "Wonder Woman"

[CBR News]

Artist Cliff Chiang spoke with CBR about his and Brian Azzarello's first year on "Wonder Woman," the thought process behind his Greek pantheon designs and his take on the Fourth World's Orion with exclusive sketches.


Full article here.

[The Man From Room X]

I love Cliff Chiang's Gods designs. Dude should've designed Darkseid as well instead of Jim Lee, esp now that we know that Orion and the New Gods were part of Azzarello's initial pitch.

The Harness doesn't really seem changed at all from the old continuity.
Looking forward to Cliff Chiang's and the inevitable BOOM of Orion's return.

It hasn't changed. I think Wonder Woman still has to come across as being in control. I think that's an important visual. Even when there are covers where she's in a perilous situation, it's not a woman tied to the train tracks. To get away from that kind of idea, that kind of story, even, it has been interesting; we want to show Wonder Woman doing heroic things and doing what she needs to do and not be seduced by juvenile imagery like that. For me, Wonder Woman still is strong and I've gotten more comfortable drawing her in that way.

He says that she's always in control, but then you have all these betrayals and dupings of Wonder Woman that have happened so far and another one coming up. Just something that seemed off to me.

BTW disappointed none of those are new or exclusive sketches. They are all from the NYCC Drawing Wonder Woman Panel.

[Mr. Holmes]

Comic book fans have such a love for the Fourth World characters and can be very specific about the way they like to see them appear.

Haha I don't think that's true, but it certainly reflects a lot of the conversations here on CBR.

[Desaad]

I am fwapping for this, without having read the interview at all.

[Desaad]

Oop, well some disappointing bits, certainly.

'In a way, Orion is kind of the opposite because he's given himself the ability to act out whereas Wonder Woman hasn't. I think our Wonder Woman is impulsive and does kind of act first, but our Orion has totally given himself over to that and has no qualms about hurting people, while Wonder Woman does. But there is a part of her that's similar to Orion ,and it'll be interesting how they connect.'

-- Well, no, Orion is all about the struggle for self control. He unleashes himself certainly, but Motherbox is an externalization of the struggle he has with his darker urges. The entire Simonson "Orion" run was about him coming to terms with that, turning it into a weapon, but if this is a "new" Orion...well, I worry that this kind of talk is going to lead to "Crazy wolverine!!!" Orion, the one we got in JLA under Waid.

We'll see!

" love the Fourth World characters; I really think they're a tremendous achievement. They're so great and we're trying to do this in the spirit of, it's not a strict Kirby interpretation, but it works for the character. We'll see him, hopefully, a little larger than life and from a different world in the way he acts and why he's messing around on Earth."

Love this though. Exactly right. Being completely beholden to Kirby is exactly the opposite of what one needs to do. That is what Byrne did, and it was utterly boring. Be respectful, but do your own thing. Simonson and Morrison got it.

"I'm excited for people to see those iconic Orion moments: Orion on the Astro-Harness and the Boom Tube and all those things people love. But then there's smaller moments I think I like that other people wouldn't or aren't anticipating. Quieter moments with him -- who is this Orion? When we meet him, we'll see a softer side of him as well."

And this is certainly exciting!

So we'll see.

[Desaad]

Haha I don't think that's true, but it certainly reflects a lot of the conversations here on CBR.

I think it's probably true of the harder core comic fans.

They're very much a cult character set, though. Not enough to sustain any sort of ongoing series absent big buzz, big quality, etc.

[Superdog]

Pretty snazzy:

[tunneler]

My guess is that WW and Orion will first fight and then they will team up. In the end they will probably fall in love and have lots of god sex.

[mdg1]

You do know that these EXCLUSIVE designs have been online for a month, right?

[Leocomix]

About the only creative success of the New 52. This is the only DC title I can't wait to read a new instalment of.

[Imraith Nimphais]

I've said it before...and I'll shout it out loud now...I LOVE YOU CLIFF CHIANG!!!

[Sam Robards, Comic Fan]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is the best book DC publishes. By far.

Chiang has quickly become one of my favorite artists, and I love his Orion design. Simply fantastic work.

The longer DC lets Azzarrello, Chiang and Akins do as they please on this title, the better.

[Comet Man]

Aw man, I really liked this design better.

What they talking about - TOO RESPECTFUL?!

[Desean101101]

My guess is that WW and Orion will first fight and then they will team up. In the end they will probably fall in love and have lots of god sex.

Wonder Womens Booty isn't that easy to earn. There is gonna be alot of blood sweat and tears to Get intoo Her bed.

[gwangung]

Aw man, I really liked this design better.

What they talking about - TOO RESPECTFUL?!

Hm. Actually, I quite like the Jacket look for Orion (possibly one of the characters where it makes sense). It's a dichotomy between the more formal, mannered "civilized" look vs. the dark violence inside.