Did you know that Wonder Woman had a brother? You may have thought that the success of the Wonder Woman movie would change the way she was portrayed in comics, and you would be right, if by change you meant focusing on her long lost brother, because, brothers are doing it for themselves.

Unless you were reading Justice League prior to DC Comics’ Rebirth event last year, you might have been able to live your life without having heard about the brother twist, given how little time has been spent on the plot thread since Rebirth began. However, yes, it’s true. Sometime during Justice League: Darkseid War, Diana learned about her twin brother Jason, the first and only man to ever be born on Themyscira. Now, the new Wonder Woman creative team, James Robinson, Carlo Pagulayan, and Emanuela Lupacchino, aim to reveal the mystery behind Jason’s character in a new six month run on the series.

The new storyline, entitled “Children of the Gods,” will be written by Robinson, who is a longtime comics veteran but is perhaps most recently memorable for his work on Airboy, which many argued contained a transphobic plotline. Robinson, who DC’s press release notes is a GLAAD-award nominee, did apologize in a statement on the organization’s website. However, one has to wonder how fans will react to the news of Robinson’s newly established position as the lead writer on a prominent superhero who is currently in the spotlight thanks to Patty Jenkin’s incredibly successful and markedly progressive Wonder Woman film.

Indeed, reaction from fans and critics was swift:

For a post-Rebirth title, this concept feels more evocative of the gritty and less progressive New 52 era.

The press release’s plot summary is worded in a way that hints at Jason’s allegiances and possible directions the plot could take. The title of the arc names “Children,” plural, which could mean that there are more divine siblings to come. Additionally, Jason’s and Wonder Woman’s lives are “about to intersect in a terrifying way, bringing them face-to-face with a cosmic threat they never imagined.” This indicates that Jason will likely be a protagonist rather than a rival for Diana.

This new creative team’s tenure will begin with Wonder Woman #31 following the end of Shea Fontana’s Wonder Woman limited run. Pagulayan will draw interiors for the issue. Bryan Hitch drew the cover, which you can check out below. Jenny Frison will produce variant covers for the run.

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13 COMMENTS

  1. I’ll read it in trade, but surely they could have made a more thoughtful choice. Aren’t there any new voices able to take on the newly revitalized Wonder Woman ( thank you , Patty Jenkins)?

  2. The headline here had me assume it was written from Trevor perspective, so that’s a relief at least.
    I thought she already had siblings established in azzarellos run, which rucka run was the extension of, voiding the Finch stuff. Or did they disappear after the lies concept played out? They were interesting, original takes on what divine children could be. The whole take on Gods in that run was cool even if WWs Zeus father lineage instead made of clay was a mstake. Shame to lose them but be given a plodding geoff John’s device like “Jason”. And twins no less! Oh the cliché!
    Unless they put him in a dinky little Greco-Roman soldiers skirt like WW current outfit. Historically accurate, while subverting the current DC trend of covering their men from head to toe with a little camp.
    Robinson may be a veteran, but that’s an issue really. while I liked his earth 2 stuff before he fell out with dc last time, his subsequent marvel stuff had over written dialogue that felt dated.
    Bumping Bennett for Rucka as the rebirth writer worked out OK in the end, but it did pander to an old ideal of WW a little. Putting past writers like Simone on could just do the same. The opportunity to put new, proven next gen writers on top books has been squandered again.

  3. Even without the pitch, Robinson would not have been a name to make me keep up with this title. With the pitch, I think WW #25 is going to be my last one for a while.

  6. I’m not sure Robinson would have been a good choice for the character even with sexual/identity politics aside, especially as it sounds like he’ll be in his company man mode filling in the blanks left by Geoff Johns and presumably setting up for some future event.
    Bring in the focus on identity politics these days from the pop culture press and this is a disaster waiting to happen – forget Airboy (which is it transphobic as he depicted himself having had and enjoyed sex with a transsexual in it?) I’m thinking more of the GL bragging about a threesome with Huntress and Lady Blackhawk from Cry For Justice.
    Can Robinson resist having characters ogle and comment on WW at every turn? Pretty sure that happens in the great, but a bit dated, Starman.
    I figured Marget Bennet was a shoo-in after getting pushed aside for Rucka, but I guess that’s on me for thinking D”we still employ fast Dingered Eddie B”C would learn from the errors of their ways.

    Also, if Darkseid War was the last story before the successful reboot, why would you revisit it after a year has gone by? If the reboot worked then a lot of the audience won’t have read it. Weird move.

  7. I thought this version of Themyscira was completely written out as an illusion / set of false memories in Greg Rucka’s run…? Has Eddie Berganza taken back the editorial reigns? Because this just sounds backwards and wrongheaded in every way.

  8. Also: Thank heavens for both Conan / Wonder Woman *and* Bombshells United this month. It’ll be nice to continue reading some good new Wonder Woman stories somewhere.

  9. This might be an interesting story to explore…like a year from now and as a subplot. Yes, yes i know. “well, what if he has a story to tell?” there is a time and a place for everyine. This is neither.

    DC is pretty tone deaf with this. I wonder if there is anyone in the comics industry that has any sort of strategic planning skills, because this is pretty poor of an idea esp in this climate. Why would you not try to capitalize off the film’s success? So stupid.

    Also i think its really funny how dude fanboys are on twitter asking dude creators for their opinions on why women are overreacting to this.

  10. I like James Robinson’s writing. I like the artists with whom he’ll be working on this comic. I like Diana. I will read it and judge it on its merits, rather than condemning it outright from a cover image and solicitation information.

    I know. Weird, right?

  11. Her… brother. Okay? I’m not offended or anything, but it does seem like a weird choice, timing-wise, given that they’ve had this movie release dated planned for literal years.

    “You liked WONDER WOMAN. You’ll love her BROTHER!”

  12. Seems pretty dumb, but James Robinson isn’t the enemy or something. He’s a talented writer who you probably agree with on more issues than a mistake he made one time. Geez. This site is getting crazy

  13. Sigh. I would much rather see more “Legend of Wonder Woman” than this. I found the retcons involving Wonder Woman’s origin the weakest part of the movie, and am not particularly interested in reading a comic based upon them.

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