Growing up a “DC Kid” or a “Marvel Kid” is something that, I think, is probably outdated in this day and age. At least, it seems that way, but that could just be the fact that I’m old now and kids have so much superhero stimulation from so many areas beyond just comics that it seems impossible to me that they could possibly commit one way or the other.
But growing up, I was most certainly a DC Kid, fiendishly worshipping anything with Superman’s S-Shield on it and deep diving into the well of Kirby’s Fourth World, Gotham’s underbelly, Bibbo’s Ace of Clubs, and the surface of the living planet Mogo. DC’s heroes were, and still are, aspirational; it feels like they have something to teach us. Marvel’s heroes are relatable in a way that makes you feel like, hey, that could be ME! But I didn’t always want to read comics to see the world outside my window, I wanted to peek into the window of the universe next door.
So it thrills me to say that I’m going to be stepping through window and exploring it first hand: I’ve been accepted into this year’s DC Comics Writers Workshop, an intensive writing workshop focused on comics—DC superhero comics, specifically—giving the six of us that have been accepted an opportunity to play in the DCU and learn from the best of the best. In this case, that’s writer extraordinaire Scott Snyder and the Talent Development team at DC.
As Scott put it in the announcement from THR:
“It’s 13 weeks, and we meet for two, two-and-a-half hours online in a Brady Bunch-style box of windows. I teach it in such a way that it’s all superhero writing for DC. I try and make each week a lesson about a particular technique,” he explains. “My job is not to teach you how to write by formula for DC. It’s for you to come in and write the stuff you’re passionate about in your own way. I don’t care if that’s funny political, light-hearted, dark, whatever. Your job is to come in and have something to say. My job is to help you fit it into the rubric of superhero calculus and to help you maximize that story: look at where you should beef things up, slow it down, be aware of pacing. You need to come here and have something to say.”
Scott’s always been a huge influence on me and a too-kind supporter of my work, going back to giving me my first ever pull quote from a comics pro for Footprints (thanks again, Scott), so I’m overwhelmingly thrilled to be spending 13 weeks learning from him and talking story—DC stories, at that.
Equally exciting is who I’ll be learning alongside, writers whose work I’ve been following and already respect a great deal. Again from THR:
Heat Vision can exclusively reveal that the writers participating in this year’s Writers Workshop program are Magdalene Visaggio (Kim & Kim, Quantum Teens Are Go), Sanya Anwar (1001), Joey Esposito (Pawn Shop, Captain Ultimate), Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Last Sons of America, Warlords of Appalachia), Robert Jeffrey (Route 3, Radio Free Amerika), and Ryan Cady (Big Moose).
Damn good company, indeed. I’m so excited to see what we can come up with for the DCU, and to really challenge myself to put my life-long love (obsession?) of these characters to good use.