Several days ago, DC Comics writer Brian Michael Bendis made a surprise appearance during DC’s Meet the Publishers panel at New York Comic Con. While there, he announced Wonder Comics — a new young adult imprint under the DC umbrella.
Bendis revealed that several new and returning characters would be coming to Wonder Comics. Superboy (Connor Kent), Impulse (Bart Allen), and Robin (Tim Drake) will be returning as the core of a brand new revamped Young Justice team. The Wonder Twins and Dial H for Hero will also be getting their own books.
Perhaps most notably though was the announcement of Naomi, a brand-new character created by Bendis and David Walker (Cyborg), with art by Jamal Campbell (Justice League of America: Vixen).
“This is an opportunity for me to dig into themes I was already exploring with Miles Morales,” Bendis said of Naomi. “The first love, first break up, first wins, the moments in a young person’s life when you’re most emotional and those are the most powerful. All the big firsts.”
Yesterday during the Bendis spotlight panel, the eponymous guest went further into Naomi’s origin and what fans should expect from her.
“Naomi lives in Pacific northwest and she’s the only brown skinned girl in a very white town,” said Bendis. “Superman and Mongul bounce into town and it gets Naomi on a track to kind of look at her adoption, and by doing so she uncovers a secret in the DC Universe that nobody knows about. By the end of her story, we’ll be introduced to something brand new in the DC Universe that no one has ever seen.”
“It’s big. You’ll find out in six months,” Bendis added with a laugh, after the audience pressed him for details on what Naomi discovers.
Co-creator David Walker was also present and shared where he found inspiration for Naomi and how the idea came to fruition between him and Bendis. “Brian and I have been friends for years; we teach together and we argue about movies. Because we teach together, we talk a lot about our theories on comic storytelling and what characters can do. Especially character development and what it can do.”
“As you all know Brian was very sick not that long ago and I visited him in the hospital. We’re together and I’m sitting at his bed and he’s doped up and Brian’s saying ‘Man we’re going to do a book together’ and I’m all ‘Sure man, whatever,’ just trying to keep my sick best friend happy. Three months later he calls me up and says ‘The book got green lit!’ and I’m all ‘What book?!'” shared Walker.
“Naomi is about character development and stories I experienced growing up as a person of color in a predominantly white town. I was very poor growing up, and the white people in my town were very wealthy. My family literally cleaned the houses of the wealthy. I didn’t think my doped-up friend was writing this all down.” said Walker.
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