SDCC ’24: Mark Waid on his various DC titles, from ‘Absolute Power’ to ‘Justice League Unlimited’

It’s hard to name a character from the DC Universe that Mark Waid hasn’t written and/or excelled at writing. From the bonafide classic that is Kingdom Come to DC’s recent blockbuster event Absolute Power, Waid has crafted stories that are a reminder of how amazing the superhero genre can be. And he’s only getting started, with upcoming titles like Justice League Unlimited and Batman and Robin: Year One. I sat down with Waid on Friday and managed to rein in my fanboy impulses to ask him a few questions about his monumental resume.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

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AIPT: If you could describe Justice League Unlimited in one sentence, what would it be?

Mark Waid: Every superhero you’ve ever wanted to see.

AIPT: The first issue of Absolute Power opens with a scene where Superman is shot and falls to Earth. Was that always in the cards?

That was the first thing I thought of when I came up with the idea, was that scene.

AIPT: You’ve written a lot of characters in the DC Universe. Has there been any characters you’ve written for the first time with your recent work?

That’s a good question. There’s a few characters that I’ve written for the first time like Barda, the new Aquaman…there’s a couple that I’ve not had the chance to touch on. I don’t think I’ve written Amanda Waller before, so there were some firsts but not that many. I’ve had a pretty good chance to write most every DC character at this point.

AIPT: Shifting to Batman/Superman: World’s Finest, #30 will see Batman and Superman’s first meeting with Wonder Woman.

Not first meeting, exactly. First case! First mission. Tom King wrote Wonder Woman Annual #1 which was their first meeting…now’s their chance to do something. There’s been a murder mystery on Paradise Island and the Amazons call in Batman and Superman to solve it.

AIPT: You’re going to be writing Batman and Robin: Year One, which reunites you with Chris Sammee. What’s it like working with artists like Sammee and Dan Mora?

It makes my job so easy. They’re so enthusiastic; for both of them, this is their dream job. Dan lives to draw all the DC characters, and Chris…Batman and Robin: Year One is his dream project. And that enthusiasm is contagious.

AIPT: Going back to World’s Finest, a recent arc had you returning to Kingdom Come. What was it like returning to that world and exploring its beginning stages?

It was a lot of fun because I’ve had that bullet in the chamber for 25 years. I knew the backstory of Magog back in the day and that story was going to be a Kingdom Come spinoff in 1997 that just never came to fruition for one reason or another. And I’m glad it didn’t because I’m a better writer that I was back then. Being able to use that idea in World’s Finest was a blessing.