Legendary writer Kelly Sue DeConnick has become the latest Marvel Comics mainstay to be recruited by DC Comics to work on a monthly series, as she will begin writing Aquaman. Following Brian Michael Bendis’ takeover of the Superman line and G. Willow Wilson being signed to write Wonder Woman, DeConnick is poised to start writing the monthly Aquaman series, as the King of the Seven Seas’ solo movie hits the silver screen later this year.
One of the most prolific comic writers in the industry today, DeConnick first found mainstream fame as the writer behind a popular revamp of Carol Danvers, aka. Captain Marvel. Having grown up on a series of United States Air Force bases, DeConnick proved a natural for capturing the voice of Carol Danvers, who also came from a military family and served as a Major in the USAF before becoming a superhero. DeConnick is also famous as a translator of manga, having worked on the English versions of Black Cat and Fruits Basket. She has also won fame and courted controversy with her satirical science-fiction series Bitch Planet.
DeConnick pitched her idea for an Aquaman series directly to Geoff Johns (at the time CCO of DC Entertainment) and Dan Abnett, the current writer on the monthly Aquaman book. DeConnick will be joined by artist Robson Rocha. Her first arc will apparently involve both the mythical sea gods of various world cultures and Arthur Curry confronting his feelings of abandonment regarding his mother, the former Queen of Atlantis.
While DeConnick has not been signed to an exclusive contract, this is still quite the coup for DC Comics. The recruitment of a writer of DeConnick’s status signals a significant shift in the power struggle between the two long-time rivals. DeConnick has an incredibly loyal fan base that will follow her anywhere and a mythological exploration of the ocean cultures of the DC Comics world seems a natural follow-up to the recent events in Abnett’s run that were more politically focused.
