Diana of Themyscira is one of the most recognizable superheroes the world over. Through eight decades of comics, movies, TV and animation, Wonder Woman has become an icon, standing as one of DC’s most beloved superheroes as well as a source of inspiration for people worldwide. So, when it comes to reimagining her for a modern audience, where do you even start?

As thousands of readers will enthusiastically tell you, you start by hiring Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman. Fresh off its Eisner win for Best New Series, Absolute Wonder Woman’s first trade collection lands in stores today, offering new readers a chance to discover Thompson and Sherman’s adrenalized take on the Amazon warrior, which envisions the sword-wielding, Circe-raised Wonder Woman as the world’s very last Amazon. Collecting the first seven issues of the series, Absolute Wonder Woman Vol. 1: The Last Amazon introduces readers to this new Diana, illustrating the shocking lengths she’s willing to go to in order to save both a stranded Steve Trevor from an eternity in Hell and the world from a powerful cosmic nightmare.

With the series reaching this new milestone, we thought it was a great time to check in with Sherman on how the whole project got started, what their award-winning collaboration with Thompson is like and how Diana wound up with that instantly iconic new sword.

When did you first get involved with Absolute Wonder Woman?

Scott [Snyder] and I were finishing up the series Dark Spaces: Dungeon. We knew we both wanted to stay in each other’s orbit, after working on two books together. Somewhere along the line, he ambiguously mentioned Wonder Woman to me as a potential future thing.

After that, it was a slow burn of learning about the project. It wasn’t until NYCC 2023 that I started speaking with DC editorial about their broader plan. So, it was maybe a whole year of talking with Scott, to being told they’d like me to work with Kelly Thompson on the book.

When it comes to imprints like the Absolute line, there’s always a question surrounding how far creators can push the envelope. With Wonder Woman, there’s the desire for her to look new and exciting, but still be recognizable as Wonder Woman. Does that require a certain amount of restraint? How is that balance achieved?

You want to push everything you can push so longtime fans can enter new territories and new fans engage with something that really is new, and not something where they need to contend with a long history. We want to keep those iconic elements—such as having the “W” crest prominent. We don’t have the silver wristbands or gauntlets, but we get little hints and tidbits that are telltale signs of Diana that feel classic. And in terms of pushing everything else, I’m happy with the ground we’ve found there. I’m happy it’s clicked with people too.

How much of Diana’s design was your creation, and how much of it was from Scott Snyder or Kelly Thompson? Did anyone insist on elements that were “must haves”?

There wasn’t anything that was a “must have.” In order to find the design that we ultimately went with, I created a shotgun blast of designs in all sorts of directions and talked with Kelly about what worked and didn’t work. More importantly, what were the qualities that unexpectedly did work that we hadn’t planned on. It was a lot of planning like that, and I’m glad that’s the process we went with.

Where did the giant sword come from?

Initially, Kelly really wanted an axe. But then [Absolute] Batman had an axe, so I thought that if we gave Wonder Woman an axe, then Superman would be given an axe and so forth. (laughs)

But it was really seeing Batman with an axe that made Kelly turn Diana’s weapon into a sword. If Wonder Woman is going to be going up against very large threats, then she needs a big weapon. We really pushed that in issue #4.

There’s an interesting balance of monsters in Absolute Wonder Woman. Some are terrifying and disturbing, but there are also some like her skeletal Pegasus and the small monsters she grows up with in Hell that can be weirdly endearing. How do you find that balance between threatening and cute?

In the beginning, Kelly was saying she wanted the book to be like a twisted version of Snow White. I took that to heart, so as much as possible, whenever I had an opportunity to fill the background in with little weirdoes, gremlins and one-eyed monsters or whatever, I did that as much as I could. We’re going for demented fairy tales with the series.

To my eye, the art in the series at times feels like it’s recalling early 20^th century cartoonists like Windsor McKay. Who are your artistic influences, and did they play a role in your designs for Absolute Wonder Woman?

I do try to vary my approaches from character to character. For this book, my overall influences tend to be ’70s and ’80s European comic art. Artists like Moebius are undeniable in making their way into my work. But more specifically, Phillipe Druillet is a huge influence for me. His paneling is able to create these immaculate pages which form the narrative from beginning to end, and also its beautiful imagery as well.

How would you describe your working relationship with Kelly Thompson? Does she keep you in the loop to where the story is headed?

I don’t know exactly where everything is going, as I like to keep myself a little at a distance. I know the broad strokes of where the story is headed over the next couple of arcs. But for the specifics, I find it very helpful to be surprised by the issue just before drawing it. Hopefully I convey that element of surprise to the readers.

But Kelly’s just the best. I met her through this book and our first interactions were designing Wonder Woman. We both felt the stakes of it and what we were doing. Over the course of making that first issue, we came to really understand each other. She’s always telling me, “I think you’d really get a kick out of this.” And she’s right! She always 10/10 knows exactly what I’m into. It’s fun for me in learning what she’s into and trying to make artwork that excites her as well. We’re having a good time surprising each other.

As an artist tasked to think about it, is Hell all that bad? Do you think it’d be a terrible place to find yourself?

If Steve Trevor washed up there totally alone, it’d be horribly miserable. And if he had to spend all of eternity there, even with wonderful company like Diana—eternity is a LOT of time! Who knows what that would look like the further you’d get in your stay?

Thankfully, though, through Diana’s presence, it becomes a more endearing place. And if Diana can make Hell feel at all friendly, that speaks a lot to her character.

Donovan Morgan Grant contributed to this interview.

Absolute Wonder Woman Vol. 1: The Last Amazon by Kelly Thompsen, Hayden Sherman and Jordie Bellaire is now available in bookstores, comic shops, libraries and digital retailers. The series can also be read on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE.