Few DC writers have wreaked as much havoc across the DC multiverse as Tom Taylor…and he’s just getting started. The co-creator of imaginative out-of-continuity megahits like Injustice: Gods Among Us and DCeased is back this summer with the second volume of his high fantasy DC reimagining, Dark Knights of Steel II. But as if that’s not massive enough, Taylor will follow his return to the realm of swords and sorcery with his first Vertigo title, the undead dino thriller Necretaceous.

Look, we’re as excited to return to the Kingdom of El and see some zombie T-Rexes as you are, so we sat down with Taylor to discuss both of these highly anticipated new titles.

How many different Earths are you now responsible for laying waste to?

Well, we got Dark Knights of Steel and Injustice and DCeased and Earth 2. I can't remember what else… I like building the world and then—R.I.P. Earth 2!

For readers who have read the first Dark Knights of Steel, how does Dark Knights of Steel II advance the saga?

Dark Knights of Steel is kind of my everything. I'm a massive fantasy fan and a massive comics fan, so mashing my two loves together is just pure happiness. Dark Knights of Steel II is expanding what we've already done on Dark Knights of Steel. If you read the first one, we left someone there—who was right at the heart of all of it—who was set to betray them. That kicks off in the first issue of Dark Knights of Steel II and expands the universe.

We're going to meet Aquaman, we're going to meet Black Manta and experience the war on the sea, as well as the war on the land. We're going to see the Blüdhaven Isles, where the king is Carmine Falcone, and meet his young, mad prince son Victor, who cuts himself every time he kills somebody or—spoilers—when he kills a puppy in the first issue.

Yeah, I killed Ace again. Trigger warning. I said I'd never do it. I did it. Sorry. If you check doesthedogdie.com, yes, the dog dies. [laughs]

Supergirl is, for those who don't know, actually the sister of Kal-El in our world. She’s also the half-sister of Bruce Wayne. We only find that out at the end of the first issue of Dark Knights of Steel. And she, Zala, is in a relationship with Wonder Woman, the princess of Amazonia. She is an incredible fighter, incredibly passionate. There's a lot of Kara in her, that heart and that ferocity and that feeling of responsibility and that love for everybody. She is a very big part of Dark Knights of Steel II.

Wonder Woman is now queen of Amazonia, and we open with Supergirl as the first outsider who’s welcomed to become an Amazon. So, she's going through a ceremony with General Philippus and Diana, and Lois Lane is their advisor and everybody is there, including all of our new league that we formed in Dark Knights of Steel. What happens next? You'll just have to read it.

How do you strike the book’s balance between the outrageous and the heartfelt?

Cool ideas don't mean anything. You can have the coolest idea in the world, but it's all about character. We don't care if a planet dies unless we care about the people who live on the planet.

It always comes down to character. It always comes down to, “What does someone want? What would they do to get it? What’s stopping them from getting it?” The standard story questions. And then “What if they've got a younger brother or they've got a child that relies on them? Or a dying mother?” I like tearing people's hearts up, both on the page and the readers who are reading it.

You also have an upcoming Vertigo horror title: Necretaceous. What can you tell us about it?

It’s a creator-owned book with Darick Robertson, one of the best veteran Vertigo creators. I mean, we are talking about the artist of Transmetropolitan. We are talking about Vertigo royalty. So, it is me as the co-creator of DCeased and Darick Robertson, who’s also the co-creator of The Boys, coming together for a book that is all of those things.

It is a zombie apocalypse in our lifetime. Basically, it's the end of all life, and a group of people decide the only escape is in a really badly made time machine that has been underfunded by a billionaire cutting costs. They think they're going to go back to the 1980s and they accidentally go back to 66,000,000 B.C., where they are attacked and a raptor picks one of them up in its jaws and the guy turns around and bites it back because he's infected. We infect the entire Cretaceous period. It's about them dealing with that.

I actually wrote it fifteen years ago and it's amazing to finally do it. I think I just needed Darick. I just need Darick Robertson to go, “Yes, I can draw the hell out of this.”

More than anything, it's just very base-level. “Dinosaurs are cool, but what could make them cooler? If they were zombies.” This is not high art. This is exactly what it sounds like. But the characters we put back in time and the choices they have to make and the quest they have to go on and the way it tears the party apart, that's where all the heart comes from. That's when the absolutely ludicrous idea becomes something else.
 

Dark Knights of Steel II #1 by Tom Taylor, Otto Schmidt and Arif Prianto is now available in print and as a digital comic book.