How fans convinced Wonder Woman writer Tom King to break his #1 rule for the DC series

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Wonder Woman is one of the pillars of DC's comic book line, and has stood up and stood out for its focus on the Amazonian warrior in her solo adventures. For its newest writer Tom King, his number one plan was to focus centrally on Diana and not turn it into an ensemble book like some books are prone to do... including his own run on DC's Batman.

But then, the fans spoke up. And Tom listened. And the Wonder Girls are back.

"My first instinct was not to use the Wonder Girls at all," King tells Popverse's Sam Stone. "I wanted this very much to be Wonder Woman’s book."

King points specfically to his Batman run (which had a big cast) then returning to the character subsequently but keeping it primarily solo book, saying he didn't want to make the "mistake" of having a Wonder-Family, as it were.

"This is going to be Wonder Woman-focused because, in a lot of books, she ends up not being the protagonist in her own book. It ends up being about her love interest or the villain," says King. "With this, every single issue of this book is about why Wonder Woman is awesome and I never want to distract from that."

And it is, but along the way fans wanted more.

"What happened was, when I started writing the book, the fans were coming at me, not in a mean way, but in the kindest, nicest way, saying 'We want to see the Wonder Girls! We want to see her family, and especially the three Wonder Girls!'" King tells Popverse. "I love a good argument, but I like to think I can be convinced of things. I was convinced and I was like 'I know this was Rule #1 in my bible, but I’m throwing it out.'"

After talking this through with his Wonder Woman editor Brittany Holzherr, King decided to bring in the Wonder Girls and has never regretted the decision.

"We brought them into the book and it’s been incredibly rewarding. The three of them are incredibly fun to write and they give a new perspective on Diana and who she is, each of them in a specific way," says the writer. "Donna is sort of the loyal sister, Cassie is the fangirl made good, and Yara is a cynical, tough warrior. I feel like you’re seeing different sides of Diana reflected back at her, which I love."

Look for our full interview with Tom King on Wonder Woman later this month.

The first volume of King and Sampere's run is being collected in Wonder Woman Vol. 1: Outlaw, due out July 2. Issues #1 through #8 are available now, with Wonder Woman #9 due out May 21.

Read up on the best Wonder Woman comics of all time.