Vaughan, Johns talk to Onion AV Club

Mr. Vaughan?

AVC: How difficult was the pitch for Y: The Last Man?

BKV: It was sort of hard, because I'd just tanked the Swamp Thing franchise for Vertigo.

AVC: Did it get cancelled after your run?

BKV: It got cancelled during my run. I sort of ran it into the ground. You know, I was in my early 20s when I got that gig, but to Vertigo's credit, Karen Berger, the editor-in-chief, and Heidi MacDonald, who was the editor, they were really nice and said, "We really like your voice, but it seems like you'd be better suited for your own creation rather than trying to write existing characters." So after that, it wasn't too hard, even though the high concept sounds so dumb, you know, the last man and women riding motorcycles, and monkeys... It just sounds ridiculous. But I wrote such a detailed bible to convince them that it was going to be a thoughtful story about gender and not just a bad Cinemax late-night movie that they were really pretty supportive from day one.

Ok, you're up, Mr. Johns.

AVC: So where the first Crisis was kind of about hitting the reboot button and starting over...

GJ: This is kind of the rebirth.

AVC: So it's kind of a continuation of what you have done with Hawkman and some of the other characters, where you've modernized them while restoring them to their classic status.

GJ: Yeah, that's what we're trying to do, because there's a lot of new stuff coming out of Crisis, and it's sort of the bridge to get us there. But we're definitely trying to make it new but still iconic, if that makes sense. We don't want Dr. Fate to have a gold knife, but Dr. Fate will get completely overhauled during Crisis.

AVC: The ostensible reason behind the first Crisis was that the universe was a mess and it needed to be put back into order. What's spurring this one?

GJ: We can look at the universe as in a spiritual and emotional mess, and because the heroes are going to be at such odds, and so fractured, and relationships are all over the place—it's almost like the mess is internal and reflecting on the external. It's a little more about the characters than I think the first Crisis was.

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