John Romita Jr.: “I Want to be the Most Un-PC Person in All of Comics”
Legendary artist John Romita Jr. is tired of PC comics and he’s doing something about. He’s teamed with Aquaman and Titans writer Dan Abnett to launch one of DC’s brand new titles, The Silencer, which is part of their New Age of DC Heroes.
In an interview with Newsarama, Romita Jr. elaborates on the upcoming title which hits comic book shelves this Wednesday, January 31, 2018.
He describes Abnett initially thought of the character as a “female Punisher.” However, Honor Guest, the Silencer, appears to be much more than a female Punisher.
Romita tells Newsarama:
“We didn’t want to do anything that was clichéd, which is a great attempt normally, but it’s almost impossible to do because, my god, one hundred years of comics, there’s probably going to be some derivative stuff.”
He then goes on to describe the character and how she’s different than other assassins. He describes her as an assassin who has decided to quit. She’s not burnt out or running away. She’s just ready to become a “housewife and mother.”
“The thought is that this woman is strong after what she’s been through, and she becomes a mother and a wife. She’s a bad-ass, but now she wants to concentrate on her family.”
Romita Jr. even believes being a mother and a wife is actually empowering for women.
“I admire that for the idea, because that’s how you empower people — that’s how you empower a female character — is doing the thing that people think is not strong. Well, wait a minute! What’s wrong with being a mother and a wife? What’s wrong with being a father and a husband?”
He then describes her further:
“She’s not a white person. She’s not an African-American. She’s a person of color from the South Pacific, of Polynesian descent. I adore Tahiti — I went there on many vacations — so I threw in the tattoos and I threw in the look. Anything to be different. And I was scrambling to do different stuff, and the editors and Dan liked the idea.”
John Romita Jr. also describes Honor Guest’s family:
“The husband is Hispanic. The child is dark-haired, mixed-race.”
When asked about Honor Guest’s decision to leave her assassin career, Romita explains his reasoning for making Honor Guest a Polynesian.
“We didn’t do the standard fare and fill all the diversity and PC gaps. We just tried to do something slightly different.”
Then Romita lays out how he wants to be viewed in comics.
“As a matter of fact, I want to be the most un-PC person in all of comics. Let’s piss everybody off.”
The Silencer #1 comes to stores on January 31, 2018.
Here’s the official solicitation from DC Comics:
“CODE OF HONOR” part one! She’s one of the DC Universe’s deadliest assassins…and you’ve never heard of her. Super-strong, highly trained, armed with devastating and stealthy meta-human abilities, the Silencer is virtually invincible. Or at least she was. After decades as Leviathan’s chief assassin, Honor Guest put in her time and managed to get out with her skin intact. Now she lives a normal life with a normal family in a normal house on a normal street. But the past has come back to haunt her in the form of her old employer and a deadly new mission…and Talia Al Ghul won’t take no for an answer.
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