What Could Have Been: Gail Simone Describes Wonder Woman/Xena Crossover, She-Hulk in the DCU

Jill Pantozzi | January 21st, 2016

You never know what you’re going to get following Gail Simone on Twitter. Some days it’s sad, sad gold. Find out about the amazing crossovers that could have been.

“True fact: there is an actual, finished, listened Wonder Woman/Xena crossover comic that never saw print,” Simone tweeted yesterday, nearly breaking my mind. “Yep. Wonder Woman/Xena, written, drawn, approved….but never printed.”

Simone went on to explain it was “the DC Wonder Woman and the official version of Xena. Drawn well, too.”

I have read it, it’s great fun. It was written by the great @BeauSmithRanch.

— GAIL SIMONE (@GailSimone) January 21, 2016

Smith replied tweeting, “maybe it will see the light of day….some fine day. Thank you, Gail.” So maybe there’s some hope. But wait, there’s more.

Shall I tell you another thing to break your heart?

— GAIL SIMONE (@GailSimone) January 21, 2016

Oh no.

In a series of tweets Simone wrote:

Heartbreak number two. Remember when there was a huge @dccomics and @marvel crossover, with all the mash-up Almagam titles? Okay, so DC and Marvel was a huge success, and both companies felt it was something they should extend somehow. According to top people at the time, they came up with a plan. The idea was, after the crossover, one DC character would be stuck in the Marvel Universe for one year. And vice versa. There was a ton of debate which characters it should be. It couldn’t be a major star, or anyone with a current book. The idea was, DC fans would try a Marvel book that the DC castaway appeared in, and vice versa. And it was felt that the two characters should each ‘feel’ like their respective universe…they would know they didn’t belong. So out of all possible candidates..two were chosen. And they were… Hawkman and She-Hulk. Sadly, some of the coolest stuff gets kiboshed by the legal departments. Hawkman as an Avenger? Shulkie in Birds of Prey? I think another big DC/marvel crossover is sadly unlikely. The culture has changed. But damn, it would be fun.

Same, Jen. Same.

But as to not depress you completely, there is some excellent news to report. Dynamite is going to be publishing a brand new Xena comic! Genevieve Valentine is writing with Ariel Medel providing the art. Here’s the first cover by Jenny Frison.

io9 wrote of the series:

Ex-Catwoman writer (and frequent io9 contributor) Genevieve Valentine will be penning the series, with artwork provided by Ariel Medel. The series will follow Xena and Gabrielle 25 years after the events of the show’s “Twilight of the Gods” arc, with both heroes returning to the world after a long absence only to discover that the Roman Empire is rising in power. Caesar is preparing to march across the land in a bid to expand the Empire.

io9 also has a few black and white interior pages and a second cover if you want to check that out. [UPDATE: Valentine has told me (and confirmed on twitter) the comic has a release date of April 13th so make sure you ask your comic shops to pre-order!]

So excited to be writing this story (at an amazing point in TV-series canon) & can’t WAIT to share more detail, because I’m a giant nerd.

— Genevieve Valentine (@GLValentine) January 20, 2016

And let’s not forget that real world crossover we got that one time.

Lucy Lawless (Xena) & Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman) ♥ pic.twitter.com/4Ldbo7QHdF

— Kratos Crente (@KratosCrente) October 29, 2015