Over the past 20 years, comic writer Dan Slot has had a very prolific career with Marvel, most notably the prominent run that has written the publisher’s mark character Spider-Man. He’s no longer exclusive to Marvel, so Slot returned to DC Comics earlier this year, writing an iconic superhero dressed in yet another major colour outfit, and unveiling a brand new Superman Unlimited ongoing series. At San Diego Comic-Con, I had the opportunity to sit with the slot and discuss everything, including his thoughts on the new film, the introduction of a new superpower for The Man of Steel, and potential new projects on the horizon in DC.
Taimur DAR: What’s the first thing you have to ask about your thoughts and opinions about James Gunn’s new Superman film?
Dan Slot: My idea is that I’ve never seen a superhero movie that felt like a modern superhero comic. I went to the store and felt like I got a 5th arc of this great modern comic. You can see all these other films and feel “like a superhero movie.” This made me feel like I’m in a superhero comic. The DC Universe was authentic, I was in it and it was really neat. It was already a world that was moving alongside Green Lantern, Mr. Amazing, Hawk Girl, Metamorpho and Superman, who had been around for several years. Whenever you tell someone about a book you’ve entered into a manga, it’s never an action comic #1 or an amazing fantasy #15. They pick something out of the rack and enter the universe of that superhero. And they had to find everything they could about it. That was this movie. It was very well done.
Taimur Dar: Obviously there were so many breakout characters in the film.
Dan Slot: Mr. Amazing! The answer to your question, whatever it is, Mr. He should have his own films and TV shows and cartoons after that movie.
Taimur Dar: Very true! But I’m also adding Krypto to the Superdog, which was featured prominently in the latest issue of Superman Unlimited. I always thought you were a cat person because I believe you’ve seen posting about your pet cat over the years.
Dan Slot: In my heart I want to have a dog, but I live in a small Manhattan apartment and I think my dog needs a room. I’m a dog like everyone else. I love wandering around with my parents so I can play with their dogs.
Taimur Dar: In that case, did you write crypto based on your parents’ dog?
Dan Slot: Based on a trailer! (lol). I hadn’t seen the movie. I had no prior knowledge of the script. Like other comic book fans, I analyzed all the trailers and tried to find everything James Gunn could before taking over Superman Unlimited. I really wanted the book to have the same vibe as the film. I wanted people to come out of the film and go, “I want to pick up a Superman comic that feels like this,” and let Superman do it for them without limit.
Taimur Dar: Superman Unlimited is now available, so you can formally discuss the new Golden Form Power introduced. So, the obvious question is, what was the inspiration for this gold form?
Dan Slot: Editor Paul Kaminsky. He has all the superpower action figures and has a Gold Superman. He said, “This should be in the book. There should be a Gold Superman.” “What does that mean?” We were filming ideas around. I was hoping there would be a big hook at the end of the first problem. I wanted to first become an evergreen who tells the whole history of Superman, so if you’re a new reader, you can dive in and now you’re the latest. But I wanted to have a hook for you to get into No. 2, but I didn’t want anything horrible to happen to Superman. So if you’ve only read the problem alone for years, you say, “Oh, he’s made money.”
Taimur Dar: Obviously, you’ve been with Marvel for over 20 years. As a fan, it’s hard enough to keep up with the comics, so as a professional comic writer, I can imagine it even more difficult, especially with the constant change in continuity with DC. Have you had any challenges that you would return to playing with DC Universe Sandbox?
Dan Slot: It wasn’t that hard. No matter what manga you work on or follow any company, there will be a specific author. I caught up with Tom Taylor’s book and Scott Snyder and Tom King. I jumped in comfortably. When we go to DC for their summit, it’s really homecoming. There are Al Ewing, Jason Aaron, Matt Fraction and Mark Waid. Everywhere I look around there are incredible people. Am I in the right room? what happened? (G.) Willow (Wilson) and Kelly Thompson are there. Does it really feel like I’m going home, I didn’t leave.
Taimur Dar: We’ve talked before about how amazing the various animated DC shows of the 90s are, and how you worked on Tie-in comics.
Dan Slot: The Adventure Space. I love it. My first superhero job in DC was working on Batman Adventure and Justice League Adventure. Even the Superman adventures. These comics are timeless and hold out. You put the gun on my head I’ll tell you that Batman movie is a toss-up for me. That’s not what you expect. It’s Batman: Phantasm and Batman’s Mask: Return of the Joker. I love DCAU.
Taimur Dar: I’ve been re-watching the Superman: Animated series. One of the highlights of that series was the fantastic reinvention of Toyman, which clearly influenced the new versions featured in Superman Unlimited. Superman: Rather than copying the TAS completely, it actually adds a new twist.
Dan Slot: He’s a literal toy now. He was the invention of Winslow Shot. But he made him cheer up and gave him consciousness. He’s somewhere between Pinocchio and characters like Vision in AI Artificial Intelligence and Haley Joel Osment’s character. He is a new AI character and we are in the whole world of AI. I’ll see him again. Is he really a good person? He is helping out the Cardero, but he brings more power and energy to the world where he doesn’t have it. We deal with many ethically grey guys with Superman unlimited.
Taimur Dar: Speaking of New Villains, you also introduced President Castillo, the ruler of the Cardello, known by the nickname Kryptonite King.
Dan Slot: The Kryptonite King is a rethink of the Kryptonite man. We’re giving him an upgrade. He is now the king of Cryptonites and we are beginning early in his story. There was a Cryptonite guy in the past. Now you have the Cryptonite King. Before you eat Toyman. Now you have “Toyman.” (lol). You can get these new pranks. I’m almost dying to see what we’re doing with pranks.
Taimur Dar: Planckster is undoubtedly one of the villains of early Deep Cut Superman. This is a supervillain shtick that doesn’t look very similar to other iconic DC Buds like The Trickster and The Joker. Can you tease him how you separate him from the other villains?
Dan Slot: I haven’t turned the cards over. You’ll have to wait and see! With Joker, he’s completely crazy. They’re laughing because he’s the guy who changes all the fish, and he demands you give him a patent. And because it’s not the patent mechanism, he terrifies the man. You see that plan and it’s a crazy plan. That’s not how pranks work. This is something unique in the DC Universe. Does it come with humor? Yeah. Does it involve fatal humor? That’s very true. You’ll just have to wait and watch.
Taimur Dar: You are a master at playing long games with your story as fans know. In the first issue of Superman Unlimited, we planted many story seeds, especially using the Inertron element.
Dan Slot: Inertron is an element of the legion of the superhero era. It was coated with kryptonite metstones that prevented Justice League satellites from scanning it. But it also prevented Superman from scanning it. He thought it was a huge chunk of Intertron when it punched it, but it wasn’t a good move. There are other parts of the puzzle. In the past, Lex Luther had a small green sliver of kryptonite. Even close to the distance that spits it out can kill Superman. But here is a superman with a giant meteor from Kryptonite hurts him and it’s annoying. But it’s not as troublesome as its pure kryptonite. So you say, “What is the half-life of the radioactive element of kryptonite? And why does its half-life decrease so much?”
Taimur Dar: Rafael Albuquerque has been announced as an artist for Absolute Green Arrow. Does this mean he’s leaving the book?
Dan Slot: Rafael Albuquerque depicts the story of the “Kryptonite Kingdom,” a matter of #5 and #6.
During your time at Taimur Dar: Marvel, you say you’re comfortable writing up to two ongoing comic titles. Is Superman Unlimited the only project at the moment, or is there anything else?
Dan Slott: There are small things all over, but it really focuses on Superman’s unlimited and moving ahead of schedule. And I’m playing with other things.
Taimur DAR: Finally, do you want to cross the DC Sandbox characters on your bucket list?
Dan Slot: Ton! I spent 20 years away from DCU. Over these 20 years, you get an idea. Then write it down and put it in the file. There are many characters that you’d like to play with. Something really vague appears in Superman Unlimited. DC will not do a series about Multi-Arien Ultra. So when Multi Ariane appeared in Superman Unlimited, I love him so much, it’s a watch that doesn’t ticked. One of our characters is from Gorilla City, so we have to end up going to Gorilla City. Many of the “big monks” hanging out with Superman can always pop in the book. I saw Batman pop a few times. Robin (Damien) will be featured prominently in No. 4. You’ll see more guys. Are there any characters you would like to write about in the mini and the series? absolutely. There’s one character I love with Mike Allred and I. We talked about pitching it probably when he finishes his Wonder Woman project. I think the pitch is very strong, so I told the people at DC Studios, “I think this will be a great TV show.” I pitched them the premise of hooks. I would like to write that cartoon just to show how it works.
Keep an eye out for more coverage from SDCC ’25.
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