Thread by @GailSimone

Okay, I have a short story to tell, it's about how awesome comics fandom is and how amazingly cool all this stuff can be sometimes. Wow. My mind is melting.

Okay, it starts with the Atom.

1/

Several years ago, @dccomics, whom I love, decided to have Grant Morrison, whom I also love, freshen up some DC concepts that had gotten a little rust on them. Grant's a genius, it's a great idea. But he wouldn't be able to write them, they would pick writers to do that. 2/

@DCComics I don't know how I was chosen, or whose idea it was, but Grant was very supportive. I got a call from an editor, asking if I wanted to do the reboot for the Atom, except it would be a new guy in the suit. The only real info they had was that he would be Asian. 3/

@DCComics That sounds a little cold, but that's how it was presented to me, there wasn't any more detail. But even on the phone, ideas started coming at me really fast, from things I'd experienced in Asia and friends I had from there. 4/

@DCComics It was a unique process, one I hadn't been through before. We were each given a couple pages of loose notes from Grant, but they were very loose, like the character's exact background and name and family, those things weren't in his notes. 5/

@DCComics This is where I was a little bit naughty. I want to make it clear, this was a fun idea, we were given lots of freedom, and I had a blast. I asked how closely I had to follow the notes, they said, you don't have to at all. 6/

@DCComics So I didn't, I didn't even read them all the way through. NOT out of arrogance or because I think I'm Grant, but because I had a real idea who this character could be, immediately. I wanted him to be like the brilliant, wonderfully nerdy artist friends I had from there. 7/

@DCComics There were two ideas in Grant's notes that I used, and have always given full credit. 1) That he would have a pothead friend named Panda Potter, and 2) that he would have his first adventure on the shag carpet of the Oval Office (still brilliant, loved that). 8/

@DCComics The rest was straight from me, his name, his background, his friends, all the new bad guys, that was me.
It's a fun book with a lot of weirdness, and I know some people thought we were trying to imitate Grant, but we absolutely weren't. It was just me being, well, twitter me. 9/

@DCComics There WAS an influence, but it was Steve Gerber.

Anyway, I loved that book and was insanely proud of it, it was just so fun to do. I begged for an artist from Asian, hopefully one of my @UdonEnt friends. That would have set the book apart at the time. 10/

@DCComics @UdonEnt Instead we got John Byrne who did a masterful job, but he wanted to do Ray Palmer so it wasn't a great fit and he asked out after two issues, I think.
We didn't really hit the right zone until the great @themikenorton came aboard. He had JUST the sense of fun we needed. 11/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton Some of those issues have some of my favorite sequences I have been a part of in comics. I grew to really love the character of Ryan Choi.

12/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton The proudest thing for me was giving him a mode of transportation that was a little more fun than seeing the Atom ride a leaf all the time. We gave him an alien baton called the bangstick, that had the horsepower of four jet engines. Love that, it was very visual. 13/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton The book surprised DC, it caught on, no one thought an Atom book was going to do well. But it did, and it made news in a lot of Asian countries and communities. We had exchange students come from Japan when my son was in school, and THEY knew Ryan. 14/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton So there was Cassandra Batgirl and Atom, and not that many other Asian leads with their own book at the big two at that time. We had a blast.
Eventually, disagreements with the editor on direction had me quitting the book and it folded a bit after. It happens. 15/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton But a bit later, a truly cool thing happened. I saw a tweet from an actor I'd seen in passing (not because he wasn't awesome but because I don't watch much tv), he was on Supernatural, which to this day I haven't seen much of, sadly. 16/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton His name was Osric Chau or @osricchau, and he had posted that he had just read a bunch of the Ryan Choi Atom and that, for the first time, he had a superhero in a big two comic that felt like him, felt like he could be that character. 17/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton @OsricChau He wasn't talking to me, people pointed it out. I thanked him and vowed to look him and his work up. So I did, and holy crap, he really IS Ryan Choi.
First, he's incredibly handsome and charismatic. He's a martial artist and gymnast. And he LOOKS like I pictured Ryan. 18/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton @OsricChau But more than that, he's sweet and kind. He has an inner glow, and is funny and smart. He just FELT like Ryan to me immediately.

Also, he looks like THIS. :) 19/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton @OsricChau And that was it, I just had it in my mind that if anyone ever, ever asked me who should play Ryan, the answer was always going to be @OsricChau, because it felt so right to my weird brain pan.
20/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton @OsricChau And people did ask, it came up a few times and I would shout OSRIC SHOULD BE RYAN. But it seemed like it would never happen.

I was so convinced he would be great that I put him in Red Sonja (with his permission). 21/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton @OsricChau Weirdly, I was asked to consult on a previous version of the RED SONJA movie, and they had Osric as a very important character, and my notes were all THIS IS A REAL GUY AND HE SHOULD PLAY THIS ROLE. :) 22/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton @OsricChau Anyway, there has never been any other actor in my mind for Ryan. When I have written him since, I am THINKING of Osric. So he was an influence on how Ryan became the Ryan I think of now. Which is already meta, but...23/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton @OsricChau Years later, I was at Emerald City Comic Con, and I had a huge long line and was kind of exhausted, and this gorgeous guy with a beaming smile comes up and he's got Red Sonja for me to sign. It's Osric. 24/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton @OsricChau And he was just as nice as you could hope for. He was there for his own panels and signings but wanted to come and get his Red Sonja appearance signed. He's just the kindest guy with a smile that lights up the shadows. He IS Ryan. 25/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton @OsricChau So I couldn't get that out of my mind.

Anyway, an hour or so ago, I just saw this headline on a news site.

"Supernatural alum Osric Chau joins Arrowverse's 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' as new Atom." 26/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton @OsricChau It's from this article on Entertainment Weekly. ew.com/tv/2019/09/26/…

27/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton @OsricChau Now, I had NO inside knowledge on this, maybe it's a rumor, maybe it's just a cameo, I don't know.

But I can't explain how happy this makes me.

It's one of my favorite characters I've worked on, with the actor I wanted to play him more than ANY other. 28/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton @OsricChau I can't wait. I will be glued to my set.

I hope that eventually, we get to see him really BECOME the Atom. That would make me so ridiculously happy.

Anyway, I had nothing to do with this, I only just found out about it. But it's so damn awesome. 29/

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton @OsricChau That's it, just that sometimes, cool things happen and the world gets it exactly right.

OSRIC! YOU WERE ALWAYS RYAN AND NOW EVERYONE WILL KNOW IT!

Break a leg and shrink a bug, I say!

❤️❤️❤️ And thank you, CW!

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton @OsricChau PS. I believe it's for the big CRISIS crossover of the CW shows, can't believe I forgot that information. Sorry!

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton @OsricChau PPS. Also, one of the reasons Ryan lives on is that the people doing the animated and game stuff for DC much prefer him to Ray. Injustice did a PERFECT Ryan, and he's been in lots of cartoons. Thanks, WB!

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton @OsricChau PPPS. Special bonus tweet, here's Ryan kicking Jetpack Hitler in the face!

@DCComics @UdonEnt @themikenorton @OsricChau PPPPS. I forgot the whole point of this thread is this thought that hit me, that a guy can be reading a comic, finding a character he likes, wishing he could be that character...

...AND THEN HE BECOMES THAT CHARACTER.

Dudes, that's the magic of comics, right there! :)