WATCH ECCC: Wonder Twins comics team activate!

It's been a long time since we've heard the words "Wonder Twin powers, activate!" DC Comics is giving the Super Friends' sidekicks, Zan and Jayna, a new lease on life in a Wonder Twins ongoing series. The creative team behind that comic, Mark Russell and artist Steven Byrne, stopped by the Live Stage on the final day of ECCC to tell us how they made the Wonder Twins relevant for perhaps the first time ever.

"They are two people from another world who are brought to this planet and see its dysfunction firsthand, and then are somehow expected to fix it," explained Russell. "Which I think is the perfect metaphor for the post-millennial generation. We're handing off a planet that's on the verge of ecological collapse and unprecedented inequality and social problems. It's like, 'Here kids, have fun!' I think that's kind of the position that the Wonder Twins are in."

When it came time to update the look of Zan and Jayna, Byrne found that he couldn't stray too far away from their initial designs without losing their inherent dorkiness.

"Character design wise, I sort of split the difference between what was going on [in] the style of the Super Friends cartoons in the '70s and what you would expect from a modern DC comic," said Byrne. "With the Wonder Twins ... they're still wearing their purple jumpsuits, but they have just a little bit more of the modern cool factor to the designs ... In some of [the rejected designs] they had leather jackets and stuff, and it was all a bit too cool. I think for the Wonder Twins, you want to make sure that they maintain that sort of 'We're slightly outsiders, we're slightly dorky' vibe."

Russell and Byrne also dropped a few tidbits about the next DC guest star in the book, but you'll have to watch the whole video for more Wonder Twin powers!