There were few major revelations about the Justice League at this year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego. A lot of the talk centred on the #0 issues and the stories immediately afterwards as many of them are being used a springboards and pivot points for next year’s stories.  The word from multiple panels was that the next issue of Justice League, issue #12, would be massively important and would set the scene for many events happening line-wide during the second year of the New 52.

According to Newsarama Geoff Johns said that, “The first year was about the Justice League and who they are and their conflicts”. That changes in the second year to be about how the team SHOULD be, rather than who they are.

This begins with issue #12 with Aquaman calling the rest of the team out (DC Now! Panel/DC The Source).  Johns said. “One relationship changes in a very big way.” (Newsarama). There is a publicity image from issue #12 shows Aquaman standing over the bodies of Batman and Superman. However, at the Publishers Panel it was revealed the actual cover to issue #12 that hasn’t been released yet. The book will have “repercussions across the universe for the next year” (Publisher’s Panel/DC The Source). This was reiterated by DC’s own blog which recapped that “DiDio says he can’t emphasize enough how important Justice League #12 is to the DC universe going forward.” (The New Wave/DC The Source).

Shazam, the hero formerly known as Captain Marvel, will make his first real appearance in issue #0 and will join the team in the future  (DC Now! Panel/DC The Source). After #0, Tony Daniel will join the book for an arc that reintroduces the Cheetah and seeds the Trinity War in 2013 (JL and GL Panel/DC The Source, Newsarama).

Newsarama said that Jeff Lemire sees JLD as the bridge between the Dark books (Frankenstein, Animal Man, etc) and the mainstream Justice League characters. The bridge between them is Seve Trevor and A.R.G.U.S.

Jeff Lemire only took over Justice League Dark with issue #9 so he’s still assembling his version of the team. Issue #0 featuring a young John Constantine’s first trip to the USA and his romance with Zatanna (JL and GL Panel/DC The Source). CBR also quoted Lemire from the Dark & Edge Panel as saying,

I think I can also reveal Frank is joining Justice League Dark in the Annual…writing Constantine and Frankenstein dialogue is the most fun thing I could do!

Amethyst will also appear, although only for a short time. (Tales from the Dark and Edge Panel/DC TheSource. ) The next big story after that will include characters from the Books of Magic, including Tim Hunter (CBR).

It was stated on the Justice League panel that Nicola Scott designed many of the Earth 2 costumes. Later on Twitter, James Robinson clarified that this meant the costumes for Earth 2′s Trinity. Jim Lee did the E2 Flash, Joe Prado did the E2 Green Lantern, and the ever swift Brett Breedings the E2 Hawkgirl, Grundy, and Atom (@JamesDRobinson Tweets 1 and 2).

Issue #0 will be a story featuring Earth 2′s Trinity (JL and GL Panel/DC The Source). There were eight original heroes who faced the Apokolips War. The fourth hero, or “wonder”, shown on the issue #0 is Terry Sloane who is now become a noble villain (Newsarama).

The next arc pits the heroes against the government (JL and GL Panel/DC The Source). The JSA heroes will represent magic while the government heroes, some with familiar names, will represent science (Outhousers). Sandman (Wesley Dodds) will be a Canadian superhero working for a World Army lefd by a new character called Amir Khan, “Captain Nemo meets Nick Fury” (Newsarama)

JLI is being cancelled with the launch of DC’s third wave titles. However, its final issue, an Annual, serve as a bridge between JL #12 and the JLI, it is important to read JL #12 first. The Annnual is co-written by Dan Didio and Geoff Johns and is the first time that they have written together for a long while.

“It’s really a Booster Gold story,” Johns said (Newsarama), but Blue Beetle will also make an appearance in the JLI Annual (Outhousers).