Comic Books & Graphic Novels (page 10)

JLA Solicitations for July 2010

DC’s Source has released the a preview of Brightest Day solicitations, including JLA books, for July 2010. The five-part JLA/JSA cross-over continues with parts two and three and the big-interlocking cover by Mark Bagley. The preview solicitation (the preview of the preview?) lists the publication date of Generation Lost #5 and #6 as the same day. This could be a typo. However, its nice to see the Rocket Red Brigade again

Justice League: Generation Lost #5 (28 July, 32pg, $2.99), #6 (28 July, 32pg, $2.99)

Written by Judd Winick and Keith Giffen, art by Joe Bennett (#5) and Fernando Dagnino (#6). Cover by Tony Harris and J.D. Mettler, 1-in-25 variant cover by Kevin Maguire.

DC’s biweekly JUSTICE LEAGUE event continues here! Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Fire, Ice and Blue Beetle track a mysterious villain to Russia only to find themselves face-to-face with an angry Rocket Red Brigade! When one of the Rocket Reds decides to defect and join our heroes, they all soon realize that the Justice League International is once again complete…but why, and for what purpose? The mystery deepens as this BRIGHTEST DAY tie-in continues!

Justice Society of America #41 (21 July, 32pg, $2.99), Justice League of America #47 (28 July, 40pg, $3.99)

Written by James Robinson, art by Mark Bagley and JSA: Norm Rapmund (JSA) / JLA: Rob Hunter and Norm Rapmund. Covers by Mark Bagley and Jesus Merino, JSA #41 has a 1-in-25 “DC 75th Anniversary” variant cover by George Perez

JSA #41: In part 2 of the JLA/JSA crossover, the Starheart has staked its claim on Alan Scott and his kids Jade and Obsidian! Can the combined might of the Justice Society and the Justice League break up the newly reunited family before they unwittingly unleash serious damage on the DC Universe?

JLA #47: The BRIGHTEST DAY continues with Part 3 of the JLA/JSA crossover! Jade is back! But is her return a blessing or a curse? The powerful Starheart empowering Green Lantern Alan Scott is out of control and unleashing its chaotic energy across Earth. What has lured the Starheart here and what familiar threat must the World’s Greatest Heroes and the Justice Society of America team up to stop?

Judd Winick on the return of Maxwell Lord

In all those Generation Lost interviews he did Judd Winick was unable to actually say what the incident was that prompted the Justice League International heroes to reform as a group. Well, Winick has now done yet another interview with Newsarama to talk about what he couldn’t talk about before.

Post-Blackest Night #8 we now know that Maxwell Lord – the former JLI executive and the murderer of Ted Kord – has been resurrected. Lord distinctive telepathic power (which causes the nosebleed) was in evidence in the final pages of BN ’8 when he prevented guy from recognising him (shown above). However, it looks like Guy wasn’t the only person he has targeted.

Nrama: Last time we spoke, you had talked about an “inciting incident” in the first issue. Can you now reveal what that incident is?

Winick: In the first issue, we learn that Max has used his mind control ability to its upmost, to wipe out the memory of his existence from everybody on Earth.

Nrama: So all the heroes in the DCU – Superman and even Wonder Woman – they don’t even know Max existed?

Winick: There was never any Max Lord. Nobody remembers that Max Lord exists or that he ever did – except four members of Justice League International. Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Fire and Ice are the only ones who remember him. And it’s up to them to find out what he’s planning, why he did this, and to try to make it so that the world can remember.

[...]

Nrama: You mentioned that Max is dangerous. What makes him so dangerous?

Winick: It’s a combination of that ability to literally control people combined with the fact that he’s not insane. He has clear plans. He’s not one of those villains who just does evil for evil’s sake. He has a method and he has means and he has experience.

And in this case, he’s figured out a master plan that allows him to hide in plain sight. That’s what Max does more than anyone else. He hides in plain sight. He’s not the masked man stirring around in the shadows. He’s rather bold. He’s very smart. And he knows people. He understands people. That comes from being first a high-powered businessman, then working within the superhero community.

He’s a master manipulator, and now he’s literally manipulated the entire world.

Dave Mack JLA #44 variant cover

Justice League of America #44 will feature a 1:25 variant cover by Kabuki author and artist David Mack. The cover, shown below, features the return of Jade, the daughter of the Golden Age Green Lantern. She had been killed off in during the Infinite Crisis, but was resurrected as one of the Brightest Day twelve in the final issue of Blackest Night.

After the demolition of new team in JLA #43 the team must be desperate for new blood. Jade is set to join the Justice League during the JLA/JSA crossover.

I’ve only just recalled a storyline from Countdown to Final Crisis that involved the Monitors chasing Donna Troy because they believed that she should have died during the Crisis and that some wrinkle of causality had instead caused Jade to die in her place. I don’t know if that’ll be picked up, but it’ll be interesting now their on the same team.

[via: Newsarama]

Cry For Justice creators nominated for Eisner

The nominees for the Eisners, possibly the most prestigious of comic book awards, have just been announced. Love it or hate it, Justice League: Cry For Justice has been included in the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Nominees 2010 under nominations for James Robinson as best writer and Mauro Cascioli as best painter. The full fields (as listed by the Beat) for those awards are:

Best Writer
• Ed Brubaker, Captain America, Daredevil, Marvels Project (Marvel) Criminal, Incognito (Marvel Icon)
• Geoff Johns, Adventure Comics, Blackest Night, The Flash: Rebirth, Superman: Secret Origin (DC)
• James Robinson, Justice League: Cry for Justice (DC)
• Mark Waid, Irredeemable, The Incredibles (BOOM!)
• Bill Willingham, Fables (Vertigo/DC)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)
• Émile Bravo, My mommy is in America and she met Buffalo Bill (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
• Mauro Cascioli, Justice League: Cry for Justice (DC)
• Nicolle Rager Fuller, Charles Darwin on the Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation (Rodale Books)
• Jill Thompson, Beasts of Burden (Dark Horse); Magic Trixie and the Dragon (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
• Carol Tyler, You’ll Never Know: A Good and Decent Man (Fantagraphics)

The Absolute edition of the Justice maxi-series is also nominated for Best Graphic Album—Reprint and Publication Design.

DC Comic reacted by posting short celebrations of the candidates, who they describe thusly,

WRITER:
James Robinson, JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRY FOR JUSTICE. One thing that can be said about James Robinson as a writer? He takes risks. Whether it’s launching a Justice League series starring Congorilla, a blue-skinned Starman and Supergirl or having one of comic’s most-beloved heroes shoot an arrow through Prometheus’ skull, let it never said that Robinson plays it safe. And it’s that daring and innate knowledge of these characters he so clearly loves that earned him the nod.

PAINTER/MULTIMEDIA ARTIST:
Mauro Cascioli, JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRY FOR JUSTICE. Mauro Cascioli made tragedy real. With his realistic, painterly style, Cascioli brought a gritty, three-dimensional sensibility to a book that collected some of the most daring and imaginative characters in the DC Universe. Whether it was a battle of super-powered beings among the clouds or an archer’s aching sense of loss, Cascioli has it covered, and he showed as much in the pages of CRY FOR JUSTICE.

GRAPHIC ALBUM (REPRINT) and PUBLICATION DESIGN
ABSOLUTE JUSTICE. Alex Ross, Jim Krueger and Doug Braithwaite’s all-star story of of heroes and villains got the spruced up Absolute treatment in 2009, and we finally got to see the book’s amazing artwork presented as it should have been — in an expanded and high-end format.

James Robinson acknowledged his nomination on Twitter in defiant style:

To all who congratulated me for the Eisner nom, thank you. To all those vocally pissed that I got one, thank you too. The fact that you care enough about comics to have strong opinions at all is a good thing, ultimately. So bravo to all you Robinson haters, I love you all.

James is a brilliant writer, but its a tough field this year and I don’t personally think that Cry For Justice is either his strongest work or the strongest work on that list. Nevertheless, good luck to him and Mauro. The winners will be announced on Friday, July 23 at Comic-Con International.

Judd Winick on Generation Lost (updated)

Justice League: Generation Lost co-writer Judd Winick has been interviewed by Jeffrey Renaud at Comic Book Resources. The first part of the two-part interview is about Winick’s work on the up-coming Batman: Under The Red Hood DVD-feature, but he does outline the rest of his current projects and mentions Generation Lost.

“Justice League: Generation Lost” is bi-weekly and it’s a very specific story that’s like a map. It’s very much one foot in front of another. It’s very, very episodic. It’s one of the things that I think will be a draw to the book. We’re not doing arcs. Each full issue is a wrap-up storyline. Every issue, you get a full story – beginning, middle and end but it is truly an ongoing. It’s a 26-issue adventure. So that makes one kind of story.

The second part of the interview appears tomorrow and should cover Generation Lost in more detail.

Updated Tuesday 30th March: Meanwhile, over at Newsarama, Judd Winick has an interview about his work on Power Girl as the replacement writer for Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray. He mentioned that Power Girl would tie into Generation Lost via Power Girl’s established connection to Justice League Europe and International.

The inciting incident of Generation Lost is something that will directly affect Power Girl, whereas other titles are not directly affected. She gets hit in the face with it. So she is going to have to deal with it head on.

I finished the first issue, and I can’t talk much about it except there’s going to be a major upheaval in her life. The story will be coming off the events of Justice League: Generation Lost. I wish I could share more, but we’re trying to keep wraps on the Justice League: Generation Lost.

Updated Wednesday 31st March: The second part of Judd Winick’s CRB interview (third if you include the Newsarama piece) focuses on Generation Lost. There isn’t a huge amount he can say about the actual plot, but he does discuss working with Keith Giffen and what it’s like to write comedy.

He also talks about his approach to the individual characters and how he intends to broaden Ice’s character.

For Fire and Ice, they did not interest me in such a grand way before we started. But as we got into it, it was about finding the voices of these characters. Over the years, Fire has been developed and Ice has been underdeveloped. She died. She came back and what not. But who is Ice? Who is Tora? Now Fire and Ice are two of my favorite characters, and I look forward to the direction that we’re taking them.

He also addresses whether Generation Lost will tie into other books beyond Power Girl (as mentioned in the Newsarama piece).

Will events that occur in the bi-weekly be touched on in other series?

Yeah, probably. This won’t be a bi-weekly that sort of threads throughout the DCU. “Brightest Day” involves the Green Lantern books, “Justice League of America” and “Flash,” but as of now, we’re staying here for the most part.

Our inciting incident that happens in “Generation Lost” appears in “Brightest Day.” So for those reading “Brightest Day,” something very major will happen in that title which will be picked up in ours.

JLA #43 Preview

“Team History”, the first proper arc of James Robinson and Mark Bagley’s Justice League, draws to a close with JLA #43. Green Arrow’s actions from Justice League: Cry For Justice were revealed in JLA: Rise and Fall Special, but how will the Justice League react and will Green Arrow even survive his encounter with the dark New Gods on the JLA Watchtower. A full 5-page preview can be found at DC’s Source.

Bagley JLA/JSA covers spotted at Isotope Comics

Kyle Minor, eagle eyed customer of San Francisco’s Isotope Comics, has posted some extra-special photographs to the Comics Geek Speak Forums. It turns out that JLA writer James Robinson is also a customer of Isotope Comics and has shared with them a photocopy Mark Bagley’s interlocking covers to the up-coming JLA/JSA crossover.

Go to the CGS Forums for better, larger pictures.

At the centre of it all of this is a Kingdom Come-like Alan Scott who appears to fighting the JLA and JSA. Eagle-eyed readers may spot Jesse Quick in a Johnny Quick homage costume in the first panel and Jade, Alan Scott’s deceased daughter, in the central panel. Jade’s name was mentioned at a recent convention panel so it looks like she could be heading for a post-Blackest Night resurrection.

The cover to JLA #46 – the first panel – was just released by DC Comics as part of their latest previews solicitation;

[via: Bleeding Cool]

JLA Solicitations for June 2010

It’s seems that the year has barely started – March already?? – and DC is already releasing their preview solicitations for June. The biggest JLA news is the start of a 5-part JLA/JSA crossover which appears to feature on complications with the Starheart – the mystical force that power’s Alan Scott’s unique mystical Green Lantern. We see Jesse Quick on the cover of JLA #46 in the version of her father’s costume she adopted in Flash: Rebirth and used in the James Robinson penned Blackest Night: JSA.

Justice League: Generation Lost #3-4

Written by Keith Giffen and Judd Winick • Issue #3 art by Fernando Dangino • Issue #4 art by Aarom Lopresti • Covers by Tony Harris & J.D. Mettler • 1:25 variant covers by Kevin Maguire

DC’s biweekly Justice League event continues here! The heroes of the once-great Justice League International – Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Fire and Ice – have reteamed in order to stop a threat to all mankind. But will the heroes of the DCU take this group of misfits seriously? And what happens when Blue Beetle – a new hero with an old legacy – joins the team? And whose side is he really on? Be here to find out!

Issue #3 on sale JUNE 9 • Issue #4 on sale JUNE 23 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Justice League of America #46

Written by James Robinson; Art by Mark Bagley and Rob Hunter;  cover by Mark Bagley and Jesus Merino

“Brightest Day” continues with the start of an all-new, 5-part JLA/JSA crossover! The return of one hero heralds the release of the powerful Starheart that empowers Green Lantern Alan Scott. Now this chaotic force is unleashed on Earth, causing magic to go wild – and new metahumans to emerge! It’s more than one super-team can handle, but can even the combined efforts of the Justice League and the Justice Society contain the light and dark power wielded by one of their own? Witness the transformation of the moon and a journey into the Shadow Lands that will corrupt a hero!

Continued in next month’s JSA #41, this epic event features a 5-part connected cover spotlighting both teams in glorious action illustrated by Mark Bagley with inks by Jesus Merino!

On sale JUNE 30 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US

As well as the developing Brightest Day storylines June also sees the release of a brand new Green Arrow series. I wouldn’t normally mention it in these postings of JLA blurbs, but the cover by Cry For Justice’s Mauro Cascioli is absolutely beautiful: