Comic Books & Graphic Novels (page 2)

JLA Solicitations for December 2011

I’m still playing catch-up so here is the recent solicitations for Justice League titles shipping in December. The New 52 is into its fourth month with Justice League pressing forward with its secret origin and reaching the genesis of Cyborg. Whatever happens Victor Stone is going to have a very bad month. The mystery and threats in JLI and JLD march forward, but its Young Justice which looks the most interesting (to me) with a clash between Batman and Robin and the Demon’s Head Ra’s al Ghul.

Ongoing Series

Justice League (vol. 2) #4

Credits: Writer: Geoff Johns; Penciller: Jim Lee; Cover Penciller: Jim Lee; Inker: Scott Williams; Cover Inker: Scott Williams; Variant Cover Artist: Andy Kubert
Solicitation copy:The superstar team of Geoff Johns and Jim Lee continue the origin of the Justice League as The World’s Greatest Heroes face the might of Apokolips – and find aid in an unlikely hero, as Cyborg is created! Plus, Andy Kubert returns an amazing variant cover – his first new work after the smash-hit FLASHPOINT!
Published:21 December 2011
Length:40-pages
Cost:$3.99/$4.99

Justice League International (vol. 3) #4

Credits: Writer: Dan Jurgens; Penciller: Aaron Lopresti; Inker: Matt Ryan
Solicitation copy:On their first mission, the team has been separated and defeated – or so it seems! But when a new, galactic threat shows its face, will our heroes be able to defeat it or will the whole world suffer destruction on a cosmic scale?
Published:7 December 2011
Length:32-pages
Cost:$2.99

Justice League Dark #4

Credits: Writer: Peter Milligan; Artist: Mikel Janin; Cover Artist: Ryan Sook
Solicitation copy:Madame Xanadu’s plan is working! Zatanna, John Constantine, Shade the Changing Man, Mindwarp and Deadman are all being brought together. But will Xanadu’s manipulations blow up in her face when she learns that Enchantress has grown too powerful to be controlled?
Published:28 December 2011
Length:32-pages
Cost:$2.99

Young Justice (vol. 2) #11

Credits: Writer: Greg Weisman and Kevin Hopps; Artist: Christopher Jones; Cover Artist: Christopher Jones
Solicitation copy:The spotlight turns to Robin, who must leave his teammates to fight alongside his crimefighting mentor, Batman. And the stakes couldn’t be higher for the Dynamic Duo as they face off against the Demon’s Head himself: Ra’s al Ghul!
Published:21 December 2011
Length:32-pages
Cost:$2.99

Justice League Dark trailer

Mikel Janin, the artist on the upcoming Justice League Dark, has posted a trailer to Youtube showcasing the new title:

[via: DC Women Kick Ass]

James Robinson’s next project is… Earth-2 JSA

Newsarama has reported from Fan Expo that the previously rumoured James Robinson and Nicola Scott JSA series is a go:

“Should we tease?” asked O.M.A.C.writer and DC co-publisher DiDio. The rest agreed, and James Robinson confirmed that he is working on a new Justice Society project with artist Nicola Scott, and that the parallel world Earth 2 will make a return. The crowd erupted into thunderous applause.

Robinson’s JLA run drew heavily from the Justice Society for characters like Jesse Quick, Jade, and the entire Starheart mythos. He also wrote a mini-series/graphic novel called the Golden Age which is what really got him noticed, pre-Starman, as a proponent of DC’s Golden Age characters. So this could be a really big deal – a JSA series where James gets to build his JSA from the ground up with no outside interference.

Personally I’m really excited about this, but I’m also buzzing with all those obvious questions that come up – is this a 1940s JSA? A present day JSA? How much of the Geoff Johns JSA remains intact (JJ Thunder, Stargirl, etc)? What about Infinity Inc? Does this regenerate all Roy Thomas’ work? And more importantly – has the JSA been expunged from the New DCU? If they have how does that mean that Opal City and the Starman stories now only exist on Earth-2, does the new Shade series also only exist on Earth-2 (the Shade was original a Golden Age Flash villain). So many, many details – so many fun ways of answering them.

I wonder how may people remember this page from Brad Meltzer’s Justice League of America (vol. 2) #0 (September 2006):

It’s a flash-foward to a hypothetical future event, namely the JLA discovering a parallel Earth and it references the JSA. It was also drawn by new JL artist Jim Lee. I don’t for a moment think they planned this, but it could be a brilliantly lucky guess.

Justice League #1 pre-orders top 200,000

The LA Times Hero Complex has a general and well written piece on the DC Comics relaunch. It focuses, in part, on the need to stimulate a market that has shrunk year-on-year for most of the last five-years. Included in that coverage is the following detail about the pre-orders for Justice League (vol. 2) #1:

In the short run, it seems everyone in the comic-book industry will benefit. DC’s flagship title, “Justice League No. 1,” has pre-orders for more than 200,000 print copies, which would make it the bestselling title of 2011. Six other new DC No. 1’s already have more than 100,000 pre-orders.

To put that in perspective Brad Meltzer’s 2006 Justice League of America (vol. 2) #1 (October 2006) had estimated orders of around 212 thousand and Grant Morrison’s 1996 JLA #1 had estimated orders of around 100 thousand. Back in 1996 the top 2-3 titles were selling in excess of 200K and the top 25 titles were generally over 100K. Current trends are downwards with the last 200K title (the Spider-Man Obama cover) appearing 2-years ago.

Just a couple of days ago Grant Morrison told Rolling Stone that:

There’s always going to be a bit of that [desperation] because comics sales are so low, people are willing to try anything these days. It’s just plummeting. It’s really bad from month to month. May was the first time in a long time that no comic sold over 100,000 copies, so there’s a decline.

That is why the Justice League pre-order is so important. It also doesn’t include digital sales. Those may be low – the conventional wisdom that digital is going the same total business as a single large city centre store – but it is clearly the only avenue where there is room for growth. There is tragically no room for growth in the monthly direct-market – shop are closing, access to the product is becoming harder, and the price point in increasingly unattractive.

[via: The Beat]

Two new Dan Jurgens interviews

Dan Jurgens has been interviewed about next months Justice League International relaunch. Jurgens told Newsarama that humour wasn’t going to be the “overt tone or style of the book”, but that it will still be a component of the series given the characters involved. There will also be tension between Booster, as the team’s leader, and the bureaucrats who have brought them together:

The lineup is constantly subject to change. Because the JLI was assembled by the United Nations, there’s an ongoing struggle between Booster and the UN in terms of who really gets to run and make decisions about the group. It’s not an easy situation for Booster to navigate.

And over at DC’s own blog they’ve been profiling the talent that are taking part in the new 52. They asked Dan what the first comic he collected was and he appropriately answered:

I think the first series I really made a point of collecting, rather than just reading an occasional story here and there, was THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA. I’m not sure, but as a kid, I think I kind of felt that I was getting more for my money with JLA because there so many heroes inside!

Then on the creative side he comments that he was trying to hone his scripts towards penciller Aaron Lopresti’s strengths:

I’ve always felt it’s important for writers to establish some sense of mutual vision with their artists, and that means creating the right kind of scenario that allows them to excel. Aaron is doing incredible working and knocking the ball out of the park on almost every page. Within that context, it’s a matter of building intriguing story and character situations right from the start, as well as building a little bit of fun into the story.

JL Dark character designs

The relaunched iFanboy site has an exclusive look at JLD artist’s Mikel Janin’s character designs for the new series. They show a decidedly younger John Constantine, a goth Zatanna, and a more realistically dressed Enchantress. I can shake the feeling that each of those figures is based on a real person as the shading/tone-work is almost uncanny.

I think this series is one of the most interesting in the entire New 52 and could well be a massive hit if it can find the right balance between the super-heroics of the DCU and the ambience of the Vertigoverse.

JLA Solicitations for November 2011

The solicitations for the third month of DC’s New 52 have been released. The Justice League‘s new origin story continues as they encounter Wonder Woman for the first time. The JLI split into smaller teams (a fine League tradition) and David Finch supplies a very atmospheric JLI cover (a lot better than his JL #1 grumpy variant). The cover of JLDark looks fun – John Constantine and Zatanna (one assumes) on the back of a motorcycle. And in Young Justice Greg Weisman continues to revisit his old Captain Atom stomping round (he co-wrote the Captain’s 1980s adventures).

Ongoing Series

Justice League (vol. 2) #3

Credits: Writer: Geoff Johns; Penciller: Jim Lee; Cover Penciller: Jim Lee; Inker: Scott Williams; Cover Inker: Scott Williams; Colourist: Alex Sinclair, Hi-Fi, and Gabe Eltaeb; Letterer: Patrick Brosseau; Cover Colourist: Alex Sinclair; Variant Cover Penciller: Greg Capullo; Variant Cover Inker: Jonathan Glapion; Variant Cover Colourist: Fco Plascenia; Assistant Editor: Darren Shan; Editor: Brian Cunningham
Solicitation copy:The superstar team of writer Geoff Johns and artist Jim Lee continue to make history as they unleash the amazing Amazon, Wonder Woman, who joins the battle against a bizarre threat! And the not-yet World’s Greatest Heroes need all the help they can get! This issue is also offered as a special combo pack edition, polybagged with a redemption code for a digital download of the issue.
Published:16 November 2011
Length:40 pages
Cost:$3.99

Justice League International (vol. 3) #3

Credits: Writer: Dan Jurgens; Penciller: Aaron Lopresti; Inker: Matt Ryan; Letterer: Travis Lanham; Colourist: Hi-Fi; Cover Penciller: David Finch; Cover Inker: Peter Steigerwald; Editor: Rex Ogle
Solicitation copy:With the appearance of four giant, alien Signalmen, the JLI must split up to investigate the mysterious cavern beneath each one. Will the individual teams be able to handle what hides in the dark? Or will it be too late by the time the next phase comes into play...
Published:2 November 2011
Length:32 pages
Cost:$2.99

Justice League Dark #3

Credits: Writer: Peter Milligan; Artist: Mikel Janin; Colourist: Ulises Arreola; Letterer: Rob Leigh; Cover Artist: Ryan Sook; Editor: Rex Ogle
Solicitation copy:What is Madame Xanadu’s plan? And why is she urging Shade the Changing Man to recruit a killer? One by one, our anti-hero misfits are drawn inexplicably to each other... While John Constantine aids Zatanna in escaping a town destroyed by magic, June Moon seeks help from Deadman. But in the end, will any of it be enough to escape the dark clutches of the insane and powerful Enchantress?
Published:23 November 2011
Length:32 pages
Cost:$2.99

Young Justice (vol. 2) #10

Credits: Writer: Kevin Hopps and Greg Weisman; Penciller: Christopher Jones; Cover Artist: Christopher Jones; Inker: Dan Davis; Colourist: Zac Atkinson; Cover Colourist: Carrie Strachan; Letterer: Dezi Sienty; Assistant Editor: Michael McCalister; Editor: Jim Chadwick
Solicitation copy:Captain Atom’s cold-case assignment is definitely heating up: The true killer has resurfaced to target anyone who might expose the truth about the murder of General Lemar back in 1968 – and that includes each and every member of the Team!
Published:16 November 2011
Length:
Cost:$2.99

What is the additional content in JL #1?

In a retailer’s FAQ update DC released the following information:

Which of The New 52 titles are not $2.99?

Four of The New 52 are 40-page comics at $3.99 with additional pages of content. They are:

JUSTICE LEAGUE – 24 story pages in #1 with 4 design or extra content pages. 22 story pages starting with #2 with 6 design or extra content pages.

ACTION COMICS – 29 story pages in #1. 28 story pages starting with #2

ALL STAR WESTERN – 28 story pages.

MEN OF WAR – 28 story pages.

We’ve know the price point for a few months, but not the story page count. So for Justice League we are paying $3.99 for a 22-page story where as the other $3.99 issues are 28/29 pages. Granted some of us were concerned whether Jim Lee – a brilliant artist, but one with a very involved style – would be able to keep to a monthly schedule (especially when he’s on an oversized book and still has his DC co-publisher day job). This announcement takes some of the weight, and pages, off.

What is filling that extra-space? I do hope it’s new back-story material about the New 52 Universe and not just some photocopied pencils. And more importantly will that extra-material be worth the extra-dollar!? DC know that this title is going to sell insanely well so they are obviously looking to justify the higher price point without killing Jim in the process.

Justice League #1 Variant Covers

Justice League (vol. 2) #1 (combo-pack, preview)

Justice League (vol. 2) #1 (1:25 variant, preview)

Justice League (vol. 2) #1 (1:25 variant pencils, preview)

DC has released the variant covers for Justice League #1. There are two different covers, the normal one by Jim Lee and a variant by David Finch. To confuse matters more each of those covers also appears as two-variants. The Jim Lee version has a blue background on the normal issue and a yellow background on the combo-pack issues (the one containing the voucher for a digital copy). The Finch cover is a 1:25 variant. I really can’t say I’m taken with the Finch cover, they all look so grumpy. I prefer the smiling image from Ivan Reis ‘s NYCC poster.

All of them the covers now show Wonder Woman without any leggings. Putting aside the sexism issue, I just don’t think it looks right. The redesigns had been done to make the League looked more team-like, but they are now making WW look less like the other characters (who all have full-length leggings).

The colouring doesn’t help. The original WW costume had blue-shorts and red-boots. In reality we know that it’s a completely unrealistic outfit, but we are so used to it – because its been there for 70-years – that we don’t usually think about it. This new WW costume with its black-shorts and black-boots is, in my thinking, enough of an alteration to break that 70-year blind-spot and make us realise how odd it actually looks. It also doesn’t help that we’ve had the JMS full-length leggings in place for a year or so. If you’ve read Wonder Woman #613 you’ll have seen both WW costumes side-by-side and neither of them looks wrong. Yet this hybrid version just doesn’t work as well as either the classic or the previous version.

I feel a similar way on Superman’s costume. The segmentation of the suit doesn’t bother me so much as the change in colouring on the belt and trunks. Look again at Superman’s new costume and you’ll see that he’s still wearing trunks as that part of his suit, they are still outlined by a segmentation line. As a defined area of his costume it still exists. That red-belt just clashes against so much blue. Red-and-yellow against blue or red-and-black against blue works because the three colours create a balance, but just red on its own looks garish.

Justice League Dark at SDCC

Neither Peter Milligan (writer) or Mikel Janin (artist) from JL Dark were present at the San Diego Comic-Con panel on DC’s Edge and Dark titles. So there was little or no discussion of the title, but some new coloured interior art was released.

The first piece (above right) was originally released in greytone as part of a previous interview on JLD, but was updated with colour for SDCC. Janin posted the greytone and coloured version on Deviant Art. The second piece (above left) shows the Justice League (Superman, Wonder Woman, and Cyborg) preparing to battle a supernatural force which could be the Enchantress. Janin has also posted this image to his Deviant Art page and the greytone original. He has identified the colourist as Ulises Arreola and that the first piece is actually the first page of the first issue.