Comic Books & Graphic Novels (page 5)

Unused JLA Jade cover by Adam Hughes

DC’s recent Icons cover theme showed their characters in dynamic poses against a stark white background. Well it looks like DC over-commissioned and were left with unused artwork. The above image of Jade was posted to the web by Adam Hughes (who is at pains to point out that DC didn’t reject the image and that they are reserving it for something other than the planned Icons cover run).The medium was “Pencil & PITT pen on Strathmore Drawing Paper, then colored in Adobe Photoshop CS2″.

The actual Justice League of America Icons cover showed the entire JLA and was drawn by Mark Bagley. The Starman/Congorilla one-shot Icons cover was drawn by Gene Ha.

JLA Solicitations for July 2011

DC Comics July 2011 Solicitation are now online. It’s a heavy month with Flashpoint ramping-up and the new DC Retro-Active one-shots (announced at Wonder Con) are kicking off. I haven’t included the JLA appearance in Titans. Still no sign of a post Brightest Day follow-up to Generation Lost.

Ongoing Series

JLA continues the Eclipso storyline and Eclipso’s ears get ever more silly (is it my imagination or is Booth pulling a Wally Wood with those things). While Young Justice continues the camp-fire story from the previous issue. This is the last issue written by Art Baltazar and Franco, next issue will be written by Young Justice producer Greg Weisman.

Justice League of America (vol. 2) #59

Justice League of America (vol. 2) #59
  • Credits: Writer: James Robinson; Penciller: Daniel Sampere; Inker: Wayne Faucher; Colourist: Andrew Dalhouse; Cover Colourist: Andrew Dalhouse; Letterer: Rob Leigh; Cover Penciller: Brett Booth; Cover Inker: Norm Rapmund; Variant Cover Artist: David Mack; Editor: Rex Ogle and Eddie Berganza
  • Solicitation copy:Eclipso is triumphant! He has defeated the world’s greatest heroes, destroyed the moon and spit in the face of the greatest forces the universe. But one JLAer still stands. Can she make things right?
  • Published:20 July 2011
  • Length:32 pages
  • Cost:$2.99

Young Justice (vol. 2) #6

Young Justice (vol. 2) #6
  • Credits: Writer: Art Baltazar and Franco; Penciller: Christopher Jones; Inker: Dan Davis and John Stanisci; Colourist: Zac Atkinson; Cover Colourist: Zac Atkinson; Letterer: Dezi Sienty; Cover Artist: Mike Norton; Assistant Editor: Michael McCalister; Editor: Jim Chadwick
  • Solicitation copy:Campfire bonding continues as the members of the team share their background stories as well as their hopes and fears. But when do these team-building exchanges cross over into TMI territory? How about when Superboy tells everyone how he’s thinking of taking out Superman?
  • Published:20 July 2011
  • Length:32 pages
  • Cost:$2.99

DC Retroactive

The first wave of Retroactive, the 1970s issues, are available in July, but for some strange reason they are all out in the same week rather than spread through the month. The solicitation lists TBA against the artists, but The Source has announced that the 1970s artists will be Andy Smith and Gordon Purcell – the released graphic (below) is “style guide art and is not artwork from the actual issue”.

DC Retroactive: Justice League of America – The ’70s #1

DC Retroactive: Justice League of America - The '70s #1 (Preview)
  • Credits: Writer: Cary Bates; Artist: Andy Smith and Gordon Purcell
  • Solicitation copy:Writer Cary Bates reveals the untold story of how super villain Kanjar Ro nearly destroyed life as we know it when he set out to conquer Earth – Earth- Prime, that is. It’s up to the Justice League, Adam Strange and a very special DC legend to save the 1970s! Plus: Following the 26-page lead story is a classic tale originally published in the ’70s, also written by Cary Bates!
  • Published:27 July 2011
  • Length:56 pages
  • Cost:$4.99

Hardcover

Justice League of America: Omega HC

Justice League of America (vol. 2) #49
  • Credits: Writer: James Robinson; Penciller: Mark Bagley and Brett Booth; Inker: Pow Rodrix, Rob Hunter, and Norm Rapmund; Cover Artist: Jim Lee
  • Solicitation copy:The World’s Greatest Super Heroes battle The Crime Syndicate in the streets of Washington, D.C., in these tales from JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #49-53 and STARMAN/CONGORILLA #1. But a new villain bent on his own form of conquest prevents any other heroes from helping save the nation’s capital. It’s up to five members of The Justice League to save the city’s people, with serious repercussions for one Leaguer. In order to help their teammates, Bill and Mikaal must begin an odyssey across the world that will evoke memories of the departed Prometheus.
  • Published:21 September 2011
  • ISBN:1401232434
  • Length:200 pages
  • Cost:$24.99

Judd Winick talking at WonderCon

The above video is a Comics Vine interview with Judd Winick where he discusses the experience of working on Justice League: Generation Lost.

Going in lock-step with Brightest Day was this fun roller-coaster where we did have not time to rethink things, but we did all the time. Quick changes. Lots of moves. Cliffhangers, cliffhangers,cliffhangers!

He goes on to say that, while some things are left open, the book does have a definitive ending. And when commenting on whether he’ll be sticking around with these characters Winick, with a knowing smile, teases “I can’t talk about that, at all”

J.M. DeMatteis says “Blame Helfer”

To mark the announcement of the JLI Retro-Active oneshot JLI co-writer / dialogue god J.M. DeMatteis has resurrected an essay called “Blame Helfer” which describes how he came to the title and his easy-going working relationship with co-writer/plotter Keith Giffen.

I didn’t want to do it.  Really.  It was late 1986 and I’d just completed the four-part “End of the Justice League of America”—wrapping up the infamous Justice League Detroit era and clearing the path for a JLA reboot—and  I was anxious to move on to More Important Personal Projects.  But Andy Helfer—one of the best editors I’ve ever worked with (which makes sense since he grew up in the same Brooklyn neighborhood I did)—kept saying, “Yeah, well, I might need you to dialogue the new Justice League book.”  “But Andy,” I said, “I don’t want to dialogue the new Justice League book.”  Andy nodded, puffed out a stream of cigarette smoke and smiled.

Just a little thing, that smile.  But it spoke volumes.  “I’ve got you, DeMatteis,” that smile said.  “You’re mine.”

Go see J.M. DeMatteis Creation Point for more.

And on the subject of the former JLI editor, here is a talk Andy Helfer gave to Authors@Google about his post-JLI and post-DC work. The first part is interesting where he talks about believing in comics as a medium for their own purpose and not just as a generator for intellectual property.

Wondercon: Justice League Retro-active

Wonder Con has come around again and there are a few Justice League titbits coming out at the panels. The biggest comics news so far is the announcement of a DC Comics project called Retro-Active.

Retro-Active’ reunites classic writers and artists with classic characters Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, and Justice League of America, returning to the interpretations they are best known for. Each of these series will have 3 one-shots that pay homage respectively to the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s.

They will combine half-reprint material and half-new material. The creators lined up for the Justice League series are Cary Bates for the 1970s, and Gerry Conway for the 1980s. Fans hoping for more JLI after Generation Lost will be pleased to hear that Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis will be handling the 1990s. Comic Book Resources spoke to Giffen about this book:

“We’re getting the Sunshine Boys back together!” Giffen laughed, revealing that his ’90s Justice League story is co-written by long-time collaborator J.M. DeMatteis and artist Kevin Maguire. Giffen also stated that his 26 new pages would feature his incarnation of the Injustice League as well as the full 1990s Justice League International roster: Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Big Barda, Mr. Miracle, Guy Gardner, Fire, Ice, Black Canary, Rocket Red, Power Girl, even Power Girl’s cat.

“The way [DC Comics] put it was, look at your run back when you were doing Justice League International, find a moment there and tell an untold story,” explained Giffen. “It’s one last blow-out. It’s one last hoorah for the characters.” [...] The writer then summed up both his one-shot and his era of Justice League with three simple words: “Not too shabby!”

Supernatural’s Adam Glass on writing for the JLA

Comic Book Resources has an interview with Supernatural producer Adam Glass about his work on a couple of chapters of the upcoming JLA 80-Page Giant. It’s a mystical-themed book with an overarching big-bag, but each of the chapters teams-up a JLA hero with a mystical hero.

When DC offered me the chance to do a story, they said they wanted weird team-ups. I’m Christmas shopping with my daughter and we’re actually stopping by the comic book store to pick up my books. My phone rings and they’re like, “It’s Jim Lee and Dan DiDio for you.” I was like, “What? Really? Jim Lee is on the phone?” I actually met Dan at Comic-Con [International] and we’ve stayed in touch, but I didn’t expect anything. I’d done all this stuff for Marvel, and I was obviously writing “Supernatural,” and then I just got a call from them and they said, “Would you be interested in doing a book with us?” I said, “Of course, I would be.” They put me in touch with Eddie Berganza and Eddie says to me, “We’re doing this huge 80-pager JLA like we do every year and we want to do weird team-ups. Teams that people wouldn’t expect together. We’d like you to come up with an idea for the book, the whole concept, and then we want you to write three of the chapters.” And I said, “Can I do Batman?” He said, “Of course, you can do Batman.” I was like, “I’m sold.” This was my chance to finally write Batman. So that’s really what got me juiced to do it.

Read the rest here.

JLA Solicitations for June 2011

DC Comics have released their solicitations for June 2011 (CBR). The Flashpoint crossover is in full swing there is a lot on the roster, but its still fairly quiet on the actual Justice League front. The JLA cover shows Cyborg and the Red Tornado so maybe they’re back after their side quest in “The Dark Things”.

Ongoing Series

Justice League of America (vol. 2) #58

Justice League of America (vol. 2) #58
  • Credits: Writer: James Robinson; Penciller: Daniel Sampere and Miguel Sepulveda; Inker: Wayne Faucher and Miguel Sepulveda; Colourist: Andrew Dalhouse; Cover Colourist: Andrew Dalhouse; Letterer: Rob Leigh; Cover Penciller: Brett Booth; Cover Inker: Norm Rapmund; Variant Cover Artist: Aaron Lopresti; Variant Cover Colourist: Hi-Fi; Editor: Rex Ogle and Eddie Berganza
  • Solicitation copy:After last issue’s devastating battle with the Spectre, Eclipso now has the power to split the moon in two, an omen that the end of days has begun. With life on Earth at stake, Batman much hatch a desperate plan involving Shade, Starman and the Atom. At the same time, another member of the team steps forward, not knowing how vital she is to mankind’s survival. Prepare for “Eclipso vs. Donna Troy” – with an ending that will shock you!
  • Published:22 June 2011
  • Length:32 pages
  • Cost:$2.99

Young Justice (vol. 2) #5

Young Justice (vol. 2) #5
  • Credits: Writer: Art Baltazar and Franco; Artist: Christopher Jones; Colourist: Zac Atkinson; Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual; Cover Artist: Mike Norton; Cover Colourist: Alex Sinclair; Assistant Editor: Michael McCalister; Editor: Jim Chadwick
  • Solicitation copy:Aqualad, Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy and Miss Martian are ready for their first mission as a team. To get to know each other better, they decide to trade stories around the campfire, revealing how they all started as crimefighters. Will this bring them together or underscore their differences?
  • Published:22 June 2011
  • Length:32 pages
  • Cost:$2.99

Reprints

DC Comics Presents: Justice League of America – Black Baptism

DC Comics Presents: Justice League of America - Black Baptism
  • Credits: Writer: Rubin Diaz and Sean Smith; Artist: Jesus Saiz; Cover Artist: Tim Bradstreet
  • Solicitation copy:When the World’s Greatest Heroes learn that a family of mobster demons called the Diablos have declared a gang war on the Sentinels of Magic (Dr. Fate, Zatanna, Deadman, and others), the JLA split up to protect the mages of the DC Universe. Collecting the four-issue miniseries from 2001.
  • Published:15 June 2011
  • Length:96 pages
  • Cost:$7.99

Winick reflects on Generation Lost at CBR

CBR’s Josie Campbell has interviewed Justice League: Generation Lost writer Judd Winick about his time on the book and the changes that he’s had to make to his story over the last twenty-issues. While coy on the fate of Jaime Reyes, the current Blue Beetle, but Winick did comment on the general thrust of the next few issues and where he’s going with Maxwell Lord:

I think for a lot of our longer readers, myself included, Max just went bad for the sake of going bad. I actually wanted to explain who Max is, where he comes from, why and what brought him here today — a monster to some, but a guy who’s trying to save the world, in his head. A lot of people, including internally, talked about it, that as much as this arc is about the current incarnation of Justice League International, this has really been about the story of Max Lord. So in these final issues, especially these couple coming up right now, we’ll be getting into how these guys tick. But the action is going to amp up in a ridiculous way in these last couple of issues. The big fight at the end takes place over a couple of issues.

He also describes how he’s learnt to make lemonade from other people’s plot lemons:

I was saddled with that [JMS's Wonder Woman reboot] suddenly, and I was like, OK, there’s a major thing coming up with Wonder Woman because she killed Max Lord! And [when] I sat down, I was like, oh, this is good! This is actually good! This is going to be really, really fun, this is going to make Max crazy that suddenly the whole world has forgotten Wonder Woman — just like he made the whole world forget him! Oh, my God! It’s great! That was not by my design at all, I wasn’t doing this to Wonder Woman, but it was coming from an outside source, and I just made lemonade. Really, it’s one of my favorite issues, because when Max finds out that the world has forgotten — I like how angry it makes him. He’s tossing stuff around and he’s screaming, “What the fuck do you mean, you don’t know who Wonder Woman is?” [Laughs]

It’s a quite a good interview, but Judd is very careful not to spoil any endings or any possible continuing stories.

Dwayne McDuffie RIP

I don’t want to believe the news on Newsarama, CBR, Comics Alliance and The Beat, but it is being reported that Dwayne McDuffie has passed away. A cause of death has not been reported.

Mr McDuffie has the distinction of writing for the Justice League in more formats than just about anybody else I can think of. He wrote for the animated TV series (Justice League, Justice League Unlimited), a direct-to-DVD movie (Justice League: Crisis on Two Earth), a video game (Justice League Heroes), and the regular JLA comic book. More recently he wrote the screen play for the DVD adaptation of Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly’s All-Star Superman and was the producer on the current incarnation of Ben Ten.

Mr McDuffie may be most influential for co-creating and guiding the Milestone Comics characters during the 1990s – a genuine attempt to create a comic book universe that encapsulated all of America’s children. The break out character of that group was Virgil Hawkins (Static). A spin-off cartoon series, Static Shock, was launched in 2000. McDuffie became involved with the writing of the cartoon and from there he was recruited into the creative team behind Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.

Through all his work there was an openness that let the best character, who ever that might be, come to the fore. You knew if Dwayne McDuffie has written the script because it just sounded better – the characters were richer, the jokes funnier, the emotions deeper.

My condolences to his friends and family.