[Via: DC Women Kick Ass]

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.

This Wednesday, or today if you’re reading this on Wednesday 30th September, sees the release of a new Justice League eighty-page giant. The all new JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 80-PAGE GIANT #1 is written by Chuck Kim. Comic Book Resources have an interview with Chuck Kim about the new story,

CBR News: How did you get involved in this project? Was this a story you pitched, or did DC come to you?

Chuck Kim: DC came to me. [Editor] Eddie Berganza pitched me on writing part of the issue. Without revealing too much, it’s a very classic Silver age-y story concept, which are among my favorite sort of comics to read. I love stories with scads of characters, and this one definitely has that. So I jumped at the chance. Eddie’s been very good to me over the years, and we’ve remained great friends since we were both working together in DCU editorial. Plus, he always puts out great stuff and really allows his creative teams a lot of freedom. So when the stars align and we have the chance to work together, I’m always very eager to do so.

The DC Solicitation for the story describes it as:

Written by Chuck Kim, Josh Williamson, Rich Fogel and others; Art by Mahmud Asrar, Adrian Syaf and others; Cover by Jay Anacleto

With a tale this massive, we could only fit it in an 80-page giant! When a battle between Epoch and the Time Commander spills over into our era, the Justice League finds itself scattered throughout time. That leaves Superman and Dr. Light fighting alongside a tornado-powered Samurai, Green Lantern and Red Arrow locked in a showdown with Cinnamon in the Old West, Green Arrow and Firestorm facing the Bride of Frankenstein in WWII, John Stewart and Vixen drawing swords alongside the Shining Knight, and Black Canary and Zatanna evading gangsters with the original Crimson Avenger!

Reintroducing the classic, extra-sized issues for a whole new generation, this special issue features the writing of TV’s Chuck Kim (Heroes) and Rich Fogel (Batman Beyond, Justice League) along with writer Joshua Williamson (Dear Dracula) and artists such as Mahmud Asrar (Dynamo 5) and Adrian Syaf (BLACKEST NIGHT: BATMAN)!

There is a PDF preview on the DC website.

I must admit that this one slipped under the radar for me – what with all the fuss about Cry for Justice and the changing creative team – but it does look a lot of fun.

The original 80-Page Giants were special anthology like issues that contained reprints of old stories – this was back before there was a trade paperback market. DC revived the format about  a decade ago for one off anthology specials containing new material, but there haven’t been any for a while now.