Last and by no means least in this little collection of unpublished/fan-made collection of the JLA members is Congorilla. This drawing by TJ Frias (Guinnessyde) has captured a great look from Congo Bill, it’s like he’s sizing you up and isn’t too impressed with what he sees. For a character as old as Congo Bill/Congorilla there are surprisingly few examples of fan art, but that may just be due to his obscurity.

Issue Credits

Quotes

Synopsis “Now & Then”

Previously: Starman (Mikaal Tomas) and Congorilla (“Congo” Bill Glenmorgan) became members of the Justice League after Prometheus’s plot to destroy the home cities of America’s greatest superheroes. The villain killed many people close to those heroes including Starman’s boyfriend Tony and kidnapped others like the gorilla scientist Malavar (a friend of Bill). Now Starman has vanished. Congorilla is searching for him and was outside of Washington D.C. when Jade sealed the Omega Man, the Justice League, and Crime Syndicate inside a vast emerald dome.

Bill finds Mikaal after he has been on a massive binge in an effort to bury his grief for Tony. Bill is concerned for his friend, but is of the opinion that a good adventure will knock some sense into him. The energy dome over Washington has something to do with Multiverse energy and that’s an area that Malavar specialised in. Bill now needs Mikaal’s help to finally track him down. Bill had asked Green Arrow for help as he was the last person to visit Prometheus’s lair, but he said that Malavar was already long gone by the time he arrived.

The last person to actually see Malavar was the Iranian superhero Sirocco. He told Bill that he saved Malavar from an attack by other gorillas who wanted to his scientific expertise to overthrow Gorilla City’s King. Sirocco said that Malavar had a vat of human remains with him and was looking for a Lazarus Pit. He couldn’t find one so switched to searching for the Fountain of Youth. Bill remembers hearing the Detective Chimp tell him about visiting the Fountain with Rex the Wonder Dog. Bobo was obscure as to its location so they go to ask Rex (who is still working for NASA in Houston). Unfortunately Rex’s vocal powers have waned over the years and they then have to recruit Buddy Baker (Animal Man) to help them translate.

The unusual group of dog, alien, gorilla, and man finally find Malavar at the Fountain after he’s dipped the human’s remains into its waters. However, they are ambushed the terrorists hunting Malavar. The battle is evenly balanced and drags on until the Tasmanian Devil – the body in the Fountain – erupts out of the water and helps beat back their attackers. Malavar shared a captivity at Prometheus’s hands with the Devil. He watched in horror as his comrade was skinned and felt honour bound to restore him.

Once they are victorious the Devil thanks them and returns to Australia to tell his mother he’s alive (although he says he’ll see them soon). The rest are left to teleport to Washington to aid the Justice League.

Continuity

• The Shade hasn’t been seen since he was attacked by the Starheart.
• Nightshade of the Shadow Pact is missing.
• The Tasmanian Devil was killed by Prometheus, but has been rejuvenated by contact with the Fountain of Youth.

Commentary

This Issue

James Robinson on the Comic Vine 2011-01-21 podcast:

• The story in this issue was originally meant to appear in Justice League of America (vol. 2) #49 (which actually became a Donna/Jade issue).
• Just because this issue was part of the DC January covers theme meant that Congorilla got a logo.
• “There isn’t a lot to read [about Congorilla]. That’s the beauty of him he’s pretty much a blank slate that I can come up with any past that he’s experienced in the last 100 years. “

The Tasmanian Devil

The Tasmanian Devil first appeared as another of those Super Friends “international” superheroes (along with Fire, Ice, Samurai, et al) in Super Friends #7 (Oct 1977). He was added to the Global Guardians group and made several appearances before it was revealed that Taz hung around the JLI’s Australian Embassy. He briefly served as a member of the Justice League proper when an enemy agent tried to replace Maxwell Lord and disrupt the League by messing with their roll call. Taz and the Guardians were minor reoccurring characters during the JLI days and they even appeared in their own back-up feature in Justice League Quarterly.

“Taz” remained little more than a shaggy-man with an Australian accent until JL Quarterly #8 when he outed himself as being gay. Since then he has remained in the background at group gatherings, funerals, and battles as a member of a succession of international superhero organisations. That was until Justice League: Cry For Justice #3 when the supervillain Prometheus is monologuing about killing several of the Global Guardians and the scene cuts away to a Tasmanian Devil-skin rug at his feet.

A number of minor characters were used as cannon fodder in Cry For Justice, but it was the off-panel murder of one of DC’s very rare homosexual characters that brought the greatest ire from fans. However, it was something that James Robinson claims that he always planned to revisit:

Newsarama: You were the one that killed off the Tasmanian Devil in Cry for Justice. Was it always your intent to bring him back?

Robinson: Absolutely. I was hoping to write it immediately. Because I killed Tasmanian Devil off rather cruelly in Cry for Justice.

I always intended for that to be the case, that Starman would eventually have Tasmanian Devil as his boyfriend. Congorilla finding his friend was going to be sub-plot that I was going to use, and tie it in with the apparent murder of Tasmanian Devil. I had to put it off for a while, but I found a way to fold it into the Omega storyline.

And I had always planed that it would lead toward Starman finding love with Tasmanian Devil. They’re two of the main gay characters of DC Universe. So I wanted to bring them together.

The Tasmanian Devil name is of course the same as the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes character and the original comic book Taz had very similar is colouring – neither however are much like the appearance of the actual animal.

The real Tasmanian Devil is a rare surviving marsupial-mammal from prior to the European colonisation of Australia. The animal is black with a white bar across its “chest”.

The comic book Taz had the Looney Tunes fur-colouring and a large white-T on its chest (a nod to the animal’s markings).

The Brett Booth redesign draws more heavily on the animal itself and recast the Devil’s White-T as a natural variation of the animals normal chest-markings. Robinson appreciated the change as he is actually a fan of the character:

And Brett Booth did one thing that I’m very happy with – and this is just me being a fan and a bit of a geek about it – but it always bugged me that Tasmanian Devil’s fur had this very straight “T” thing on his chest. So he’s actually turned it into, like, white fur that’s growing out of his chest that looks like a T. Small, little cosmetic thing, but it made me smile when I saw it.

Opinion

This issue has a certain magnificence just because of its sheer barmimess – a gay azure alien, a talking golden gorilla, an immortal wonder dog, and a stunt man with animal power go in search of the Fountain of Youth in order to reanimate a bear skin rug that use to be a friend of theirs. It’s almost like something from an L. Frank Baum story.  This is one of those books that you have to let yourself enjoy – get too uptight about something or other and you’ll never relax enough to just flow with the story.

Brett Booth is the new artist on Justice League and this is our first look at this work with James Robinson. I’m unfamiliar with his earlier work, but I really like the art in this issue. It’s certainly a more delicate style than Mark Bagley’s bold style.  As well being a comic book artist Brett is an illustrator who contributes to books on dinosaurs and he is also a dog breeder. So if there is anybody who is going to get Rex looking right right it’ll be Brett. As Mart says, “I can’t recall Rex the Wonder Dog looking so good this side of Gil Kane.”  The colouring also works very nicely and the last page – the sun setting behind the heroes as they talk – stands out.

It’s great to have Taz back and I love the new look. I’ve always thought that Prometheus should have found himself confronted by a skinless Taz who asks him “Why for you skin Taz and put him on the cold, cold ground?” before Taz rips him apart in a snarling, toothy whirlwind. However, some people have cried foul. There is a certain amount of fanboy indignation (hmm, good name for a blog) that not only was Taz killed off in the first place, but he was brought back so easily in the face of Dan Didio’s statement that Blackest Night would shut the DC Universe’s “revolving door” to the afterlife.

Has anybody noticed that James Robinson is showcasing a lot of international superheroes? Doctor Light was part of his Superman run, he has plans to bring back Vixen, he’s brought back Taz, showed the first appearance of Sirocco outside of a Kurt Busiek comic, created the German rocket reds in JLA, etc. I really wouldn’t be surprised if he’s not leading up to a relaunch of the Global Guardians – it’s be a great tie-in to Batman Incorporated.

I have a little bit of concern about the reasoning that starts with “there are only two gay men in the JLA” and leads to “therefore they should date as there is nobody else for them to date”. It’s the same reasoning that ends up with Batwoman having connections with the Question and Maggie Sawyer and is related to the Word Newton reasoning that thinks that every character with the surname “Grayson” should be related to Dick Grayson. At least Mikaal’s response to Bill acknowledges this.

The Verdict

	Site	Reviewer	Original Score	%
Reviews Portal	IGN	Jesse Schedeen	5.5/10	55
Community Reviews	Comics Vine User Reviews	Ave of 1 review/s	3.5/5	70
Community Reviews	iFanboy	168 pulls	4.3/5	86
Reviews Blog	Comics Per Day Reviews	Timbotron	Fair	60
This Site	Captain’s JLA Blog	Jason Kirk		70%
		Grand Average		68%

Characters

Feature Characters

• Congorilla (William Glenmorgan, last appeared in Justice League of America (vol. 2) #51)
• Starman (Mikaal Tomas, last appeared in Justice League of America (vol. 2) #49)

Guest Stars

• Animal Man (Buddy Baker, last appeared in Justice League: Cry For Justice #7)
• Red the Wonder Dog (bark bark woof)
• Tasmanian Devil (Hugh Dawkins, last appeared – as a rug – in Justice League: Cry For Justice #3)

Other Characters

• Colonel Dennis (Rex’s handler)
• Dimitri (unseen, Mikaal’s one-night stand)
• Malavar (last appeared in Justice League: Cry For Justice #3)

Guest Appearances

• Sirocco (Iranian superhero, last appeared in the alternate Trinity timeline)

Cameos

• Green Arrow
• At the energy dome: Blue Beetle III, Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Doctor Fate, Doctor Light III, Green Lantern (Alan Scott), Mister Miracle III, Obsidian, Power Girl, Superboy, Wonder Girl
• Captain Marvel, Detective Chimp, the Spectre (shown in flashback)

Annotations

Page 1 – A single panel in Justice League of America (vol. 2) #49 showed Starman sat alone in an Opal City bar.  This is his next appearance. Bill was shown in Justice League of America (vol. 2) #50 asking around in Opal City if anybody had seen Mikaal.  He then visited Washington D.C. in Justice League of America (vol. 2) #51 to see the energy dome for himself. Neither Bill nor Mikaal appear in Justice League of America (vol. 2) #52 which presumably happens concurrently with this story.

“Don’t Mix Grape or Grain” is an allusion to the old belief that a drinker shouldn’t mix beer (a drink brewed from grain) and and wine (a drink made from grapes). The combination is said make for a really bad hangover.

Page 2-3 - Tony was Mikaal’s lover from Opal City. As revealed in Justice League: Cry For Justice #1 he was visiting his family in New York city when one of Prometheus lieutenants killed him during a robbery. It was Mikaal’s quest for vengeance that led him to meet Bill.

Pay attention to the gorilla terrorists fighting the heroes in these flash-forwards. Brett Booth, the new JLA penciller, did a lot of work for Wildstorm and several of the gorilla terrorists bear an odd resemblance to some of the WildCATS characters. For example the gorilla on the far-right is wearing Grifter’s mask.

Page 4 – The rare editors note is a welcome throw back, but unfortunately it’s wrong. Mikaal and Bill first met each other on Blackhawk Island when they separately traced Prometheus’ lieutenants there in Justice League: Cry For Justice #2. They return there in Justice League of America (vol. 2) #42 (not #41 as the note says – in fact Bill and Mikaal don’t even appear in #41).  They want to restart the search for Malavar, but are interrupted by Tender Mercy and the Chair who are stealing a sample of New Genesis/Apokolips technology for Doctor Impossible. It is that scheme by Impossible that eventually creates the energy dome over Washington which they now need Malavar to help them analyse.

Page 6 – The Lazarus Pit is named after the man Jesus brought back to life in the Bible. They are mystical pools that form at the intersection of ley lines and other mystical sites. Immersion in a pit will rejuvenate the sick and even raise the dead. It’s the method that Ra’s Al Ghul has used for centuries to prolong his own life.

Sirocco was created by Kurt Busiek during his time on the Superman titles. He is the archenemy of the villain Khyber – a villainous mastermind that Busiek spent time setting up, but never actually got to use.

Page 7 - The Fountain of Youth is a legendary spring. Bathing or drinking in its waters confers immortality or at least rejuvenation. The Fountain became associated with Florida after the first Governor of Puerto Rico became convinced that it was there. White searching for it he “discovered” Florida and there is now a “Fountain of Youth National Park” on the spot where he first landed.

The Spectre’s assault on one of the Fountains occurred in Day of Vengeance #2.

Page 8 – Bill comments that the Shadow Pack are visiting Myra the home dimension of the missing heroine Nightshade. That would make her the second shadow-powered character mentioned as missing (the first was the Shade).

Dennis is the surname of Rex’s original handler. His younger son, Daniel Dennis, cared for Rex and became his handler in turn when he began working with Rex for NASA. Danny aged normally and hasn’t been seen since an adventure with the Flash (Wally West) a few years ago.  This new, young Colonel Dennis could be the son – or even the grandson – of Danny Dennis.

Page 9 - Neither Detective Chimp nor Rex the Wonder Dog could originally talk. Both were originally stars of a title called Rex The Wonder Dog in the early 1950s. Rex’s origin was later tried to World War II as a pastiche of Captain America’s origin. He was the test puppy who was transformed into a Wonder Dog by the war scientists formula minutes before the scientist is killed by a Nazi spy and the formula is lost forever.

Both characters were brought back for a 1980s feature in DC Comics Presents called “What Ever Happened To…”. It was revealed that Rex and Bobo had found the Fountain in DC Comics Presents #35 as an explanation as to why the two animals hadn’t aged in decades. A side effect of the fountain was that it gave them the ability to talk. Bobo still has that ability, but as is shown here Rex doesn’t. I’d recommend Dial D for Blog’s “Introducing the Detective Chimp” for a fun look at the relationship between the characters.

Page 11 - Mikaal joked “Deva Ju” because they first became involved with the JLA set via a meeting with Animal Man (Buddy Baker) in Justice League: Cry For Justice #5. Bill and Buddy had been part of the Forgotten Heroes together and Bill wanted his help in tracking down Prometheus. Starfire and Donna Troy were using Buddy’s pool at the time (Buddy and Starfire had become friends while they were in space with Adam Strange). Starfire and Donna agreed to help and together they approached the Justice League. It’s the group of Donna, Mikaal, and Bill that still forms half of the current League.

Page 18 - See the Commentary above for notes on the Tasmanian Devil.

Page 19 – Bill name-drops three conflicts that’s he been party to.

• “The Battlefields of Flanders” — Flanders in Belgium during the First World War. He’s acknowledged as being Scottish so was probably part of the British Army.
• “1920 Kilkenny fighting R.I.C. and Black and Tan” — The Irish War of Independence. This statement is a little surprising and hints that his back story is isn’t as black-and-white as it seems. He goes from fighting for the British in 1914-18 (the Flanders battles) to fighting against them in 1920. The RIC are the Royal Irish Constabulary and the “Black and Tans” are their auxiliaries who were fighting against the IRA rebel/guerilla/terrorists (delete appropriately according to your politics). Bill’s phrasing makes it sound like he was fighting for the Irish.
• “Haile Selassie’s Christmas Offensive Against the Italians” – 1935, he’s fighting for the Ethiopians against Mussolini’s Italians.

They are an odd assortment as it’s hard to find a common theme. Bill goes from fighting for the British, to fighting against them, to fighting in war completely unconnected with them. If there is a theme it’s that he consistently fighting against Imperial Powers

Page 20 - There is a small difference that I didn’t catch first time around reading this, but Taz changes shape twice. When we first see him, a couple of pages beforehand, he’s got a cat-like snout and appears quite animal like. Then on this page there is a shape-shifting effect and he’s shown with a more human-face and a slighter-build, but still furry. Then finally on page 21 he changes again into a purely human form. Another neat trick – like Congorilla’s size-changing – to account for artistic differences in portrayal.

Does anybody else think it’s nice to see a recently resurrected person actually think about their family for once?

There are a series of one shots in January that focus of significant players for the year ahead. These one shots include the Starman/Congorilla oneshot that James Robinson had announced at the recent New York Comic Con. JLA #53 and Starman/Congorilla are part of the “JLA Omega” story starting in JLA #50 which features the JLA teaming up with the Crime Syndicate to fight a new villain called the Omega Man.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #53Written by JAMES ROBINSONArt by MARK BAGLEY, ROB HUNTER & NORM RAPMUNDCover by MARK BAGLEY & ROB HUNTER1:10 Variant cover by DAVID MACK

The final chapter of “JLA Omega” arrives as the World’s Greatest Heroes and the Crime Syndicate struggle for survival. But the Syndicate’s betrayal of their own pact results in a final, savage confrontation – and Ultraman does some betraying of his own! Can the JLA defeat Omega Man, the harbinger of death? Can they save the Crime Syndicate’s world and the Tangent Universe? And in the midst of this war between good and evil, which side will Dark Supergirl choose?

Retailers please note: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.On sale JANUARY 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

STARMAN /CONGORILLA #1Written by JAMES ROBINSONArt by BRETT BOOTHCover by GENE HA

In this tie-in to the “JLA Omega” storyline, the new blue and gold team of Congorilla and Mikaal Tomas work to unlock the secrets behind the toxic Omega Man’s dark energy, which encases Washington D.C. To do this they must embark on a quest to find the Fountain of Youth, encountering diverse heroes from the DCU along the way including Animal Man, Sirocco and a certain wonder dog named Rex. And all the while, Mikaal and Congorilla must outrun and outwit a cadre of terrorist assassins from Gorilla City. This is a breakneck chase through the DCU, but with a serious end-goal – saving the lives of their fellow members of the JLA!

ONE-SHOT • On sale JANUARY 5 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Additionally Justice League appearances for January include Batman Beyond #1 – a new on-going series by Adam Beechen which guest-stars the future Justice League in its first issue – and Batman Confidential #52 – by Mark Guggenheim which looks back at Batman’s first encounter with the Justice League.

New York Comic Con is well under way and there are details of future JLA storylines floating out from the various DC panels.

From the DC Universe panel ( CBR / Comics Alliance ):

• CBR quoting James Robinson: “Out of all that [JLA #50 featuring the Crime Syndicate] we get a new villain, but one of the ramifications for that is that Supergirl in the Justice League will be Dark Supergirl.”
• The plotline after the Crime Syndicate story will be the Shadow War which is a sequel to “The Dark Things” and picks up the White Lantern prophecy/command for Jade/Obsidian.
• CBR quoting James Robinson on the “Shadow War”: “You’ll see Obsidian become a really cool hero in a way he’s never done before.” Robinson added that “One of the first things [Eclipso] does i murder the Spectre.”
• There will be a Congorilla one-shot.

The usual “slips” were evident. Dan Didio let slip that Cyborg will be re/joining the JLA (Comics Alliance) and James Robinson inadvertently let slip that he’s doing a Hawkman series when Ian Sattler actually meant for him to announce his Congorilla oneshot (CBR).

The solicitation for Generation Lost pretty much confirms that either Captain Atom or Magog is going to die (Magog’s title has just been cancelled, you do the math). It would appear to be a fairly definite conclusion to the White Lantern directive for Max, but the series isn’t even half over yet. The second part of the JLA/The 99 crossover is also solicited.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #51Written by JAMES ROBINSONArt by MARK BAGLEY, ROB HUNTER & NORM RAPMUNDCover by MARK BAGLEY & ROB HUNTER1:10 Variant cover by DAVID MACKIn “Justice League: Omega” part 2, as the battle between the JLA and the Crime Syndicate within the Hall of Justice explodes into the streets of Washington D.C., 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, who may turn to the dark side. In order to help their teammates, Bill and Mikaal must begin an odyssey across the world that will evoke memories of Prometheus.Retailers please note: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.On sale NOVEMBER 17 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US

JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #13-14Written by JUDD WINICKIssue #13 art by JOE BENNETTIssue #14 art by AARON LOPRESTICovers by DUSTIN NGUYEN1:10 Variant covers by KEVIN MAGUIREDC’s biweekly JUSTICE LEAGUE event continues!In issue #13, Max Lord sends his newest recruit to confront the JLI. But what happens when Magog tries to kill Captain Atom in a fight to the finish? Someone will die, creating repercussions that will affect the future timeline of KINGDOM COME!In issue #14, the JLI has been framed for murder. Now, hunted by Checkmate and put on the world’s Most Wanted lists, our heroes are exhausted and pushed to their limits – which is why the Creature Commandos choose now as an opportune time to attack them!Retailers please note: These issues will ship with two covers each. Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.Issue #13 on sale NOVEMBER 10Issue #14 on sale NOVEMBER 2432 pg, FC, $2.99 US

JLA/THE 99 #2Written by FABIAN NICIEZA & STUART MOOREArt by TOM DERENICK & DREW GERACICover by FELIPE MASSAFERAThe groundbreaking crossover between DC Comics’ JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA and Teshkeel Comics’ THE 99 continues…Someone – or some thing – has taken over the minds of many of Earth’s civilian population. And to make matters worse, the JLA has also fallen victim! How CAN the 99 hope to stop an out-of-control Superman? Perhaps with Batman’s and Wonder Woman’s help, the young heroes of the 99 can actually make a difference!On sale NOVEMBER 24 * 2 of 6 * 32 pg, FC $3.99 US

Convention season processes a pace with San Francisco’s WonderCon 2010. There were the normal DC Nation and Editorial panels are well as a Spotlight panel on JLA writer James Robinson and a special Brightest Day panel.

Spoilers for Blackest Night #8 follow…

Brightest Day

The Brightest Day panel talked about the 12 heroes and villains that had been resurrected in Blackest Night #8 and where they would end up in the DC Universe. Aquaman and Deadman will play a large part in the actual Brightest Day series while the manhunt for Maxwell Lord (as covered earlier and in the round of interviews with Judd Winick) will be the focus for Justice League: Generation Lost. Jade, Alan Scott’s daughter, will appear in Justice League.

Justice League

The James Robinson spotlight panel was hosted by Eddie Berganza (JLA editor) and focused almost entirely on the Justice League. It opened with a discussion on how Cry For Justice came about and how, at one stage, DC had wanted to remove all their lower level fictional cities. However, it looks like they asked the wrong writer as James Robinson dug his heals in limiting the damage to Star City – and has become a plot device to establish JT Krul’s new Green Arrow series.

The size of the new League was also addressed. Robinson said that he had realised only after he’d started that he couldn’t “do it like Geoff [Johns] with JSA” and juggle a massive roster. The JLA team seen in JLA #41-43 will be slimmed down. The core team will be Batman (Dick Grayson), Supergirl, Donna Troy, Jade, Starman (Mikaal Thomas), Congorilla and Jesse Quick. Gypsy and Dr Light will show up at some point. Vixen has left to set-up her own superhero team in Africa – that story was originally to have been told in JLA #41, but it will now be told sometime after the JLA/JSA crossover.

CBR’s coverage included details of Robinson’s plans for Congorilla:

Mikaal and Congorilla are the new “Blue and Gold” of the DC Universe, and Robinson mentioned that he has decided to make Congorilla Scottish. “Just picture a giant golden gorilla with Sean Connery’s accent.” He further described Congorilla as being born in 1898, is the son of a Scottish gamekeeper and was once a member of the IRA.

[…]

The writer next explained Congorilla’s power set, having decided to give the character a healing factor to make him a more formidable opponent. Also, after “Cry For Justice,” the character has the ability to grow larger, especially when he gets emotional. The growing power came about because the artist on “Cry For Justice” accidently drew Congorilla at different sizes in certain panels. “The art was beautiful, but every once in a while the scale was off; sometimes he was the same height as everyone else and sometimes he was a giant,” Robinson explained. The writer likes the power, and likes the idea of a “King Kong-like” Congorilla fighting on the Empire State Building.

Issues #44 and #45 are a prequel to the JSA/JLA crossover and feature Donna getting a new lasso (with a power different that Wonder Woman’s lasso) and a guest appearance by the Demon Etrigan. Issues #46-48 are the JLA/JSA crossover and will feature Alan Scott’s Starheart. Jade and Donna will become room-mates in San Francisco. Mark Bagley takes a break for #49 and then he’s back for the double-sized #50.

Justice League Movie

One single comment by Geoff John’s has been echoed around the internet. Newsrama’s coverage described it as:

Next fan asked if DC’s film side was planning on anything similar to Marvel’s plans for an Avengers movie—specifically, Justice League. “Ask me in San Diego,” Johns replied.

That has been taken to mean that a Justice League movie will be announced at San Diego. However, I’m not so sure that a specific Justice League film will be announced. It seems more likely to me that DC Entertainment will lay out their entire movie strategy at San Diego Comic Con.

The third Justice League cover in one week has been revealed by DC Comics. This is the cover by Mauro Cascioli for the last issue of Cry For Justice (the original solicitation for Justice League: Cry For Justice #7 included a picture from issue #5 of Roy Harper with his arm torn off). Cascioli may not have been able to do the interior art for issue #6, but he certainly is one hell of a cover artist. I love the rendering of Congorilla, Cascioli makes him look like an actual gorilla and not just a man in a gorilla suit.

This year, 2009, is the international Year of the Gorilla – a drive to bring peoples attention to the plight of one of our nearest and most expressive relatives. This particular year marks 50 years since the first real scientific investigation into gorillas and by co-incidence it’s also fifty years since an explosion of gorilla and ape characters at DC Comics.

Gorilla Covers

The old comics were often driven by their covers. When artist Carmine Infantino was working with Julius Schwartz he’d design a cover then challenge Schwartz to fix a story to it. Either further back, DC publisher Irwin Donenfeld kept a ledger of sales and paid attention to any blips:

“All of a sudden, I would see a spike. Why did this one go up? Well, it had  a dinosaur on the cover. From then on, every month, one of the editors had magazine with a dinosaur on it.”

Irwin Donenfeld, pg 12, Alter Ego #26 (July 2003)

The sales of Strange Adventures #8 (May 1951) caused just such a blip. It was a science fiction title that featured stories that wouldn’t have been out-of-place in the Outer Limits or Twilight Zone. One particular 10-page story, “Evolution Plus” by Gardner Fox and Bob Oksner, featured a man’s brain trapped in the body of an ape. Julius Schwartz, the editor of DC’s science fiction titles recalled:

I remember him [Irwin Donenfeld] running into my office, “What happened to Strange Adventures #8?” I said, “Well, let’s look at the cover.” We did, and it had the following scene: we see it takes place in a zoo. We see a cage, and inside the case there’s a gorilla and he’s holding in his hand a slate and prints down, “Dear Helen, please help he – I’m the victim of a horrible scientific experiment.”

We decided perhaps it was beacause the gorilla was acting like a human being. Irwin says, “Let’s do it again.” We did another cover scene – I think it was a court scene, with a gorilla testifying. And we did a third one and Irwin say, “That’s it. Gorilla covers!” We started to use gorilla covers until Irwin said in desperation, “Stop! No more than one gorilla cover a month!”

Julius Schwartz, pg 13, Alter Ego #26 (July 2003)

Thereafter, gorilla covers – and the justification behind them – became part of DC legend. It wasn’t just the science fiction titles either, gorillas started popping up across the superhero line as well.

1959 in particular

The 1959 seems to be when the explosion happened: Superman fought Titano in Superman #127 (February 1959) and befriended Beppo in Superboy #76 (October 1959). The long running strip, Congo Bill, was transformed into a gorilla strip when the adventurer learnt how to swap minds with the Congorilla in Action Comics #248 (January 1959). However, the Detective Chimp stories, which had run as a back up since Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #4 (July-August 1952),  faded away in 1959. These characters still remain popular with Congorilla now set to join the Justice League.

Some of the Detective Chimp stories had been written by John Broome and Carmine Infantino – the creative team on the The Flash comic. So when Broome, Infantino and Schwartz were looking around for new villains for the Flash it wasn’t entirely surprising that they ended up with a simian foe. Gorilla Grodd first appeared in The Flash #106 (April–May 1959) — see 1959 again!! There may be another reason 1959 was the launch point for so many gorilla characters.

This year, 2009, is the Year of the Gorilla, fifty years after the first appearance of these gorilla characters. Now I’m not suggesting the Year of the Gorilla is celebrating Gorilla Grodd, although it sounds like one of his schemes, but 1959 was also the year that scientist George Schaller spent living with gorillas in Central Africa. He later published a popular book about his experiences and called 1959 The Year of the Gorilla. It was Schaller’s study, started in the year that the greatest gorilla super villain appeared, which proved gorillas were gentle herbivores and not the monsters that popular culture assumed them to be.

The 2009 year of the Gorilla is important because gorilla populations face severe threats:

Some gorilla populations are the object of concerted conservation and restoration efforts. However, gorillas as a whole remain endangered and continue to face severe threats. All the great ape species of Africa – the bonobos, chimpanzees and gorillas- and the orangutans of Southeast Asia are in steep decline, and the rate of loss is increasing virtually everywhere. The conservation of viable wild populations of each species, necessary to prevent their extinction, represents a difficult challenge to humanity. Not only are these species humankind’s closest relatives, they also play a key role in their forest homes, which in turn regulate the global climate. A failure to save them from extinction would truly be an irreversible loss and a bad omen for humanity’s future prospects. Current conservation efforts need to be widened, as trends suggest that all great ape species could become extinct in the wild in the 21st century, and some even within a few decades. New approaches are needed to reverse this trajectory.

Year of the Gorilla Website

A full page advert (above) in this week’s Blackest Night #3 revealed the JLA roster that had previously been blanked out on preview images. The advert proclaims “October 2009. James Robinson. Mark Bagley. Justice League of America. Issue 38. A new era begins.” It also features a copy of the preview artwork with the full cast revealed (shown below).

There are three distinct groups of overlapping characters in that picture. The first group is Green Lantern (Hal), Green Arrow (Ollie) and the Atom were members of the original League and are the feature characters in Robinson’s current JLA: Cry For Justice mini-series. Congorilla is also featured in Cry, but this is his debut as a proper Justice Leaguer.

The second group is what I’d called the “Conway members”, those members of the League added to the rollcall because the writer happens to also be writing their solo title, i.e., in the way that Gerry Conway brought his Firestorm into the satellite era League or Grant Morrison brought Aztek into the Big 7 run. In this case Robinson is currently writing Superman featuring Mon-El. The Guardian is a major supporting character in Superman and he’s been flirting with his neighbour, Doctor Light. Mon-El, Guardian, and Light are all in the above image. She’s also important as she’s the only member shown who survives from the end of Dwayne McDuffie’s League.

The third group, and in some ways the most surprising, is the Titans. Donna Troy is appearing for Wonder Woman and Dick Grayson is there as he’s currently Batman. I suspect there is a major event building for Wonder Woman in Blackest Night – she’s in the final wave of BN DC Direct figures, but nobody knows why. We knew Dick and Donna already, but they’re now joined by Starfire and Cyborg.  She had recently refused Doctor Light’s offer of League membership. Where this leaves the currently meandering Titans title is unknown, but we had been warned the two teams would be coming closer together.

When Brad Meltzer relaunched this title he included Arsenal as the Titan who steps up to take his mentor’s place as Red Arrow. Former Titan Wally West eventually rejoined the group as the Flash, but he’s been a JLA member since his time with Justice League Europe. And while I’m on this divergence – notice that there is no Flash in the image, neither Barry Allen or Wally West appear, but that stop  any Flash Rebirth spoilers.

It’s an interesting roster and at eleven members one of the larger we’ve seen recently. I wouldn’t be too surprised if that image changed slightly when the issue actually ships (its something they did with the last comparable image). I certainly expect that Mon-El, Dick, and maybe Donna will make way for the real Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman once their individual plot-lines are tied up. That wouldn’t make the line-up look so radical – you’d then have six original members and only two former Titans.