Fabain Nicieza | the Captain's JLA blog

JLA and The-99 crossover cover

There are times that the glacial lead time in comic book publicity really appears silly. Case in point, as part of their pre-San Diego 2010 publicity DC have just released the cover for The-99/JLA crossover. “The what?” I hear you cry. It’s a crossover between an Islamic superhero team called The 99 (written by Naif Al-Mutawa) and DC’s JLA.

This above is the aforementioned cover to The 99/JLA #1 (written by Fabian Nicieza, art by Tom Derenick, out in October) and it looks really cool – and by the way, isn’t that the first time we’ve seen the new Wonder Woman alongside Superman and Batman. The cover also features Jabber, Noora, and Samda of The 99 and from the look of that shadow I’d say they were about to face Starro.

Its existence was actually was announced a full year ago in the pre-San Diego 2009 publicity. However, it’s taken that year to write, draw, colour, and edit. Not unusual for a comic-book series, but a killer in terms of buzz. I actually had to stop and think about whether it hadn’t already that been and gone. It’s the mentality that announces a product as soon as a the deal to develop that product is signed and not waiting for it to be fully developed and realised. Nevertheless, this could be a really interesting mini-series.

JLA and The-99 crossover planned

On their Source blog, DC have just announced a cross-over between the Justice League and The-99, an Islamic themed superhero group from the independent publisher.

THE 99 team, which debuted in June 2006, was recently identified by Forbes Magazine as one of the “Top 20 Trends Sweeping the Globe.” Not too shabby, huh? In THE 99 — created by Naif Al-Mutawa — are a team of superheroes, including Jabbar the Powerful and Noora the Light who must collect 99 gems encrypted with the wisdom and power of the ancient Dar Al-Hikma library of Baghdad, which are spread across the globe.

I’m really looking forward to this as its to be written by Fabian Nicieza who is one of the regular writers on The 99 so it should quite good. Spotted via Bleeding Cool, the BBC have an interview with The-99′s creator, Kuwaiti psychologist Dr Naif al-Mutawa.

Meanwhile, over on the Dwayne McDuffie ranch he’s posted a comment appended onto a preview of JLA #34 (his last issue).

I also suggest you take a look at some of the comments from your fellow comic book fans. Every once in awhile, I’m reminded how racially backwards a portion of our audience is and how important it is to… You know what? I’ll let them speak for themselves

I won’t repost the examples he cites (I don’t want to give them too much screen time). However, he is right to point out that there is a nasty, bigoted vein that runs through parts of comics fandom. I suppose its no different that any other walk of like, but the accessibility of comics creators makes it seem that much more personal.

I shudder to think how the negative brigade will react to a crossover with the 99, I just hope DC stays the course.