Franco Aureliani | the Captain's JLA blog

Baltazar and Aureliani Young Justice interview

Our commenter Len has brought to my attention an interview that Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani gave to Comic Book Resources a couple of weeks ago. Baltazar and Aureliani have been the writers behind the popular Billy Batson Jonny DC title and are moving across to write the in-continuity adventures of Cartoon Network’s incarnation of Young Justice.

I wanted to ask about the format for “Young Justice.” Will these be done-in-one style stories or will there be a larger arc carrying through, sort of like with “Billy Batson?”

Baltazar: Each issue will be a stand-alone story, pretty much, but the stories will interconnect kind of. You can still read them individually though and you’d be fine. We’re trying to stay close to the cartoon, but [the comics] give the individual characters their time to shine in the issues. It’s pretty cool.

[...]

You guys mentioned the Justice League, and we know that they’ll be featured in the cartoon pretty heavily. They’ll be playing a pretty prominent role in training the Young Justice members and you’ll be seeing them a lot. Will it be the same with the comic book series?

Baltazar: Yes. [Laughs] It’s pretty much the “Young Justice” cartoon’s extended adventures. It’s going to rock. We got to see some stories of what they’re doing with the cartoon and I wish I could tell you everything. It’s amazing the amount of thought that went into this cartoon and everything involved with the cartoon is so good. And we’re going to try to bring all that to the comic. We’re going to try do as much justice to “Young Justice” as possible. This comic will be better than eating food. You don’t know if you’re going to want to go grab a burger or read “Young Justice.”

[Many thanks to Len for pointing this out. ]

Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani on YJ comic

Newsarama has a brief interview with Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani, the writers behind the new Young Justice comic and the soon-to-end Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam title. Given their work on Billy Batson one may be forgiven for thinking that the YJ comic is in the same theme, but we already know from the SDCC Panel that the comic will be in continuity with the cartoon and that the cartoon skews towards the young teen market.

“This is just about the Young Justice team. Their stories,” Baltazar said. “The comics take what happens on the show and we expand on the stories you’ll see on TV.”

[...]

While Tiny Titans and Billy Batson were both aimed at a very young audience, the writers said Young Justice will be appropriate for kids of any age, but particularly teens.

“The cartoon falls somewhere between what they were doing with Justice League Unlimited, which felt more adult, and Teen Titans, which felt younger. This leans more toward Justice League, but with teenagers,” Aureliani said.

The new title will feature art by Mike Norton who also worked on the Billy Batson title. It should be out in November to coincide with the cartoon’s launch on Cartoon Network.