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Tag: Justice League: Generation Lost

This page an archive of posts that have been tagged with the Justice League: Generation Lost topic.

New JLI title?

It is the project that cannot be spoken about, but for a couple of conventions now we’ve had comments from Judd Winick that he absolutely, definitely cannot talk about what happens next in terms of the JLI characters. Well Bleeding Cool had taken a punt at the Bleeding Obvious and have put up a rumour that there will be a new Justice League International title.

Whether it’s by Generation Lost writer Judd Winick, or the classic team of DeMatteis and Giffen, I don’t know. And those pesky Non Disclosure Agreements that DC creators are currently all signing are doing everything to prevent me for finding out.

But I am intrigued. And it’s not the only exciting Justice League book I hear has been scheduled. More soon…

Unfortunately they don’t give any other details so we’re no further forward than we had been before.

We do, however, have some idea of how long we’ll have to wait. Judd Winick (who has to be the front-runner for the writer position) has recorded a Don’t Miss podcast for iFanboy where he talks about this weeks Justice League: Generation Lost #24 and in that he speculates that we should hear something (one way or another) in about a month.

What did interest me more than the “confirmation” of the rumour was Rich’s comments about the old JLI title:

It was the book that stopped me being a Marvel zombie in my tracks and opened the door fully, for me, to the DC Universe.

His co-writer Mark Seifert expands on that:

Rich is completely right about Justice League by Giffen and DeMatteis being a gateway into the DCU for a lot of people. Sure, we all read DKR, and Watchmen (and GA: Longbow Hunters, and so on), but this was the book that drew us in on a regular basis and got us to branch out into other titles.

I was always a DC fan, but the comments ring true.

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”

Power Girl #21

Credits: Written by Judd Winick; art by Sami Basri; coloured by Jessica Kholinne; lettered by John J. Hill;  edited by Chris Conroy (associate) and Joey Cavalieri; cover by Sami Basri and Sunny Gho.

Synopsis “Old Friends”: Power Girl had been convinced by Maxwell Lord’s mind control that Captain Atom is Superman and that he has started to attack innocent civilians. The enraged Power Girl furiously attacked Atom until the JLI were able to break Lord’s conditioning (Justice League: Generation Lost #19).PG feels bad about the case of mistaken identity and wants to join the JLI’s fight against Max, but Booster asks her to find other people who also remember Lord’s existence. She goes to see Dick Grayson. Together they have managed to break Lord’s conditioning before, but its power always overwhelmed them again. Now PG’s mind is clear she tries to convince Dick by showing him that Ted Kord (the second Blue Beetle) was murdered by Max and did not commit suicide as the mind control makes people believe. Meanwhile at Starrware, the company’s creditors have sold off its assets to Day Work Industries. Simon Peters (Karen Starr’s executive assistant) and Nicco try to stall them, but Dr Ophelia Day sees through their charade. PG and Dick exhume Ted’s body and prepare to perform an autopsy. Dick still resists, but he’s over ruled by Bruce Wayne (the elder Batman and former member of the JLI). Together they show conclusively that Ted Kord could not have committed suicide. Batman (Bruce) then leaves Dick to contact Oracle and the JLA while he goes with Power Girl to aid the JLI.

Comments: The opening sequence of this issue takes place simultaneously with Justice League: Generation Lost #19. Last issue I questioned whether it was an art mistake that they showed the Bruce Wayne Batman and not the Dick Grayson Batman, but it obviously was deliberate. The conversation with the Blue Beetle is a flashback to Countdown to Infinite Crisis. I’m not really sure how this plays out, but in the Countdown to Infinite Crisis Max orders Ted’s body to be incinerated so I assumed that there was no real corpse to do an autopsy on.

Opinion: Another great issue from Winick and Basri. I love the way that this series dovetails with Justice League: Generation Lost, but also manages to tell a story that is completely its own. The stripping of Kord Omniversal is nicely paralleled with the falling apart of Starrware. The elephant in the room with regards to the Generation Lost storyline has always been those characters who weren’t around for the mind wipe or should have been able to resist it – specifically J’onn J’onzz and Bruce Wayne. As we’ve seen in the latest issue of Brightest Day that J’onn never had a chance to become involved. Bruce Wayne was lost in time until after this series started and I like the way that he doesn’t even need to struggle with the mind control. He shows that although Dick Grayson is a Batman, Bruce Wayne is still The Batman. Over the course of this series the colouring has transitioned between Sunny Gho and Jessica Kholinne. The overall result has been consistently of a really high standard and I’m impressed that there was no noticeable change between the two colourists.

4.0

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.

Power Girl #20

Credits: Written by Judd Winick; art by Sami Basri; coloured by Sunny Gho and Jessica Kholinne; lettered by John J. Hill;  edited by Rachel  Gluckstern (associate) and Mike Carlin; cover by Basri and Gho.

Synopsis “Beasts of Burden”: Power Girl has followed the trail of Divine (her raven-haired clone) to a cloaked facility in Vietnam. Professor Anthony Ivo introduces himself and tells PG that she has found the location of the new Cadmus Project. He then sets his menagerie of genetically engineered monsters on her (including a four-armed albino King Kong called “Caspian”) with the expectation that they would stop her getting inside. However, PG just brushes them aside and flies straight through all of Ivo’s safeguards. She plugs s USB transmitter into a computer console allowing Nicco to download their database while she continues to explore. Nicco decides that he has to do something with the mountain on unencrypted intel so he forwards it to the Batcave for archiving. PG discovers that Ivo has even cloned Krypto (Superman’s dog), but the Krypto clone recognises her as a kryptonian and starts helping her. They have the upper hand until Maxwell Lord arrives and shuts down Power Girl’s opposition with his mind control. He then makes her believe that Captain Atom was responsible for Magog’s murder and that it’s her duty to take down the JLI.

Continuity: The Batman that Nicco calls is Bruce Wayne (raised bat-emblem with the yellow oval). Whether this is deliberate or whether it’s an art mistake will have to wait for a following issue. The end of this issue takes place simultaneously with Justice League: Generation Lost #17 and continues in Justice League: Generation Lost #18.

Opinion: Another great issue from Winick and Basri. The emotional turmoil that PG faced last issue is pushed to one side as she does some monster punching. Why do I get the feeling that Anthony Ivo has had way too much fun working for Max. That old scientist must be a real movie buff considering the monsters and Creature Commandos that he’s been manufacturing (either that or he’s a pokemon fan). “Clambake”, the big clone of Krypto, was also fun and I hope they’ll keep him around. This issue finally leads directly into Generation Lost and there is some relief that we’re moving beyond the investigation phase of PG character arc.

3.5

JLA Solicitations for April 2011

DC’s Solicitations for April 2011 are now online. Generation Lost reaches its final issue and the ultimate confrontation with Maxwell Lord. The big addition to this months solicitations are DC’s new age ratings.These run from E for everybody, to T for Teen (12 and older in their definition), T+ for older teens (16 years and older), and mature which is pretty much what they’d had on the Vertigo line. Under this system both Justice League of America and Justice League: Generation Lost are rated Teen while Young Justice is rating E. I understand why people want rating, but I’ve normally found them to be pretty useless.

Ongoing

The Justice League are firmly in the grasp of Eclipso this month as “The Rise of Eclipso” continues. We also get an 80-page giant that themed towards horror/dark foes. I’m unfamiliar with the talent-line up, but it’s interesting to see Superman, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman back on a JLA cover.

Justice League of America (vol. 2) #56

  • Credits: Writer: James Robinson; Penciller: Brett Booth; Inker: Norm Rapmund; Colourist: Andrew Dalhouse; Letterer: Rob Leigh; Cover Penciller: Brett Booth; Cover Inker: Norm Rapmund; Cover Colourist: Andrew Dalhouse; Variant Cover Artist: David Mack; Associate Editor: Rex Ogle; Executive Editor: Eddie Berganza
  • Solicitation copy: “The Rise of Eclipso” continues as the JLA and the villainous lord of darkness have a showdown on the dark side of the moon!
  • Published: 20 April 2011
  • Length: 32 pages
  • Cost: $2.99

Young Justice (vol. 2) #3

  • Credits: Writer: Art Baltazar and Franco; Artist: Mike Norton; Colourist: Alex Sinclair; Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual; Cover Artist: Mike Norton; Cover Colourist: Alex Sinclair; Editor: Michael McCalister and Jim Chadwick
  • Solicitation copy:
  • Published: 20 April 2011
  • Length:
  • Cost: $2.99

Oneshots

Justice League of America 80-Page Giant 2011

  • Credits: Writer: Adam Glass ("Fraud", "Anger", & "Inferno"), Steve Yockey ("Heresy"), Pepe Caldelas ("Limbo"), Joe Prado ("Violence"), David Macho ("Greed"), Marc Bernardin ("Gluttony"), Roberto Cruz ("Treachery"), and Frank Mastromaro ("Lust"); Artist: Dennis Calero ( "Fraud"), Mikel Janin ("Anger"), Joe Prado ("Violence"), Miguel Munera ("Greed"), Vicente Cifuentes ("Lust"), and Scott McDaniel ("Inferno"); Colorist: Hi-Fi ("Fraud" & "Inferno"), Barbara Ciardo ("Heresy"), Stefani Rennee ( "Limbo"), Rod Reis ( "Violence"), Javier Mena ( "Greed"), Marcelo Maiolo ( "Gluttony"), Nathan Eyring ( "Treachery"), and Kyle Ritter ("Lust"); Letterer: Jarad K. Fletcher ("Fraud"), Rob Leigh ("Anger"), Pat Brosseau ("Heresy"), Dezi Sienty ("Limbo"), Travis Lanham ("Violence", "Greed", & "Inferno"), John J. Hill ("Gluttony"), Dave Sharpe ("Treachery"), and Carlos M. Mangual ("Lust"); Penciller: Marco Castiello ("Heresy"), Emanuela Lupacchino ("Limbo"), Ig Guara ("Gluttony"), and Rodney Buchemi ("Treachery"); Inker: Vincenzo Acunzo ("Heresy"), Guillermo Ortego ("Limbo"), Rodney Ramos ("Gluttony"), and Jose Marzan ("Treachery"); Special Thanks: Diego Garcia ("Limbo"); Cover Artist: Art Germ; Editor: Kate Stewart and Rex Ogle; Executive Editor: Eddie Berganza
  • Solicitation copy: As the team faces Eclipso in the the pages of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, Adam Glass, producer/writer for TV’s Supernatural, joins other talents to take us on a journey revealing key battles between the World’s Greatest Heroes and mystical, hellish beings, including the Demon, Zatanna – and an object that could blackened the heroes’ very souls
  • Published: 6 April 2011
  • Length: 80 pages
  • Cost: $5.99

Crossovers

JLA #55 was part of the “Rein of Doomsday” crossover as it meanders through DC’s line. The next part is also by JLA writer James Robinson and appeared in the Superman/Batman Annual.

Superman/Batman Annual #5

  • Solicitation copy: Picking up where March’s JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #55 left off, “Reign of Doomsday” amps up the danger as Supergirl and Batman are trapped aboard the Justice League satellite with Cyborg Superman and Doomsday — and both villians want to tear them limb from limb! A “who’s who” of the DCU shows up to aid in the battle, but there’s something different about Doomsday — something even the Justice League of America might not be prepared for! The story continues in this month’s SUPERBOY #6!
  • Published: 6 April 2011
  • Length: 56 pages
  • Cost: $4.99

Justice League: Generation Lost

Justice League: Generation Lost concluded with the double-sized issue #24. It’s been a long road getting here with two-years worth of stories compressed into a single year.

Justice League: Generation Lost #23

  • Credits: Writer: Judd Winick; Penciller: Fernando Dagnino; Inker: Raul Fernandez; Colors: Hi-Fi; Editor: Brian Cunningham and Rex Ogle; Cover Artist: Dustin Nguyen; Variant Cover Artist: Aaron Lopresti; Variant Cover Colors: Hi-Fi
  • Solicitation copy: In issue #23, WONDER WOMAN and the JLI find themselves face-to-face with the ultimate weapon Maxwell Lord has been planning since the beginning of GENERATION LOST. The world seems to be revolting against the human race. Can our heroes defeat Lord’s machinations?
  • Published: 13 April 2011
  • Length: 32 pages
  • Cost: $2.99

Justice League: Generation Lost #24

  • Credits: Writer: Judd Winick; Penciller: Aaron Lopresti; Inker: Matt Ryan; Colourist: Hi-Fi; Letterer: Travis Lanham; Cover Artist: Dustin Nguyen; Variant Cover Artist: Kevin Maguire; Variant Cover Colourist: Hi-Fi; Editor: Rex Ogle and Brian Cunningham
  • Solicitation copy: And in the extra-sized issue #24, the final battle is here! But who will be the victor?
  • Published: 27 April 2011
  • Length: 48 pages
  • Cost: $4.99

Trade Paperbacks

Justice League International Vol. 6 TP

  • Credits: Writer: Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Bill Loebs; Artist: Adam Hughes and Bill Willingham; Cover Artist: Adam Hughes
  • Solicitation copy: Collecting JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #31-35 and JUSTICE LEAGUE EUROPE #7-11! The two teams team up to face the threat of – vampires in the Balkans?
  • Published: 25 May 2011
  • ISBN: 0857684221
  • Length: 240 pages
  • Cost: $24.99

Power Girl #19

Credits: Written by Judd Winick; art by Sami Basri; coloured by Sunny Gho and Jessica Kholinne; lettered by John J. Hill;  edited by Rachel  Gluckstern (associate) and Mike Carlin; cover by Basri and Gho.

Synopsis “One Step Forward — Two Steps Back”: Power Girl remembers telling Maxwell Lord about the time that Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, and herself fought the Royal Flush Gang in the Florida swamps. However, nobody else remembers Max due to a telepathic command that PG has only recently broken (issue #18). She presents the facts about Lord to her team-mates in the JLA All-Stars and Batman (Dick Grayson), but as the pieces start falling into place they all pause and involuntarily forget everything about him. Batman notes that PG is crying even through she can’t remember why. Later she has a nightmare of Divine and Max showing up at her Starrware offices, but even when she wakes up she can’t remember that Max was in the dream. She doesn’t have time to ponder its meaning as Nicco informs her that he’s traced Divine and Crash to Vietnam via a lost ear-ring communicator. PG investigates and discovers a cloaked facility. Professor Ivo appears beside her and tells her that she’s been a large part of his work recently (the implication is that he’s responsible for Divine). He then reveals that the cloaked facility is the new Cadmus Project and shows her the monster’s he’s been building.

Continuity: Max owns wetlands in Chokoloskee, Florida. A lot of what is shown/referenced in this issue took place in Justice League: Generation Lost. Magog is referenced as being dead so this takes place after Generation Lost #13, Professor Ivo was shown working for Max in his Chinese robotics facility in Generation Lost #11. The implication is that Ivo is responsible for Divine’s creation. The Cadmus Project – show here – is referenced as being responsible for the creation of the Creature Commandos shown in Generation Lost #15.

Opinion: It’s not very often that Power Girl is made to look vulnerable, but she has really been put through the ringer by Maxwell Lord. The strain that he’s putting her under really comes across on the page – not just in the writing, but also in the subtly of her expressions and body language. It really shows that all the creators are pulling together to tell a nicely balanced story. The repeated forgetting of PG and Batman isn’t over stated. It happened once in Generation Lost and has now happened once here. It isn’t laboured, but repeats just enough of the beat to keep readers who just follow one book up to speed. The seriousness of the central part of the box is nicely balanced by the opening JLI flashback and the reveal of Cadmus’s daffy menagerie. While I like Generation Lost a lot, but I think the clear and consistent art lifts Power Girl above it as a series.

4.0

Power Girl #18

Credits: Written by Judd Winick; art by Sami Basri; coloured by Sunny Gho and Jessica Kholinne; lettered by John J. Hill;  edited by Rachel  Gluckstern (associate) and Mike Carlin; cover by Basri and Gho.

Synopsis “I don’t know your name (but you look really familiar)”: Power Girl has traced the mysterious mastermind who has stolen her company’s assets to a hidden base in Antarctica. She was attacked by a raven-haired female kryptonian as she approached the base. The woman (we later find out she is named Divine) admits that she’s a near-clone of Power Girl (“I think my boss wanted to put his own spin on it.”) However, that’s all she is willing to admit before she attacks Power Girl. The two women brawl across the ice as Power Girl tries to get the upperhand. The fight crashes through the roof of the buried base revealing tank after tank of earlier failed clones. Their brawl is brought to a sudden halt when Maxwell Lord disables them both with red-sun radiation. He then has CRASH help Divine up and they escape before PG recovers. As she lies on the ground she sees the Kord Industries logo and her memories of the Blue Beetle and Maxwell Lord come flooding back. An explosion incinerates the lab, the tanks, and any evidence, but it isn’t strong enough to hurt the recovering Power Girl. She pulls herself out of the crater and tells Nicco that she finally knows/remembers that Max is behind everything.

Continuity: Maxwell Lord created Divine by bargaining for Captain Marvel’s arch-foe Dr Sivana’s help. His speech implies he’s after the energy processing abilities of Kryptonian cells and that Divine is just a side-product. In the normal DC Universe Power Girl is a parallel universe version of Supergirl. However, in the DC Animated Universe of Justice League Unlimited a version of Power Girl called Galatea is a clone of Supergirl created by an evil version of the Cadmus Project. Divine parallels that clone origin. PG got her first look at Max in Power Girl #15, but she didn’t recognise him. She told Batman (Dick) about that in Justice League: Generation Lost #10 and they came within a whisker of remembering Max before his post-hypnotic blocks made them forget again.

Opinion: “As much as I like a good cat fight” says Max and this is quite a good cat fight. That’s what I like about PG -  the fights aren’t watered down just because she’s a superheroine (her battles are probably rougher than most male superheroes battles). Basri’s art is great as never really descends into a the T&A route that artists of the Ed Benes school would have taken. As always I think  Sunny Glo and Jessica Kholinne’s delicate and muted colouring is a large part of the success of this book. It just doesn’t look like most of the other books out there. It has a definite tone, look, and feel that is brilliantly its own. Divine has the potential to be a very interesting character (every superhero needs their own evil clone).

3.5

Power Girl #17

Credits: Written by Judd Winick; art by Sami Basri; coloured by Sunny Gho and Jessica Kholinne; lettered by John J. Hill;  edited by Rachel  Gluckstern (associate) and Mike Carlin; cover by Basri and Gho.

Synopsis “Snow Job Part Two”: Batman (Dick Grayson) continues to aid Power Girl in her search for the mastermind who stole money from her company and created the C.R.A.S.H. android. They raid the arms dealer who was trying to sell C.R.A.S.H. when it went live (back in PG #14) and he tells them that it was briefly stored in Antarctica. They knew this was connected with the purchase of massive thermal generators (implying somewhere cold), but they needed to narrow the search area down. Power Girl’s superspeed/x-ray search of the ice cap finds a man-made structure hidden beneath the ice. However, she’s ambushed by a super strong masked combatant as she approaches the base. Nicco’s remote sensors can’t get a lock on his physiology, but whoever it is they’re as strong as Power Girl. She finally manages to pull her attacker’s mask off to reveal that “he” is actually a dark-haired female just as Nicco radios her that the woman is a kryptonian.

Continuity: C.R.A.S.H. stands for “Cybernetic Re-Adaptive Simulant Humanoid”.

Opinion: Well I didn’t see that one coming – another excellent twist by Judd Winick. I’m writing this review after I’ve read the next issue so I (and possible you dear reader) know who the raven-haired kryptonian is. However at the time my mind was racing with who she could be – a survivor from Kandor, one of Zod’s crew escaped from the Phantom Zone, another Mutliverse refugee. The fight with Divine (she get’s named next issue) was the opening sequence for last issue so it’s almost two issues of re-sequenced drama before we’re back in sync. This works really well and gives a boost to what could have been a very procedural/non-action investigation. It seems that Dick Grayson gets his best solo outings as Batman in Justice League titles. Both James Robinson and Judd Winick manage to retain that sense of joy and flair he had as Nightwing whereas most of the Bat-titles tend to over do the Bruce Wayne Batman impersonation.

3.0

Justice League: Generation Lost #10

Issue Credits

Writer
Judd Winick
Penciller
Joe Bennett
Inker
Jack Jadson, Ruy Jose
Colourist
Hi-Fi
Letterer
Sal Cipriano
Cover Artist
Cliff Chiang
Variant Cover Artist
Felipe Massafera
Editor
Rex Ogle, Brian Cunningham

Quotes

Captain Atom: Okay, in the future, you may want to tell us a little sooner when you’ve hijacked every bit of information from the most powerful espionage organisation on Earth.Skeets: Yes sir.

Fire: What’s your empathy saying now?Rocket Red: Computers are talking like cocktail party. Big cocktail party.

Synopsis “The More You See, The Less You Will Know”

Maxwell Lord recalls in more detail the vision sent to him by the White Lantern. He sees an older Magog leading a group called the Justice Brigade against a terrified Parasite. Captain Atom grapples with the Parasite, but the villain manages to rip the Captain’s metal skin causing a massive nuclear explosion.  The Lantern intones

“It is the future.A vision of what is to come.Genocide will occur.A war will follow.Stop the War.One million will die within seconds.And a war between the powerful will be fought.Maxwell Lord!Stop the war.Stop the war.”

Max’s own present day plans are advancing. He has recruited Magog under the pretence that he is still leading Checkmate and has given him the task of killing Captain Atom.

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