James Robinson

James Robinson’s next project is… Earth-2 JSA

Newsarama has reported from Fan Expo that the previously rumoured James Robinson and Nicola Scott JSA series is a go:

“Should we tease?” asked O.M.A.C.writer and DC co-publisher DiDio. The rest agreed, and James Robinson confirmed that he is working on a new Justice Society project with artist Nicola Scott, and that the parallel world Earth 2 will make a return. The crowd erupted into thunderous applause.

Robinson’s JLA run drew heavily from the Justice Society for characters like Jesse Quick, Jade, and the entire Starheart mythos. He also wrote a mini-series/graphic novel called the Golden Age which is what really got him noticed, pre-Starman, as a proponent of DC’s Golden Age characters. So this could be a really big deal – a JSA series where James gets to build his JSA from the ground up with no outside interference.

Personally I’m really excited about this, but I’m also buzzing with all those obvious questions that come up – is this a 1940s JSA? A present day JSA? How much of the Geoff Johns JSA remains intact (JJ Thunder, Stargirl, etc)? What about Infinity Inc? Does this regenerate all Roy Thomas’ work? And more importantly – has the JSA been expunged from the New DCU? If they have how does that mean that Opal City and the Starman stories now only exist on Earth-2, does the new Shade series also only exist on Earth-2 (the Shade was original a Golden Age Flash villain). So many, many details – so many fun ways of answering them.

I wonder how may people remember this page from Brad Meltzer’s Justice League of America (vol. 2) #0 (September 2006):

It’s a flash-foward to a hypothetical future event, namely the JLA discovering a parallel Earth and it references the JSA. It was also drawn by new JL artist Jim Lee. I don’t for a moment think they planned this, but it could be a brilliantly lucky guess.

James Robinson on CBR TV

CBR TV have an interview with James Robinson that was recorded at April’s Wondercon. There aren’t any real spoilers in it so I can’t understand why they’ve sat on it. He talks a little about his JLA run and about Alex Toth’s run on Eclipso (I first encountered those Toth issues because of his JLA run so I’m appreciative of just how different they were).

Most of the second half of the interview is about Robinson’s impending Shade 12-part series. It sounds like work is well underway despite it not being one of the New 52 titles coming in September. Listening to its description as a Starman-like reverential DC mythology series you get the feeling that it wouldn’t fit so well with the September’s clean slate initiative. Lets hope it appears soon afterwards.

Robinson interview at Newsarama

Just before Christmas (yeah I’m still playing catch-up) JLA writer James Robinson gave a pair of interviews to Newsarama about the new members in his JLA and about the next Eclipso arc.

The interview came hot on the heels of DC’s announcement with the March 2011 Solicitations that Saint Walker of the Blue Lanterns would be joining the Justice League. Walker was a character James wanted for the JLA from the moment he saw him, but things had to be synchronised with the Green Lantern franchise:

When I first saw him, I immediately liked Walker and I saw him as a potential sort of – I don’t know, an alien figure, in the way it would fit my team, in the way that J’onn J’onzz would fit the Big 7.

So Walker continues the pattern of the replacement League where each member of the current JLA is a proxy for one of the classic founders.

And on the current storyline James Robinson commented that:

This is all part of a much bigger story. This is my first foray into the Crime Syndicate, but it isn’t the last. Readers of my Starman series have seen me build a big, overriding storyline, and that’s what I’m doing here with Justice League of America. All of what I’m doing with the Crime Syndicate, and the Omega Man, is a first salvo with these characters. They’ll be coming back later for a much bigger role even than this one, in another storyline that I have cooking.

The seeds for “JLA: Omega” were planted in his first issue (JLA #38 in 2009) so he’s already shown a long-term plan. That there is still stuff to come is interesting.

The second part of the interview discussed the replacement of Mark Bagley (who is back at Marvel) with Brett Booth. He also talks about the return of the classic Bruce Gordon Eclipso and how JLA #54 will be an “Eclipso solo story more than anything” that sets up the arc proper in JLA #55.

James Robinson in conversation with Comicvine

JLA writer James Robinson banters and tries to get a word in edge -ways with Sarah and Tony as they review last weeks comics in the Comics Vine podcast. Topics include in-continuity comics, the struggle to keep story details secret, trade versus single issues, whether three-issue mini-series mean anything, and practically every other thing comics fans talk about. They make good use of the Comics Vine database as Sarah has to look up whatever obscure comic James is half remembering at any given moment.

It’s interesting to hear him discuss reviews of books like Brightest Day #15 which he’s not writing, but is close to (there is a JLA cameo at the end) and to candidly assess his contemporaries’ work.
They asked him what he thought about the JLA/The-99 mini-series and he was honest enough to say he hadn’t read it — he’s been snowed under with work so, as it wasn’t in continuity, it was something that he could safely leave until DC sent him a complimentary copy.
With relation to his Justice League work it was mentioned that he is co-writing an 80-page in-continuity JLA Special and that he’s introducing a new Canadian superhero.
Sarah took James to task for the The Cry For Justice quip about Hal/Lady Blackhawk/Huntress threesome (“It’s not just sex James – not when its comics characters.”). When he first wrote that scene it was Fire and Ice not Lady Blackhawk & Huntress, but Ice was still dating Guy Gardner so it was changed.
With regard to Roy Harper, Robinson stated that he hated the way that Red Arrow was eclipsing Green Arrow as the best archer in the DCU and that’s why they pulled him back to being Arsenal. The prosthetic limb means he’s brilliant with every weapon except for the bow and that creates a greater distinction between his and Ollie’s characters.

JLA comics news from NYCC

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).

Justice League comic-book at SDCC 2010

All the attention, in terms of Justice League news from SDCC, has so far been on Young Justice with the news of its preview, casting, and that Peter David will be writing episodes. That isn’t to say that there hasn’t been JLA and Generation Lost news coming out from DC’s panels, but those titles have established writers and are running quite nicely with their long-term storylines.

From the DC Universe panel (CBR, Newsarama) we learnt that for Judd Winick Generation Lost is “pretty much all I’m doing.” Which raises the question of when he finds time to write Power Girl. There is an arc devoted to Ice coming up and Captain Atom gets come more screen time. Aaron Lopresti will be drawing an issue that features “22 pages of the JLI fighting the Metal Men, wall-to-wall. ”

At the DC Universe panel James Robinson described his up-coming plans for the Justice League of America.

“This is going to be the team for quite some time,” Robinson said. “They’ve grown, and they are the Justice League.” They’ll be taking on the Crime Syndicate, with Supergirl taking on Ultraman, Jesse Quick against Johnny Quick, Batman vs. Owlman. “You’re actually going to see Superman and Hal Jordan being unable to help them,” Robinson said, adding that Superman is going to be confident in their chances of success. After this, an “interplanetary” event.

Newsarama’s Albert Ching, quoting James Robinson

The DC Teams panel covered so many books that there wasn’t much different announced there (possibly even less).

A far more substantive Justice League preview was delivered by AICN Comics’s pre-SDCC interview with James Robinson which included his philosophy to interaction with editorial fiat.

The JLA is a book that must always allow for the events of the DCU proper that are going on around it. Yes, I did have the rug pulled out from under me, by having this mass exodus of characters happen due to events in other books. I confess I hated losing Mon-El. But in the end I think the book is better for it now, with the team having a better core group and I get to use Supergirl who I’m having a lot of fun with. You can bitch and moan about these kind of things, or you can get on with it and try to work with what you have.

Basically, business as usual on Justice League and Generation Lost.

“This is going to be the team for quite some time,” Robinson said. “They’ve grown, and they are the Justice League.” They’ll be taking on the Crime Syndicate, with Supergirl taking on Ultraman, Jesse Quick against Johnny Quick, Batman vs. Owlman. “You’re actually going to see Superman and Hal Jordan being unable to help them,” Robinson said, adding that Superman is going to be confident in their chances of success. After this, an “interplanetary” event.

Robinson on JSA for one more issue

CBR’s Jeffrey Renaud has interviewed James Robinson (the writer of the Justice League comic book) about his plans for the up-coming JLA and JSA crossover. He describes how he approaches characters like Donna Troy, Dick Grayson, Jade, and Jesse Quick who serve as analogues to the League’s founders. He also reveals that he specifically asked for Jade to be returned to life in Brightest Day…

I did ask to have her come back. I’ve always liked Jade. I’ve always been quite a fan. [...] When she was killed during the Rann-Thanagar War, I felt that it was a waste of the character. And when the idea came about of me having my own kind of “7″ characters and doing my own thing with them, her name came up and it just felt like the right person to add to that team.

In a change to DC’s original plans Robinson will be staying on Justice Society for another issue to give them some post-crossover wrap-up.

This storyline is part of a much bigger picture that I have worked out with Mark Bagley and my editor Eddie Berganza that we’ll unfold over the next couple of years. So the Starheart and everything about it is just part of what will become a much bigger story as things go down the line. This is just the start. But it’s a finite series that has a beginning and an ending to the story.

I was originally staying on “JSA” for #41 and #42, but now – just to give the Justice Society a bit more of a coda – I’m staying for #43 too. At the start, the ending was all in “Justice League of America” #48, and it just felt like the Justice Society didn’t get their fair shake at the end.

And then there is a single-issue I’m really excited to write, “Justice League of America” #49, and then we go to #50, which is where another big arc will start. It’s another big, epic story involving everything people will want to see in a Justice League story.

The entire interview can be found at CBR.

Robinson interviewed about JLA/JSA crossover

Newsarama’s Vaneta Rogers has interviewed JLA writer James Robinson about his upcoming JLA/JSA crossover. He talks about how Jade’s return heralds the arrival of the full Starheart – the source of her and her father’s powers.

Alan Scott derives his Green Lantern powers from a different source than the Guardians of the Universe’s Green Lantern Corps (GLC). As part of their foundation of the GLC the Guardians gathered the remaining wild magic in the Universe together into a single orb called the Starheart (so-called because it was hidden within a star). A fragment of that orb made its way to Earth where – via some sort of strange resonant sympathy with the GLC – it caused itself to become a mystic duplicate of a GLC Lantern battery and Power Ring. It’s that magical ring that Alan Scott uses in his adventures as Green Lantern. It’s also the power that Jade has inherited.

Robinson described to Newsarama the troubles that the Starheart’s approach to Earth causes,

What her [Jade's] resurrection does, as you saw in Issue #44, is it brings the whole Starheart to Earth, which in turn affects the world. It affects every meta with magic or elemental powers, which are two of the main energies that are within the Starheart. It’s also causing the Earth to have terrible natural disasters of various kinds. And most specifically, it affects Alan Scott, Obsidian and Jade.

It’s all basically the Starheart, which has the mind of an infant, having fun as it learns about the planet. It needs to be controlled. That’s always what it wants. And Alan Scott had the ability and the will to do that, to control it…at least when it was a small amount of the Starheart that was on Earth. But once it’s all of the Starheart, it’s about finding a way to control that.

He also talks about coming back to the Justice Society after relaunching it with Geoff Johns a decade ago. There are also the standard questions we’ve heard at the last couple of conventions “What about Batman”, but it’s a nice promo interview that recaps a lot of what he’s been reported as telling convention audiences lately.

C2E2 Stable roster and artist rumours

The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) was held this weekend with the usual round of DC Panels and guests. News continues to surface about future books. JLA writer James Robinson was in attendance at the DC Nation, Brightest Day, and DC Universe Panels.

Future Storylines

There were questions at the DC Universe Panel (CBR) about the make up of the Justice League. Following the report of the full roster as WC10, Robinson reiterated that

The team you seen in Justice League [#43] will be in place for quite some time. And the stories you see are going to be so big that you’ll forget they’re not the Big 7.

and that the team was composed of

some characters that I had an affinity for, some of the cast of Cry for Justice, and the graduates of the Titans. But for various reasons, some of those characters were taken away from me.

Animal Man will appear in JLA #49. In addition,

“Vixen will be coming back in a very specific arc” of “Justice League,” Robinson said. Cyborg has a supporting role, but this will lead into a bigger arc. He will get a backup story in “Justice League” #48-50. A farewell scene with Plastic Man was cut from issue #41, but “I have a fondness for the character.”

Artist Rumours

Bleeding Cool reported a rumour that Mark Bagley’s exclusive contract with DC Comics had come to an end and that he’s been quoted at C2E2 as saying that he’ll be “back at Marvel in six months.” Mark started with JLA #38 and will have done every issue up to JLA #48 including two JSA issues – a 12-issue run which is standard for most artists nowadays.

Whether the artist rumours are true or not I don’t know, but C2E2 was apparently the first time that James Robinson and Mark Bagley met each other.

Cry For Justice creators nominated for Eisner

The nominees for the Eisners, possibly the most prestigious of comic book awards, have just been announced. Love it or hate it, Justice League: Cry For Justice has been included in the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Nominees 2010 under nominations for James Robinson as best writer and Mauro Cascioli as best painter. The full fields (as listed by the Beat) for those awards are:

Best Writer
• Ed Brubaker, Captain America, Daredevil, Marvels Project (Marvel) Criminal, Incognito (Marvel Icon)
• Geoff Johns, Adventure Comics, Blackest Night, The Flash: Rebirth, Superman: Secret Origin (DC)
• James Robinson, Justice League: Cry for Justice (DC)
• Mark Waid, Irredeemable, The Incredibles (BOOM!)
• Bill Willingham, Fables (Vertigo/DC)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)
• Émile Bravo, My mommy is in America and she met Buffalo Bill (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
• Mauro Cascioli, Justice League: Cry for Justice (DC)
• Nicolle Rager Fuller, Charles Darwin on the Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation (Rodale Books)
• Jill Thompson, Beasts of Burden (Dark Horse); Magic Trixie and the Dragon (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
• Carol Tyler, You’ll Never Know: A Good and Decent Man (Fantagraphics)

The Absolute edition of the Justice maxi-series is also nominated for Best Graphic Album—Reprint and Publication Design.

DC Comic reacted by posting short celebrations of the candidates, who they describe thusly,

WRITER:
James Robinson, JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRY FOR JUSTICE. One thing that can be said about James Robinson as a writer? He takes risks. Whether it’s launching a Justice League series starring Congorilla, a blue-skinned Starman and Supergirl or having one of comic’s most-beloved heroes shoot an arrow through Prometheus’ skull, let it never said that Robinson plays it safe. And it’s that daring and innate knowledge of these characters he so clearly loves that earned him the nod.

PAINTER/MULTIMEDIA ARTIST:
Mauro Cascioli, JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRY FOR JUSTICE. Mauro Cascioli made tragedy real. With his realistic, painterly style, Cascioli brought a gritty, three-dimensional sensibility to a book that collected some of the most daring and imaginative characters in the DC Universe. Whether it was a battle of super-powered beings among the clouds or an archer’s aching sense of loss, Cascioli has it covered, and he showed as much in the pages of CRY FOR JUSTICE.

GRAPHIC ALBUM (REPRINT) and PUBLICATION DESIGN
ABSOLUTE JUSTICE. Alex Ross, Jim Krueger and Doug Braithwaite’s all-star story of of heroes and villains got the spruced up Absolute treatment in 2009, and we finally got to see the book’s amazing artwork presented as it should have been — in an expanded and high-end format.

James Robinson acknowledged his nomination on Twitter in defiant style:

To all who congratulated me for the Eisner nom, thank you. To all those vocally pissed that I got one, thank you too. The fact that you care enough about comics to have strong opinions at all is a good thing, ultimately. So bravo to all you Robinson haters, I love you all.

James is a brilliant writer, but its a tough field this year and I don’t personally think that Cry For Justice is either his strongest work or the strongest work on that list. Nevertheless, good luck to him and Mauro. The winners will be announced on Friday, July 23 at Comic-Con International.

Future Storylines

More Cry For Justice questioning

Artist Rumours