Mark Bagley

JLA/JSA Preview and Bagley Interview

DC’s Source Blog has posed up a five-page preview of next week’s JLA/JSA crossover including a great Liberty Belle/Jesse Quick cover. The interior artwork looks fantastic and I like the way the Supergirl and Nightwing’s Batman’s monologs play off each other. There are two double-page spreads that DC had posted as individual pages. I’ve pasted them back together and have included them below.

To coincide with the start of the crossover Newsarama has interviewed Mark Bagley, the JLA artist who is pulling double duty on the JLA and JSA chapters. He talks about meeting Alan Scott’s original aritst,

Green Lantern is fun to draw because I knew Marty Nodell [the character's co-creator], and hung out with him and his wife a lot over the years. They both passed recently, and it was fun to know them. I can see me doing that in 10 or 15 years, just doing convention after convention and just hanging out with fans and doing sketches and stuff.

and about the differences in his inkers styles,

I’ve got two inkers anyway. JLA is 30 pages a month. I think we might be going back to 22 in the future, but for now, we’re splitting it up between Rob Hunter and Norm Rapmund. Norm is doing 10 pages out of 30, and Rob is doing 20. Rob didn’t think he could do 30 and do a quality job. He likes to have a life, whereas, I don’t have a life, so that works out well. I think during the crossover, Norm is inking the JSA issues and Rob is inking the JLA issues.

They have similar styles. Norm’s a little more controlled than Rob is. And Rob’s a little more expressive with his inks. It actually doesn’t look bad next to each other. Aside from that, they have similar sensibilities when inking a page. So I don’t mind having two inkers as much as I normally would.

It’s harder to ink than you’d think. Inking isn’t tracing. And when you bring as much to the book as these guys do… especially Rob, who I recently talked to about even pulling back on some of the detail, some of the really strong inking that he does. Sometimes less is more. He’s really working hard at it and it looks amazing. I think he’s becoming an even better inker.

It’s a nice interview and Mark scotches earlier rumours by saying he’s having a blast on JLA and is on the book for the foreseeable future.

Mark Bagley @ Newsarama and Artists Choice

Newsarama has a great interview with JLA penciller Mark Bagley which was recorded during the recent C2E2 convention. What makes this interview interesting is that, while JLA writer James Robinson has a high-profile online, Mark doesn’t seem to have done that many interviews. He talks about his work on Trinity and JLA. The question of his speed does come up, but Mark insists that he’s more dedicated than fast. He didn’t come into comics until he was 27 so he had time to build up a good work ethic out in the real world. He also relates a couple of anecdotes about his favourite character to draw and getting Jade’s palm pulse correct.

There is an older piece on Youtube from about the time that Mark moved to DC where he talks about winning the competition that got him the job at Marvel and how he broke the record for the duration on a single title.

Pages of Bagley’s inked pencils from Justice League of America are now available to buy from The Artists Choice. They also have several unpublished pages that were cut from JLA #41 including this one which would have been page 16.

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.”

More Cry For Justice questioning

At the DC Nation Panel (Newsarama) a fan challenged the panel about Cry For Justice. Dan Didio responded that:

No one said we were going all the way away from grim and gritty. I don’t think we’re even really doing grim and gritty. We’re doing drama, we’re doing adventure. Our job is to make people feel things. The fact that you got a strong reaction says that we’re doing our job.

[Personally, I'm getting quite tired of this line from the DC Management. Making people feel something isn't a measure of success unless it's the right feeling. Feelings of loss for the death of a character or anger at a character's actions are deliberately targeted responses. The same can't be said for the anger at poor product and bad characterisation.]

James Robinson continued,

It absolutely is one of the darkest Justice League stories ever done. We did this to facilitate making Star City one of the most distinct cities in the universe. There are reasons for Roy Harper being brought down to where he is and as far as killing Lian, it’s not like I was sitting in my home cackling while doing it. The other thing you’ll find, when J.T. Krul deals with the material, he’s a family man, the way it’s depicted is very heart-felt.

[..]

As my atonement for Cry for Justice, I promise to make Justice League to be big, exciting, epic adventures.

As I noted in my post about the Emerald City Con I think this issue is going to run for the entire convention season.

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.

JLA Solicitations for July 2010

DC’s Source has released the a preview of Brightest Day solicitations, including JLA books, for July 2010. The five-part JLA/JSA cross-over continues with parts two and three and the big-interlocking cover by Mark Bagley. The preview solicitation (the preview of the preview?) lists the publication date of Generation Lost #5 and #6 as the same day. This could be a typo. However, its nice to see the Rocket Red Brigade again

Justice League: Generation Lost #5 (28 July, 32pg, $2.99), #6 (28 July, 32pg, $2.99)

Written by Judd Winick and Keith Giffen, art by Joe Bennett (#5) and Fernando Dagnino (#6). Cover by Tony Harris and J.D. Mettler, 1-in-25 variant cover by Kevin Maguire.

DC’s biweekly JUSTICE LEAGUE event continues here! Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Fire, Ice and Blue Beetle track a mysterious villain to Russia only to find themselves face-to-face with an angry Rocket Red Brigade! When one of the Rocket Reds decides to defect and join our heroes, they all soon realize that the Justice League International is once again complete…but why, and for what purpose? The mystery deepens as this BRIGHTEST DAY tie-in continues!

Justice Society of America #41 (21 July, 32pg, $2.99), Justice League of America #47 (28 July, 40pg, $3.99)

Written by James Robinson, art by Mark Bagley and JSA: Norm Rapmund (JSA) / JLA: Rob Hunter and Norm Rapmund. Covers by Mark Bagley and Jesus Merino, JSA #41 has a 1-in-25 “DC 75th Anniversary” variant cover by George Perez

JSA #41: In part 2 of the JLA/JSA crossover, the Starheart has staked its claim on Alan Scott and his kids Jade and Obsidian! Can the combined might of the Justice Society and the Justice League break up the newly reunited family before they unwittingly unleash serious damage on the DC Universe?

JLA #47: The BRIGHTEST DAY continues with Part 3 of the JLA/JSA crossover! Jade is back! But is her return a blessing or a curse? The powerful Starheart empowering Green Lantern Alan Scott is out of control and unleashing its chaotic energy across Earth. What has lured the Starheart here and what familiar threat must the World’s Greatest Heroes and the Justice Society of America team up to stop?

JLA #43 Preview

“Team History”, the first proper arc of James Robinson and Mark Bagley’s Justice League, draws to a close with JLA #43. Green Arrow’s actions from Justice League: Cry For Justice were revealed in JLA: Rise and Fall Special, but how will the Justice League react and will Green Arrow even survive his encounter with the dark New Gods on the JLA Watchtower. A full 5-page preview can be found at DC’s Source.

Bagley JLA/JSA covers spotted at Isotope Comics

Kyle Minor, eagle eyed customer of San Francisco’s Isotope Comics, has posted some extra-special photographs to the Comics Geek Speak Forums. It turns out that JLA writer James Robinson is also a customer of Isotope Comics and has shared with them a photocopy Mark Bagley’s interlocking covers to the up-coming JLA/JSA crossover.

Go to the CGS Forums for better, larger pictures.

At the centre of it all of this is a Kingdom Come-like Alan Scott who appears to fighting the JLA and JSA. Eagle-eyed readers may spot Jesse Quick in a Johnny Quick homage costume in the first panel and Jade, Alan Scott’s deceased daughter, in the central panel. Jade’s name was mentioned at a recent convention panel so it looks like she could be heading for a post-Blackest Night resurrection.

The cover to JLA #46 – the first panel – was just released by DC Comics as part of their latest previews solicitation;

[via: Bleeding Cool]

Preview of JLA #43 cover

DC has released the artwork for the cover to Justice League of America #43 ahead of the pending solicitations for 2010 March’s comics.

The image shows a “split-screen” with the current Justice League on the left and the classic Secret Sanctuary era League on the right. The notable differences are the yellow circle around Batman’s bat symbol, the length of Green Lantern tunic, and the complete difference in Green Arrow’s costume.

JLA #40 Preview

JLAv2 #40.final.qxp

DC’s The Source blog has posted up a preview for JLA #40. It’s the second part of the JLA tie-in to Blackest Night that began in JLA #39. Go to the Source for all five pages.

The solicitation versions of JLA #39 and #40′s covers didn’t include the background battle. Now we’ve seen both publication covers we see that they tile together as a single image.