New "Justice League" Roster and Creative Team Starting in December; Crossover with "Aquaman"



Cover to Justice League #15 by Ivan Reis & Joe Prado

It was just announced yesterday that starting with December's #15, DC's premiere series would be getting a new ongoing artist. That artist happens to be one of my personal favorites: Ivan Reis. For the past year, Ivan Reis has been doing beautiful work on one of Geoff Johns' (who will be continuing on the series, by the way) two other series Aquaman. Which, by the way, is getting a crossover with Justice League starting (and maybe finishing?) in the #15 issues of the two series. Reis' work on the League has been seen various times over the past year including a few pages of #8 and the end of #12, and before the New 52, we saw his DCUniverse work with series like Blackest Night and Brightest Day. Personally, I have always loved Reis' work, especially since he was the artist of the first comic I ever bought myself (Blackest Night #1). I have always wanted Reis on a JL book and so this is a dream come true.

As for the cover, the issue shows Shazam on the cover along with the rest of the team so I'm wondering if that means that he joins the League at the same time as all this "Atlantis" stuff is going on? Or is it just like how in #1 of JL we didn't see Diana, Arthur, and Barry despite their appreance on the cover? Either way, I love the cover. It's bold. It's simple. And it kind of teases the way the series seems to be headed.

Now, to the crossover. I'm not sure who the new Aquaman artist will be (I can't recognize it from the cover?) but I'm sure as hell gonna be buying at least Justice League at that point and since Justice League is crossing over with Aquaman, I figure "Why the hell not?" ya'know? It'll only make sense if I buy both, so I might as well. Apparently the crossover is going to be Ocean Master attacking the surface world? Or taking over Atlantis and Arthur doesn't like that or something? Who knows! Well, I suppose Geoff Johns would. Either way! Looks interesting enough!

Check in for more information on "Justice League", "Aquaman", Ivan Reis, and this crossover!

The Flash Annual, Superman Annual, and Justice League #12 Previews

Cover to The Flash Annual #1 by Francis Manapul

 

Cover to Superman Annual #1 by Kenneth Rocafort

 

 

Covers to Justice League #12 by Jim Lee

 

 

Justice League #9 Review!

Justice League #9

Written by: Geoff Johns

Art by: Jim Lee, Scott Williams, & Gary Frank (back-up story)

Summary

Justice League

-Apparently four years ago, David Graves was really old and sick and then killed his doctor and began his "journey"

-Back in the present, Steve Trevor (who is my least favorite character in this series now) is getting too much press

-Batman is in the Cave and learns that they Key broke in to Arkham

-Clark feels left out from lunch plans at the Daily Planet when Bruce "invites" him to lunch

-Then, shortly after at Arkham, Superman and Batman are taking down a bunch of inmates at Arkham, trying to get to the Key

-Then Steve Trevor gets kidnapped

-GL and Flash just took down Weapons Master

-Flash wants to be bad cop

-Fails miserably

-They call in Wonder Woman

-Supes, Bats, and Cyborg find Key in Arkham and he says that he wants to be locked away

-Key & Weapons Master both say that a man took everything they knew about the League and his name was Graves

-Trevor gets tortured and the new baddy claims that unless he tells him how to get onto the JL's satellite that he will kill Trevor's family

-Trevor tells him that he will tell him everything

Shazam!

-It's Billy's first day of school

-Some rich kids are bullying his foster family

-Billy kicks their asses

-He nearly gets expelled

-Billy threatens the kids again with their dad around and he grabs Billy and tells him that if he "even looks" at his kids again that he'll have to deal with their dad

-Billy's foster dad shoves him off 

-Billy tells him that he could've handled it himself

-Doctor Sivana comes across what seems to be the Tomb of Black Adam

-He gets shocked

-A lightning bolt star over his eye appears

-He claims he can see magic now

Thoughts

I really, really loved this issue. Idk what else to say, beyond that the art was great and that the story seems pretty good. Especially if Steve Trevor dies in this storyline. That'd be great, honestly. Can't wait for the rest of this storyline. I loved the character development. Can't wait for #10. Oh and my only issue with the Shazam story is that we haven't actually seem Shazam himself in a long ass time. This issue gets a 9/10.

The Flash: "All right, Weapons Master. You better, uh, talk or..."

Weapons Master: "Or what?"

The Flash: "Or I'm going to...I'm going to get really... Upset."

Weapons Master: "*tt* I'm not telling you anything."

Justice League #7 Review!

Justice League #7-Geoff Johns & Gene Ha
This was kind of an odd issue. It doesn't really seem like that bad of an issue at first, but after re-reading it you kind of realize how ridiculous, out-of-place, and confusing it is. The issue is focused on Steve Trevor who seems to be getting the full "Geoff Johns' Treatment" up, down, and around again. Sadly we see very little of the League itself in this story and even less dialogue beyond bitching to Trevor about stupid issues while he's trying to have a nice conversation with Wonder Woman over video chat. Speaking of the video chat scene (which took up more pages than the fighting scene...), when Batman was bitching to Trevor about something, he was like invisible. Is Geoff Johns just adding in a power for Bats or something? I know he isn't like (the Pre-New-52) Mr. Terrific and that his "power" is to be invisible to technology. BUT HE JUST ISN'T THERE ON THE SCREEN AT ALL!!! Maybe it was a mistake on Gene Ha's part... Whatever. OH! And speaking of that, HOW THE HELL IS BATMAN GONNA TELL TREVOR TO SHUT DOWN THE J.L.I. He worked side-by-side with them and SAID to Booster that he is a good leader and that he can lead the team. CONTINUITY ERROR, CHAIRMAN JOHNS! JUST BECAUSE YOU HATE THE J.L.I. DOESN'T MEAN EVERYONE ELSE HAS TO!! And for some reason, every damn civilian seems to think that the Justice League would somehow be better government officials than the real government. Call me crazy, but I'd be pissed if Batman or Superman was the president. (Except for the parallel Earth's "President Superman" of course) This issue was just all-around confusing. Only interesting thing we learned was that the dude who wrote the novel that originally dubbed the J.L. as the "World's Greatest Super-Heroes," is the villain for the second story-arc. I give this issue a 7/10 not for the story, but because I was pleasantly surprised by the artwork from Gene Ha, which I have to admit I was not looking forward to but now after reading this issue...I'm glad I didn't just skip it. Plus, it sets up for the second story arc, which is hopefully better than the first.

As for the Shazam! back-up story...I thought it was okay. Gary Frank's artwork was great as always. But it was kind of confusing as to what was going on at first. Once you re-read it, it makes much more sense. I promise. It was good and I am certainly looking forward to seeing more of the New-52 Shazam (hopefully he will eventually join the League!!!). 8.5/10

Me: *looking at the cover* "It says "Justice League" but it stars Steve Trevor...why doesn't Geoff just write a Steve Trevor ongoing instead!?!?!?!?"

Justice League #5 Review

Justice League #5
Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, & Scott Williams

Summary

The issue starts off with Flash waking up in a pile of rubble while Darkseid is laying waste to the city. He tells Darkseid to stop and the big New God just stares at him. Superman wakes up right as Darkseid shoots out his Omega beams and Flash hurries up and grabs him outta the way. He carries Supes down the street just ahead of the beams. Supes wakes up and when he and Flash split up, so do the two Omega beams. Flash runs and runs until he finds a group of local policemen who are fighting off parademons. He turns intangible and runs through a parademon but the Omega beam blows up the demon. Flash is worn out (...what!?) and the police are freaking out, but that doesn't really go anywhere. But at the same time, Superman's beam catches up with him and makes him explode, and a parademon flies off with him. Flash runs back to the rest of the group, in time for Green Lantern to try (and fail) to fight Darkseid. Darkseid easily takes him down and breaks GL's arm, then walks off. Batman and GL talk (well...Batman talks, and GL argues back), and Bats reveals his secret identity. What!?!?!? That is one of the SINGLE STUPIDEST things I have EVER read!!! Batman ALSO takes off his mask and runs through the streets to go find Superman, while GL goes back and rallys the team. The issue ends with Batman going through a portal and ending up on Apokolips.

Thoughts

Is it just me, or is Geoff Johns writing pretty much only the characters he likes? Batman, Flash, GL... I mean the art has been steadily greatttt, but Geoff really needs to start making Superman, Cyborg, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman have a larger role. I have to say that this series is starting to lack. But I'm hoping that once this story is over, we can get a better story. The next arc (which is supposed to be a "Legion of Doom" kind of enemy) should be good. As long as I can make it through the two filler issues, I'll be good. But this issue was okay enough. The only issue I actually had was the fact that Batman revealed his identity to someone he just met, and ran through the streets without his mask on.

7/10

Justice League #3 Review--SPOILERS!

Justice League #3-Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, & Scott Williams

Well the issue opens with Steve Trevor looking for Diana (Wonder Woman) who apparently forced her way out of the Pentagon. She is then seen walking around and meets a little girl that introduces her to her first ice cream experience. Then Steve runs up and tells her that she has to come back with him to the Pentagon. After this we see a Para-Demon on top of a building and then a whole hoard of them come out and attack D.C.
Back in Detroit (where Vic Stone and his dad were last seen), the Para-Demons are taking away Professor Ivo while Vic's body is slowly slowly being destroyed by energy. Thomas Morrow (T.O. Morrow for all you long-term fans) tells Vic's dad that they have to leave him, but he says that he won't let him die.
Next we cut to Metropolis where Supes, Bats, GL, & Flash were last seen. Flash informs the group that this is not an isolated incident. Bats informs GL that his constructs are breaking which means that he isn't focused and calm enough, to which GL replies that Bats doesn't have any powers. Flash says that he thought Bats was a vampire. Bats tells the group that there are too many and they can't just barrel through them all, to which Supes smashes a ton of them away with a truck. And continues beating them with it.
Morrow, Vic's dad, and an intern take Vic into the "Red Room" and they set Vic down on a table. It turns out that this place has technology from all across the globe in it.
Back with the guys, we see that the Para-Demons are taking the people out over the water, when a whole other group of fresh Para-Demons attack the team. To which Wonder Woman appears and GL calls dibs. (Good luck with that one, Hal)
Vic is slowly dying and his dad injects him with nanites. We then see Cyborg being created. The Demons run off and start circling the water.
Then we see this one page where its like we see Darkseid, but we don't and its honestly rather confusing. I could've lived without it.
Then a huge explosion bursts from the water, Vic goes "on-line" and a huge space-ship-looking-thing appears out of the water. Then Aquaman walks up, asking who is in charge. Then votes for himself to be in charge.

Well I really liked this issue. It had tons of action, which the first and second issue had a little bit less of. It was a good intro to Wonder Woman and Aquaman, and we finally saw Darkseid and Cyborg. It was fun, interesting, and really sets up for the next issue. Can't wait! 10/10, easy.

Aquaman: "So who's in charge here? I vote me."

Check back in later for my Batman #3 review!

Justice League #2 Review! SPOILERS!

Hey guys, it DOESN'T look like I'll be able to get out and get Aquaman, GL: NG, Teen Titans, & Wolvie & the X-Men like I had hoped to. But I'll try and round up some cash to grab at least GL: NG & Teen Titans. But anyway, here we go with a not-so-quick review.

Justice League #2-Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, & Scott Williams
Okay I think I'm going to start doing all of my Justice League comics like this from now on. Kind of like Jason on his review blog, where its a long summary of the story, then some quick thoughts at the end. And by the way, I ended up paying for this comic and the sleeve with quarters and dimes. So I'm keeping this one as safe as possible.

Summary
We see that Batman has pretty much been completely disarmed and has no gadgets left with him (I wonder if this will come up later in the series, at all?) thanks to Superman being invulnerable to just about everything...even though he's not in Action? Talk about inconsistencies. Especially since they're taking place around the same time. But whatever. Hal finally gets up (damn he must've been down for a long time from just that one punch if Bats wasted his entire utility belt already...) and we see civilians running away from him. Supes thinks that since Batman is carrying the assumedly new Mother Box design, he is on the side of the para-demons that also attacked Supes. Hal and Supes begin duking it out, and Supes easily destroys all of his constructs. Then Hal...calls Barry on his cell phone? Whatttt? Right in the middle of a battle? Good job, Hal. I wouldn't have imagined that happening...ever, but I guess that's why I'm not writing at DC. But anyway, Flash shows up after Hal tells him that Supes will kill them if he doesn't come and help out. Barry, always thinking ahead, says that he feels like this is a big misunderstanding and spins runs around the big guy taunting him about how he's never been touched. He stops for a split second, and guess what...Supes manages to flick his red ass all the way down the street into a hot dog stand. TAKE THAT ARROGANCE! Bats steps in between GL and Supes and calms them down. Then the police/army show up to arrest the gang.

The four heroes escape into the sewer. Then we cut to S.T.A.R. Labs...in Detroit? Why is it in Detroit!? NOTHING is in Detroit!!! Well maybe that's WHY it's in Detroit... Whatever. We see Vic Stone's dad in a lab with one of the Mother Boxes and then we hear that Vic is there to see him. They get into an argument about how his dad thinks that football is useless even though it's Vic's passion. Then we see the gang bottled up in an abandoned printing press in an amusing scene where Bats says Supes must not have a secret identity because he doesn't hide his face, and GL and Flash think they should maybe try and figure it out on their own. Then we see the Mother Boxes that are both with the heroes and at S.T.A.R. labs are all about to explode. Then they do and a whole shitload of para-demons come out of them. At the same time, Vic was hit with a blast from one of them and his body glows up all red, effectively ending a very interesting issue.

Thoughts
I really liked this issue. I liked the fact that we got to see that Supes strength is DEFINITELY stronger than Hal's willpower. And the fact that Supes can occasionally keep up with Barry, even if he only gets to flick him down the road. I always like to see a Hero vs. Hero battle...even if this one was Hero, Hero, & Hero vs. Hero. I like the fact that we know we're gonna get to see Vic either become Cyborg or realize that he'll have to become a cyborg and also the fact that we will get to FINALLY see Wonder Woman in the next issue. I honestly CANNOT wait. This issue gets a solid 10/10.

Superman: "Chains? You're FUNNY, Green Lantern."

and

The Flash: "You can SEE THROUGH things?"
Superman: "Most of the time."
The Flash: "What can YOU do, Batman?"
Batman: "I can keep us on point."

Justice League #1 Review!

This is the beginning of a whole new era of DC Comics. I'm so excited, you don't even know. Even though there are only about 20 series that I would even think about following, so I can wait for those other 32 series to come, but series like Justice League International, Action Comics, and Justice League itself. But I'd like to say one thing before I start the review: Only four characters from the new line-up actually APPEAR in this first issue. So without further wait...I present Justice League #1-Geoff Johns & Jim Lee

Summary
The issue opens with Batman running on top of rooftops chasing some hooded figure, while being chased by the F.B.I. Batman manage to get them off of his tail for a couple seconds, and tackles the hooded figure who seems to kind of look like Killer Croc (though we know it isn't because some of us know who the real villain is of the story arc). Then a bright green firetruck construct comes out of nowhere and smashes into the monster-thing and nearly knocks Batman off the roof with it.

Then an uncalled for splash page where we see Green Lantern hovering above Batman. Bruce tells him to turn off his lights, but then GL just puts up some constructs in between the F.B.I. and he. Or at least that's who I think it is. Then the monster guy smashed back and apparently has wings or something ridiculous like that and so GL and Bats are out of the way for a moment and the monster guys spits fire and blows up a few of the F.B.I. helicopters. GL makes the save, then the monster becomes a spider-guy? Or as GL said "some kind of dog."

They fly (or Batman swings) off after the beast. The then go down into the sewers (GL floats down, Batman climbs down). GL starts asking what Bruce's "powers" are. Then he realizes he has no powers..hahaha. That's what you get, Bats. The most powerful guy in the Universe is laughing at you.

So in return for getting totally dissed by Hal, Bats decides to take his ring and "study" it. Though Hal didn't even notice him take it. (Yeah, that's the badass Batman we all know! Maybe this relaunch won't be so painful after all!)

The little spider-monster-guy is attaching something to a wall and it, according to Hal, becomes armed. Then the spider-monster yells "FOR DARKSEID!" and blows up. So GL puts a safe (yes, like one from a bank) around them and it keeps them, well...safe. I guess this is the first time Hal's ring was unable to identify the bomb thing that was left behind.

They agree that it "looks alien" and agree, also, that they should go find Superman (who both of them have apparently never met before).

Then we skip to a highshool football star, named Vic Stone. It basically tells the beginnings of Cyborg's introduction into the DCnU. They win the game in a blowout and we see someone who Vic wanted to reserve a seat for, never showed up. All of the scouts are offering full scholarships. Apparently his dad is busy at work and couldn't come to talk to the scouts. Then, of course, we see a Green Fighter Jet fly over the stadium.

They find where Supes is and Batman warns GL about entering. So GL puts Batman in a little protective box and says that he can handle it. So what happens in the next panel? Superman takes him down with one punch. (Handled that REALLY well, eh?) Then the last page in a splash page of Superman standing in front of Superman in his red undies-less DCnU outfit.

What I Thought
Let me put this out there: As much as I love Geoff Johns and just about every story he writes, this was about average. And starting out with a 6-issue origin story FIRST probably wasn't the best idea he's ever had (but at least it wasn't as bad as Swamp Thing being the Champion of Earth. Yeah, remember that that was only five months ago). I figure that I would have just opened with a story arc that the entire line-up would be involved in so that you get "all the new readers" in at a point that you can introduce them quickly and proficiently so that they aren't thinking "What the hell? Is the League only going to be Batman and Green Lantern fighting other heroes like Superman? Never buying this again." And since they probably don't care enough to look up websites like "Comic Book Resources" or JT's and my blog to figure out that, yeah...all those characters on the cover WILL BE HERE SOON! I PROMISE! But Geoff Johns' script: Average, but humorous still. Jim Lee's art: As always...beautiful.

I'll give this issue an 8.5/10.

Batman: "Space Sector?"
Green Lantern: "It's my beat. I'm not the only Green Lantern out there. There're thousands of others patrolling the Universe. A whole corps--"
Batman: "Uh, huh."

I Will Be Reviewing "Justice League" #1 and "Flashpoint #5 on Wednesday morning before most shops open

That's right. I'm announcing that I will be able to review Justice League #1 before JT will be able to. Lol. It'll be the only time I will be reviewing a comic (for now, at least) the day it actually comes out. I will also be reviewing the Digital Edition of the Justice League issue and seeing how well the Digital sales work.

So here's to the first comic of the DCnU. A comic that I have been waiting for for several months. Here's to hoping it's amazing. And here's to hoping the DCnU will be prosperous and get many, many sales.

I'll see you guys Wednesday morning with "Reviews and Spoilers of the DCnU." Sleep tight, everybody.

DC Comics Announces Company-Wide Relaunch to Start August 31st

Well, guys, the rumors are true. DC Comics announced something that would confirm the rumors and speculations that have been going around over the past several weeks since August solicitations were announced.

Let me start by posting the statement that DC said on their blog, The Source on Tuesday;

"On Wednesday, August 31st, DC Comics will launch a historic renumbering of the entire DC Universe line of comic books with 52 first issues, including the release of JUSTICE LEAGUE by NEW YORK TIMES bestselling writer and DC Entertainment Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns and bestselling artist and DC Comics Co-Publisher Jim Lee."

This is, obviously, an attempt by DC to grab more readers. I, personally, think that it may succeed...but for a short amount of time. Being the second or third of my blogging community to report on this, I have decided to do as much research on the topic as possible.

Now, with Johns and Lee on a new Justice League ongoing series, marking the first time the two bestselling DC-people have teamed-up on a project, I'm honestly rather excited for this. But with a relaunch of 52 series, while there are currently 56 ongoing series out there, I have to ask myself the obvious: "Which series' will be replaced, and what will be replacing it?"

A few months ago, DC announced Johns and former-Green Lantern artist, Ivan Reis, would launch an Aquaman ongoing series. I was excited purely for Reis' art. Earlier in the year, DC also announced a Red Lantern Corps series would be launched, written by fan-favorite horror-y writer, Peter Milligan. Sounds good. When I read Justice League: Generation Lost #24's last page, and say the announcement of the new ongoing series...I was fucking ready for my new-favorite series to come out.

But, then, I thought to myself "But, wait...This can't be right. Three new GREAT ongoing series starting in late-2011 for no APPARENT reason?" Soon enough, August's solicitations rolled around and it was revealed that on the 31st, only Flashpoint #5 would be released for that day. The rumors immediately started flying. It seemed like in only a matter of time, DC would have to make some sort of announcement as to their Post-Flashpoint plans.

On Tuesday, it was official. DC was going to relaunch every ongoing series with a new (or for the first time) issue #1.

There have only been about eight new series' officially announced;
[A] Superman [series]-Written by Grant Morrison

Wonder Woman #1-With a whole new creative team and all of JMS's bullshit GONE!!! YESSSSS!!!

Green Lantern #1-Still written by Geoff Johns and the events of Blackest Night and the whole Emotional Spectrum still intact

Hawkman #1-by James Robinson

Aquaman #1-Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis

Justice Society of America-New creative team still to be announced

Birds of Prey #1-without fan-favorite writer, Gail Simone

and Teen Titans #1-written by Red Robin writer Fabian Nicieza

Okay. Great. Cool. Welcome to the club, guys. These are all obvious series (excluding Birds of Prey and Hawkman) to come out. Whatever. What I'm most interested in is the series like Secret Six, Booster Gold, and Batgirl (which are all fan-favorites). Will these be the three unlucky series to disappear forever to never be seen again? Or will it include series like Power Girl, Green Lantern Corps., Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors, or Green Arrow that include relatively popular superheroes, that aren't necessarily selling in the high-range right now?

I was pretty much preparing to revamp the series' that I buy after Flashpoint was over; starting with series like Power Girl, Booster Gold, the JLI, Batman, and the Teen Titans. The only series that I am 100% certain will still be around after the relaunch is the Justice League International.

I figured, "Hey, maybe after Flashpoint I can jump onto Power Girl, the JLI, Batman, the Teen Titans, and, best of all, Booster Gold!" But, now... I'm just purely concerned.

But this announcement wasn't only to announce the relaunch of the entire DC Universe...it was to also announce every issue would be released same-day-as-print in digital! Cool...I guess. Whatever.

The only new thing that I'm looking forward to coming out of this relaunch besides (possibly) a good jumping on point, is the new Justice League series by Johns and Lee. The promotional art shows the return of the "Big Seven" (excluding Martian Manhunter) to the team, along with ten other heroes who haven't been stated yet. Check out this promotional art:

Oi. So I'm tired and I gladly got this post out to you guys before Thursday! Yay! Comment and such, guys. Thanks for reading!