So, looks like we have a new "Justice League of America" book coming next year starring, from right to left, Green Arrow (bottom), Hawkman (top), Katana, Stargirl (top), Martian Manhunter (bottom), Green Lantern Baz (top) Steve Trevor ((bottom)don't we see enough of him in regular "Justice League"?), Catwoman, and Vibe (below/behind Catwoman). Interesting line-up, considering the Manhunter just left Stormwatch, GA was repeatedly rejected from the League, and Baz will be fighting the League in
November, and Katana is already a Birds of Prey member. You also have to ask yourself, what will bring the heroes together. Is it Trevor? He recruited Ollie in Justice League #7, did he bring the rest of them together? Will this be the new "Government-Backed" Justice League, or the exact opposite? Trevor's presence is making me curious. Maybe Trevor has realized that the "regular" League can't handle threats properly after the current fight with David Graves? Why is Catwoman joining a Justice League team? Isn't Baz seeming to be a bad guy? Will this League fight the regular League? Does this mean that the "Trinity" in the "Trinity War" is the Justice League, JLA, and JLD? A million questions pop into mind. Maybe we can find out some answers in this interview.
Interview with Geoff Johns and David Finch from MTV Geek:
As just announced at
FanExpo Canada,
DC Comics is launching a brand new version of the Justice League of
America in 2013! Written by Justice League's Geoff Johns, and pencilled
by Batman: The Dark Knight's David Finch, the title brings together a
disparate group of heroes under the leadership of Steve Trevor to fight
the Secret Society of Super Villains. We had a chance to sit down and
talk with Geoff Johns and David Finch about the title - which will be
running side by side with Justice League - in advance of the reveal, and
found out more about the line-up (hey, there's Vibe and Stargirl!), how
they come together, and why this might be the start of something even
bigger:
MTV Geek: Geoff, David, thanks for chatting... Other
than David doing covers, this is the first time you two have worked
together, right?
Geoff Johns: Yeah, I’m super excited about that!
David Finch: I’ve been wanting to work with him for a
long time.
GJ: I think I met you at Toronto, it must of been
seven years ago or something.
DF: I remember, we were walking back from the
convention.
GJ: We were talking about working on something
together someday, and lucky seven years later, we’re doing it!
Geek: So then how did this end up being the right
project? Why Justice League of America?
GJ: I think they knew we wanted to work together on
something, we were talking about the book, and I think David, they
approached you about doing a book like this?
DF: I really wanted to work with you, so that was
really the only criteria. [Laughs] When I heard about the book, I was
very excited, and I’ve loved everything I’ve seen so far. It’s just so
cool.
Geek: I’m pretty excited about the roster for the
team, but before we get to that, what’s the idea of the book? Why do
they get together?
GJ: The idea of why the JLA forms, and what it is,
and what it’s in reaction to... It kind of spins out of Justice League
#12; what happens in that, and then subsequent issues, because JLA comes
out next year some time. But the book itself is a group of heroes that
aren’t necessarily coming together because they want to be together...
They’ve been selected specifically. They all want, or need something
that Steve Trevor, and the other person behind the scenes that’s in
charge of this team can provide.
The first arc is going to deal with something they learn is called
The Secret Society of Super-Villains.
Geek: I’m curious, how specific is the “Of America”
part of the title?
GJ: It’s specific because its run by A.R.G.U.S. They
have a team they feel they can now control. Whether or not that ends up
being the case is up for debate.
Geek: From your side of things, how did this team
come together?
GJ: We talked about characters that were League
members, like Green Arrow and Hawkman that felt like they belonged...
Characters that were unexpected, like Vibe and Catwoman. Obviously,
Martian Manhunter is a big piece of it, and we hinted about this team
back in Justice League #8, both with Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, and
Steve Trevor. And Katana was a new character. Stargirl is coming back,
obviously a character that I have a huge affinity for. And then the new
Green Lantern.
DF: For me, it was much more important to know who
the characters were in their head, and be able to talk to Geoff about
where the characters are coming from, and what they’re about. I know
from my one experience drawing this kind of book that it makes all the
difference for me when I can believe in the characters as people.
Geek: Is there anything different for you about
drawing a team book like this, versus a solo book like Dark Knight?
DF: Any solo book I’ve ever done has been a
Batman-ish kind of book. I feel I’m not so much going from multiple
characters from a single character, so much as something that’s a little
more real world, and brighter, and broad, to something that’s dark,
angry... Already in the first couple of pictures I’ve done for this one,
I feel like I’m enjoying it a lot more than Batman, which is killing
me! I love being able to draw a character like Batman, but it’s so great
to draw Stargirl, who’s smiling... A range of colorful people. It’s a
lot more muscles to flex, I guess.
GJ: The characters that are selected like Stargirl,
and Vibe, and Green Arrow, they have a lot of personality. If you
remember the first couple of issues of Justice League, with their larger
than life personalities, and the development... This takes it to the
fifteenth degree, because we’re dealing with characters that are...
Like, you don’t know where Vibe is coming from. He’s recruited to the
JLA by his older brother, and he says, “Why would they want me? I’m just
this kid from Detroit. I’ve stopped three liquor store robberies, and
one was by mistake.” His brother looks at him and says, “Maybe they see
potential in you that you and I don’t see.” And he’s like, “Thanks a
lot.”
So you get these weird characters that are unexpected, and they’re
thrust into the forefront of Justice League of America... You’ll see why
they’re selected, and why this team is going to give the real Justice
League a run for its money; because the relationships in this team are
going to be incredibly significant. There’s going to be a real learning
curve with all the teams, but has the benefit of a true leader in Steve
Trevor. Steve Trevor has a heart and soul that’s going to bring these
characters that, on first glance, might not ever gel - what does
Stargirl ever have in common with Catwoman? How’s that going to work?
Geek: It’s also probably going to be tough for Steve
to lead since he died in Justice League #11, right?
GJ: [Laughs] Exactly.
Geek: Let’s talk about the characters a bit... I
think I was the most excited to see Stargirl coming back, and you
writing her again. What’s the take on her? Is this the same Courtney
Whitmore we know and love?
GJ: Yeah, it is! She’s slightly different... She is
the opposite of Lindsay Lohan and Amanda Bynes. She is this real,
All-American, wholesome superhero from Hollywood that is a phenomenon
out in Los Angeles. She got her start on Hollywood Boulevard, she is
incredibly altruistic, and idealistic. She is probably the one hero that
goes against everything that the Paris Hilton generation is. That’s
where she comes from, so she brings a different voice, a different
perspective to the team.
She’s younger, probably seventeen or eighteen years old. She’s very
exuberant, positive, optimistic... You’ll learn a little bit more about
her background and why she became Stargirl, and how she’s connected to
another superhero named Starman... Pat Duggan will be in there. It’s
very true to the original origins of Stargirl, but I think she’s even
more relevant now. And I love that if she has an article on TMZ? It’s
only positive.
Geek: On the other end of the spectrum, the
character I was most surprised to see in there was Catwoman. How does
she end up in the mix?
GJ: Catwoman is a very different perspective, and is
brought in for a very different reason. She stays because they have
something that she wants... And it’s not at all what you’d expect. It’s
not a big diamond, it’s not a get out of jail free card, it’s something
she’s been searching for that’s going to lead to a whole exploration of a
side of Selina Kyle we haven’t yet seen.
But she is going to have a lot of fun on the team, she is going to be
the Veronica to Stargirl’s Betty, if you will, and she has a new
dynamic because we haven’t really seen her interact much with all these
characters. Some of them not at all, like Vibe, and Stargirl... There’s
not a lot of interaction between her and Martian Manhunter, and I don’t
think she’s ever interacted with Steve Trevor that I can remember.
Catwoman has a very different reason for being on the team.
Geek: Who’s the Archie then? Is Martian Manhunter
the Archie stuck in the middle of Catwoman’s Veronica, and Stargirl’s
Betty?
GJ: Oh no, Martian Manhunter isn’t the Archie. You
saw how David draws Martian Manhunter, he’s as imposing as they come. If
there’s an Archie, it’s probably Steve. And Reggie is definitely Oliver
Queen.
Geek: I’m trying to figure out who’s Jughead then.
GJ: That’s Vibe. That’s easy. [Laughs] We could do
this all day, I mean, Hawkman’s Moose...
Geek: [Laughs] Okay, so what can you tell us about
where you going to be sending these guys in the first couple of issues?
GJ: It’s funny, the book feels very much like JSA,
because there’s a lot of character interaction, a lot of characters that
aren’t necessarily the A-List, which is always really fun to work
with... I love working with non A-List characters. And having David draw
those, they become A-List. So if you look at David’s art, and this has
influenced the book tremendously, he has this great power to his
figures, this very great superhero art...
But if you look at The Dark Knight, he also has these fantastic
emotions, and getting emotion out of the characters, really seeing these
characters on a journey together; the book is going to have a tone that
is JSA, the original Ostrander Suicide Squad, which was very character
driven, and again utilized characters we don’t necessarily see together a
lot. Those are the two biggest influences on where the book is going.
And then there’s things we’re going to do, like Martian Manhunter, we
really want to set him up as one of the most, not just powerful, but
also influential characters in the DC Universe, and you don’t even know
it - there’s a lot to be revealed about that. So the book really has a
lot of layers, and the first arc will have them tackling something
that... All they know is that the word on the street is that it’s called
The Secret Society of Super Villains. This will be an exercise in team
building, and working together, and how different personalities have to
rise to that occasion.
Geek: You’re still going to be writing Justice
League ongoing, at the same time as JLA, correct?
GJ: Yup.
Geek: So what’s the coordination between those
titles, and potentially Justice League Dark going to be like?
GJ: Brian Cunningham is the Editor, and he edits all
of those, so all three of the books - and I talk to Jeff Lemire a ton,
Jeff is a fantastic writer - but all three of those books will be set in
the same universe, and things will be tying into one another. We’ve got
some plans for that, but I don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves
yet, though.
One of the main goals for JLA when we launch this is to establish a
cohesive team, and the relationships for that team, before we go into
any big stories or crossovers, or anything like that.
Geek: So I hesitate to ask this then, but with three
Justice League teams, if they were to go to war, that might be some
sort of... Trinity War, you might call it?
GJ: It could be, but you’re a little off. How’s that
for an answer?
Geek: Pretty good, I’ll take it! [Laughs] Just to
start wrapping up here a bit, David, what are you looking forward to on
the art end of things?
DF: I love the fact that its not every single most
popular character in the company, it’s characters that don’t really have
the same kind of exposure some of them? So it really gives us a chance
to define those characters, and put our stamp on them. That’s really
exciting to me. The chance to take them, make them larger than life, but
also we get real, and grounded, and as believable as we can make it.
Everything I’ve seen so far, it’s going to be a lot of fun.
GJ: I love characters that are more obscure. On
Justice League, Shazam will be joining, and the team dynamics will be
changing quite a bit on that team, but this is going to be such a great
opportunity to work on characters like Katana, who I think is such a
great asset, and getting deeper into characters like Vibe...
Reintroducing Stargirl... Seeing the new Green Lantern with Green Arrow,
and revisiting that relationship with Green Arrow and Hawkman, because
we think we know it, we think they’re always at odds... And we want to
turn it on its head a little bit, and delve into it more, and see what
makes those two characters tick, to find out there’s something in common
they both have despite their differences.
So creating dynamics between these characters, and really making it a
character driven, intense, intriguing book... One of the words I have
on the outline for the series is intrigue. What I mean by that is I
always want you to wonder why. Why is this happening, what is their
motivation, what are they after, what do they need, what do they want? I
just look forward to writing a book that harkens to some of my favorite
team books, and mystery books... And hopefully its something that you
won’t know what to expect, and when you get it you’ll think it’s what it
should be, but you never could have imagined it.
And there’s a big twist in the first issue that I don’t want to
spoil, but it will explain exactly what’s happening, and what the team
is doing, and everything else.
Hmmm... Super villains. Super heroes. Geoff Johns. David Finch. I'm in. How about you?
Check in for more info, interviews, and previews to do with "Justice League of America" in the coming months here on Opionions, Reviews, and Previews
