David Finch
‘JLA’ skulks and schemes; ‘Vibe’ hums happily
The new JLA, by David Finch
The big new Justice League of America #1 is kind of a mess. It asks a lot of its readers without delivering much right away.
This is something of a mixed result where JLA writer Geoff Johns is concerned. He tends to start well, at least for me. I liked his first issues of Blackest Night and Flashpoint, the introductory volume of Batman Earth One, and his recent work on Green Lantern Simon Baz and the just-concluded “Throne of Atlantis” storyline. However, JLA #1 (drawn by David Finch) either takes a fairly counterintuitive approach to its own premise, or is playing some sort of long game which isn’t readily apparent, and (again) doesn’t quite flow from the book’s Justice League lead-in. More successful is (Justice League of America’s) Vibe #1 (written by Johns and Andrew Kreisberg, pencilled by Pete Woods, and inked by Sean Parsons), which grounds its hero so solidly in League lore it almost overshadows its fellow spinoff.
SPOILERS FOLLOW for JLA #1, Vibe #1, and the conclusion of “Throne of Atlantis” in Justice League #17.
The week in Geoff Johns: ‘Justice League of America’ and ‘Vibe’
Justice League International had respectable sales, but nevertheless was one of the earlier cancellations of DC Comics’ New 52. Justice League Dark is similarly doing decent business, but, like JLI, it’s still not doing anything close to the monster sales of the Geoff Johns-written flagship Justice League.
So it’s not exactly surprising that DC is taking another whack at expanding the Justice League into a franchise, and that for this second attempt, Johns is involved. On Wednesday the publisher debuted Justice League of America and Justice League of America’s Vibe, and both will almost certainly be considered successes (the former has more than 50 state-specific variant covers as an added kick in the pants).
But are they good comics? I could answer yes or no, but that would make for an awfully short post. Join me below for a discussion of each.
Dan DiDio, Jim Lee and DC artists to appear on Syfy’s Face Off
DC Entertainment Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee will appear with a half-dozen DC creators on the Jan. 22 episode of Face Off, the Syfy competition series that pits special-effects makeup artists against each other.
The episode, shot in July at Comic-Con International, challenges the competitors to create their own superheroes with assistance and advice from Lee, Mark Buckingham, Cliff Chiang, Tony S. Daniel, David Finch, Nicola Scott and J.H. Williams III. The winning design will be featured in Justice League Dark #16, which goes on sale Jan. 30.
Previews: What Looks Good for February
It’s time once again for our monthly trip through Previews looking for cool, new comics. We’ve each picked the five comics we’re most anticipating in order to create a list of the best new stuff coming out two months from now.
As usual, please feel free to play along in the comments. Tell us what we missed that you’re looking forward to or – if you’re a comics creator – mention your own stuff.
G.I. Joe #1
Graeme McMillan
G.I. Joe #1: As if G.I. Joe wasn’t entirely in my guilty pleasure wheelhouse already, IDW Publishing relaunches the title with Fred Van Lente as writer and the tease of social and media commentary as the team is forced to go public in its fight against Cobra. Seriously, that’s just unfair, people. (IDW, $3.99)
Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life As A Weapon TP: One of the best-looking comics around, thanks to David Aja (and Javier Pulido, on a couple of the issues contained herein), and something that I suspect I’m going to want in a collected edition to give to friends wanting some fun, fast-moving action stuff to read. Best thing Matt Fraction’s done in a long time, too. (Marvel, $16.99)
New Tales of Old Palomar HC: Continuing my Love and Rockets education, a chance for me to pick up Gilbert Hernandez’ return to Palomar in this new collected edition of his Ignatz series. This is definitely my favorite of Beto’s work, so I’m happy to see more. (Fantagraphics, $22.99).
The Sixth Gun: Sons of The Gun #1: A new spin-off series from Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt’s spectacular horror western? Why, I really don’t mind if I do, thanks very much. For added benefit, having Brian Churilla show up for art duties is pretty sweet, as well. (Oni Press, $3.99)
Young Romance: A New 52 Valentine’s Day Special #1: Even if I’m feeling less than enthused about the majority of DC’s superhero line lately, I have to admit, the idea of a Valentine’s Day special one-off is just far too tempting for me to ignore. (DC Comics, $7.99).
Justice League of America to feature Martian Manhunter back-up
DC Comics’ Justice League of America will expand with March’s Issue 2 with a Martian Manhunter co-feature written by Matt Kindt and Geoff Johns and penciled by Scott Clark.
“To me, Martian Manhunter, you can almost do anything with him because there hasn’t been a definitive take on him yet,” Kindt, who previously wrote DC’s Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E., tells MTV Geek. “We’ll see what ultimately happens, but to me, he’s always been like Superman, except he wasn’t raised by human parents, so he doesn’t have the human element to him. He has all the crazy strength and powers, but he also has a disconnect from humanity. There’s that element, which I think is going to be interesting to play with, his true alien-ness. You forget Superman is an alien sometimes, but with Martian Manhunter you don’t because of the way he looks. He’s like a man out of place in a way.”
DC is calling its new Vibe title Justice League of America’s Vibe
As DC Comics begins to parcel out its February solicitations, we learn the Vibe solo title announced last week will be called Justice League of America’s Vibe, which may be as much about trademark as it is about marketing the series’ connection to the far more recognizable team franchise. The new Katana solo title is called simply Katana.
Even with “Justice League of America” in its title, the Vibe series is destined for a difficult time in an unforgiving marketplace. DC acknowledges as much in the solicitation text, which begins with, “No, that’s not a typo,” and refers to Vibe as “THE most unlikely” member of the JLA. But with Geoff Johns as co-writer (with Arrow co-creator Andrew Kreisberg), Pete Woods on art, and fan favorite David Finch providing not one but two covers, the book may have a fighting chance.
Long one of the jokes of the DC Universe, the Puerto Rican break-dancer Vibe (aka Paco Ramone) was introduced in 1984 by Gerry Conway and Chuck Patton as one of the members of Aquaman’s Detroit Justice League. While there have been attempts to redeem the sonic vibration-manipulating hero in recent years, he’s probably fared better in animated form on Justice League Unlimited and Cartoon Network’s DC Nation programming block.
Justice League of America’s Vibe #1 arrives Feb. 20.
Talking Comics with Tim | Gregg Hurwitz
Batman: The Dark Knight 13
Gregg Hurwitz is in the middle of writing an engaging exploration of the Scarecrow’s New 52 origin in Batman: The Dark Knight (as well as fresh off of an Issue 0, in which the killer of Bruce Wayne’s parents [Joe Chill] is detailed). Right before heading out to New York Comic Con last week, Hurwitz answered five questions that delved into his comics work in addition to his new prose novel The Survivor. I’m grateful to Hurwitz for squeezing me into his slammed schedule. After enjoying the interview, please be sure to check out CBR News’ interview with Hurwitz from August, and pick up Batman: The Dark Knight 13 when it goes on sale Oct. 24. Also, if you want to get a taste for The Survivor, please be sure to read a chapter here for free.
Tim O’Shea: I love the line you wrote connecting Thomas Wayne and Atticus Finch in Issue 0. What was it about the two characters that allowed you to make that connection?
Gregg Hurwitz: I think it’s an interesting contrast between the type of knock-you-over hero that Batman is and the quieter heroes we may encounter in our everyday lives. Atticus Finch has always symbolized the latter to me — a man of morals, quiet but stalwart and willing to do the right thing no matter the cost. That to me is the difference between Thomas and Bruce as well.
Batman patrols sunny Toronto on David Finch’s FanExpo variant cover
David Finch's FanExpo Canada-exclusive cover for "Batman: The Dark Knight" #11, left, alongside the original
The Toronto Star highlights David Finch’s FanExpo-exclusive cover for Batman: The Dark Knight #11, featuring a much sunnier shot of the Caped Crusader backed by at least part of the Toronto skyline. The CN Tower is instantly recognizable, but I’m not so sure about the rest of the buildings, in particular, those in the foreground, which also appear on the regular cover. Perhaps Toronto has a little-known Gotham City district — a Wee Gotham, if you will.
That cover and J. Scott Campbell’s 50th-anniversary variant for The Amazing Spider-Man #692 will be available this weekend at FanExpo Canada, where attendees will also see the images gracing T-shirts, tote bags and lanyards. Other convention exclusives include a Jim Lee Before Watchmen lithograph and variant covers for Zenescope’s Call of Wonderland and Grimm Fairy Tales.
Kicking off Thursday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, FanExpo Canada features such comics guests as Finch, Campbell, Stan Lee, Neal Adams, Brian Azzarello, Greg Capullo, Jimmy Cheung, Darwyn Cooke, Amanda Conner, Dan DiDio, Dale Eaglesham, Steve Epting, Adi Granov, J.G. Jones, Jeff Lemire, Franics Manapul, Frank Quitely, Jill Thompson and Ethan Van Sciver.
DC reveals Before Watchmen variants by Steranko, Rude, Pope, more
Before Watchmen: Rorschach #1, by Jim Steranko
DC Comics this morning unveiled variant covers for Before Watchmen by Jim Steranko, Steve Rude, Paul Pope, Tim Bradstreet, Jim Lee, Cliff Chiang and David Finch.
The sprawling, and hotly debated, prequel to the seminal 1986 miniseries by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Before Watchmen debuted last month with the first issues of Minutemen, Comedian, Silk Spectre and Nite Owl, all of which landed on Diamond Comic Distributors’ Top 10 for June. According to sales estimates, all four titles broke the 100,000-copy mark. Before Watchmen: Minutemen #2 arrived in stores Wednesday.
Check out all seven variant covers below.
Comics A.M. | Avatar convention trailer stolen; WonderCon hopes for return to San Francisco
Avatar Press
Crime | A trailer filled with convention set-up and inventory of Avatar Press was stolen from the parking lot of Corner Store Comics in Anaheim, California, on Tuesday as the publisher prepared to head to Seattle for the Emerald City Comicon. The trailer contained cases of several graphic novels, including Neonomicon, Crossed, Freakangels, Night of the Living Dead and Fevre Dream, as well as limited-edition copies created specifically for conventions and large quantities of books by author Max Brooks. Avatar founder William Christensen asked West Coast retailers to keep an eye out for anyone looking to sell large quantities of Avatar books as they continue to work with local law enforcement. “Needless to say, this is a significant setback for us in terms of lost inventory, but I want to assure everyone that we have additional inventory of the graphic novels warehoused and available for restock to comic retailers and bookstores. As word of this has spread and people have been asking me what they could do to help, the other thing I’ve been mentioning is to simply keep asking your local retailer for books from Avatar Press. As for upcoming conventions, we will still be attending every con on our schedule, so we hope to see you at upcoming shows as well.” Any information on the stolen books can be sent to info@avatarpress.net. [Bleeding Cool] Continue Reading »
Justice League #1 gets fourth printing as this week’s DC titles sell out
Justice League #1 (fourth printing), by David Finch
Out for just three weeks, Justice League #1 — the flagship title of DC Comics’ New 52 — is already heading back to press with its fourth printing. That, of course, means another cover: a modified version of the lampooned variant created by David Finch (see below). There’s now an apocalyptic-looking red background — somewhat fitting, considering Superman’s foreboding “Obey!” pose — and, more importantly, Cyborg. That’s right, Victor Stone, absent from Finch’s original cover, has been squeezed into the Justice League lineup, behind The Flash.
Along with the Justice League announcement, DC revealed that all 12 titles debuting Wednesday have already sold out on the distributor level, and are also going back to press. Even Red Hood and the Outlaws.
When male Justice Leaguers strike a (Wonder Woman) pose
Illustration by Kelly Turnbull
Cartoonist Kelly Turnbull, creator of the webcomic Manly Guys Doing Manly Things, turns to illustration to make a hilarious and biting point about the depiction of women in superhero comics, selecting David Finch’s variant cover for Justice League #1 (below) as her target.
In response to a comment that “we’re reaching a point of just complaining about any and every little thing,” Turnbull replied: “The point of contention still is, as it always was, that people are getting tired of seeing all of the female leads drawn with body language and uniforms that make them appear less heroic, powerful, legitimate, and all-around able to be taken seriously than their male counterparts.” To underscore her point, she offered a look at Wonder Woman’s male teammates might look like in similar costumes, striking a similar pose. Aquaman’s flaccid trident may be particularly cruel commentary about a lack of power …
Visit Turnbull’s blog to see the full illustration, with Green Lantern, Batman and Superman.
Comics A.M. | Charlaine Harris’ new graphic novel; the origins of Epic
Charlaine Harris
Publishing | Charlaine Harris, author of the “Sookie Stackhouse” novels on which HBO’s True Blood is based, says that after she finishes the last two “Sookie” books, she plans to work on a graphic novel with Christopher Golden. “I’m very excited about that. It’s called Cemetery Girl with Christopher Golden, and it’s a very exciting opportunity.” Harris had mentioned wanting to do a novel called Cemetery Girl back in 2009, about “a girl raised by ghosts in a cemetery,” but put it on hold when she found out the plot was similar to Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book.
Based on the description in the news report, it sounds like the story has been tweaked, as it says the graphic novel “centers on a woman who finds herself living in a cemetery with no memory of her past but a clear sense of a mysterious threat hanging over her.” This isn’t the first time Harris’ characters have found their way into comics, as IDW publishes comics based on HBO’s True Blood, and an adaptation of her Grave Sight novels has been published by Dynamite. [NBC San Diego]
Publishing | Former Marvel Comics editor and Transformers writer John Barber has joined IDW Publishing as a senior editor. IDW also announced the promotion of Tom Waltz to the company’s first senior staff writer position, in addition to his duties as editor, and the expansion of the company’s book department with longtime IDW employee Alonzo Simon becoming an assistant editor. [press release]
DC relaunch scorecard: DCnU or DC No?
Green Lantern #1, by Dave Johnson
Although it seems like DC’s big relaunch announcement came out an eternity ago, it actually took the publisher less than two weeks to roll out the 52 titles and their creative teams for the big relaunch/reboot/overhaul coming in September. Now that the cats are out of their respective bags, I thought I’d see where various creators and characters will land after the reboot.
So I went back through DC’s August solicitations to see who was writing or drawing what, and tried to map everyone to their post-relaunch project — if they had one. However, looking at DC’s August solicitations, there seem to be several fill-in issues, so where appropriate I tried to map the most recent ongoing creative teams to their new projects (for instance, I consider Gail Simone and Jesus Saiz the regular creative team for Birds of Prey, even if they aren’t doing the last two issues before September hits). Keep in mind that I just went through the ongoing series and skipped over all the miniseries … of which there are a lot, what with Flashpoint winding up in August.
It’s also worth noting that although several creators didn’t appear in the “big 52″ announcements, that doesn’t mean their tenure with DC is necessarily over — some, like Frazer Irving, have said they have future projects that haven’t been announced. So I tried to note where creators have talked publicly about their post-relaunch plans with DC (or lack thereof, as the case may be). The same could probably be said for some of DC’s characters as well. Or, as Gail Simone said on Twitter: “Again, September is NOT THE END. There’s still plans for characters that we haven’t seen yet.”
So let’s get to it ….
DC D-Day Plus 7: What we know (and don’t) about the DC relaunch right now
Green Lantern #1, by Dave Johnson
1. For Batman and Green Lantern, if it ain’t broke, DC’s not fixing it. In 2010, you had to go all the way down to the Direct Markets #109 bestelling title, the debut of J. Michael Straczynski’s abortive tenure on Superman, before hitting a DC book that wasn’t part of the Batman line, the Green Lantern line, or the Green Lantern-spawned Blackest Night and Brightest Day events. DC has rewarded the creators behind these franchises’ success by keeping them more or less in place, albeit with some title-swapping and artist-shuffling. Geoff Johns, Tony Bedard, and Peter J. Tomasi are still writing the three main Green Lantern series (along with the previously announced Peter Milligan on Red Lantern), while Grant Morrison, Scott Snyder, Tony Daniel, David Finch, and Tomasi are still handling the books with “Batman” in the title (with long-time Gotham Citizens like J.H Williams III, Gail Simone, and Judd Winick filling out the line).
2. DC’s rolling the dice big-time on an I Can’t Believe It’s Not Vertigo-verse. Today’s big announcement of new “dark” titles features such Vertigo characters as Swamp Thing, Animal Man, Shade the Changing Man, John Constantine, Madame Xanadu, as written by such Vertigo creators Peter Milligan (Hellblazer), Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth), and Scott Snyder (American Vampire). That’s quite a vote of confidence in Vertigo’s taste in creators, characters, and tone, especially given that many industry observers saw the line as an afterthought for the new regime. Of course, how this will impact Vertigo itself has yet to be seen. It’s also worth considering that Vertigo’s biggest and most durable hits over the past decade or so have tended to be creator-owned titles existing in their own worlds and straying pretty far from the imprint’s horror-magic roots, so launching eight shared-universe horror-magic books — over one-sixth of the new DC Universe line — is a gamble in and of itself.