Injustice Gods Among Us
What Are You Reading? with Sonia Harris
Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading?, where we reveal our picks for the best Super Bowl ads … er, where we talk about what we’ve been reading lately. Today our special guest is Sonia Harris, who writes a weekly column – Committed – for Comics Should Be Good, and is a graphic designer on books such as Butcher Baker the Righteous Maker (collected in hardcover now from Image Comics) and upcoming comic books SEX (beginning March) and The Bounce. (beginning May).
To see what Sonia and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below.
Do costumes in Injustice do justice to Justice League’s costumes?
The first issue of the improbably titled Injustice: Gods Among Us includes a dystopian future featuring a fascist Superman, a half-dozen or so superheroes, a handful of supervillains, a pregnant Lois Lane, the deaths of multiple characters, a submarine hijacking and the detonation of a nuclear bomb.
I was most interested in what everyone was wearing.
Injustice is the print version of the digital-first comic based on the upcoming fighting video game from the makers of Mortal Kombat. The game is, of course, based on DC’s characters, so with the release of this issue, the circle is complete: This is the precise part of the tail where the transmedia ouroboros chomps down.
The aspect of DC’s overall New 52 refurbishing — from the de-cluttering continuity reboot to the costume redesigns — that has most fascinated me is that the timing seemed to indicate it was part of a transmedia strategy, which of course has led to months of trying to figure out why particular changes or decisions might have been made, and what that indicates about the publisher’s priorities.
This deep in to the New 52, it’s clear DC eschewed making its comics universe more closely resemble that of the popular, all-ages cartoons like Justice League Unlimited, Teen Titans, the decades of assorted Batman shows and even Young Justice, which seems rather remarkably able to synthesize aspects of complicated comic-book continuity. And it’s clear the publisher has instead focused its energies on the older teen/adult audiences of video games Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City and, to a lesser extent, Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies and their DC Universe Online video game.
So here’s a comic book based on the company’s next big video game, which was being developed and produced just as the New 52 line was being developed and produced: What will this comic look like? What will it be like?
DC’s Injustice: Gods Among Us prequel comic arrives in January
With the release this afternoon of DC Comics’ January solicitations arrives the official announcement of Injustice: Gods Among Us, the prequel to the upcoming fighting game from WB Games and NetherRealm Studios.
Studio Co-Founder Ed Boon beat DC to the punch a week ago when he revealed at EB Games Expo in Sydney, Australia, that a comic was in the works. He expressed a desire to see the Injustice version of the DC Universe expand into other media.
Debuting in April for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii U, Injustice: Gods Among Us features such DC characters as Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Harley Quinn, Green Arrow, Cyborg and The Flash fighting on multiple levels in such locations as the Batcave and the Fortress of Solitude. NetherRealm, a division of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, developed the 2011 remake of Mortal Kombat.
The 40-page Injustice: Gods Among Us #1 is written by Tom Taylor (DC Universe Online: Legends, Star Wars: Invasion) and illustrated by Jheremy Raapack (Resident Evil, Batman: Arkham Unhinged). Curiously, the solicitation states, “The first time in print for these digital-first stories.” However, there’s no indication they’ve appeared online — at least not yet.
Warner Bros. details Injustice: Gods Among Us Collector’s Edition
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment have released details for the Injustice: Gods Among Us Collector’s Edition, which goes on sale in April in North America for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii U.
Developed by Netherrealm Studios, the company behind last year’s Mortal Kombat reboot, Injustice: Gods Among Us is a fighting game featuring such DC Comics characters as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, The Flash and Nightwing engaging in epic battles on a world where the line between good and evil is blurred.
The Collector’s Edition features:
SDCC ’12 | New Injustice Gods Among Us trailer debuts
Only a day after confirming the inclusion of Cyborg and Nightwing,Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment have released a new full-length Comic-Con International trailer for Injustice: Gods Among Us, the fighting game being developed by NetherRealm Studios — the studio behind Mortal Kombat.
Scheduled for release next year, Injustice: Gods Among Us features a large cast of DC Comics characters, from Batman and Wonder Woman to Harley Quinn and Solomon Grundy, in a world where the lines between good and evil are blurred. Comic-Con attendees have a chance to try their hand at the game this weekend at the DC Entertainment booth (#1915).
SDCC ’12 | A roundup of news and announcements from Thursday
Sandman
Thursday may have started a bit slow in the news department, but it sure ended with a huge bang. Here’s a roundup of announcements that hit today from Comic-Con International in San Diego:
• Neil Gaiman announced via video that he will write a new Sandman miniseries that will detail what happened to Morpheus to allow him to be so easily captured in The Sandman #1. J.H. Williams III will provide the art. “It was a story that we discussed telling for Sandman‘s 20th anniversary,” Gaiman said, “but the time got away from us. And now, with Sandman‘s 25th anniversary year coming up, I’m delighted, and nervous, that that story is finally going to be told.” The series will be published by Vertigo sometime next year.
• Mark Waid, Shane Davis and Max Brooks will team to create Shadow Walk, a graphic novel coming out next year from Legendary Comics.
• Legendary will also publish the Majestic Files by J. Michael Straczynski, which will feature art by Geoff Shaw and Matt Banning.
• Terry Moore will write a Strangers in Paradise prose novel to coincide with the comic’s 20th anniversary next year. He also plans to do an all-ages comic after Rachel Rising finishes in 30-40 issues.