Letters to Justice League #80

I sometimes wonder about changing the format of how we post stories-- maybe a Netflix model over the monthly release schedule, but then it’d take ages for me to stories out! Having to hit a deadline every month is painful, especially with all the projects I have on the docket at the minute, but it’s better than putting off things month after month after month.


My biggest concern about writing action scenes is making them kinetic and impactful. You want to map out the fight, but at the same time, do you want to list every punch and counter? Finding a balance is a pain in the backside, but at the same time, I’m pushing myself into different directions with it. I’ve written what feels like a dense fight scene for #82 and I’m not entirely happy with it, so when I’m done with the rest of the issue I’m going to return to it and try and make it a bit bulkier.


This was borne from an editor’s note from Mark! He made the connection, and I’m thick for not making it myself. This should have been a plot point picked up from the first appearance of the nanite-infected cancer patients, but I’m juggling so many subplots this dropped. I’m glad Mark raised it, and I wish I’d had more time and space to expand upon it.


With Big Barda and Majestic’s deaths-- with one seeming more permanent than the other-- and the overall lack of power houses present on the team, it made sense to have Superman return to the fold. He has a pedigree that means his integration with members of the newer cast is fun and fresh to write, and in the coming, trying times for the team, I thought it time for him to come home. I’m having fun writing the character again, after struggling in his own books years ago, and my time spent with him in the Action Comics and Adventure Comics Annuals made it an attractive prospect.


I think there are a number of reasons Batman wouldn’t want to risk the entire team-- he’s stubborn as all hell, and he sees this as his fight, but his best friend and girlfriend aren’t going to let him face these things solo. It was also a ploy to lull the Joker into a false sense of security, and set him up for a rather ghastly practical joke without risking the rest of the team.

That said, across the latter issues of this arc I wanted to make the scope of this threat seem global! That’s why we popped in on various teams and heroes across the globe throughout, ticking all the world-building boxes I’ve set myself up for these past few years. I had fun writing the German scenes, the London scenes, even the ones in Africa. The scope of Justice League should be global-- international, you could say-- and that meant I hoped it made sense to have Doctor Light shipped off to the Atlantean navy, and the suggestion being that others were doing the same to spread their number across the globe.


I have been planning this finale for what feels like-- and probably is-- years. It’s intended to mirror something that happened in the 10YL timeline, and is not the end of the story, not by a long shot. And again, that final line came from a suggestion from Mark, who really helped round out this final issue into something I was remarkably pleased with. I don’t think the heft of the story would have landed as well without his suggestions.

Thanks for reading!

I think you already read the Action Comics and Adventure Comics annuals from May, but the first issue of my three-part arc on Action Comics-- starring Superwoman!!-- started last month!