I don't think it's narcissistic to enjoy feedback, or to
really enjoy responding to it. I know that Internet People get flack in message board argments when they respond to
each and
every point, so I'm always nervous doing what I'm about to do and responding to comments in detail, point for point! I hope you don't mind, but I do love talking about creativity, genre, narratives, et al, so let's crack on and see what the discussion yields.
I must say, I appreciate the brief recaps Charlie does before each issue. It really helps to put me right back in the middle of what I may have read last month or six monts ago, not to mention that he writes them with a lot of verve, and teases a little bit of what to look for in the coming issue.
Thanks, David. I started writing the recaps when I came back to
Green Lantern and I had a bit too much fun with them-- more excitable ramble than actually recapping the issue-- so ever since I've tried really hard to make the books accessible as possible with what I write for them now. I'm glad it's coming through-- and working--!
Love the thumbnails! Making each headshot distinct and immediately recognizable is something Jamie Rimmer does so well. Each one has personality: from Mister Miracle's mischievous wink, to the neatly-mysterious Batman--- but my favorite is the Atom. I laughed out loud at his.
Jamie made a point of giving each thumbnail character, so the Booster Gold icon is an autographed photo, the Batman is a shadowy 'found footage' glimpse at the Caped Crusader, etc. We're hoping to have the thumbnails coloured for next issue, but we wanted to make sure we started this 'next phase' with some really cool graphical content, and I think we delivered with this issue.
The Atom's thumbnail is actually a placeholder-- Jamie did a really cool image for him, but there was a problem in the transfer over to me, so I had to come up with something fast!
Speaking of Rimmer: that cover! Reminded me of the comics I read when I was a kid, with all the headshots off to the side, and the action scene in the center. It's always great to see Wonder Woman depicted, but the real star of that cover is the Guardian--- what the heck is he doing there? Guess I'll have to read to find out! Cover mission accomplished!
Yeah, we've had a lot of conversations about Wonder Woman and her appearance in the title. I originally said I'd like to see her costume look more like the one she's wearing in Johns and Fabok's Justice League, but after seeing Gadot in the Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice I caused Jamie a headache (as ever, I'm the worst) by asking for her to look more like that
after he'd started another cover (sorry again, Jamie). Fabok's design uses a really small skirt, but seeing the longer one is so cool, and I like incorporating 'modern elements' in what we do on the DC2, which I'll go into some detail about later.
I've also tried to figure out characters during my time on the book, get to the core of what
I want to say about them and then do with them. I have referred to this book to Don as
Justice League Universe as I want it to cover the entirety of Earth-1, but I also think of it as the 'spine' of the DC2 right now, a book that can delve into any 'world', be it Wonder Woman's, Batman's, etc, and tell a lasting story with 'after effects' that can be followed up on. When it comes to Wonder Woman, Grant Morrison said something in an
interview (click for more) that I found really interesting, so much so that it made me change my 'world view' of her:
So while my previous interpretation of Wonder Woman was that of a Xena-type, now I'm trying to go back to a place where she's the pacifist, the negotiator. That's something that plays into her relationship with Majestros, and again, I'll address it more later.
The cold open was a very tense scene. It's always nice to see Bruce Wayne in action (as opposed to his moody alter-ego). Jack Marlowe seems poised to be an interesting foil to the millionaire playboy. The later scene between him and Bruce racheted that tension even higher. I loved the back-and-forth between the "cordial" rivals, and I would love to see the knives come out between them. The reveal later in the issue was a bit of a head-scratcher; either I missed something or I wasn't paying close enoug attention.
It's been a while since I've written Bruce Wayne, so I tried to figure out how he'd be viewed by his peers in the business world. You've got a character in Jack Marlowe who had a similar upbringing, who saw Bruce back when he'd just returned to Gotham City and was being introduced to the business of Wayne Enterprises, when he'd yet to develop the persona of 'Bruce Wayne, international playboy and layabout', then who'd lived parallel to him and saw him become what I just mentioned. Mark actually made me tone down some of the terms of endearment Bruce used, I think I might have leaned too heavily toward "BRO!" or something, so I'm glad he helped me tone it down and keep it consistent. Bruce is being a dick, and he's brilliant at it, but there's also a lack of self awareness to his persona. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you, it's just that I'm really self centered and couldn't care less oh look an attractive woman, brb..."
With regards to the later reveal, that might be a poor narrative choice on my part. I know I've teased Marlowe in the past, and we've seen the Spartan that resembles him in previous issues, but maybe I didn't earn the reveal 'internally' to the issue, relying on a hopeful expectation that readers might be familiar with the character. Spartan was revealed in earlier issues to be an android that looked identical to Marlowe, and the mythology aspects between Majestros and Marlowe begin their reveal this issue, and will continue for the next two.
Like the recaps before the issue, I appreciate the editorial notes asterixed into the text. I've never bought into "the interruption takes me out of the story" gripe: I'm fully aware I'm reading a story, my imagination is quite capable of handling side-note, and being reminded of critical facts is very useful (I'd forgotten, for instance, that the Flash had been unmasked in Feeney's run a few years back).
Due to the fact I'm leaning so heavily into DC2 continuity that
is different to DC's own, I think the editor's notes are really important to contextualise. You don't
need them, as the text states exactly what you need to know, but for additional information (and context) you can always go to the issue mentioned. You can see the asterisk, so you can see that there are editor's notes coming. We intentionally keep the actual reference notes small, and aligned to the right, so you can just keep reading if you don't want to read them.
I know that sometimes I lean
a lot into them (I did an issue of
Green Lantern Corps this weekend that's like 'Hank Henshaw, you've suffered, let me list the ways' and there are like four asterisks in a row) but for a newcomer to the DC2, I think they'd be helpful. Plus, if this is the 'spine' of the DC2, let's play in the sandbox and take advantage of what's come before.
Speaking of gripes: Mark Bowers has a credit on this issue, but what did he do? I'm not going to point out the typos (except the heinous "calorific"), and I'm absolutely not having a go at Mark, whom I still consider to be the DC2 all-time MVP, but maybe we should just drop the pretense of having editors? Just a thought. It worked in 2005 when we had the resources, but in 2015 is it anything more than an unecessary honorific?
As discussed elsewhere, Mark is the editor of this issue, and I'm not posting an issue without him going through it first! I'm very lucky to be working on two books with two great editors, and I'm editing
Secret Six too. There
is the resource for it, because we have, what, five ongoing, non-10YL, series right now?--
Batman: Unrehearsable, Green Lantern Corps, Justice League, Secret Six and
Zatara-- and we certainly have the capacity for them, editorial-wise. No pretence! Sure, Mark missed stuff, and I've obviously missed stuff on my proofread, but I also did a cheeky bit of addition to the book before it posted (namely some scenes involving the Guardian...), so it's all good. I'm sorry if it pulled you out of the story. AND CALORIFIC IS A REAL WORD GODAMMIT.
The daughter that Barry lost in "Legacy of the Lightning"... I don't recall that her name was Iris. Wasn't it Carrie?
That's my bad, and corrected in the issue. Thanks for the heads up.
Harrison Wells! Interesting that you bring him in from the Flash TV show--- or is Harrison Wells an obscure comics character that the show just seized upon? Either way, that was a neat intro. Not sure how I feel about him being the DC2 founder of S.T.A.R. Labs (since I had actually worked up a fictional history of S.T.A.R. for my Adventure Comics run a few years back, for the thus far unposted issue #12, and he was, obviously, not involved in that). I wonder if he's related to a certain other character named Wells (who debuted in Adventure #11 and returns in my Superman 10YL mini)?
This is what I mean about introducing 'modern' elements to the DC2. Stuff like DC introducing John Diggle to the Green Arrow ongoing, I wanted to use characters I found really intriguing in the shows to the DC2, and hopefully do something different but still true to their presentation in other media. The whole Flash scene was a backdoor pilot setting up a planned twelve issue run of
The Flash I have had approved by Mark, and it's planned to come out when I have all the issues written (one down so far, but I have other DC2 commitments taking priority). That's going to be a 2016 book for sure. KEROGA has already said he'll do covers! Who knows if Harrison has ties to your namesake character... only one way to find out...
Cobalt Blue is an ominous villain. The mystery surrounding him, and the other doubles, is intriguing... Justice League clones? Evil multiversal counterparts?
Something we'll see followed up in my run on
The Flash, for sure!
Sorry to see Barry leave the League--- he's always been my favorite speedster (well, after Jay Garrick, that is). I always felt the post-COIE Wally West was an entirely different character from the one who grew up in the Teen Titans (particularly different from the one in the NTT Wolfman/Perez run). I hope he comes back!
If I'm writing
The Flash, you can sure as heck believe I'm going to be using
my favourite speedster, namely, the Flash I grew up with! I've always had trouble writing the character previously. One of my many misfires in the early days of the DC2 was a rightly-savaged run on the titular title, and one I've been aggravated by since. Just like my "Doctor Occult Reclamation Project" and "Question Reclamation Project", there's one due for my handling of the character. Thankfully, I didn't wreck the characters like I did those other two, but still, I have something to prove. My failure to crack long form writing on
The Flash is an albatross I bear angrily.
Axis Amerika! Cool to see them getting their asses handed to them in Justice League. Great scene with Stormwatch, but I'm a little concerned about their methods: didn't they effectively kidnap those villains, rather than hand them over for their day in court (as the JL would have done--- excpet for extra-jurisdictional threats, like Darkseid; no court in the land could try Darkseid, but I think I'd still like to read a trial scene: "The defense calls to the stand... Granny Goodness!").
When Warren Ellis took on Stormwatch, Bendix's methods devolved into what you see here. Questionable methods and unlawful imprisonment. How they're able to get away with it will be a plot point over the next few issues. Sufficed to say, Bendix is a naughty man and he's playing a dangerous game with some very powerful figures across the world.
I like the way the Guardian is being set up as a Captain America analogue. The history between him and President Stuart was played very nicely, evoking Earth-One's rich backstory. I wonder if the mission President Jeb (please don't let that be an omen!) is sending Guardian on has anything to do with the status quo from the Ten Years Later Prelude...
Yeah, I always say that our Guardian is Captain America if Captain America was never frozen. I intended to write
The Guardian mini I started as an eight-part exploration of those intervening years from his days as a beat cop in pre-WW2 Metropolis to the present day-- and I still have my notes for it-- but it never came to fruition. You'll have to keep reading this book for more on Jeb's mission, but all will begin to be revealed next issue.
Nice to see Cyborg making the jump to the big League. The bit between him, Superman, and Angie Spica was gold! Lot of character work in that quick scene--- I especially love Superman's reaction. I love Superman, but sometimes it's nice to see that everybody has their own favorites.
While Cyborg may appear to be a 'diversity hire', there are quite a few reasons to use him in the book. Firstly, it goes towards my agenda of introducing 'modern elements' to the DC2, namely him being part of the Justice League, but also I really enjoyed him when I was growing up, and I liked what his powerset could bring to the book.
The JL meeting helped to establish the new team roster--- though I was surprised Superman was "fired" in favor of the relatively unknown quantity Mr. Majestic (especially given Majestros' actions immediately following that scene). Interesting new dynamic developing here, and that has always been what is cool about the JL: varying rosters and constantly shifting status quos give us an opportunity to see and enjoy more characters.
Majestic coming onboard was due to, more than anything, Wonder Woman believing him to be a good man. No one wants the Justice League to be big gun heavy, and I think Superman trusts everyone involved to do the work how it needs to be done. I don't see it as fired (I know you're not saying that), but more like "I'm surplus to requirements, let's see how this plays out". Majestros is an unknown who claims to be good-- and the Lasso of Truth backs him up (though we've seen with Jason Burr that the lasso doesn't always work...)-- and Wonder Woman had that moments of connection with him last issue.
My Diana extends the hand of peace before throwing a punch, can sense the honesty in people, and sees something in Majestros that some of the others don't-- specifically the Guardian, who is being
so cautious, that I think it's coming across as a general distrust of the Justice League's methods.
Anyway, I digress. The roster will continue to shift, after this arc we trim down and then next year we have some more changes. It's going to be good for the stories being told, and I'm planning a
massive return for Summer 2016.
What the heck is a "tulpa?"
A
Tulpa (click for more) is me showing my Supernatural fandom, but to elaborate, it's a concept from Tibetan Buddhism of a being or object which is created through sheer force of belief.
It's basically a fictional being made flesh. You could say everyone in the book is a Tulpa...
The final scene at HALO Corp started funny and grew very tense very quickly. Zatanna is a longtime favorite of mine, and she shone in this scene, but Santini and his Achilles Team are proving to be quite the meance to the Justice League. Not sure what Bendix's game is, or if we're going back down that road that led to JLvsA, but I'm certain this whole Daemonnite-invasion will complicate matters.
Yeah, I'm spinning quite a few plates right now when it comes to conspiratorial threats to the Justice League. Next issue will answer your question regarding
JLvsA similarities, and I think I'm writing my treatise on how the world views the Justice League over the next few issues. I think it's important after the flak they caught during the Kobra media debacle to address how they're viewed, and I'm looking forward to getting that out there.
I love how you included a back-up feature. I used to love getting those in comics, and this one was just perfect: short, intriguing, little more than just a tease, but setting up something that looks to be important down the line.
I realised I had so much more I wanted to do with Kobra, so much I had written already but not had a place for (I actually wrote the full invasion of Kobra's HQ as a sequel to
Snake Head Eats Snake Tails from the last Hallowe'en Special we put out), so it seemed to make sense to frame it as an investigation. Then I asked myself who would Batman trust to keep a clear head and wasn't compromised by Kobra already? Batwoman made perfect sense. I actually wanted to do much more, as I've said previously I consider
Justice League to be the spine of the DC2, but Don talked me down. While we're not exactly on the same page, I have reconsidered my approach to how I'm utilising characters in other books.
That said, if you like Zatanna, Don and I have
major plans. Keep reading!
Great issue, Charlie! Lots of spinning plates, expertly handled. This book is in great hands.
Thanks again for reading, David. I'm glad I made it through writing this feedback without leaving the page and losing everything I've typed out (knock on wood), but now I'm going to head back off (I've been sat in a Starbucks waiting for the bank to open) then catch up on some sleep.
I'd be interested to see what you think of the conclusion to the overarching Kobra plot from the first seven issues, and also the 10YL tie-in that was
Justice League #8! Am I pushing my luck? Maybe...
