Letters to Justice League #51

After hitting the fiftieth issue of Justice League in December, I very much knew I wanted to square away the next twenty-five issues, with an eye for tying up all the plot points I've built up since coming back to the title with #38, along with the scant few left over from my #26-37 run.

With that in mind, I thought it would be good to leave the title around #75 because it would mean I’ll have been on the book for over fifty issues, which is crazy. In two years, I’ll be twenty-eight, and a massive chunk of my writing-time will have been dedicated to the DC2. Nothing wrong with that, just something to consider.

So, I’ve plotted up #78 (#75 being the start of a big, four-part culminating event arc for the preceding twenty five issues) and there are really no gaps. Everything you’ve seen in the previous thirteen episodes gets addressed...

...But obviously, I realised quickly I’ve missed stuff. #75-78 will require follow up massively (you’ll see) and #50 has a few choice moments to be addressed too. So I know that, if I’m still here for #75, that I’m more probably not dropping the creative reins on the book. I could probably got to #100... and god, to be the first person to hit #100 on a DC2 title would be a nice feather in the cap, though I do know Jay is at #68 on Teen Titans, so if he returns to the book, which I know he has intentions toward, then I might be in for a challenge--!

Now, I’ve discussed this with Jamie in the past, but I was thinking, at one point, of going bi-weekly. Two issues a month until #75, because I am psyched for getting there. But that would require a massive surge of writing on my part. I’m up to #57, and I would burn through those issues in three months. That’s not a great place to be in, considering the stop-start nature of writing this stuff. So while we're not doing that yet, if I can get a buffer of art generated, and there is the talent available for it, then we may see the schedule change... Mark has yet to be spoken to about this, so... uh-oh. Hey, Mark!

I also have Green Lantern Corps to think about, which has its own overarching plans, and ArtTeach and I are working on a mini-series that’ll launch in March that’s going to be time intensive (more on that below). Not only that, but I’ve teased a revival of The Flash, and there are numerous unfinished stories, such as Lamentation Day that I want to get back to (something I can hopefully drag Fantomas back in for). Thinking about it, there’s a couple of Ten Years Later titles that are screaming for me to pick back up, Superwoman and Batman: The Final Knight, for example, as well as Gotham Knights: The Last Laugh and other things we never really announced. On top of that, The Authority looms, and it’s all quite intimidating! And a really dense paragraph to put out there!

Anyway, this arc is setting up for things to come and I was lucky to have ArtTeach onboard for the covers. He’s been the MVP of the last few months, and there’s a right buffer of content that’s going to start coming out soon. The project we’re collaborating on is called Batman Vs Superman: Most Wanted and it’s the DC2’s very own tie-in to the upcoming Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and the Suicide Squad films.

You’re going to see our versions of these character collide, and it all starts in April. I’ll tease some of the art we have done for it next month, but I’m psyched for it, and have started on three of the five issues. ‘Teach has completed the covers for each of them, and you’re going to see us go a bit crazy. Obviously we have no real idea of what the films are about, or where they’re going, but taking the spirit of that, utilising a Suicide Squad very similar to what you see on the screen, pitting two of the world’s finest against each-- and for good reason-- it’s going to be an utter blast. These characters have histories on the DC2, we’re going to see the second war between the Dark Knight and Task Force X to take place in our continuity, and how it all fits together is a jigsaw I’m enthused to lay out for you. Starting in April! See you then!

All this also means I get to write Amanda Waller again, which’ll be great. CCH Pounder was amazing in the role during Justice League Unlimited and I’m excited to see a truer version of the character on the big screen, rather than the bland Arrow-verse version we ended up with so far.

Anyway, that’s me done for this month ranting about the stuff we’ve got planned. It’s like talking at a wall at the moment, but with stuff like Weird Western Quarterly out, wrapping up the most recent arc, it’s always worth checking out what we’re doing. I also know there are Batman plans coming up, but the details of which I have purposely stayed away from. Exciting!