Letters to Justice League #53

Me likey likey. I especially liked the Wonder Woman story. I can't quite put my finger on why though. Stroke of genius to make Mad Hatter go after the presidents daughter. Totally didn't see what was coming until it was too late. My only critique would be that it didn't seem to coalesce as a Justice league story...maybe further down the road. For me it read like a Wonder Woman story guest starring Batman and A Guardian story guest starring Mister Miracle with the others showing up at the end to mop up. Of course this could be because I haven't been keeping up with the ongoing stories and I was jumping in the deep end. Either way I enjoyed it.

You can probably tell I’m committed to the Batman / Wonder Woman relationship for the long haul. In fact, I just plotted the title up to #108 (sorry) and when I leave the title in December 2021 with #108… you’ll still be seeing the repercussions of it (unless I get more ideas, then I’ll apparently be writing for the site well into my thirties). When does it end? I can’t tell you that. But this felt like a good way to continue the subplot. These two people have lived lives separate to one another, experiencing things in vastly different ways.

Bruce is a life based on loss, and recovering from loss. The loss of his parents made him vow to never let anyone lose anyone the same way. That’s why he throws himself into the night like he does. It’s about protecting those who can’t protect themselves. He really is this Dark Knight, and I think it’s cool to explore that aspect of his life when you can. Justice League isn’t the best place to do that, of course, but as I explore what you can do in this title, and as I see if I can truly make this title the “spine” of the DC2, then we very well may do that.

Diana, on the other hand, is about love. She’s open, she’s caring, and she loves everybody with all her heart. Even her villains, she tries so hard to help them, to protect them from themselves, and others from them. Her villains are Gods, beings that her culture reveres, so that conflict is another interesting one… but she meets this guy, someone who appears so closed off and brooding, but she sees right through that. She sees the man who wants to do right by the world. He shares the same kind of hope that she holds close to her heart, but he projects that in a different way.

What are they? Are they a couple? Are they dating—does these adventures count as dates?—or are they two friends drawn closer together by mutual experience? Hell, was the kiss a mistake they now refuse to acknowledge?

Tell you what. This is one step on the journey. We’ll see more some in #55-58, then maybe some sparks will fly into our next arc. This isn’t over yet. And I hope you like what happens.

That was the thread that took longer to develop in my head than the others, but I was so happy with it when it came together. The juxtaposition of a Gotham villain being the main threat while Batman was doing something “off the books” with Wonder Woman was so fun to me.

I don’t think I’ve ever written the Mad Hatter before this issue, though I wouldn’t be surprised if I had and just forgotten, as I spent the majority of my time on site writing the Bat-books before my return and second run on Justice League. I’ve always enjoyed him, be it in the whimsy of his animated series portrayal, or his Sid James-based appearance in Morrison and McKean’s Arkham Asylum GN.

I didn’t know how I wanted my version of the character to be, but I didn’t lean too hard into the paedophilic aspect that Morrison discussed in the back matter of his GN. The introduction of President Stuart’s granddaughter Alice made perfect sense, and I fully intended to come back and re-use her in the present day, and I also remember she’s going to make an appearance in 10YL, according to my notes…


I’ve always wanted to make sure that the DC2’s continuity is respected, so it was never going to be a case of Stuart’s presidency being brushed under the rug, though I’ve been a bit torn about timelines on the site and how best to honour those, as well.

How long has it been since President Lord was elected into office, and how long has it been since he was hospitalised in the aftermath of our second anniversary event? How long has it been since Vice President Stuart took over from him? Are we in the first term of that presidency, or has Jeb been elected for a second time, on his own merit?

I’ve never addressed these points, but we’re going to be looking into Stuart again soon in the ongoing, so perhaps that’ll be something we can nail down for good. He’s fun to write, and obviously he has ties to an established DC character. He makes an appearance in DC2 Most Wanted #2, and I have massive plans for his administration moving forward.


Putting them together on a murder mystery made sense, but changing things up so that Wonder Woman was the one taking the lead was a fun twist on what would have been expected, and Batman doing what he was doing for reasons beyond it just being a homicide and he’s the Dark Knight was a different angle as well.

It’s really interesting, but apart from Hal Jordan in Tales of the Green Lantern Corps, none of the Big Seven characters on the site have had an origin story appear on DC2. I’ve enjoyed, starting with Justice League #50, filling in certain gaps, adding additional facets to what we’ve come to accept, and this was an attempt at doing that for Diana.


Now, Harper is a character I could probably be accused of making a Mary Sue. I’ve loved writing him for so long and I don’t even know where my enjoyment of writing him came from, but I know that when I started reading Superman stories, he was in the supporting cast.

James Robinson, whose work has gone drastically downhill since his seminal and career-defining take on Starman, had a run on Superman during the “New Krypton”-era, and he introduced the Guardian to the Metropolis scene as a member of the Major Crimes Unit, which is something I mirrored when I took the reins of DC2’s Action Comics.

I’ve loved writing him, and I’ve taken him into a direction similar to that of Captain America—he is effectively Steve Rogers if he was never thrown into the ice, having lived throughout multiple wars and changes in the political currents of America. You might have seen in the solicits for future issues of Justice League that the arc that launches after the big #75 serial is titled “The Secret History of the Guardian”, and that’s something I’ve very excited to deliver on.


Sorry, mate!