Greetings everyone, today I thought I would talk about the upcoming Justice League with James Robinson. About two years ago when Brad Meltzer relaunched Justice League of America following the end of Infinite Crisis. The book was on fire. The roster included the Trinity, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman with Hal Jordan, Vixen, Red Tornado, Black Lightning, Roy Harper becoming Red Arrow, Hawk Girl and Black Canary as chair person. The first 12 issues by Meltzer were probably some of the best issues I had read Grant Morrison wrote the book back in the 90s. While, everyone knew that Brad would be leaving the title with issue 12, Dwayne McDuffie took over as writer. His first story arc dealing with the newly established Injustice League (a personal favorite of mine). Came at the Justice League in high fashion and started taking them apart one by one. Of course they didn’t count on John Stewert and later Firestorm turning the tide of battle. Firestorm was then forced on the team by Batman and John decided to play a rotating position with Hal on the League. Now, you would think with all of this that the book would be great… but it proved to start having a downward spiral.
I don’t fault McDuffie for this though, it was an editorial decision to have the book spend almost 7 months to deal with cross overs of other events in the DC Universe while everything lead to the Final Crisis. However, the Queen Bee story with Wonder Woman and the Flash was some solid stuff (nothing to do with her being my favorite Justice League villains). His recent story arc tying up everything with Amazo was also well done but… the story also dragged out and I felt that Vixen was so poorly handled. Plus, and please don’t everyone start sending me hate mail but I have noticed that when Dwayne writes books on a longer basis, he has to include as many African-american characters as possible. I have no problem with the characters at all but… there is a limited to how you add characters to a book before you realize it’s an ethnical thing. I was happy that finally a writer outside of Gail Simon was writing Vixen the way she should be and having Black Lightning take center stage was long over due. Plus, we had Firestorm, a personal favorite of mine but the more you read the more it was like: “We had Hal, and John is in the main Green Lantern book and is playing a lot in Blackest Night. Why is John in the book more than Hal?” If you read McDuffie’s Fantastic Four, the same was happening when the Black Panther and Storm took Reed and Sue’s positions on the team after Civil War. I want good stories and variety of characters in Justice League of America, not adding more characters of a certain background.
So, now I’ve put Justice League down for the next few months and moving towards James Robinson’s upcoming run or new title or whatever this is all about. In an interview a couple of months back, Robinson talked about the new book. “You can’t imitate [writing comics]. It’s completely unique but I needed some time away from it,” Robinson continued. “And just as I was beginning to get my engines revving again, in terms of doing something in comics, [“Action Comics” writer] Geoff [Johns] called me up and invited me up to be a part of ‘Superman.’
“At the same time, I had come up with a concept of my own for the new ‘Justice League’ book. And everything from there just fell into place. As much as I am grateful to DC for their support — especially [DCU Executive Editor] Dan DiDio, who has really gone out of his way to welcome me back into the fold — I am equally grateful to Geoff. ” “I met Geoff at Motor City Con many years ago when he was a fan. And he impressed me then. And he proved me right. He is one of the great comic book writers and I owe everything to him in terms of coming back to comics.”
Johns is, of course, the mastermind behind “Justice Society of America,” “Action Comics,” “Green Lantern” and “Booster Gold,” as well as two upcoming “Final Crisis” tie-in series “Legion of Three Worlds” and “Rogues‘ Revenge.”
In fact, Johns has become such a good friend to Robinson that when he writes the two headliners of ‘Justice League’ ” Green Lantern and Green Arrow ” he simply taps into his and Johns’ real-life relationship for inspiration and, more importantly, dialogue. “When I write Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen, I just write me and Geoff talking to each other,” mused Robinson.
Robinson’s concept for “Justice League” is fuelled by the notion that while some of the world’s greatest heroes react in perhaps a more methodical and pensive way to the murder of a DCU character in “Final Crisis,” others, namely Hal and Ollie, are ready to strike down with great vengeance and furious anger as if Samuel L. Jackson was calling the shots.
“I didn’t know who was going to live or who was going to die in ‘Final Crisis,” so I came up with a concept for a new ‘Justice League’ book, where the team had a purpose that was different from the Justice League of America,” explained Robinson. “And it’s a purpose that literally, you can keep going with it. The reason for the team is always there. It’s not just the like the Keith Giffen ‘Justice League’ was funny, ‘so let’s do another funny one in Europe.’ This team has a purpose that I pitched to Dan. Dan said yes immediately, ‘let’s do it.’”
So, setting up the roster we have Hal Jordan as Green Lantern and Oliver Queen as Green Arrow setting up the new Justice League in the aftermath of the Final Crisis. Robinson said the rest of the team is formed through events as opposed to ‘people sorting through photographs,’ referring to Brad Meltzer’s bestselling relaunch of “Justice League of America.”
“This is completely different, that worked in the book at the time but the idea of three people picking the team, I think is preposterous,” said Robinson. “In this book, it is driven by the situation. It is two guys, who break away. The other thing you have to remember, and Hal sort of reminds Justice League of America of this, is he does sort of play second fiddle to the Trinity.
“And he has to remind himself of the fact that when he is on Earth, he is the law in this space sector. He’s Marshall Matt Dillon from ‘Gunsmoke.’ He needs to uphold that law. And that is one of the things that will ultimately drive Hal to break away and form his own team. “But it’s typical to him and Oliver, they’re like, ‘Geez. We have broken away but what do we do now?’ They don’t really have a concrete plan. Obviously, events and fate bring other characters into play and slowly the team comes together.”
Now, with those two in charge you need a Superman and Batman family member in the mix and that’s where Supergirl and Batwoman coming into play. Now, with Kara you have her basically moving up from the small leagues to the big leagues with no pun intended. From the Teen Titans and the Amazons to one of the power roles in this Justice League. However, the biggest surprise comes with Batwoman. Greg Rucka confirmed at Emerald City ComiCon that his long-rumored “Batwoman” series was a go. 
As such, Robinson admits some trepidation concerning Katherine Kane. “To be honest with you, I am a little hands off with that character. She’s Greg Rucka’s character. She’s in the book to give the book a ‘Bat’ emblem. I don’t really have the greatest handle on her. She’s going to be more off to the side. I don’t want to offend Greg Rucka! Truly, I think he’s a great writer that I respect immensely but Batwoman is his baby to run with. She isn’t going to be as big a personality on the team as Ollie, Hal and Kara.” With them on the team you add in Ray Palmer who will return not as the Atom but as the scientist of the group. I’m looking forward to having Ray back in the spot light but not in the full super hero mode. There is nothing wrong with the current Atom, Ryan Choi. Having Ray in this role will be a wonderful role as he deals more with his ex-wife’s role as the killer of Sue Dibny and as the former host of Eclipso.
A real favorite I’m looking forward to is Freddy Freeman, the former Captain Marvel Jr. as the new Shazam on the team. “Freddy Freeman, to me, is a little bit lost. So we are going to find Freddy Freeman in the course of this book,” said Robinson.
“Do you know the whole thing with Captain Marvel Jr. and Elvis Presley? Well, let me tell you. For Freddy Freeman, ‘Captain Marvel Jr.,’ the art was always done by Mac Raboy, or a lot of it was. It was a much more serious book than ‘Captain Marvel.’ It felt more serious. It was darker. It was more real than C.C. Beck’s ‘Captain Marvel’ and definitely more serious than ‘Mary Marvel.’ And also he was a scruffy, cripple news guy, who when he said, ‘Captain Marvel,’ became Captain Marvel Jr.
“So Elvis Presley wanted a unique haircut. And at the time, in the fifties, especially in Memphis, he couldn’t get it because everything was short, back and sides. So he would go into ladies hair salons with copies of ‘Captain Marvel Jr.,’ show them Captain Marvel’s haircut and that’s the original look of Elvis. And when you think about Elvis later, Vegas Elvis, with the cape, think about it in your head, turn into red and gold or blue and gold and it’s a Captain Marvel costume.
“Anyways, it’s not for me to criticize what people are doing but I think in ‘Justice League,’ we are going to find who Freddy Freeman is. We are going to make sense of it all. I can’t talk about it now but Geoff and I have discussed this and we have some big plans, some big, big plans for Freddy and that whole aspect of the book, the Shazam aspect of the book.”
Now rounding out the cast are the two characters that I’m a bit worried about but at the same time, very interested in. Congo Bill and the Mikaal Tomas (Starman). “Congorilla’s basically a magical, seven-foot tall, golden gorilla. But he has the intelligence and the sophistication of a big game hunter, who has lived for 90 years,” explained Robinson. “He’s not necessarily the smartest guy on the team but he’s the wisest guy on the team.
“At the same time, because he is in a gorilla’s body, the golden gorilla’s physical demands mean when he is challenged, he’s this savage, exciting jungle predator. So that’s why I stress that he’s magical, and I am probably ripping off a million characters here, but it’s occurred to me if he takes on Deadshot, all Deadshot needs to do, it doesn’t matter if he’s a seven-foot tall gorilla or not, is shoot Congorilla and he’s dead.
“So the whole concept of this big game hunter, who became this big gorilla and could originally go back and forth, doesn’t work. So now he is basically stuck as Congorilla and he’s magical, I am giving him sort of a healing factor, which will allow him to survive against that type of foe. That makes him just that much more formidable if you can’t eliminate quickly.
“There is not a single person, who is not doubtful about this character when they see that he is going to be in ‘Justice League.’ But if you remember, and I say this proudly, if you remember The Shade originally, he just had Shade powers, he had a top hat, he had a goofy costume with pixie boots and he looked ridiculous. And I turned the Shade into a character that people liked [in ‘Starman’]; people cared about, and now think he is cool. I made The Shade cool. I will do the same with Congorilla, you, all of you will love him!”
Indeed, people like The Shade so much, Robinson and DC are ready to bring him back. Confirmed Robinson, “I am going to go back and do a Shade special within the year for DC, or a miniseries. It will be one or another but it will be his origin and it will be touching on him in various points of his life.”
James Robinson said that: When I pitched the idea to Dan, he said, ‘If you want to include Starman, I wouldn’t be unhappy,’” Robinson revealed. “But Jack Knight is in San Francisco with his wife, with his kids, he’s painting, he’s retired. He’s done. And the thing is, if I bring him back. He becomes part of the DC tapestry and then other people get to have a go at him. I just don’t want to do it. It was an elegant ending. It was an ending I planned for Jack Knight from #4 of ‘Starman.’ I don’t want to open it up again.
“But when Dan said Starman, I thought about it. And I thought about Mikaal Tomas.”
A blue alien stranded on Earth, Mikaal Tomas has a gem embedded in his chest that grants him the ability to fly as well as other special powers. Very popular with readers, Mikaal appeared throughout Robinson’s “Starman” series and has scarecely been seen since.
“I thought about how I left him in the air a little bit,” Robinson continued. “And he had so much potential. Again, he’s an elegant guy but how we left him in ‘Starman,’ he was beginning to reconnect with the war-like aspects of his race. So you get a guy who sometimes can do Cary Grant and other times he is Wolverine or whatever savage hero you want to throw at me. So we have that juxtaposition.”
Robinson said one of his favorite things about “Justice League,” so far, is that the heroes throw away the honorifics and keep the title worship to a minimum. “It occurred to me with Freddy Freeman. That’s’ a name that you brought up. Well, Hal and Ollie call themselves Hal and Ollie. You are never going to hear ‘Congorilla’ used in the book. He’s just Bill. Mikaal is Mikaal. Kara is Kara. Ray Palmer is Ray. So it’s a book where everybody is known by their first names, which I like.
“I don’t mean to be facetious. I really want to make this different than any other book out there. And so far, based on the editorial comments, I have succeeded. And I hope to continue to do so.”
With that kind of a roster and with artwork by Mauro Cascioli (“The Trials of Shazam”) on the book, I can’t wait to see this book in action in January. Could this Justice League be a classic in the making? Or will the hype around it just be all the book has for it besides a great writer and artist on the book. I’m hoping it’s the former but I can say this, I am so excited for this book when the New Year roles around. Peace everyone and have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend.
