Newsarama had a chat with elusive Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment, Geoff Johns about his new superhero book, Justice League of America, which is released next month (originally solicited to go on sale on February 6, now has an on-sale date of February 20). Check out a few choice quotes below:

 

 

Johns on what JLA is about:

 

So with Justice League of America, it’s about unlocking potential. And that goes from both in-story — what the character’s mission is — and then what our creative goals are, with David Finch. David is an artist that brings such power and energy and a stunning sense of story, but I don’t think people realize how emotional David’s art can be. He’s bringing out something you’ve never seen in these heroes – and villains.

 

Johns’ hesitance for launching another Justice League book:

 

Well, obviously, the question for me was, why do you need another Justice League book? What’s the purpose of the team? I didn’t want to do another Justice League book unless it really had a purpose and a mission statement, both creatively for myself as something that was new and challenging and also within the world of the DC Universe – and when I was working on it early on, it hit for me and the overall story of 2013.

 

I know we only have one chance to hook people, we don’t have Batman or Superman or Wonder Woman, but David and I are extremely passionate about this book and these characters, and I’m trying to accomplish something very different than I’ve done before with this book, both on a writing level and the way I’ve been approaching serialized comic books. Our first issue is 32 pages long, which gave us the room to really put all we could in there. With both Justice League titles, I want to create a tapestry that goes from the big guys – Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman – to the lesser known and even unknown characters and corners of the DC Universe. And something I’ve always loved doing — and I’ve really believed in doing — is taking characters and unlocking their potential.

 

On Simon Baz and his role with the team:

 

I think Green Lantern and how he gets involved in the team, and why he’s on the team, is probably going to be the most antagonistic — not necessarily for him, but for the people trying to manipulate him.

 

This JLA is not a team that is just set up and they’re off and running and punching Despero in the face. They have their orders and they have their missions and people are trying to control them. And that’s something that Simon Baz doesn’t respond well to. Neither do any of the other members. Waller will have her hands full.

 

On artist David Finch:

 

I absolutely love working with him. As I said, he’s bringing such amazing work to this book, it’s truly the work of his career. The discussions we’ve had on character and story, he’s unbelievably thoughtful about every line he puts on the page. This is the first time David and I are working together after talking about it for so long and we’re determined to make it the best book we can possibly make it.

It’s not every day you get a shot at working with one of the best artists in comics and I want to give him, the characters and the readers the best work I possibly can. Often readers say, “I’ll give the book four issues.” Give us one. Only one. That’s all David and I want and I think that’s all we’ll need.