Things are heating up in JUSTICE LEAGUE. Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok are really raising the bar for themselves. The Amazo Virus was a pretty epic story but they're just warming up. We got the chance to sit down with the two to find out what to expect in June after Convergence.
COMIC VINE: How do you follow up The Amazo Virus story?
GEOFF JOHNS: You know how we’re following it up.
CV: Darkseid?
GJ: Yeah! The Darkseid War. Let me reset where we are for people who haven’t read it. The Amazo Virus was about an attack on Lex Luthor’s life that blew open LexCorp. In particular, a safety vault where a biological disease of his design was released and the Justice League have been dealing with the aftermath. Luthor’s been trying to clean up his mess. There’s been revelations behind the virus and why it was created. It’s still a little vague in Superman and the League’s eyes but in the conclusion, it’s all about how Luthor, even if he thinks he’s turning over a new leaf, can he really do it? There are things from his past along with who is trying to kill him and why.
That was Jay and I’s lead in to collaborate because we had never worked together on this big book. Ultimately we knew we were building towards June. June is this whole new start and take on our Justice League. What we’re doing with Darkseid War, and you’ll see in the Free Comic Book Day issue, although it’s a story that’s very epic in scope, it’s Darkseid…the Universe’s two deadliest villains ever facing off with the Justice League caught in the middle, it’s actually an extremely personal story to one of the members of the League and the team itself. We’ll see that develop.
Our goal in June is just to make JUSTICE LEAGUE a character-driven event book. We want to make it as big as we possibly can. Our issue in June is forty pages long. We’re treating it like the biggest story we could ever do. Again, on the surface, it might look like it’s very epic in scope but it is a very very personal story for the team.
CV: What’s it like drawing a team book with characters all over the place?
JASON FABOK: It took me a couple issues to figure out how to draw a team book. I’ve done a lot of Batman-single character books over the last couple years. You learn how to work a panel so you can get your book’s pages done on time. Now, all of a sudden, I’m not just worrying about one characters standing in a room talking with another guy, I’m worrying about three guys interacting with four people. And then they start to fight! How do you approach camera angles? How do you figure out planning and organization of where these characters are in a room?
The Amazo Virus was great because it was a small scale kind of story, in the sense that it was personal and happened in a specific area. It almost felt like the first couple issues were a single character book. Each scene had a few characters per page. Then the script for issue 39 comes in and it’s just classic Geoff Johns’ craziness. He allowed me to build up my confidence with this new kind of thing and get into that. After finishing that issue, I learned so much about how to structure a team book and how to structure fight sequences. Now I’m starting to get into that realm. I’m really falling in love with that.
My mentor is David Finch. I asked him to give me some secrets on team books because he’s worked on X-MEN and AVENGERS and FOREVER EVIL and all this other stuff. He said, “A team book is my favorite thing to draw. You’ll find out why. It’s hard work but there’s so much reward on every single page. Every page has an awesome character.” With Batman, yeah, you get to draw Batman maybe 50% of the time and the rest of the book is other characters. With JUSTICE LEAGUE, you’re drawing Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Lex Luthor. Then there’s all the awesome villains you have. Every page is something awesome or something new. It’s really exciting. You can’t help but get excited in the morning when you look at your script and you get to draw something really cool that day.
CV: Do you have a character that you really enjoy drawing?
JF: Yeah. For me it’s always been Batman but when we started JUSTICE LEAGUE, I really fell in love with Wonder Woman and Lex Luthor. Those are two characters I never really gave a thought to them too much, especially Lex Luthor. After drawing those characters a couple times I just really felt personally connected to them in some way. I felt I could really draw the in a way that maybe people haven’t seen before. I’d done a lot of research at how other artists have approached these characters over the years and then tried to do something that was mine. Something that kind of evokes the older kind of ways fans really love but also take it to a new modern direction. Like, we changed Wonder Woman’s costume for our Justice League arc. It was just a costume that I always wanted to draw. I always saw her in this way.
GJ: It was actually one of the images that made me go, “Oh my god, I’ve got to get Jay on JUSTICE LEAGUE” because I saw his Wonder Woman. I don’t even know what it was from.
JF: It was from my portfolio that I got into DC with.
GJ: I saw it online and was like, “That’s an amazing costume.”
JF: It was like five years old…
GJ: I loved the costume, it was a great design. She looks strong and powerful. By looking at the pages coming in, suddenly Diana became a bigger part of the story. She actually became a more central figure to the story because I was just drawn to the powerful and emotional truth he was brining out in the character. I also think her relationship with Luthor, in 39 in particular, is a complex and interesting one. Lex and Diana, I really find that relationship extremely interesting to explore. I think Wonder Woman, she can see right through Lex but she still thinks he can choose to do the right thing. I think Lex knows that and it actually intimidates him. If she can see something good in him, maybe there is something good in him. He’s so narcissistic. He’s all about himself, where he’s presented, how he looks, and what he’s accomplishing. When Diana speaks to him, I think there’s a part of him that actually really wants to do the right thing. I think it’s really a compelling relationship. It says loads about Diana that she can do that. Batman, I think he’s a little more unsure. I think those two, with Lex in the middle, for me, that’s writing gold. I could write those three all day long.
CV: Is the status of the team going to stay the same?
GJ: Yeah, in June, our book will feature the Big Seven plus Shazam, Lex Luthor, and a couple new surprises as well.
CV: How is JUSTICE LEAGUE going to compare to JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA?
GJ: I think JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA is just out of continuity adventures that kind of stand on their own.
CV: Are we going to see any characters we haven’t seen in the New 52?
GJ: Yes. You’ll see a lot of new characters we’re introducing two of them in the Free Comic Book Day issue. You’ll see a lot of…we kind of refer to what we did with Mera in Blackest Night. I love taking characters that kind of off in the corners or maybe overlooked or people haven’t really thought about ever or at least in a long time and bring them to the forefront of an event to mix them up with Batman, Superman, and Green Lantern. I always find the dichotomy in that contrast is really exciting to explore as a writer.
We do have other characters, one of them in particular is Mister Miracle. He’s going to play a central role in the story. We’ve crafted him in a very deep way. I’m really excited about working with Mister Miracle because I’ve never worked with this character. For me, it’s something brand new. It was someone Jay really responded to when we started talking. He had already wanted to draw him as well. We’re also introducing a lot of new stuff. I really enjoy like with Green Lantern or Shazam or Aquaman, invigorating the core concept and then add in new stuff. Like rethinking Sinestro and Black Hand but adding in things like Atrocitus or Larfleeze. One of the things we’re doing with Darkseid War is, in June, we really want to put a stake in the ground and make JUSTICE LEAGUE the biggest, craziest event book, but have it so character driven and full of new ideas and old characters reintroduced and make it the best of both worlds. We want to make it the ultimate DC Universe book
JF: We want to make it the book so that if you’re a comic book fan and like DC, you have to read this.
GJ: Yeah, we want nothing less and we’re putting everything we can into it. We are pouring everything we have into this title. This is our chance to really, as a team, give it its all. We have the page count for the first issue to do it. We have the characters to do it. Really, it’s up to us. We talk several times a week and we’re really excited about it. The fact that we know the exact last scene in the last part of the storyline, we know exactly what we’re building to. It’s the most important thing because now we have a purpose for the story. We know what the story is about. We know why we’re telling the story. It’s great, on the surface, to have Darkseid battle the Anti-Monitor and what that means. But the story is much more than that.
Don't miss the Free Comic Book Day issue. Here's the solicit for issue 41:
JUSTICE LEAGUE #41
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art and cover by JASON FABOK
THE JOKER Variant cover by DAVID FINCH
Blank variant cover
On sale JUNE 17 • 48 pg, FC, $4.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with three covers. Please see the order form for details.
The critically acclaimed team of Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok present the much anticipated, extra-sized first chapter of “DARKSEID WAR”! When the Justice League investigate a series of unexplained murders on Earth, it leads them to the frontlines of a war unlike any the DC Universe has ever seen – a battle between the two most powerful villains in existence: Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor! Meet Darkseid’s daughter – a mysterious force of evil with a bizarre connection to the Justice League! Plus: The horrible secret of Superwoman’s baby! The ultimate temptation of Batman! Lex Luthor vs. Superman – no holds barred! New villains! New allies! And so much more in the DC Event that has been building since JUSTICE LEAGUE #1!