Justice League of America (2017)

[kurenai24]

Like the title says, this thread is for the discussion of DC Comics Justice League of America by Steve Orlando and Ivan Reis & Joe Prado ...or any other future writer or artist that may take over and/or fill in until a reboot happens.

I created this thread for 3 reasons:

1. To keep all discussions regarding this comic in one place i.e news, update, delays, events, etc.

2. To limit the number of posts created every time a new issue comes out as well as to have a constant thread readily available for issue discussions.

3. To prevent spoilers from appearing in character appreciation threads; not everybody can read a comic on the day of it's release or even the next day.

~~

Justice League of America (2017)

In January 2017, kicking off Justice League Of America (hitting shelves twice monthly starting February 2017) are four DC Rebirth one-shots. They make four bold statements that form the foundation of a team that will bring justice to places that have given up on hope; places that thought heroism would never find them. The Justice League of America goes there! They explore the Microverse, the Hidden Cities, the worlds within worlds; they go to the other side of the map and explode forward with the new face of Heroism.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: THE ATOM REBIRTH #1 (1/4/17)
SPINNING OUT OF THE PAGES OF JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD! Meet Ryan Choi, prodigious theoretical physics student with severe allergies and crippling social anxiety. But little does young Ryan know, his first day at Ivy University marks the start of an epic journey into the very heart of the DC Universe!

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: VIXEN REBIRTH #1 (1/11/17)
SPINNING OUT OF THE PAGES OF JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD! She’s one of the country’s most successful businesswomen, an iconic fashion pioneer, a crusader for social justice and an incredibly powerful member of the Justice League of America. But Mari McCabe’s life wasn’t always this way. Follow her path to becoming the heroic Vixen in this crucial special!

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: THE RAY REBIRTH #1 (1/18/17)
SPINNING OUT OF THE PAGES OF JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD! Locked indoors, raised in the dark and told his medical condition could be fatal to himself and anyone he meets, Ray Terrill is dangerous. A freak. Broken. Or is he…? Witness the amazing power of realizing your true self and stepping into the light in this moving rebirth of a long-lost hero for a new generation.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: KILLER FROST REBIRTH #1 (1/25/17)
SPINNING OUT OF THE PAGES OF JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD! What happens to a super-villain on their last day in Belle Reve Prison? Against all odds, Killer Frost is up for parole from the Suicide Squad, but you can bet Amanda Waller isn’t going to make it easy for Frost to join the new JLA.

~~

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: REBIRTH #1 (2/8/17)
Batman, Black Canary, Killer Frost, the Ray, Vixen, the Atom, and…Lobo?! Spinning directly out of the events of JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD, join the sensational team of writer Steve Orlando and artists Ivan Reis and Joe Prado and discover how Batman assembled the roughest, toughest Justice League of all time!

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1 (2/22/17)
Meet the Extremists—self-proclaimed saviors from another Earth, they thirst for peace, prosperity and total submission to the will of their leader, Lord Havok! How can the newly assembled JLA stop this group of misguided maniacs before the Extremists unleash their own unique—not to mention dangerous!—brand of law and order on our chaotic world?

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #2 (3/8/17)
“THE EXTREMISTS” part two! Believing heroes to be threats to the survival of any world, Lord Havok and the Extremists have already murdered the mightiest heroes from their home dimension. To save our Earth they’d kill thousands more, starting with the newly formed JLA. But eye-to-eye, are Havok’s and Batman’s goals that different? Billions of lives depend on the answer.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #3 (3/29/17)
“THE EXTREMISTS” part three! The Extremists now control a nation, and within its borders, all is ordered and protected—all but free will. But how do seven people, even the JLA, fight an entire country? And even if they could, no one can truly prepare for the catastrophic design Dreamslayer has in store for reality itself.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #4 (4/12/17)
“THE EXTREMIST AGENDA” finale! The new JLA’s first adventure comes to a (multiple-)earth-shattering conclusion as Batman and his team takes the fight directly to Lord Havok.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #5 (4/26/17)
“HEART OF A BASTICH” part one! The JLA discovers a super arms dealer has transformed an entire city into his own massive militia force. And when the team can’t liberate its citizens from the outside, they turn to their own legendary master of mass destruction…Lobo!

[kurenai24]

Matt Santori: Before we get into the four Rebirth specials, I want to start off with the big picture: what considerations go into building the perfect Justice League roster in your mind?

Steve Orlando: It’s a combination of things. When I came to reading JLA, it was just after the launch of Grant Morrison and Howard Porter’s classic Big 7 League — but it also right in the middle of “Rock of Ages,” after which the roster jumped up to 14 members. The team for me has always been about the icons, but at the same time, the people who deserve to be icons, who should have had a bigger platform. Characters like Steel, Aztec, and Zauriel can grow and learn from other members of the team.

Even though it’s one team, I always think of it in terms of a generational aspect. And for Justice League of America, it’s about finding the right balance of those characters. You have someone in the DC Universe that’s known by everyone in Batman. And then you have characters who I think are every bit as strong as Batman in Vixen and Black Canary, who have a lot of history and continuity.

And then you have people who can learn from those relationships like the Ray, who are new to the scene. You have people who have been around for awhile like Ryan Choi, who’s been in the room being part of the Atom, but who is now just stepping into that role.

Ultimately, putting a JLA together is about finding people who can make each other better. Better than they can be on their own. And that goes for everyone. No character in the JLA is perfect and that’s a big part of it coming out of Justice League vs. Suicide Squad, with even Batman understanding that there are things he can’t do on his own. His way is a great way, but it’s not the only way. If they’re going to move forward as a community — which I’ve been saying from the beginning is what the JLA is about — other people need to come in and it needs mean more than what Batman can do alone. That’s why the JLA is there.



MS: Each of the four specials seems to circle around this idea of accepting a mantle. I want to walk through each character and see how that played out for you, starting with last week’s feature character — the Atom, reintroduced to us by you and artist Andy MacDonald.

SO: Ryan has a clear idea about who he is, but at the same time, he has a lot of things in his life that he feels are out of control. As the book begins, he’s putting the solutions for that upon other people, but he realizes he needs to do things for himself. And the way that plays out is by him accepting the mantle of the Atom.

And he’s not just taking it over, but he’s working as a team as well. Important in that book is the respect between him and Ray Palmer. It’s intrinsic to that book, and that teacher-student relationship is like a lot of my relationships with my own professors in college.

It’s about growing into a mutual respect and that emotion is kind of a microcosm of your maturing as a person. You start as a student and you come to be a mutually respected adult. We’re writing that large for the super-hero canvas now, but it’s important.

People need to feel not talked down to. And what I hope is obvious throughout the book is that the Atom is not just about these crazy adventures, but about mastering himself.

MS: You’re also reintroducing a lot of the Atom’s history in this quick burst. We have Adam Cray show up as Ryan Choi’s college roommate, for instance.

SO: What I want for JLA, Ryan, and all these characters in Rebirth is the hope that we can recreate a world. For longtime readers, we’re putting Adam Cray in — maybe you do know who he was before Rebirth and before the New 52, and are excited to see him pop up. But also, if you are a new reader, we want to do it in a way so you know who these characters are just based on this one appearance as well, and don’t feel excluded.

It should be exciting for people who’ve been with us for 50 years, and also excited for readers who have been with us for 50 minutes.

That was the experience for me. Truly, comics can be intimidating for new readers, especially books that have all kinds of new characters like JLA and a long running history. My goal, though, is that people feel like I did. I picked up Part 2 of “Rock of Ages” when I started reading JLA, and it wasn’t written to keep me out of the world. There were things that I didn’t understand at first, but it was welcoming in a way that made me want to find out more. It wasn’t written above me.

So, that’s the goal with all of these things, like putting in Adam Cray, or other small little details. I hope it gives people the hunger to find out more and keep reading, and not that it makes them feel like it’s not for them.

But yeah, I think that to me is what we do in creating a brand new canon. I hope we can always build on what’s come before, and present it in a way that’s accepting and exciting, and not intimidating.



MS: Moving into the Vixen special arriving in stores tomorrow, you giving us the character’s origin from scratch more or less. Can you talk a little about that process?

SO: I think that like much of the Rebirth stuff, we’re not overwriting what happened. She definitely appeared in Justice League International for example, at least in my mind. All of her appearances happened.

With Vixen, it’s about positioning her in a way that brings light to her struggle as a character in the DC Universe. Someone who deserves respect and is fighting for it on a daily basis.

Any type of minority or underrepresented group fights in a way that’s different than those in the majority. You have to be twice as good, perhaps. I think that’s something that we feel for Vixen in her fight. In a lot of ways, she faces what people like Colin Kapernick or Beyonce face.

“Can’t you just be a football player? Can’t you just be a singer?” Well, no. We have to do more. We have opinions. We want to do better. We want to help the people around us and use our abilities.

That’s a lot of what Vixen goes through. In the DC Universe, she’s one of the most famous fashion and cultural icons in the world, and I’m sure there’s a lot of people who would rather see her just do that than go out there and be Vixen. But the fact is, this is what’s important to her and what’s true to her.

That’s what I hope to get across. That in spite of everything that she’s faced and fought for — and I have immense respect for the character — she’s more blessed than a lot of people. She means so much to the people of the DC Universe, but on top of everything else, this is just something she needs to do, even if it’s risky. Even if other people don’t understand it, this is something she needs to do for herself.

I think that’s something everyone can relate to. I think about the movie Creed. Adonis is successful before he goes into boxing. It would have been easy for him to stay in a well-paying office job. But fighting is something he needs to do. He knows that in his core, and even if no one else understands that, he has to do it.

That’s what I feel about Mari. This is something she needs to do and can’t ignore.

She is the heart of a lot of what the JLA is about. When you have this power source and are connected to the Red, you have no choice but to realize that we’re all in this together. So, in her mind, there’s no such thing as “someone else’s problem,” because we’re all part of a larger community. And we can’t ignore any of those problems.

We’re all fighting together. Not for people or above people, but with people. In that way, Vixen is one of the most important characters in the Justice League of America book.

MS: And Vixen is one of two characters you’re co-writing with Jody Houser. How was that experience and what did Jody bring to the mix for you?

SO: Jody has a completely different viewpoint from me, and as you can imagine, that’s something I want for the book. I can have a spiritual idea for the character and have all kinds of cool power ideas, but I think it’s often helpful to bring in someone who’s experience is different than your own. And maybe more attuned to that character you’re writing.

That’s also why it was important to me to have an artist of color and a co-creator of color on the book with Jamal Campbell. Because even if you’re well intentioned, maybe there are things you miss or things you don’t see just because of your own natural blindspot as a creator.

Jody is one of the best up-and-coming writers. Faith is an amazing book. Mother Panic is an amazing book. The opportunity to bring her and bring her point of view to these characters is a really great one. It’s one I fought for, and I’m really happy to have her with me.

Because the biggest thing with any of these books is not for myself, but it’s about delivering what people deserve and do it in the best way possible.


Source

[kurenai24]

Matt Santori: We left off talking about the importance of creators who live the experience of the characters they write. In relaunching The Ray with this Rebirth special, you have two queer creators — yourself and Stephen Byrne — on DC’s newest queer character.

Steve Orlando: It’s an exciting and historic moment. To my knowledge, we’ve never before had all queer creators working on a queer character lead at DC or Marvel. So, that’s a great moment that I couldn’t be prouder to be part of.

As I’ve said multiple times, I do not think that only people within a community can work on characters from a given community — as long as you understand the weight of what you’re doing and the responsibility of what you’re doing. This is a great moment and it does bring a lot of nuance to the character in a really organic way that I think could be achieved otherwise, but through a different route. Through years of research and all of that.

At the same time, it’s a bit easier, because we have an understanding — especially with an origin story like this that is about coming out as a super-hero. It’s about visibility as a gay man and as a super-hero. This is something Stephen and I have gone through. And I think I’m lucky to be the one putting this together, especially for the Ray.

The Ray is literally in the dark for years and years, told that who he was is wrong and dangerous. Of course, this is in relation to his abilities, but it’s something we’ve all felt.

His journey as a hero is really one of visibility and power taken from that. That’s something very close to the heart of the queer community and something very close to my heart.

At the same time, as Ray is someone who has doubts about himself, that’s not exclusive to the queer community. That’s something we can all relate to. But on a very specific note, it’s something especially felt by those who grow up thinking they should hide who they are. And the Ray is here to say that it shouldn’t be that way. He’s here to provide hope to everyone else. I’ve very happy to be the one to put this together. His look and his powers — being bright and hopeful — is something we all need.

MS: There is this pretty interesting aspect of his powers that you’ve focused on that really speaks to the idea of visibility in a dual way.

SO: It worked out. As people read the book, you’ll see the way Ray uses his powers. I really like when characters can figure out interesting ways to use their powers. And I think this one has always been there. As a kid, I grew up reading DC Secret Files and Origins, reading how Martian Manhunter actually does what he does. So, I sat down and thought about how The Ray’s powers work and the more subtle applications of his abilities.

I’ll always remember in Grant Morrison’s JLA book where Doctor Light blinds someone just by stopping light from going into their eyes. It was maybe the first time I realized that super-powers didn’t just have to be about blasting someone in the face. They can be much more subtle.



MS: Lastly, I want to talk a little about Killer Frost. What can you say about her accepting the mantle of a hero in the Justice League after working as a villain for so long?

SO: A lot of her character came from our artist Mirka Andolfo’s work, as my co-writer Jody Houser and I saw it develop on the page. Frost to me is an interesting character. A lot of of it is about owning what you’ve done and finding a way to move forward as an adult and as a person in the world.

She was a promising scientist until an accident that she had no control over forced her to become something else. She can’t control her need for organic heat or human heat, because she’ll die if she doesn’t have it.

I think we’ve all been in situations where circumstances forced us to make decisions we regret later or wouldn’t make otherwise. Hers are, of course, widespread and large on account of the damage. But I look at her as someone who needs understanding.

There’s steps to be taken on both sides regarding Killer Frost. It’s her decision if she wants to be better. And it’s the decision of the heroes around her to understand and not just lock her away in prison. If those two things meet in the middle, you’re left with someone willing to grow and change and put in the work to make herself better.

And it is work. You backslide. You rise back up. But this is someone who’s finally ready to realize that it’s time to start fighting back against her urges. And this is true for anyone with a sickness or addiction. It can be a powerful moment, because she’s not ignoring what she’s done or the thing that she’s become. She’s engaging them and planning a way to come out on top.


Source

[kurenai24]

Lobo

Whereas Batman and Black Canary are two of the most renowned heroes from DC’s pantheon, Lobo is a loud-mouthed, cursing, cigar-smoking, motorcycle-riding, alien bounty hunter, so him joining the team comes out of left field.

“For some people, Lobo will be a hero. For others, he'll be an anti-hero. It's moving past these black and white definitions and realizing that you have to have a malleable idea to serve everyone instead of just the people in the mainstream. Lobo, I think there's more to him than ever before,” said series writer Steve Orlando in a phone interview

You’ll notice that Lobo has been reverted back closer to his original character design rather than the New 52's thin, clean-shaven version deemed “Twlight Lobo” by fans.

“I like to think that we're giving people the Lobo that made him famous and as time goes on hopefully we can get into how we got there a little bit more,” Orlando teased.

The reversion extends to Lobo’s personality, too.

“He's the Lobo we all love, causing mayhem. He'll be giving people what they want but at the same time he does have a code. The main man's word is his bond, man. I think that's important. That's one of the things that guides him through life. We find out a little bit what's behind this character. Not to soften him, but to give him more depth because he's still the hard partying, bullshit calling, bullshit calling especially, it's what I love about him, but if anyone is there to remind them that they're taking themselves too seriously to remind people that they're hypocrites, it's him,” Orlando said. “I mean, he's on a team with Batman, he's not going to exploding people's brains all over the place, but that's not to say that that's not going to cause conflict and he's not going to want to.”

Batman

Batman is already a member of the Justice League proper, and Orlando confirms he’ll be pulling double duty with membership on both teams.

Batman’s inspiration for joining the team will come from a pivotal scene he shares with Killer Frost during Justice League vs. Suicide Squad (Rebirth's first big event, out on December 21), according to Orlando.

“Without giving too much away, I would say that the inspiration of this scene, perhaps paradoxically, comes from the events that happen between Batman and Frost, to show him that the world changed and heroism has to change with it. It's a reality check for him. Batman is someone who thinks that he always has everything under his thumb and under control but he has a moment where he realizes he has to rebuild, he has to change, he has to redefine heroism. The callout is that he's not the only one. There's maybe people that he can help do it, and even more importantly, there's people he can surround himself that can help him do that for himself,” Orlando said.

Black Canary

Orlando emphasized to us that Black Canary earns her spot on the team not only for being one of the best hand-to-hand fighters in the DC Universe, alongside Batman, but for how she provides a different perspective from being on the ground with Green Arrow fighting for social justice and understanding what hope and justice mean for different people.

“She doesn't lord above people with a mask. She's in Seattle, she's seen by people, she talks to people, she listens to people. She's there, as Batman says, to keep him honest, to keep him in line. He knows what he wants to do, but it's a bit out of his comfort zone. Honestly, she's there because of the immense amount of respect he has for her and what she does,” Orlando said.

JLA

The team’s initial roster is set, but it’s long been the tradition of superhero team books to have a constantly-changing roster, and because Orlando is also writing Supergirl’s solo series, we asked if she might find her way to the team one day.

“Eventually, sure. I love Kara. She is 16, so her peers might be found in a team like the Teen Titans before the Justice League. But at the same time, I always love a character that rises to the occasion, like when Wally West first joined the JLA class. There's always a spot for her on the team because of the unique point of view she brings in the DC universe. What team she's on will depend on whenever the chance arises. I'd love to bring those books together,” Orlando said.

Orlando explained the difference between the Justice League (whose ongoing series is written by Bryan Hitch with art by Tony S. Daniel) and the Justice League of America.

“They also have completely different points of view. I think that's important. Bryan and Tony are doing amazing work in the biggest mainstream comic you can find. We are still doing things that are insane and exciting but I think that just by virtue of who's on the team, the points of view and the lanes they will travel in will be different. The places the Justice League of America go will be different because they're tuned in to the different communities. They're tuned into people that have never thought that they would see a superhero before, that they never thought they'd be thought of or heard by them,” Orlando said. “And besides the fact that they have a different face and a different roster, there's an emotional quality that I think is different. This is about reinvention. It's about rebuilding and it's about putting heroism out in this world that matches the needs of the world today. And we're going to do that on every page as much as we possibly can.”

Finally, Orlando teased that the new JLA book will pick up on mysteries set up in DC Universe: Rebirth #1 and he wants it to be a centerpiece of the DC Universe going forward.

“The other thing that I'm excited to do is to meet these teams and unwrap the mystery of Rebirth and other events coming up, to really have JLA be the book that the DC Universe rotates around. All these changes are happening in the book because I wanted it to be vital. I wanted it to matter. I want the DC Universe to orbit around the Justice League of America,” Orlando said.


Source

[kurenai24]

From Direct Currents (2016-) #1

[kurenai24]

Source

[Robotman]

I'm super excited about this book. One of the best writers in the biz and a great diverse roster of heroes. Plus I'm interested to see how they handle Lobo.

[Frontier]

I'm definitely looking forward to Ivan Reis back on a DC book. That uncolored art already looks great .

It's nice to have Black Canary on the Justice League again, though I do still wish Ollie was joining her .

[Nomads1]

Ivan Reis is always big draw for me in any comics he ilustrates. Get a JLA team book without the usual pantheon of gods, and I'm definitely in (even if I'll tradewait).

Peace

[vasir12]

Dropped the red JL title for this.

[EmeraldGladiator]

pluses for me
1) Ivan Reis, my favorite DC artist since the Sinestro Corps War, just waiting for him to draw Hal again on a consistent basis. His art alone will get me to try a title but if the writing isn't strong, I will drop it, ie Aquaman and Cyborg.
2) Vixen really want her to have a chance to shine in the DCU.
3) BC, haven't really been moved by the character since Justice League Year One but when written well she is a gem
4) Killer Frost, her characterization was one of the few bright spots in JL vs SS.

[BatmanJones]

Finally a Rebirth Justice League that isn't the most boring title of my whole pull list. I keep dropping Hitch's and then buying it anyway for a JL fix. I've always said it was great creators (not great characters) that made great comics but this new title has both. I'd buy anything by Orlando/Reis. I'm bursting with excitement for their JLA.

[Bukdiah]

COOL! I gotta read everyone's individual issues. I don't know crap about most of the characters.

[kurenai24]

This may be a broad generalization since I'm not reading every book, but it seems DC Rebirth books all have continuous arcs and once one arc ends another quickly begins; there doesn't seem to be any "filler" issues; for a team book this could mean a lack of down time in bonding/character relationships. So does anyone read Justice League, Titans, or Teen Titans? Can anyone tell me if there is actual relationship growth between members in those books or is it never focused on?

[Factor]

This may be a broad generalization since I'm not reading every book, but it seems DC Rebirth books all have continuous arcs and once one arc ends another quickly begins; there doesn't seem to be any "filler" issues for a team book which could mean a lack of down time in bonding/character relationships. So does anyone read Justice League, Titans, or Teen Titans? Can anyone tell me if there is actual relationship growth between members in those books or is it never focused on?

Titans actually had a fill-in issue, but it's all so very focused on Wally West. The other Titans are background in comparison.