Last Updated on Sunday, February 08, 2004
JLA Animated to be shown on Cartoon Network:
| Headline: | Date: |
| JLA | Wednesday March 28, 2001 |
| JUSTICE LEAGUE | Wednesday January 24, 2001 |
| JLA ANIMATED | Wednesday December 6, 2000 |
JLA/Avengers Updates:
Past and Present
JLA/Avengers Team-Up Graphics
| Headline: | Date: |
| BUSIEK GETS TO WORK ON JLA/AVENGERS | Monday March 26, 2001 |
| ANOTHER JLA/AVENGERS TIDBIT | Thursday March 8, 2001 |
| STILL MORE 'JLA/AVENGERS' NEWS | Monday March 5, 2001 |
| 'OVER 20 YEARS SINCE I STARTED THIS PROJECT' BUSIEK, PÉREZ TO DO 'JLA/AVENGERS' MINISERIES | Friday March 2, 2001 |
| BUSIEK: NO JLA/AVENGERS PROGRESS | Monday, February 5, 2001 |
| MARVEL AND DC TO COPUBLISH JLA/AVENGERS | Date Unknown |
Wednesday March 28, 2001
JLA
James Harvey of the World's Finest News Page writes in to provide readers with the latest scoop on the Justice League animated show.
Phil LaMarr has been cast to play the Green Lantern John Stewart. LaMarr is a regular on two other comic-based TV shows starring in the animated Static Shock Saturday mornings and doing sketch comedy on Mad TV Saturday nights. He's also been seen in movies like Pulp Fiction and recently did a top-notch turn as a suspected killer on NYPD Blue.
Also cast in the show is Carl Lumbly as J'onn J'onnz, the Martian Manhunter. The actor starred as the made-for-TV superhero M.A.N.T.I.S. and more recently played the father of Cuba Gooding Jr. in Men of Honor.
Harvey also provides these tidbits about the program:
- Bruce Timm is currently in Korea visiting the animation shop that will be handling the series.
- Storyboards of the pilot has been completed and is ready to be shipped overseas to begin production.
- November WILL be the premiere date.
- The crew behind the show is still unsure whether the show will air as an hour of 30 minutes. It does look like it'll be in a prime-time slot, though!
- There will be episodes focusing on specific characters. A Wonder Woman episode is currently in the works. An Aquaman episode is expected, and a Green Lantern episode has already been greenlighted.
- There will be a sub-plot throughout the season, behind each epic battle, that will lead to a big finale.
- The Injustice Gang? Maybe.
- The series will take place in roughly the same universe as The New Batman and Superman Adventures.
Thanks to the World's Finest News Page for the scoop.
Monday March 26, 2001
BUSIEK GETS TO WORK ON JLA/AVENGERS
Yes. At long last, DC Comics and Marvel Comics have cut through the red tape and pushed aside all the other hassles, and the JLA/Avengers team-up is finally happening, the companies announced Friday afternoon at Megacon in Orlando, Florida.It's been three weeks since DC and Marvel Comics fans got the word some of them had waited almost two decades for, that at long last, the companies were bringing together the Avengers and Justice League of America in a team-up book.
With fans willing to argue vociferously over what sort of visor Cyclops should wear, one could expect an announcement of a miniseries like this would evoke equally strong reactions. But for the most part, JLA/Avengers writer Kurt Busiek told the Comic Wire on Sunday, the response has been "extremely positive.
"This is a book that readers have an enormous amount of enthusiasm and interest for, so announcing that yes, the book is under way, and yes, George [Pérez] is drawing it, were definite crowd-pleasers. And my rep isn't such that I was expecting a lot of people to say, 'You bastard Busiek! Get outta the room and let a real writer in!' Not to say there weren't a couple of those, but only a couple ..."
Busiek also took the unusual step of setting up an e-mail account -- [email protected] -- to get information from the fans about what bits they'd like to see in the miniseries. They haven't disappointed him.
E-mail traffic to the address has "been heavy. I haven't been counting, but the responses have been in the hundreds, though I don't think we've hit a thousand yet."
"Most of the suggestions have been unusable, because people ignored the request to list what minor bits they'd like to see and sent in suggestions for the story concept, the villains and other such stuff, which had all been decided on at that point. One guy even sent a detailed beat-by-beat outline for the story he wanted to see. But I was expecting that sort of thing, so I wasn't discouraged by it.
"And then there were the people suggesting stuff we'd already decided to do -- they may think their idea got in, when it would have been there anyway, but hey, that's OK too.
"There have been a few suggestions that made us think of things differently, or hit ideas we hadn't considered -- those messages, whether we use 'em or not, are the stuff I was hoping for."
It was only the March 2 weekend that Busiek, Pérez and editors Tom Brevoort and Dan Raspler actually got to sit down together at Megacon in Orlando, Florida, to get to talk about the series in person.
"It was a lot of fun -- very upbeat, very encouraging," Busiek said. "We had the main structure in place before we got there, and spent our time working on just how we'd put some flesh on the bones. Important stuff, but it didn't change the big picture much, that I recall."
Which means that Busiek is now getting to work on the project.
"It's under way. Not as far along as I'd like, but it's coming along."
Don't look for a guesstimate as to when fans will actually be reading the book, though.
"It'll be scheduled when it's close to done. Until then, anything's a guess -- and since, on the Internet, guesses magically transform into rock-hard fact and then people get made when they turn out not to be true, I'm not even going to guess."
In the meantime, it's not like Busiek won't already be hip-deep in superheroes, as the writer of Marvel's monthly "Avengers" book. Pérez's replacement on the book, artist Alan Davis, will be leaving later this year, after a six issue stint. But the changes to the tone of the book -- with the Avengers becoming more proactive than they have been recently -- isn't going anywhere.
"Alan's last issue is #43. And no, we're not changing the direction -- it was never a six-issue thing, and in fact, by the time he leaves, we'll be well under way with a major epic that'll take us through #50 and beyond. Hardly the time for significant changes of direction."
As for what fans can look forward to in that period:
"Lots of fun stuff -- a major clash with Kang that won't play out the way people expect. Action all over the world, and in space. New Avengers joining, old Avengers returning. Villains all over the place. Bittersweet romance. Creepy romance. Medical emergencies. Aid from unexpected quarters, at least twice. Big ol' scope, monumental danger. Portents and prophecies. And someone in an Avengers jacket.
"Howzat?"
But no word as to who the new permanent artist on the book will be, although it's been decided, Busiek said.
"Yes, but we're not saying who at present. Rick Leonardi and Karl Kesel will be doing three issues after Alan departs -- and anyone who saw their recent issue of [CrossGen's] 'Scion' will tell you it'll be great-looking stuff -- and then the new guy comes on."
And while Pérez's second run on "Avengers" was seen as a fairly impressive one in length in this day and age, Busiek's still going strong and had never expected to be on the book this long himself.
"I really had no idea -- but this is the longest I've been on any title, at least in terms of number of issues."
As for how long that run will eventually be:
"Since I haven't decided to leave, I still have no idea."
Thursday March 8, 200
ANOTHER JLA/AVENGERS TIDBIT
Got room for a little bit more JLA/Avengers news?
While the formal announcement from DC and Marvel Comics on Friday that the long-awaited JLA/Avengers team-up miniseries will be a reality some time in 2002 was welcome news to fans who had been hoping and anticipating since the 1980s, the project is in such an early stage that few details were available, beyond creators, format and so on. (See Friday's Comic Wire Extra and the follow-up piece in Monday's Comic Wire for all that, as well as the creative team's views on the project and past DC/Marvel collaborations.)
Project writer Kurt Busiek, though, is a regular in online forums around the Internet, including CBR's own Avengers message board, where he has answered some questions about the upcoming project, including why the miniseries will ignore DC's and Marvel's previous crossover specials and miniseries.
"Because, for the most part, the readers (and for that matter, the creators and editors) don't want to have a 'JLA/Avengers' project like this feature the characters meeting and saying, in essence, 'Oh, you again. Hi, gang,'" Busiek posted over the weekend.
"Not only do George [Pérez] and I, as well as [editors] Tom [Brevoort] and Dan [Raspler], want to make this book feature a 'first meeting,' so the teams aren't familiar with each other, but we've had over 150 e-mails so far at the JLAAvengers address, and over and over again, readers have asked for us not to make this a sequel to previous crossovers, but to have the teams meeting for the first time."
Busiek set up the e-mail address to solicit fan input on what they really want (and don't want) from the project.
Monday March 5, 200
STILL MORE 'JLA/AVENGERS' NEWS
In case you missed the news this weekend -- covered in depth, to put it mildly, in Friday's Comic Wire Extra -- after well over a decade of false starts and legal wrangling, DC and Marvel Comics are bringing together their two all-star teams of superheroes in the project fans have been waiting for since the Reagan administration: "JLA/Avengers."
The announcement was made Friday afternoon at Megacon in Orlando, Florida. Some new details came out of the panel discussion where the 2002 miniseries was announced (after playing with the minds of those in attendance and showing a mock-up for the "announcement" of a "Fantastic Four/Titans" crossover):
The four issue miniseries will have wrap-around covers on each. The advance teaser art put together by series artist George Pérez was auctioned off on Saturday to benefit ACTOR.
As for the original pages that Pérez did in the early 1980s, they won't be included in the project in any way.
The pages' current owner, "Rob Liefeld can sell them on eBay," series writer Kurt Busiek said at the panel.
Pérez, in fact, prefers that those pages from the past remain in the past.
"I'm not the same artist I was 18 years ago," he said. "I, myself, would not want these pages published. They don't represent me."
Pérez is also happy that this won't be the only hotly awaited superhero project of 2002.
"I want to thank Frank Miller for doing ['Batman: The Dark Knight Returns' sequel] 'The Dark Knight Strikes Back.' Hound him instead of me."
As for nitty-gritty details, the project is still in such an early stage that few details are available -- Pérez, Busiek and editors Dan Raspler and Tom Brevoort all planned to get together and discuss the project over the weekend -- but the miniseries won't be an What If?/Elseworlds imaginary project as some crossovers have been labeled.
The sometimes reluctant Justice League of America member Batman will be in a fairly classic mode, Busiek said: "Three words: World's Greatest Detective! That Batman."
And the Avengers' Scarlet Witch will be in the costume that Pérez created for her when he worked with Busiek on the relaunched "Avengers" series: "The gypsy one!" Pérez stated loudly, when asked at the panel.
Otherwise, though, fans will have to wait for the project to be more developed before squeezing more details out of the creators. The most common answer to questions at the panel was "It's not out of the question."
Friday March 2, 2001
'OVER
20 YEARS SINCE I STARTED THIS PROJECT'
BUSIEK, PÉREZ TO DO 'JLA/AVENGERS' MINISERIES
Yes. At long last, DC Comics and Marvel Comics have cut through the red tape and pushed aside all the other hassles, and the JLA/Avengers team-up is finally happening, the companies announced Friday afternoon at Megacon in Orlando, Florida.
"It'll be a 4-issue mini-series, each issue a 48-pager," Kurt Busiek told the Comic Wire on Wednesday. "Same length as ['Batman: The Dark Knight Returns'], same length as 'Marvels.' We figured we needed the room ...
"I'm writing it. George Pérez will pencil and ink it. Tom Smith will color, Comicraft will letter, Tom Brevoort and Dan Raspler will edit. And DC and Marvel will publish alternate issues."
Don't look for even an estimated publication date this early in the game, however.
"Nope. Not this year, though -- George has 200 pages to pencil and ink, which'll take a while. It'll be scheduled when he's close to done ..."
And, as for how fans should refer to the project, that's equally ambiguous.
"For some strange reason I can't quite fathom, DC calls it 'JLA/Avengers' and Marvel calls it 'Avengers/JLA.' Can't imagine why.
"Anyway, that's as official as it gets at the moment. I expect Marvel's issues may have a logo at the top that says 'Avengers/JLA,' and DC's will have 'JLA/Avengers,' and index-conscious fans will curse our names, as they try to figure out how to file it."
Work on the project has only
just begun at this point, Busiek said.
| The above logo was distributed on photocopies during the official announcement at MegaCon today. |
Of course, Comic Wire readers may remember that less than a month ago, Busiek went on record throwing a little cold water on the rumors that the project would, at last, see the light of day.
"I said I wasn't working on a script (as had been reported), which is quite true. At the time, I wasn't even seriously working on a plot, just playing around with structural ideas and looking for the right villains.
"And while Marvel and DC had hammered out the major details of the deal a couple of months earlier, as of when I was asked, nobody had signed anything. I think the deal got signed about two days after that, which was nice for plausible deniability."
As recently as almost exactly a year go, at Wonder-Con in Oakland, CA, this was still a project that looked like it was never going to happen, due to an apparent roadblock over legal issues unrelated to the comics themselves.
"I know that crossovers between the two companies got stymied for a while over a dispute between the two companies over something to do with a sticker company in Italy," Busiek said. "I never really had the details straight. I assume that got settled at some point, or they shrugged their shoulders and moved on. Nobody keeps me up to date on these things -- for which I'm eternally grateful.
"Anyway, at some point, the idea of actually doing it came to life again, but didn't go anywhere because Marvel management at the time just wasn't interested. And then Marvel management changed, and that opened things up again. Joe Quesada asked Tom Brevoort about why the project had never happened, and gave him the OK to see if it could get started up again. So Tom called George, called me, contacted DC, found out they were interested too (no big surprise there; they'd been interested before), and he and I worked up a rudimentary project proposal that got sent over to DC, to put something on the table that gave the people who actually negotiate these deals something to actually negotiate over. And there were hitches, and Joe and Dan and Mike Carlin and Paul Levitz and other guys stepped up to the plate and solved them -- and eventually, it was a done deal."
 |
| "I
think what may have started the ball rolling [on JLA/Avengers] even
faster was me resigning from 'The Avengers..." - George Pérez |
And then, of course, he started to look at going to CrossGen, who would put him under exclusive contract, as they have with their other creators.
"In order to make my decision, I had to give Marvel and DC a deadline. ... They had a certain date, they had to tell me this is the format, this is what we expect of you, et cetera, et cetera."
"When CrossGen got the message from me that I was going to do JLA/Avengers, they decided to go ahead and put me under contract anyway" with a stipulation that he could do work on the project.
So now, Pérez will be finishing his first four issues of 'CrossGen Chronicles,' and then taking year's leave of absence to do JLA/Avengers."
"To all publishers: Don't call up looking for work!" He's still under exclusive contract to CrossGen, and if he's not working on their projects during this period, he's certainly not doing any outside work.
And speaking of other Pérez projects: His Gorilla comic "'Crimson Plague' is cancelled. ... If, for any chance, JLA/Avengers did not [happen], I would have had time to do the book."
And if it feels like this has been in the works for a very long time, that's because it has been.
"By the time I finally get through with it, it'll be over 20 years since I started the project," Pérez said. "Obviously, there's a great feeling of elation that this fanboy dream of mine finally bears fruit."
Twenty years is longer than you may realize: Pérez was the only person working on the upcoming miniseries who was even working professionally in comics when the project first began.
"I think the previous attempt -- the one everyone remembers -- was back in '83 or '84, so yeah, it's well over a decade," Busiek said. "Gerry Conway had plotted it, and Roy Thomas was going to script -- and had done some plot alterations too, I think. George was penciling it. Who was going to ink, letter or color, I have no idea."
The project may have benefited from the delay, according to Pérez.
"I think that Gerry treated this [team-up] as a job. Kurt has a lot more pressure on him. There's a lot of anticipation here. I do not envy Kurt here. I would not want to be the writer on JLA/Avengers.
"Kurt's going to please a lot of people, Kurt's going to anger a lot of people, but there's no way he can please everyone."
By Pérez's estimation, he wouldn't have been capable of inking the book when it was first dreamed-up. And in the time since, he feels he's both improved as an artist and had a chance to tweak both the DC and Marvel universes towards his sensibilities along the way.
"Wonder Woman is the Wonder Woman I helped define," he said. "I think the only thing that I really feel is going to be added to this, compared to the last time, with Kurt Busiek involved, with all due respect to Gerry, it'll be done with a lot of tender loving care. ... I don't know that he would bring a lot of the emotion to the project that Kurt will."
He regrets that Mark Waid won't be involved, though.
"Since Kurt and Mark are friends, I wouldn't be surprised if his ear is bent once in a while."
Two summers ago, there was a flurry of excitement around the possibility of the project again, with then "JLA"-writer in-waiting Waid speaking publicly at Comic-Con International in San Diego about his desire to do the crossover in the pages of "The Avengers" and "JLA." Waid, though, isn't going to be formally involved in this crossover, now that it's finally happening.
"Mark has great timing," Busiek said. "How was he supposed to know that once he signed an exclusive deal with CrossGen, 'JLA/Avengers' would suddenly happen?
"If I'm remembering correctly, though, only five writers have written both the JLA and the Avengers in their own titles -- not mini-series, not specials, not guest-appearances, but their own ongoing books. Those five writers are Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway, Roy Thomas, Mark Waid and me, since I wrote four issues of 'JLA' back in the Eighties (well, five, but only four were published), including one of the last JLA/JSA crossovers.
"Since Mark and I are currently the regular writers on the two series, it would make the most sense for us to co-write, or split the writing duties somehow -- and I'd love to have done the project in tandem with Mark. He's terrific at structure, has an unparalleled knowledge of DC history (while I wind up desperately calling friends and asking, 'Quick, quick -- what are all the great items of cosmic power in the DCU? Name me some DC intergalactic warlords! Aiee!') and knows the characters inside out. Our only disagreement, I think, is over whether Batman or Captain America would win in a fight ...
"But anyway, like I said, Mark's CrossGen deal didn't permit him to take on the project, so I seem to have gotten it by default. I can thank the fates for conspiring against Mark that day, instead of me.
"But I've got a lot of support, and while I'm mostly thought of as a Marvel guy, I've done a reasonable amount of work for DC over the years, and I've been reading the books for longer than most current readers have been alive. And Tom Brevoort's more knowledgeable about DC than anyone suspects, too -- so with me and Tom being smarter than we look, and Dan and the DC folks to help out, we shouldn't screw up too badly ..."
Busiek may not be prohibited from doing new projects, but he's already got a number of other projects he's committed to. Not to worry, though.
"Actually, I've got a lighter load than usual, these days. I've got 'Avengers,' and 'Defenders,' which I only co-write -- and I've got 'Astro City,' which my health problems are still keeping moving at a snail's pace. The other stuff I'm doing, whether it's the 'Thor' mini with Steve Rude or the stuff I've done through Gorilla, is all mini-series or one-shots, and for the most part, it's unscheduled. So it's not that hard to juggle things around and make room. Beyond the regular books, I've just finished a few things, and am starting some others -- but we can pace it all out so that not too many things all hit at once.
"Plus, I'm recovering from surgery, so if things went as well as the doctors tell me they did, my work time should be expanding, not contracting. Knock wood."
As noted above, the project will be handled by both "JLA" editor Dan Raspler and "Avengers" editor Tom Brevoort.
"Tom's editing two of the issues and Dan's editing the other two," Busiek said. "Though I'll be talking to both of them all along, of course, and they both get to look over everything that gets done. It'll be a co-production all the way."
"My job, and Tom's job, is to sit back and let Kurt and George do what they do best," Raspler told the Comic Wire on Wednesday. "It's no accident that they have the job."
And fans shouldn't worry about competing editorial visions for the project.
"It's one of those classic situations, where my ideal Avengers, and Tom's ideal Justice league, or Kurt's vision of what Superman would say to Iron Man" are all in harmony, Raspler said. "Luckily, all of our ideas kind of mesh."
"If we do our jobs right, the fans shouldn't really notice any disparity between the various issues," Brevoort told the Comic Wire on Thursday. "I'm editing the odd numbered issues, and Dan's got the even numbered ones, but we've both got approval powers on our respective characters for the duration, and the particulars of the story are going to have to be worked out before diving into the project. So this won't be a case where I just produce issue #1, end on a wacky cliffhanger, and then Dan has to solve it -- though that could be fun, come to think of it.
"Bottom line: the creative team will be the same throughout. Dan and I splitting up the books between ourselves is more a bookkeeping issue than a creative one."
Given that the project has been in the works for almost two decades, does the creative team feel any additional pressure beyond that which they'd feel on another issue of "The Avengers?"
"Oh, sure," Busiek said. "This is a book that many fans have been waiting years for -- and not waiting patiently! They've got all kinds of expectations, and if we don't hit this out of the park, they're going to hound us forever for failing them. Pressure? Yeah, a little!
"That's one of the reasons we want the project to be as long as it is. We've got to do the usual crossover stuff that everyone expects, we've got to go the extra mile (extra mile? Extra 50 miles?) to make it the kind of thing it's been built up to in longtime readers' minds, and I wanted some extra room to throw in the kind of twists that I like to do, so there's room for me to make it a Busiek story along with all the other stuff that has to happen. Let's face it -- it's got to have both grand scope and tons of detail, and that takes room.
"But along those lines, let me say this: I've set up an e-mail address, [email protected] (note the double A -- type it with a single A and it's someone else), and I'd like to hear from the fans, to get some sense of what their expectations are, since so many people have so many different ideas about what this should be. I'm not asking for story ideas, or for the main villains -- we've got that framed out already. But if you've been waiting for half your life for this book, and there's one thing, just one thing, that'll ruin it for you if it isn't there, I'd like to hear about it. A particular villain showing up somewhere in the story? A particular pair of heroes interacting? A location? A cameo? Hawkeye toasting marshmallows over Firestorm's head? Wonder Woman arm-wrestling the She-Hulk? Whatever, I'd like to hear about it -- I can use all the input I can get.
"But just to caution people -- don't expect me to use every single suggestion! We've only got 200 pages, after all. And the guy who wants to see the Creature Commandos meet the Legion of Monsters somewhere along the way is just plain outta luck, I'm sorry to say. So no promises -- but we do plan to have a lot going on over the course of the story, so who knows what there might be room for? Let me know.
"And to all three of you 'Buried Alien' fans: Forget it. Can't do it. No way."
Of course, Busiek's partner in crime has some ideas of what he'd like to be included: "I guess there are certain things I'd like to see," Pérez said. "I'd like to see some of the great locations for both universes. In the original story, we never would have had Apokolips. But Apokolips would be great to be in there."
Brevoort remains cognizant of the anticipation around this project that's built for longer than the lifetimes of some JLA and Avengers fans.
"Well, sure," he said. "That's why we're doing four bookshelf-sized issues, rather than a one-shot. On one level, I do have the fear that this thing has been so built up in peoples' minds that no story could possibly equal the expectations. That said, the challenge is still to meet and exceed them. In terms of confidence level, I would expect that Dan might have more reservations than I do -- not that he's said anything to that effect or anything -- simply because I've worked with this creative team for a number of years, and the interactions are smooth and instinctive at this point. So in that respect, it's really not that different from doing an issue of 'Avengers.'"
By now, readers of this article have most likely stopped, at some point, and looked at the new promotional piece Pérez has done for Megacon, featuring members of both the Justice League of America and the Avengers. Note to panicked fans: This is not the final roster of who is going to be in the book.
"Well, that group shot is a promo shot," Busiek said. "We're not 100 percent sure who's going to be on each team yet, as I type this. We're flexible. But we know that whoever we pick, the book's going to come out at least a year later, so the odds are good that the active membership of one or the other teams will have changed from whatever we thought it was going to be right now. We're more concerned with delivering a JLA and an Avengers that'll be what readers really want to see, not reflecting that at-this-moment line-up. So yeah, we'll find a way to get Hawkeye in there -- Avengers fans want Hawkeye to be involved, so we'll do it. And if Batman gets voted off the island again, don't worry about it. He'll be on the team here."
And just as the rosters may not reflect the current rosters in "The Avengers" and "JLA" the moment the books are released, don't look for any au currant subplots from the books sneaking in either.
"We don't know what they'll be, in a year's time. We don't really want to make this something that only makes sense at one specific moment in time, and then instantly starts to date horribly. So we'll be working to get the characters right, and get their relationships with one another to feel appropriate and have life and energy -- but nobody's going to be able to go, 'Look, Kyle was mad at Wally in this issue of JLA, but then he beat the crap out of Justice and felt better, and that's why they're getting along better now.' Even if we wanted to, we've just got too long a gestation period to fit it all together.
"So we'll split the difference, and do something that feels modern and current, but that also works for the long term, for the classic strengths of each team and each character. Just exactly what that means, I can't tell you right now, but we've got a plan, honest ..."
Of course, with Pérez at the helm, who has drawn both teams in the past, along with literally almost everyone in the DC Universe during the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" series in the 1980s (including some panels that seemed to include all of the characters, all at once), as well as including at least a cameo of every Avenger in first issue of the "The Avengers" relaunch a few years ago, some fans might be hoping to see every Leaguer and every Avenger at some point in this story.
"This book is being drawn by George Pérez. Nothing is impossible.
"George is not only the only guy considered for the art on this book, but he's the powerhouse that can make it all work. He's the only artist I know who you can ask to draw 83 villains on a page, and have him not only make it look great, but add in another 25 just because he felt like it. The problem won't be too much stuff, it'll be holding George back -- there'll always be another clash, another location worth using, another cameo, another moment of power and emotion. And George's standard answer to 'Which of these things should we do?' is 'All of it!'"
"Believe me, as far as I'm concerned, anyone who has ever set foot in the Avengers mansion, anyone who has ever set foot in the JLA, is fair game," Pérez said. "There were some characters I would have loved to have drawn into that promotion piece. Plastic Man, for one thing."
"So at the very least, you'll see a whole lot of Leaguers and Avengers getting involved," Busiek said. "All of 'em? Well, you know what George would like. But wait and see ..."
As for nitty-gritty details as to what the decades-in-the-making story will be about, don't look for much information at this point, so early in the game.
"I will say it'll be a story of cosmic scope, that'll involve characters all the way from the Eternity scale down to the very, very human," Busiek said. "Worlds will live, worlds will die -- in fact, we may start off by blowing up a couple of universes, just to set the stage. Galactus and the Shaper of Worlds aren't out of the question. Neither are Krona and Darkseid. Heck, neither is Alfred, or Foggy Nelson. You never know.
"It'll be bigger than anyone expects, I hope. It'll be stranger than anyone expects, I can practically guarantee. And we may have a few twists that'll take everyone by surprise ..."
When DC and Marvel have allowed their heroes to play together in the past, it seemed like things always devolved into violence at some point.
"I'm sure there'll be some of that, since readers seem to want it -- and in fact, don't talk about much else than which heroes should square off against which other heroes," Busiek said. "But the thing people should understand is that, for all that we'll be doing some of that, this is 'Avengers/JLA,' not 'Avengers versus JLA.' And even the battles we do, we're not going to have everyone split up, and one guy from one team fights one guy from another team, until someone falls down. These are teams. They'll act like teams, not like solo heroes in an elimination championship. Besides, Marvel and DC already did that crossover ..."
While Busiek and Pérez have worked with both the JLA and Avengers previously, for Brevoort and Raspler, this is a rare opportunity to play with the competition's toys.
"I'm an 'old school' DC fan," Brevoort said. "Pretty much anything Julie Schwartz edited, I liked. So the current JLA squad is pretty comfortable to me (with the exception of Plastic Man. Sorry, Dan, sorry, Mark, but I think he's a square peg in a round hole in JLA.) However, in the last 10 years, with all of the crossovers that have already been done, we've seen most of the obvious one-on-one meetings already. So my focus here is on my team meeting their team -- how are they alike, how are they different, what does this signify. How do the teams react to one another, rather than how the individual characters react to one another. We've seen Batman meet Captain America -- but how does he react to the Scarlet Witch, or the Wasp, or Thor? What does Iron Man make of the Martian Manhunter, or Wonder Woman, or the Atom? And how does the 'spirit of the Avengers' interface with the 'spirit of the League?'"
Speaking of previous intercompany crossovers, DC and Marvel have a long history of such works, stretching back into the 1970s.
"My
favorite is probably the first Superman/Spider-Man," Busiek said,
"Just because it was so cool, so new, and so big. I was the right age, it
was a heck of a roller-coaster ride, and it was full of big moments that looked
great on those tabloid pages.
"Batman/Hulk was another fun one, with great art, and X-Men/Teen Titans was dramatic as all hell. I still want to see Iron Man/Batman, though ..."
"There's a certain place in my heart for the first Superman/Spider-Man one," Raspler said, "But I think the ultimate one of all was the X-Men/Titans by [Chris] Claremont and [Walter] Simonson. ... Tremendous story. Both teams were in the full flush of their strength. The villains were terrifically well realized."
"There have been a handful of really good crossover books in the last bunch of years, but for me it all goes back to 'Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man," Brevoort said. "It was the first, it was an amazingly holistic project -- having been produced by creators who'd worked on both characters in the past -- and it was groundbreaking just by its very existence. Everything since has had to compete with the simplicity of that high concept. Since then, I also liked 'X-Men/Teen Titans' (though not when I first read it so much. At the time, I felt that Chris Claremont didn't have all that great a handle on the Titans' speech patterns. But reading it again in recent years, I found it was really terrific.), I thought the Dixon/Romita Jr. 'Batman/Punisher' was tremendous, I liked both of John Byrne's entries -- 'Batman/Captain America' and 'Darkseid/Galactus' -- and, of course, I thought that the 'Hulk/Superman' project I finished up worked out well."
So, when the fourth issue of "JLA/Avengers" or "Avengers/JLA" or whatever it's called, appears in comic stands (presumably) some time in 2002, a long-unfinished chapter in a superhero comics history will finally be coming to a close. How does it feel to be given the chance to finally do the project so many fans have been waiting for, for so many years?
"Feels pretty good," Busiek said. "Ominous, in that if I screw up, then I'm the guy that broke the toy everyone was looking forward to seeing, but I feel good about the story we've got, and I think readers are going to like it. We're not going to be taking the obvious route with things, so I'm pretty sure it won't be ho-hum."
"It's a huge opportunity. I've worked on a lot of comics I'm real proud of, that people seem to respond well to, and I would put this up there with those," Raspler said. "This is a special one, because it involves the Marvel fans at well. ... Of course, we're fans, too, otherwise we wouldn't be doing this. ... We're real aware of how important this is for everyone."
"The last one, while fun, was based on the single premise of the JLA battling the Avengers. But that has been done now. DC versus Marvel, the Access [DC/Marvel crossover] books," Pérez said. "I know that I am not going to coast through JLA/Avengers. It's given me, as much as CrossGen, motivation to watch my health ... This may be my last hurrah on mainstream superheroes for some while. So this bears the burden of that.
"After JLA/Avengers, frankly, where else can I go in the superhero genre? If I'm hanging up my cape and tights -- and lord knows, that's not a pretty sight -- it seems like a fitting place to end it."
Monday, February 5, 2001
BUSIEK: NO JLA/AVENGERS PROGRESS
Three things are inescapable for comics fans: Death, taxes and rumors of the long-awaited "JLA/Avengers" crossover book from DC and Marvel Comics.
The latest mutation of the "JLA/Avengers" crossover book rumor surfaced late last week on several comic news Web sites. Allegedly, artist George Pérez, long the anointed artist for the project, will be working on the book soon. Although he's gone exclusive with CrossGen, he has the right to do the "JLA/Avengers" project if the two companies ever work out their differences. (Legal disagreements unrelated to the project reportedly have stalled collaborations between the two.)
Rich Johnston's column at Silver Bullet Comics even went so far as to say that Pérez's former "Avengers" collaborator, Kurt Busiek, is currently working on the script and will be handing it off to Pérez in March.
Nope.
"I am not working on a script," Busiek told the Comic Wire on Sunday. "I'd love it if there was forward motion on this, and I'd love to be involved if it happens. And I've been hearing rumors on this for years now.
"But I haven't heard that any deal's been signed, and I'm not working on a script."
Wednesday January 24, 2001
JUSTICE LEAGUE
AOL Time Warner has issued the following release regarding the previously rumored Justice League animated TV show:
Cartoon Network will enlist the world's greatest superheroes, bringing them together once more in an all-new half-hour animated series, Justice League, it was announced today by Betty Cohen, president, Cartoon Network Worldwide. The new series is being produced by Warner Bros. Animation under the direction of Emmy Award-winner Bruce Timm.
Cartoon Network has given Justice League an initial order of 26 original half-hour episodes, which will incorporate an all-star roster of popular DC Comics superheroes, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter. Following the premise and storyline of the DC Comics comic books, members of the Justice League will be called upon to battle against allied villains, supernatural creatures and other powerful forces of evil determined to usurp authority over the world and to destroy the Justice League. Justice League marks the first time in more than 15 years that these characters have come together in a television series since first uniting in Super Friends, which ran from 1973-85 on ABC and later on Cartoon Network.
"We know from our experience of airing Super Friends for years on Cartoon Network here in the U.S. and around the world, that Justice League will have a vast, built-in audience hungry for an exciting new look at these classic characters," said Cohen. "We've built a powerful action-adventure block on Cartoon Network called Toonami that will serve as a showcase for the new series. With Justice League, we're strategically positioning Cartoon Network to attract an even broader audience of tweens, teens and adults who are drawn to the powerful DC Comics brand and are seeking smart, exciting, action-packed animation at its very best."
"I can think of no one more appropriate or qualified to bring the JLA superheroes to life than Bruce Timm," said Jean MacCurdy, president of Warner Bros. Animation. "As he so brilliantly demonstrated with Batman and Superman, he is passionate about creating an entertaining and dynamic series that will thrill the legions of JLA fans everywhere, as well as introduce a whole new generation of fans to these classic characters as they come together in a brand new series."
"After working on the Superman and Batman series for the last several years, Justice League is a great opportunity to develop those characters a step further and bring more of the iconic DC Comics superheroes to life," said Timm. "I am looking forward to exploring whole new realms of the superhero world."
"We're excited to be working with the great creative team responsible for Batman and Superman," said Mike Lazzon, senior vice president of programming and production for Cartoon Network. Justice League will be a powerful addition to our Toonami action-adventure franchise."
Paul Levitz, executive vice president & publisher, DC Comics, commented, Justice League will literally have worlds colliding and the most dynamic action animation ever done, thanks to Bruce Timm and our friends at Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network."
The Justice League has existed in some form since 1940 when DC Comics' All-Star Comics introduced the first-ever group of superheroes in a comic book series entitled "Justice Society of America," which ran until 1951. DC Comics revived the concept in March 1960, renaming it the "Justice League of America." The JLA superheroes were the stars of the longest-running television cartoon series based on a comic book via Hanna-Barbera Studios' Super Friends (1973), The All-New Super Friends (1977), Challenge of the Super Friends (1978), The World's Greatest Super Friends (1979) and The Super Friends Hour (1980) all produced for Saturday mornings on ABC. The Super Friends series began airing on Cartoon Network in June 1996 and moved to its sister network, Boomerang in April 2000, where they continue to air. The monthly "Justice League of America" comic book continues to be one of DC Comic's best-selling titles, consistently ranking among the top ten in industry sales.
Wednesday December 6, 2000
JLA ANIMATED
The web has been buzzing with talk of a JLA animated show since last August when the 4 Color Review website broke the story. Comics2Film's source in the know has confirmed that the show is in development at Warner Animation, the show is Bruce Timm's baby and it is in development for the Cartoon Network.
C2F's inside source has also provide fans with the first look at the roster for the animated super team. According to sources in the know the team roster will be the "magnificent seven" team, with some tweaking here and there. These are the characters and a description of what roles they'll play in the new show:
- Superman: Portrayed as a natural leader. He's a bit of a boy scout, but without being cheesy about it.
- Batman: The show will play up the Dark Knight's detective skills as opposed to the brooding, somber creature-of-the night take that's been used in the other animated shows.
- Wonder Woman: The Amazon princess angle will be emphasized. Wonder Woman is new to man's world. She sometimes displays a condescending attitude towards others.
- The Flash: The Flash is Wally West under the mask. The character is more a mix of West and Bart Allen/Impulse. The Flash is seen as a fun-loving, impulsive guy.
- Green Lantern: This Green Lantern is John Stewart. He's been hand-picked by the Guardians to be the Green Lantern for this sector. Stewart has spent a number of years in space and only recently returned to Earth. He sees himself as a very experienced cop and tends to look down on the rest of the JLA as amateurs. He has little understanding or tolerance for earthly prejudices and petty injustices.
- Martian Manhunter: The last survivor of an underground Martian race. Martian Manhunter is the only one who lives in the JLA watchtower full time.
- Hawkgirl: A member of the Thanagarian police. Hawkgirl is transported to Earth by a mysterious beam (we're told it's not called a zeta-beam in the show, but it's basically the same concept). She has deductive skills that even Batman is impressed by, but also has that warrior woman side to her.
The aforementioned JLA Watchtower is a satellite that is in geo-synchronous orbit with the Earth. Aquaman will be included in one of the early stories, but not as a regular member of the team. The Manhunters will also make an appearance early on.
Our source was unsure about the villains of the piece. Despero and Vandal Savage may show up in the series.
Date Unknown
MARVEL AND DC TO COPUBLISH JLA/AVENGERS
Top Super-teams to Meet in Project by Busiek and Pérez
DC Comics and Marvel Comics announce that the greatest super-teams of two universes will meet at last in a project with the working titles AVENGERS/JLA and JLA/AVENGERS.
The teams will unite for an epic 4-issue monthly miniseries written and illustrated by the fan-favorite AVENGERS team of Kurt Busiek and George Pérez. Each issue will be 48 pages squarebound, alternating issues between the two publishers and co-edited by DC’s Dan Raspler and Marvel’s Tom Brevoort. Publication date has not been established yet.
"Needless to say, after nearly two decades, I'm ecstatic and grateful beyond words that I'm finally getting to realize a lifelong fanboy dream," says George Pérez, "I know that expectations are going to be very high and I will work like a demon to meet them. With the help of such incredible talents as Kurt Busiek, (colorist) Tom Smith, Tom Brevoort and Dan Raspler, I think that Earth's Greatest and Mightiest Heroes are in capable, loving hands."
"I've got two great challenges here," says Kurt Busiek, "The first is to put these two incredible teams to the test by pitting them against impossible odds, and the second is to give George loads of characters doing as many things as possible. And I'm not sure which will be more fun! "
Although plot details are not yet finalized, fans may look forward to the two teams facing a galactic threat… and maybe even each other.
From my first week as EPIC, Avengers/JLA was one of the things that I wanted on the fast track," says Joe Quesada, Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief.
"Thanks to Tom Brevoort — his relentless effort and sleepless nights — and our pals at DC, this project is on the move and fans will get their wish. The most asked about story in the history of our glorious medium is finally under way!"
"After all these years, we’re able to give the fans what they’ve been asking for," says Mike Carlin, DC Comics Executive Editor — DCU. "I think we’re gonna see a lot of smiling faces in comics shops (and on George!) when this thing gets underway."
Further details will be announced as they are available.
© 2001 DC Comics and Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. JLA and all related characters and indicia are trademarks of DC Comics. AVENGERS and all related characters and indicia are trademarks of Marvel Characters, Inc.