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i was going to get it but i picked up deadpool since it was sold out last week. ill prolly try to get astonishing and daredevil later this week hopefully.
the art on asm is starting to grow on me now
Paul Azaceta
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Javier Pulido
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saw this from cbr forums
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that wolverine cover with deathlok looks like it's straight out of 1992, and i mean that in a good way.
god, fraction's awful. i want to like uncanny because some of his ideas are good but his dialogue is an abomination.
and i just notice the two shots of psylocke's ass lol
land gave her a thong while dodson did not, probably because his inker is his wife lol
WTF? X FACTOR FOREVER? eloels..nice.
ya it's a five issue miniseries picking up from the walt and louise simonson era, so pre-claremont/portacio when they had nate sent to the future...the art that i saw at CBR looks dope so i'll buy it.
on a side note...when did rogue lose her ms. marvel powers? i took a break from comics for a few years and it occured to me that since i've been reading again she hasn't had the flight and super-strength.
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batman and robin #7
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Grant Morrison's "Barbarian"
- by Jeffrey Renaud, Staff Writer
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http://www.comicbookresources.com/as...3534.jpg&w=300Morrison and Murphy enter Joe's world of fantasy in January 2010
Superstar writer Grant Morrison has done it all. He's re-imagined and revitalized comic franchises for both DC and Marvel, including Superman, Batman, Justice League of America and X-Men, and he's deconstructed and reconstructed entire genres and universes with his groundbreaking work on titles such as "Animal Man, "The Invisibles," and "Final Crisis."
But despite the fantastically surreal elements of "Doom Patrol," "Aztek, The Ultimate Man" and "Swamp Thing," Morrison says that he's never written a true fantasy. Until now.
Beginning in January, Morrison and rising star artist Sean Murphy ("Batman/Scarecrow: Year One") are heading somewhere over the rainbow and through the looking glass to Hypogea, the Kingdom of Death, in an all-new eight-issue miniseries for Vertigo Comics called, "Joe the Barbarian."
Joe is your typical high school kid. Except for the fact that he gets bullied relentlessly, his dad died overseas in the Iraq war and he's fights for his life everyday due to Type 1 diabetes. Beyond that, perfectly normal.
Oh, and his house is also the ultimate battleground between King Death and an army of fantastic toys that are trying to defeat him. But who doesn't have someone like that in their algebra class?
In the first part of a two-part interview, Morrison discusses the origins of "Joe the Barbarian," the fantasy books he loved to read as a teenager growing up in Glasgow and what a post-traumatic, post-9/11 heroic fantasy should look like.
Story continues below<a href='http://ads.comicbookresources.com/adclick.php?n=ad0fb9f2' target='_blank'><img src='http://ads.comicbookresources.com/adview.php?what=zone:14&n=ad0fb9f2' border='0' alt=''></a>CBR News: You've been working with DC's greatest superheroes – namely Batman and Superman – for the past decade to great critical acclaim. Do you have to switch gears at all for a creator-owned project or is it pretty fluid to bounce back and forth between the two types of projects?
Grant Morrison: No, not so much. I've kind of figured out after all these years, how to make Batman and Superman just as personal as anything else. It would be hard to do that stuff without having some personal stake in it. But, yeah, when you create your own stories and characters, there is a certain pride and a certain freedom that maybe goes a little bit deeper than the work with other people's trademarks. There's a kind of freshness that comes with doing stories that don't carry 300 years of continuity baggage. You're able to go to places that are maybe a bit more interesting and challenging than the corporate stuff allows.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/as...3667.jpg&w=200"Joe the Barbarian" hits stores in January
When I do a Vertigo project, I often read people say, "It's good to see Grant doing something personal again" – and I always appreciate it when readers are keen to see me do my own thing, but all the stories I do are personally expressive of where my head's at when I'm doing them; it's just that the creator-owned stuff can be more ambitious, more concentrated maybe. The stories are finite and complete. And there's a kind of relief when no one has ever written the characters before, so no one can really complain about how they should or shouldn't be done.
When we meet Joe, we find out that he's a character that has had some personal losses and is dealing with an illness. Is this story in any way autobiographical in a nature?
No, not at all. Apart from having my adenoids removed when I was 8 and my appendix when I was 12, I was a pretty healthy kid with no significant losses in my life, so that part of it's not particularly autobiographical, although, like Joe, I was a creative kid with an ex-soldier dad. This started with the simple idea of doing a classic fantasy story. I was obsessed with fantasy books when I was a young teenager – Tolkien, Alan Garner, Susan Cooper, Robert E.Howard, Michael Moorcock, Stephen Donaldson…. anything I could get my hands on. I even wrote two big swords-and-sorcery novels back then, but I'd never done a fantasy comic book before and it seemed like an interesting challenge to do a real proper kind of "Lord of Rings," "Alice in Wonderland" all-ages story for today.
What got me most excited was the idea of re-thinking the basic fantasy genre narrative – the familiar "world-in-wardrobe" adventure – in much the same way we've seen superheroes re-imagined over the last 20 years. You know, strip it down to basics and re-build it for a 21st century audience. I was looking at stuff like the "Narnia" books, the Alice stories, "The Wizard of Oz," "The Phantom Tollbooth," Alan Garner's "Elidor" and their common thread of young characters on the verge of, or in the throes of, puberty, who then find themselves transported to fantastic worlds which somehow illuminate the responsibilities and absurdities of the real adult world they're about to be plunged into.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/as...3610.jpg&w=200Sean Murphy introduces Joe - and the reader - to Hypogea
I like things to be quite real and grounded in everyday life when I'm doing my creator-owned stuff, so I didn't want to create a flimsy world of pure make-believe behind the mirror or over the rainbow. A good fantasy story needs to have some genuine and immediate relevance to the world we live in, so I had to wait until I had an idea that felt straightforward, plausible and fresh to me. What does post-traumatic, post-9/11 heroic fantasy look like?
In the end, the story turned out to be incredibly simple – Joe starts at the top of his house and he has to make his way to the bottom of the house – and on the way something happens. Another world, bigger, stranger and yet weirdly familiar starts to break through.
"Joe the Barbarian" is about a Boy and his House. It's about a modern kid's journey to Death's Door and what he finds there. Joe's the son of a soldier, like all of us in the military-industrial society of spectacle and denial, and a kid literally facing Death.
I really get into the idea that all of our houses, for anybody who lives in a home, we have mythology in it. When you're a kid, your dad is the king, your mother is the queen. It can be good or bad or whatever, but those early relationships have a primal storybook quality which informs how we see the world as we grow. The dog next door is the most important dog in the world, or the girl next door is the princess. When you're a kid, particularly, your home contains the raw material for any adventure, and is the original source of mythology. So the breakthrough on this one came when I thought, "What if the whole story, this epic fantasy, takes place over a crucial 20 minutes where a kid has to get downstairs to basically save his own life?" And out of that came "Joe the Barbarian." In Joe's house, stairs become mountain ranges, the bath becomes a gleaming white Fjord with pirate dwarf sub-mariners living in the plumbing and the cellar is Hypogea, the Kingdom of Death.
From there, I wondered what real-life illness might be capable of triggering a delirious state which could put my hero in real physical danger while also allowing him to experience his own home as another kind of universe. One of Kristan's relatives has a daughter who suffers from Type 1 Diabetes, so she's had these experiences of going into dissociated states, and not knowing where she is and wandering around and getting lost. It's a precursor of more severe hypoglycemia, which can lead to complete unconsciousness and – in this particular scenario – even death. The illness itself was layered onto the story at the end to provide a kind of real world rationale for what happens to Joe, but when I was researching how teenagers deal with diabetes, I read all these heartbreaking, pragmatic, first-person accounts of how to keep hypo at bay or deal with one when it happens. I hope I've given these ordinary, brave kids a hero they can identify with and root for.
So to clarify, the entire eight-issue story happens in 20 minutes real-time but it plays out for Joe much slower.
Absolutely. It's 20 minutes, but it will feel like your entire life [laughs]. It's also about how much can change in that time, as well. It's the idea of scale. I like the idea of how a house can be a kingdom but also how 20 minutes can change the world. Everything can change in 20 minutes.
The whole thing is about this one kid trying to get downstairs to save his own life and in the process, he is called upon to save the world. And the 20-minute journey downstairs, as he's dying, becomes this epic quest.
But even as we go further into the book, we start to wonder, is the other world just a delusion or is it a real place? Joe is soon convinced that it is a real place. And maybe if the kid fails, two worlds actually will succumb to Eternal Darkness.
What about Joe himself? Will the reader be rooting for him right from the start, or is he so riddled with angst that we have to learn to love him?
http://www.comicbookresources.com/as...4048.jpg&w=200A page from "Joe the Barbarian"
He's not so much a brat, except when the effects of the hypo make him a little stroppy. He's not like Damian [Wayne] from "Batman and Robin." He's a little outsider kid. He dresses in black. His father was in the army, so he's kind of the kid who has been moved around a bit. When we meet him, his dad's been killed in Iraq, and his mom can't keep up the payments on the house he loves. They're about to lose the house, and there's nothing Joe can do about it… which is basically where we come in and the adventure begins.
So yeah, Joe's actually quite a normal kid, if a bit of an outsider. I think a lot of people who read comics will be able to identify with him. He likes to draw. He's quite imaginative. But he's not one thing or another. He's not a bad kid. He's not irritating. He's not a big hero. He's Everykid™. He's like Alice in Wonderland, or Wendy from "Peter Pan" or Dorothy. Those types of characters stand in for a certain moment in all our lives, a certain age on the boundary between childhood and adulthood where your mind if still open to stuff and the world still radiates a kind of sad, fading magic.
We've seen some of Sean Murphy's pages from the first issue, and there are some choice toy placements. How did the two of you come up with those ideas, and are specific references and Easter Eggs tied to the toys you chose that feed directly into the story?
Well, no, a lot of the toys were actually Sean's idea. I would have never suggested Batman and Transformers toys because I wouldn't have thought the legal department would let us get away with them. Sean had the balls to do it. So we've got those very recognizable things in there but it's not like "Toy Story" where the toys come alive to save the day. In ‘"Joe the Barbarian," the whole house is "alive" with stories, characters and mythology. Is it a suburban house dreaming it's a fantasy kingdom or vice versa? These toys are actually pretty fucked up when we meet them. They're all that remains of an elite army which has just lost the war against King Death. So it's not a toy based story at all. But Sean made some great choices. In the script I was talking about teddy bears and old fashioned toys and Sean said, "Come on! Kids are playing with Bionicles and stuff." So he kept me on track. He's one of the best artists I've ever worked with, and he's really pulling out the stops to create a world that's never been seen before. This book is worth it for the art alone, to be honest.
Joe has a friend in this - a samurai rat?
In his everyday life, he looks after a pet rat, and the rat kind of looks after him, as well. So when he passes over into his seemingly hallucinated fantasy world, the rat appears as an 8-foot tall samurai, barbarian rodent called Chakk. A sort of Conan the Vermin! His entire tribe has been destroyed, he's the last survivor and he feels as though he's failed everyone. He's a giant rat with survivor's guilt, and the two find themselves together on this unlikely quest.
They meet up with other people, as well. On the way we encounter other characters who reflect people from Joe's everyday life.
How early does the story start to unfold into the fantasy elements? Do we see this fantasy world in the first issue, and when do we learn who the Big Bad is?
http://www.comicbookresources.com/as...4068.jpg&w=200A page from "Joe the Barbarian"
We meet the big bad straight away. Well, by the second issue. The first issue is the set-up, where we see Joe's real life before he crosses over to the other world of the Iron Kingdom. But the bad guy, King Death, is in evidence from the second issue on, along with his army of flying Deathcoats, led by the hideous Sir Ulrik the Unspeakable! Obviously, if you're a kid who carries a disease that could ultimately kill you if it's not properly monitored, then you have a relationship with death which is a little different from other people and that is what the book is about. In the other world, they call Joe, "the Dying Boy." They have this prophecy about him. So he may not reach downstairs [laughs].
The character is all about what happens when you have that unusual relationship with sickness and death that's only made possible by modern medicine. When you are someone who can actually take a medicine that stops death's progress, then you have a different relationship with death. You can choose to do nothing and suffer the consequences, or you can choose to chase death away using medicine. And King Death kind of fears him for that reason. So the bad guy comes out of all of [Joe's] feelings about the war and his father being dead and the lack of light in the house, because there is an electrical storm and the lights go out, which creates this bizarre, dark atmosphere of doom and apocalypse in the other world of the Iron Kingdom.
You probably can't say for sure, because it may give away how this all ends for Joe, but is there any chance this world can be expanded into a "Joe the Barbarian" trilogy like "Seaguy"?
We certainly could expand the world. And the basic idea that every home contains its own kingdom of mythology can be expanded indefinitely. The sequel could be set in a school or a factory or in someone else's house but there will be no more "Joe the Barbarian" stories after this one [laughs].
"Joe the Barbarian" #1, featuring art by Sean Murphy, is scheduled for January 20.
Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the second-part of CBR's interview with Grant Morrison, when he discusses "Batman and Robin" and "Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne."
aayyyy^^ eloels...btw, the art for batman n robin looks great.
lol at that doom pic
To The Batcave With Grant Morrison
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http://comicbookresources.com/assets...0869.jpg&w=300It's Batman VS. Robin in 2010
Since his arrival on the DC Comics character's franchise in 2006, superstar writer Grant Morrison has injected new life into the Batman mythos in much the same manner as he had done previously on flagship franchises like "JLA" and "X-Men."
Of course, he's injected some death as well. Building towards the ultimate demise of Bruce Wayne in "Final Crisis" #6 over four years of intense and often times brutally violent storytelling, Morrison both literally and figuratively stripped the world's greatest detective down to his most primitive and feral state, which has set off a chain of events in a new invigorated line of Bat-books, including his own new ongoing series, "Batman and Robin."
Launched in June 2009, the initial three-issue arc of "Batman and Robin" was drawn by Morrison's long-time collaborator and fellow Glaswegian Frank Quitely ("All Star Superman," "WE3"), while the succeeding three-part storyline was illustrated by Philip Tan ("Green Lantern").
Beginning in January with "Batman and Robin" #7, artist Cameron Stewart ("Seaguy") comes on board for the next three-issue arc, "Blackest Night," which takes Dick Grayson to England for a team-up with Knight and Squire.
While the thrills and chills spill out on the streets of London, lurking in the not so-far distant future is "The Return of Bruce Wayne," a six-issue miniseries announced earlier this month during the "DCU in 2010" launch campaign.
In the second part of a two-part interview, Morrison shared exclusive news on who was illustrating "Batman and Robin" though the end of 2010 (including the return of Quitely), how long Morrison plans to stay on the title and when we'll find out exactly what the hell's going on with Bruce Wayne's skull.
CBR News: Before we get into what's to come in "Batman & Robin," wondering if you can share some insight into the decision to work with rotating artists on the title. Was the decision based purely on how many issues Frank Quitely can produce each year or did you want to get a different vibe for each three-issue arc you wanted to tell?
Grant Morrison: Well, we were determined to do a monthly book from the start and there was no way Frank could meet that schedule, so that definitely led to the decision to break the book into three-issue arcs for different artists, yeah.
http://comicbookresources.com/assets...0960.jpg&w=200Cameron Stewart illustrates Dick Grayson's London adventures
It does allow me to approach the story a little differently for each artist and to do different types of stories based on how they'll look. Sometimes it's easy to get bogged down halfway through a long-running story arc, but these were short and punchy and each one has a different atmosphere. Frank's opener really set the tone with the whole acid bubblegum thing, then Philip [Tan] had that scratchy noir – "rain on black glass" as one of the Mindless Ones blog team described it so beautifully.
Cameron Stewart's issues are really lush and look completely different again from Frank and Philip, perfect for the whole British setting and the ghost story feel. I think readers will be blown away by what he's done. And Andy Clarke's story is a kind of Dan Brown thing, almost, which really benefits from his attention to detail and his gift for drawing architecture. Everyone is getting scripts written to bring out the best in their work, I hope. And I really like how they've all turned out. For me, it keeps things fresh and unpredictable.
All those huge, multi-part, slow moving stories were very popular in the last decade but the impression you get from readers now is that they want a bit more for their money – more story, more ideas, more new characters, more re-read potential per issue, and I‘m up for that. Comics are quite expensive compared to other entertainment media and we should keep that in mind. I've always favored the "super-compression" approach, so I feel more in tune with the demands of the audience these days.
In January, you kick off a new arc featuring the art of the aforementioned Cameron Stewart. Can you tease any details about what's to come?
Well, it's called "Blackest Knight," with a "K." It's not a direct tie-in to "Blackest Night," but it draws on the atmosphere and the themes of "Blackest Night," and along the way it explains what the hell's going on with Bruce Wayne's skull. The one Black Hand was carrying around. It is quite obvious, if you've been following events over the last year, and a lot of Batman readers have already figured it out, I have to say.
This is our version of a Batman crossover team-up event – done in three issues and set mostly in England. We have the Knight and the Squire. Death and rebirth. And Batwoman's in it. It's a micro-"Crisis" [laughs].
You're from Scotland and this is set in England, but nevertheless, are you happy to be bringing Batman across the pond?
http://comicbookresources.com/assets...1018.jpg&w=200Batwoman fills in for Damien for an issue of "Batman and Robin"
Oh, yeah. Batman always had that globetrotting thing going on. He even has a villain called the Globe Trotter [laughs]. In fact he's had two villains with that name. So there were always those covers where you'd see Batman skiing down the Alpine slopes or wearing a kilt. London is quite gothic looking in places, so Batman usually fits in very well. Like I say, this particular story feels like a British comics version of Batman, with mad "theme" villains, phantom miners and underground traps.
Knight and Squire will be appearing in this arc. What does Britain's dynamic duo bring to a storyline?
I've loved those characters since I revamped them a bit in "JLA." And I've built up a huge, detailed backstory for them now, so I can always flip little elements of that into every new appearance. There's just something about the idea of the "English Batman" who can't handle his father's death and blows all his inheritance on drink and drugs and women. He had to be dragged back from the gutter by this tough little working class girl and her mom. So there's a great class thing with the two characters. She's a street kid and he's an aristocrat. Their adventures have little echoes of the Steed and Peel "Avengers," and there's a bit of "Doctor Who" in there, too. This three-issue arc is a kind of mash-up of every British comic or cult TV show in a way. But with Batman.
Batman is making the trip himself because Robin is struggling back at home.
Yeah, in this one, we see Batman working with a couple of different partners. Dick Grayson's good at working with other heroes, of course. He's with the Squire for most of the first issue, and then he's with Batwoman in the next one, Robin's spine was shot to fuck by Flamingo, so the idea was to do "Batman and Robin" as "Batman and…Someone Else" for three issues. And it sets up the next arc, which is ‘Batman vs. Robin.'
Is that fallout from how the fight ended with Red Hood and the Flamingo in the last arc?
You'll see how it develops soon enough, but basically Talia starts calling in favors [laughs]. Damian's put in a difficult position and his loyalties are put to the test. All of this has been about testing that kid. He's learning the hard way what it takes to be a hero in Batman's world, and it's not over for him yet.
It's not like he's the first character you've created and introduced to the DCU proper, but the son of Bruce Wayne is a pretty significant addition to the Batman mythos. Is that a feather you wear proudly in your cap?
Oh yeah, it's nice, but someone could just as easily come in after I'm done and shoot him in the head so, you know... What's been fun for me is the way readers are really starting to warm to the character, because I always thought we had something really good here and a lot of readers just hated Damian when he first appeared. But the more they get to know him, the more they've started to get into him. And that's been the best thing for me, to see people actually warming to the character now that they can see he's going through massive changes in his life and his value system. He's constantly developing new facets. And that's always fun to read and to write.
http://comicbookresources.com/assets...2330.jpg&w=250Andy Kubert came up with the Pirate Batman look
What about Frank Quitely? He launched this series with you. When will he be returning?
Frazer Irving's doing something after Andy Clarke and then Frank returns a little later than expected. We added three extra issues because of the way that "Blackest Night" was playing out, and you've got "Batman" #700 happening in the middle of all this, so we wanted to find a way to tie everything together for the big comeback.
The three new issues with Andy Clarke pushed Frazer's arc into the summer and had Frank's return to coincide with the "Return" and the big "season-ender" storyline. Then Frank got sick after finishing "Batman and Robin" #3, so he's been dealing with a back problem for the last six months and he hasn't been able to sit at his desk long enough to do much more than keep up with covers. When I spoke him last week, he said he hoped to get back to work on "‘Batman and Robin" in the New Year. Another reason why it was a really good idea to get a few other artists involved.
You mentioned "The Return," so let me ask you - will "The Return of Bruce Wayne" mean the end of "Batman and Robin," or will Bruce Wayne's return play out in the other Bat-books, as well?
The stories in "Return" and "Batman and Robin" run parallel to one another for six months, and there are a few subtle connections between them, but they don't really link up until the crescendo in "Batman and Robin" #16 which comes out in September 2010, I think. You could easily read both books on their own, but it's more involving to read them together.
So will Bruce Wayne eventually be returning to "Batman" and "Detective Comics" or "Batman and Robin," or another new title?
There is a plan, but I can't talk about it yet. I was always going to move on after 12 issues of "Batman and Robin," then it went to 16 and I figured that was it, I'd told my story. I figured once Bruce came back, it would go back to the traditional Batman status quo, which is kind of where I came in. But then I had an idea that seemed to me a really exciting way to continue the story in a new direction, so I'm going to stay on for that. It's a different take on Batman and Robin, but I don't want to say too much until nearer the time. We still have all kinds of twists and turns and shocks to get through before any of that.
I know you don't want to look too far ahead, but can you talk a little bit about the art we've seen for "The Return of Bruce Wayne?" So far we've seen Bruce the Barbarian and Captain Bruce the Pirate.
http://comicbookresources.com/assets...1054.jpg&w=200Damien and Dick need to work out some issues in 2010
Those amazing visuals were all Andy Kubert's work. They'd make great toys, wouldn't they? Somebody should get started on that. The League of Historic Batmen. Andy just went to town with the idea of what Batman might look like if he'd developed in these different time periods. How would the bat-equipment work? How would you get the mask effect? Or the effect of a cape? If you look behind the six covers Andy's done – they all join up into one big image – Bruce is mostly wearing sort of conventional period clothes, dictated by the in-story logic. In the first story, Bruce is actually stripped to the waist, as we saw him on the last page of "Final Crisis." All he has is his utility belt. So we don't necessarily get to see him as Bat- Pirate with the flowing beard of dreadlocks and the mask, which genuinely breaks my heart [laughs].
Much like the question about Damian Wayne, what about writing the return of Bruce Wayne? Have you missed him, because one would assume that it's quite fun writing the world's greatest detective?
Yeah, because I just got to really love the character by the time Darkseid zapped him with the Omega Effect. I was really enjoying writing Bruce, and then it was time for him to go. Saying that, Dick is great to write as well. He's very different because he's been a superhero all of his life. And he's actually quite easy with it and it's not such a big deal for him, which is basically what causes the problems between him and Damian, to be honest. As soon as he realizes Bruce is still alive, he's expecting things to go back to normal and he's ready for that. It's no big deal for Dick Grayson, but for Damian, this is the most important thing in the world.
"Batman and Robin" #7, illustrated by Cameron Stewart, is scheduled for January 20, 2010
i saw murs brother at my lcs lol
another fail for marvel with who will weild the shield...eloels.
cbr gave it a 5/5
fuck them...but i didnt mean that it sucked anyway..i meant they failed with the whole delay thing...so it takes place after reborn 6..which isnt out yet.
they must have probably wanted him back.
i like bucky as cap. steve should have stayed dead a bit longer. it felt like yesterday when they announced in the news that he died lol
if u havent read WWWTS (eloels), spoiler:
cap tells bucky to remain cap.
and i knew i wasnt goin crazy..the shit started out as a 5 issue limited...wtf? now 6.
thanks, asshole lolQuote:
cap tells bucky to remain cap.
seriously, wtf dusk?
anyway, the series ended up being longer because bryan hitch literally did not stick to brubaker's script and would make splash pages out of panels that were not supposed to be splashes, stretch the number of panels out across multiple pages and so on....so some of the complaints about padding can be laid at hitch's door and his insistence on making splash pages out of close ups and things like that.
Marvel will be like "Bucky will wield the shield and LOLOLOLOL STEVE ROGERS WILL WIELD THE S.H.I.E.L.D.!!!!!"
dude i said spoiler...and cmon...am i any worse tha Marvel? or KZA? eloels.
^lol pretty funny tho...
eh well not too interested anyhoo....
whats the best x--title right now?
either legacy or astonishing...but really its X-Factor..off the strength of David.
legacy and x-factor
was x-factor 200 good?
havent read it yet, but i copped it..im still playin catch up
uncanny omnibus is fuckin heavy as shit...eloels.
pick of the week: New Avengers...
as long as immonen stays on NA, shit will be great. Lmao at what happened to Osborn.
gratzi...Quote:
Originally Posted by Dusk
fell out of love with x titles for a sec.
happens..people are running out of ideas for mutants
you bought the omnibus?
ive been liking new avengers so far. what spider-man said to luke cage lol
damn stinkin muties
ya i bought it
the borders down the street had a sale so i took advantage of it.
joker 13.99
civil war 17.49
batman hush 9.09
ultimates 2 book 2 13.99
i wanted to get the captain america omnibus too and a bunch of other stuff
i got both bendis daredevil omniboo, the captain britain omnibus, and the two sleeper trades...my girl got the daredevils for me, but i got her a laptop so she still won out lol
has anyone read the 'acts of vengeance' story from the 80s? there's an omnibus coming out so i was wondering if it's worth a purchase.
Some people just have the right stuff. Writer Jason Aaron consistently displays that month after month in the most gut-stabbingly exciting ways possible with WOLVERINE: WEAPON X.
Halfway through its second arc, Aaron's WEAPON X focuses on the blood-soaked adventures of its titular six-clawed mutant as he slashes he way through mercenaries and madmen alike. Each arc runs as a standalone story; however, those keeping up regularly have already seen little pieces left behind tying into a bigger overall tale. The current tale finds Wolverine a bit out of his element, trapped in a mental institution and often cowering in the corner. The finale of last month's issue saw Logan regain his sanity and return to his violent ways, so prepare for some serious blood running with today's release of WEAPON X #8.
With WEAPON X underway and his PUNISHERMAX run begun, Aaron took from time from slicing and dicing to talk about his plans for the mutant formerly known as Patch, his dream arc with a rocky guest star, and more.
http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/...b-1597146..jpgWOLVERINE: WEAPON X #8 cover by Adam KubertMarvel.com: With your first arc complete and your second one halfway through, what's it been like working on WOLVERINE: WEAPON X?
Jason Aaron: It's been a lot of fun so far. I think what's been the coolest thing with these first two arcs is that I've been able to do two completely different kinds of stories. The first one was pretty much an action-driven, black ops espionage type of story. The second one is something totally off the way. It's a little over-the-top, crazy horror story of Logan trapped in a mental institution. So, being able to switch gears like that is fun. The stuff we have coming up after the current arc switches gears again, so we move off into new territory.
Marvel.com: As you said, the first arc definitely falls into action and with the second, from the opening lines, you get that horror movie feel. Is this something you want to continue, with each arc hitting a different type of genre?
Jason Aaron: Yeah, that was kind of the whole idea from the get go. In some sense, we have an over-arching story that weaves through all these arcs, but from arc to arc I wanted to completely change it up in terms of genre and tone and everything. So, it's always an accessible book. It's always a book people can jump right into who have never read Wolverine before. And for people who have been keeping up with it from story to story, you're going to get a very different flavor every few months.
Marvel.com: So, when do we get to see the romantic comedy arc?
Jason Aaron: [Laughs] Well, there's not a romantic comedy arc, but issue #10, which is a standalone issue after the current arc, is pretty much all about romance and Wolverine's sex life. More about Wolverine's sex life than you ever wanted to know.
Marvel.com: Well, Wolverine has certainly been quite the playboy in his long life and been with quite a few ladies.
http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/...b-1597149..jpgWOLVERINE: WEAPON X #9 cover by Adam KubertJason Aaron: Right. We get to see several of them over the course of the issue. We see a lot of his former flames as well as people like Rogue and Storm. So, a lot of appearances by important women throughout Wolverine's life, good and bad.
Marvel.com: Stepping back a moment, in the current arc you introduced a guy with chainsaws for arms. As an "Army of Darkness" fan, that just makes me smile. Where do you come up with these awesome things like chainsaw arms?
Jason Aaron: You know, I hadn't really thought about the "Army of Darkness" connection, but I see it now. It's all about doing the craziest horror movie stuff I can think of. In some ways it's along the same lines of stuff I've been doing in GHOST RIDER the last couple of years, maybe toned down a little from that. But I wanted to bring in a brand new villain who could strike at Wolverine and pose a threat not physically, but mentally in the way he was able to get inside his head.
Marvel.com: The next issue also guest stars Nightcrawler and Psylocke. Maverick played a huge role in the previous arc and you mentioned Storm and Rogue showing up in issue #10. Is this something you want to continue, in having these appearances by characters from his outside world?
Jason Aaron: Yeah. I like being able to have those characters pop up whenever it makes sense and not for having a team up for the sake of having a team up. That's kind of Wolverine's supporting cast. I wanted him to have a supporting cast, but without making up a whole platoon of new characters. It's nice to be able to pick and choose and bring some of those people in. Actually, in the arc that starts with issue #11, Steve Rogers will play a pretty big part. We'll see Steve and Bucky, both.
http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/...b-1597152..jpgWOLVERINE: WEAPON X #10 cover by Adam KubertMarvel.com: Is there a character you desperately want to use, but you're just waiting for the perfect moment to bring him in?
Jason Aaron: There is. The one arc I've been waiting to do, but we're waiting on a specific artist to do it with, is the Thing, who is my favorite comic book character. I don't want to say too much about it other than it will be Wolverine and the Thing. I've only gotten to write [the Thing] in like one panel in WOLVERINE #73. We [saw] a one panel shot of the Thing's poker game. I'm anxious to write the Thing, but I'm also anxious to write the Thing and Wolverine together in the midst of what I plan on throwing them into. So, that's coming, but I'm just not sure when it's going to happen.
Marvel.com: You mentioned the romance issue coming up, but what other genres do you plan on touching upon?
Jason Aaron: Well, right after that we've got the big arc where [artist] Ron Garney comes back. It's very much a sci-fi story and we introduce a new version of Deathlok, which is a throwback to the original version. He's a cyborg assassin from the future, so we'll see these Deathloks running around in the present trying to kill Wolverine and trying to kill Steve Rogers and Bucky and other people. We'll also see a storyline in the future that these Deathloks come from that involves Wolverine and some new characters that we'll be introducing.
Marvel.com: With WEAPON X kicking ass, is there anything else you want to do in the Marvel Universe? Any other character or team you want to take a crack at?
Jason Aaron: I'm really happy where I'm at right now. I've got long-term plans on Wolverine. I'm just getting started on PUNISHERMAX and got a pretty big story I want to tell with that. Those two books are taking up http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/...b-1597155..jpgWOLVERINE: WEAPON X #11 cover by Adam Kubertmost of my time at Marvel here right now I've got a pretty big project that's going to be announced pretty soon and a shorter term thing. So, I've got a couple of those, a couple of [limited series] and shorter projects in future. Beyond that, there are other characters I'd love to get my hands on. I just don't want to throw it out there and jinx it before it's time. But hopefully I'll be working in the Marvel U for a life-long run.
wolverine weapon x has been good so far.
On Eve of Break, GEOFF JOHNS Talks BLACKEST NIGHT, pt. 1
http://i.newsarama.com/images/blackest_night_6-ff.jpg By Vaneta Rogers
posted: 29 December 2009 06:14 pm ET
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Most comic book stores are selling only one new comic this week, but that issue has most fans excited enough to make the trip to pick it up.
In fact, Blackest Night #6, the next chapter in the blockbuster DC event by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis, will be the last new comic released in 2009 – an appropriate designation for the story, since it dominated the sales charts this year.
Blackest Night is the culmination of a story that has been building in the Green Lantern title ever since the title's successful relaunch in 2005. Over the last two years since the Sinestro Corps first battled the Green Lanterns, Green Lantern and its partner comic, Green Lantern Corps, have introduced dozens of new concepts and characters while taking readers through an epic tale of different colored corps and their energy ring battles.
In June, Blackest Night began and has been outselling just about everything else since, while readers also flocked to its tie-in issues, action figures and little plastic colored rings.
Yet now that Blackest Nightis over halfway finished, the event has ended up being more than just the space opera implied by a slew of flying aliens with power rings. As readers have discovered over the last six months, Blackest Night is less of a straight-forward superhero story about good vs. evil and more of a twisted, dark story of death and emotional upheaval.
To put all the "blackness" of the story in perspective, Newsarama turned to the architect of Blackest Night, Geoff Johns, to discuss the meaning behind its theme of light versus dark. And as we talked for this two-part interview, we found out more about his future plans for Mera, how Grant Morrison's Batman & Robin picks up from this week's issue, and why Larfleeze might be featured in a special issue next Christmas.
Newsarama: Geoff, I've got all five issues of Blackest Night in front of me.
Geoff Johns: Doesn't it look amazing? Ivan Reis is just doing an awesome job on this series. It's kind of sick how good he is. He deserves all the accolades he’s getting for his work on a project this large in scope. Ivan is the new king of widescreen action and emotional epics.
Nrama: After talking to him about the series, I think one of the biggest accomplishments for Ivan as an artist is that he's not only drawing established characters, but all these new characters and new Black Lanterns and new concepts.
Johns: That's the great thing about Blackest Night. So many of these characters that are driving this series are brand new. There are all these brand new characters in a major comic book, and nobody's saying, "Who are these guys?"
Nrama: That true. We'll get to that in a minute, but I wanted to start the interview by talking with you about the theme of this series, which appears to be focusing on the idea of light representing life and blackness representing death. Am I interpreting that correctly?
Johns: Well, the blackness isn't death. The blackness just is. It's existence. It's emptiness. Death isn't really a force.
Nrama: Just an absence of life?
Johns: An absence of life. You see the dark regions of space, and it's just there. It's emptiness, which I think is the frightening part of death. The fear that everyone we love and ourselves just...stop being. Nekron is essentially sentient space, whether he's death or not. People equate him to death because he's the antithesis of life. The universe was here first and, in reality, Nekron is the true Guardian of the Universe.
Nrama: I think it was Indigo-1 that said something about "we are the trespassers here" during this series. Is that what she's talking about?
Johns: We're the invaders. Black Hand says it best: We age because we're not supposed to be here. So we grow old. It's the universe fighting against us. We age and die because we aren’t wanted here.
Nrama: That seems so twisted. This is the reason behind what Black Hand and Nekron are doing?
Johns: Well, Black Hand's a different character from Nekron. Nekron isn't sadistic or malicious. His position is that life is a cancerous growth on the universe. Nekron wants peace. And it hasn't been like that since life first came into being.
Space was here then life came and messed up everything. In truth, life is chaos and death is order.
That's where the war came from. In my mind, that's what I've created. The ultimate war is light versus darkness. And this is what it's rooted in.
Nrama: You had said early in the series that the white light of creation was splintered into these seven separate energies, and now these Lanterns are trying to bring them back together to form that light again. So upon creation, emotions took form? Is that the idea?
Johns: Life is emotion. So emotion didn't take form until life became sentient and felt something. The dark has fought back. But the first time the light was splintered was when a living creature willed itself to move, and it used willpower to voluntarily move. Then boom, the spark of green was created and then the light started to get splintered.
http://i.livescience.com/images/bln_tglc_cv1-2-3-01.jpg
So really, the first War of Light was way back when. It was when the light first came here, and it was waging a war against darkness and creating life. That's when the light splintered, because it had to splinter. It couldn't just stay focused; it had to splinter and make everything.
Nrama: There's also the characters and their story during this series. So many of the stories that you've written have been a hero on a journey. In Infinite Crisis, it was Superboy's journey, and the trinity and Earth-2 Superman. In Sinestro Corps War, the biggest challenge to overcome ended up being Kyle's. Is there a hero we're seeing journey in this series?
Johns: I think it's pretty obvious. It's Hal and Barry.
Nrama: It wasn't that obvious until recently, Geoff. I think we're only right now finding out why.
Johns: No one is front and center randomly.
Nrama: I asked about heroes, but it feels a little like, in this event, we've seen Black Hand's journey as much as anyone's. Blackest Night is the culmination of what he's been wanting his whole life.
Johns: Black Hand is on the verge of finally understanding why he is this way and why he feels this way. Black Hand is very much in his element, so to speak. It is a villain's journey.
Nrama: You told me in the interview we did just before Blackest Night began that Black Hand had ended up becoming one of your favorite characters to write. Why is Black Hand a favorite?
Johns: Because he's not redeeming at all. There are no redeeming qualities to Black Hand. None. This guy's not like us. This guy doesn't think like us. He doesn't have the same value system.
That's why I like writing him. It is hard to get into his head, but as frightening as it is, you get in there and it's a very interesting place to be. You get into his mind and realize you can’t stay there too long. I thought that Black Hand issue, Doug Mahnke did an incredible job.
And of course, Green Lantern should have villains that are dark. Green Lantern is all about the light, literally and metaphorically.
Nrama: In this series, there's also been a focus on Mera. Before this series began, you had told me the character you were enjoying writing at that moment was a female character, and you gave a few hints. And at the time, nobody guessed it would be Mera. There were several other characters that were expected by the masses. How did you land upon her character above all the others as your strong female lead in this story?
Johns: The other journeys, next to Hal and Barry, are the Atom and Mera. They both go through specific journeys. The Atom's culminates in The Atom and Hawkman issue I'm doing, and it continues through Blackest Night. And Mera's goes through Blackest Night, Blackest Night: Wonder Woman and beyond. She’ll be someone I’ll be working with in 2010, 2011 and beyond. The same thing goes for the Atom. His perspective is obviously different from anybody else's. And he's been at the center of the storm of a lot of things that have gone on in the DC Universe. But it’s time for Ray to step up and move on into new emotional territory.
Mera just developed organically, because I've always found that character intriguing. A lot of people recognized that character, but nothing's been done with her in years. I wanted to put her on the stage. You know, Aquaman's not here. It's like the whole beat that Barry says to them: "We're the Justice League now. You're Superman, and you're Wonder Woman. So let's go do this."
I knew I would be introducing all these new characters, and I thought at the same time I'd like to take a couple old characters like Mera and Black Hand alongside Larfleeze and Saint Walker.
Nrama: You said you always found Mera's character "intriguing." Why?
Johns: I just always found her to be powerful and strong and unexplored. She stood apart; she wasn't Aquawoman, which I liked. She was her own character, separate from Aquaman. She had her own history. I always found her appealing and thought she could be an important character, and I believe she's going to be one of the strongest females in the coming years.
Nrama: You also said Ray Palmer has a "unique perspective." Do you mean because he can shrink, or are you talking about his history?
http://i.livescience.com/images/atom_hawkman-01.jpg
Johns: [laughs] Well, yes, he sees things differently when he's small. But not exactly; I mean he has a different perspective on life. I'm exploring that a little more in Blackest Night and The Atom and Hawkman.
Really, the story we're telling about so many of these characters in this series is all about moving beyond your past. Like John Stewart's face to face with Xanshi. And Sinestro and Hal took on Abin Sur. It's kind of looking at the pasts these characters have gone through, allowing them to confront it head on and then moving on.
The post-Blackest Night world is a very different world. And this series is about confronting the past, then moving on and doing new stories and new adventures and new characters, and a whole new direction for everybody. But the specific characters in Blackest Night will carry on, and they’re all part of a bigger plan.
Nrama: I never really thought of it before you started talking about all the history that is being confronted in this series, but DC characters sure have a lot of emotional baggage.
Johns: Yeah! Well, people have a lot of emotional baggage. I mean, I look at... I've got emotional baggage. You've got emotional baggage. We lose somebody and that's going to stick with you. I've lost somebody close to me in my sister, and that stays with you. And that's why DC characters have baggage; Marvel characters have baggage too. Every human being has baggage. Every living person has baggage, unless you're six months old. And even then, you could have baggage. [laughs]
Nrama: But my emotional baggage doesn't manifest itself and come to confront me head-on quite like we're seeing in this series.
Johns: No, but that's why it's a great look at the characters in the DC Universe. The thing I'm most proud about this crossover is that it's based on character and emotion.
Nrama: There are two levels to it. It's not only literally based on emotion, through the various rings, but each character's story is all about their personal confrontation of emotion.
Johns: Exactly. And people are getting confronted head-on about their emotions, about who they are as people at the very center. For years, John Stewart has been defined by Xanshi. It’s time to close that door and push John Stewart to a new place. 2010 is all about the new. More on that soon.
But that's why I really enjoyed writing The Atom and Hawkman, because it goes to the core of who Ray Palmer really is. He's confronting the demons that are in his world, and having to figure out how he moves on from those, and how he can deal with those on a day-to-day basis.
And the overarching theme of what these heroes are dealing with is death. And that's something we all deal with.
So that's also what this story is. It's an ultimate struggle over meaning and purpose. In a comic book universe, how can death mean anything? If characters are resurrected every other week, and I’m as guilty as anyone for that, what does it matter? What does death mean? What is it? Is it a bad thing? You know? Or do we have to just accept it?
Nrama: So this is not only an exploration of the revolving door of death, but just the meaning of death in general?
Johns: It's both. Death is a real thing, and it's also a theme in comic books that has been used as a reboot tool. But it needs a meaning. How many guys have died and come back between Marvel and DC? A lot. And there are a lot of different reasons for it.
But I wanted to tackle death in comics, but also, more importantly, death in a real world sense. And for me, real world issues are always more interesting to explore under the guise of a “good old superhero story” rather than tackling them head-on. You can enjoy Blackest Night as a big, fun superhero event or you can delve into the symbolism behind the Lanterns and the villains and explore and confront your own issues with the past or with death. It’s up to the reader.
Nrama: The image of bodies rising from the grave is one that just naturally creeps a person out. Do you think that's because of people not wanting to confront death the way you're describing? Is that what makes people so afraid of the rising dead?
Johns: We're all going to be there one day. It's just a scary thought. But it doesn’t have to be. We all have light in us, how brightly it glows depends on us...
Look for Part 2 Wednesday morning.
By Vaneta Rogers
posted: 30 December 2009 10:38 am ET
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Click here for Part One
Most comic book stores are selling only one new comic this week, but that issue has most fans excited enough to make the trip to pick it up.
In fact, Blackest Night #6, the next chapter in the blockbuster DC event by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis, will be the last new comic released in 2009 – an appropriate designation for the story, since it dominated the sales charts this year.
Blackest Night is the culmination of a story that has been building in the Green Lantern title ever since the title's successful relaunch in 2005. Over the last two years since the Sinestro Corps first battled the Green Lanterns, Green Lantern and its partner comic, Green Lantern Corps, have introduced dozens of new concepts and characters while taking readers through an epic tale of different colored corps and their energy ring battles.
In June, Blackest Night began and has been outselling just about everything else since, while readers also flocked to its tie-in issues, action figures and little plastic colored rings.
Yet now that Blackest Nightis over halfway finished, the event has ended up being more than just the space opera implied by a slew of flying aliens with power rings. As readers have discovered over the last six months, Blackest Night is less of a straight-forward superhero story about good vs. evil and more of a twisted, dark story of death and emotional upheaval.
To put all the "blackness" of the story in perspective, Newsarama turned to the architect of Blackest Night, Geoff Johns, to discuss the meaning behind its theme of light versus dark. And as we talked for this two-part interview, we found out more about his future plans for Mera, how Grant Morrison's Batman & Robin picks up from this week's issue, and why Larfleeze might be featured in a special issue next Christmas.
http://i.livescience.com/images/BN_6-01.jpg
Newsarama: Geoff, in the first half of our conversation you mentioned your own emotional baggage relating to death. As a writer, does it feel good to deal with death as a bad guy you can beat up? Is that almost cathartic?
Geoff Johns: I guess so. [laughs] Probably. Through these characters, I think we all can experience that confrontation with death that we all have to confront sooner or later. We don't deal with it on a daily basis, but it will sneak up on you. And it's something that's a part of life and reality, and I think everybody struggles with it at one point or another.
But you know, there's more to this comic, obviously. Blackest Night is also a fun, superhero crossover. And I worked really, really hard to try to make it open and fun. And colorful. It's the most colorful comic you can find because of all the Lanterns. But also, like we discussed earlier, it's a place with new characters. People always say, "We need new characters in comics!" Well... here they are! Here's a slew of DC characters.
Nrama: You could make an oversized Secret Files issue with just the new characters you've introduced during this run of Green Lantern and Blackest Night.
Johns: Yeah, but I don't only want to do that. I want to do a Larfleeze mini-series and other series with these characters. But yeah, there are so many new characters here, and new characters popping in like this, one after another and filling the pages – that doesn't happen very often.
Nrama: Wait a minute, did you just say you want to do a Larfleeze mini-series?
Johns: I want to do a Larfleeze mini-series! I actually have an idea for a Larfleeze Christmas Special that I want to do really bad. I guarantee that will be out next Christmas. A Larfleeze Christmas Special.
But I'd like to tackle some of these other Lanterns. I think there's exploration to be done, and a lot of them will be in Green Lantern during the post-Blackest Night world. But some of them could carry over into other things. I just want to be smart about exploring these characters beyond Green Lantern.
Larfleeze for me has just been great to write. He's had some great moments in Blackest Night. But there is still a lot more to explore with Atrocitus, Saint Walker, Indigo and even Sinestro and Carol. Not to mention what Hal’s going to have to deal with in a post-Blackest Night universe.
Nrama: Let's get back to this idea of "what death means in comics." You had visited the idea of the "revolving door of death" way back in the Teen Titans issue with Kid Eternity.
Johns: Yep.
Nrama: Was there a sense, even at that time, that this issue needed to be addressed? Because right now, at the end of Issue #5, it's become central to this event.
Johns: Yeah, it's front and center. And that was always the idea.
Nrama: Can you explain anything about what Nekron meant when he said these heroes didn't actually escape death but are still connected to it?
Johns: Well, I think it's pretty self-explanatory. I don't want to lay it out word for word. I don't want to dissect its meaning. People can figure it out. Keep reading.
Nrama: Is this connection with death related to why Donna reacted the way she did to what happened to her?
Johns: Well... yes, but she was already well on her way to becoming a Black Lantern.
http://i.livescience.com/images/bm_rob_cv7-01.jpg
Nrama: Dan told Newsarama readers that Grant's upcoming story in Batman and Robin ties very closely to the events of Blackest Night #6. Have you coordinated with Grant how this is going to effect the Batman universe? And is there anything you can tell us about it?
Johns: It's pretty simple. We took the skull, and reanimated Black Lantern Batman to get an emotional reaction from the heroes that know him, and that allowed Nekron to retake them. It's blasted apart, but the skull's there. And the skull eventually makes its way back to Batman and Robin, where Dick Grayson then takes the remains of Bruce from the cemetery there and the skull, and he puts them in the Batcave. And that's where you pick up on Grant's story.
Nrama: So this "emotional tether" that "manifested" when Barry touched the skull... that was what allowed Nekron to retake the heroes?
Johns: Yes.
Nrama: The story's been laced with all kinds of clues to the way the Black Lanterns function. Atom says the ring he entered has the same porous structure as bones or dark matter?
Johns: I find that fascinating. Grant and I were talking about it. Dark matter, which is this understructure of the universe, looks like the structure of bones. They have the same kind of ornate structure. That's not an accident. There's something to that.
Nrama: Nekron also mentioned that there are microscopic wormholes. Is that the way they take emotional energy instead of releasing it like the other Lanterns.
Johns: See? You can figure this stuff out. [laughs] I don't need to spell it out for you.
Nrama: The Indigo Tribe has been revealed...
Johns: If you ask me any questions about them, I won't answer. [laughs]
Nrama: This language they use – oh, and I love that their oath rhymes.
Johns: Yeah! Of course their oath rhymes!
Nrama: Do all those words in their language actually mean something in English?
Johns: Yes.
Nrama: Is there a dictionary somewhere you're keeping?
Johns: Nobody will ever see it. It stays with me. I will say that “Nok” is an expression of affirmation and enlightenment urging others to participate, invest or sacrifice.
Nrama: Nok is used a lot. But the rest of the words' meanings aren't going to eventually be in the back of an issue so we can find out what they're saying?
Johns: Nope. You'll never, ever see it.
Nrama: But you do know what that oath means.
Johns: Yes.
Nrama: Is "Abin Sur" in the Indigo Tribe's oath?
Johns: He is! Weird! [laughs]
Nrama: This guy Abin keeps showing up. People are saying they've met him who we didn't know had met him. And the Indigo Tribe mentions him in their oath. What's up with that, Geoff?
Johns: Huh. It's very strange. [laughs]
Nrama: Is it related to his connection to the prophesy?
Johns: Maybe. Of course, Abin was the first one who stumbled upon the idea of Blackest Night.
Nrama: I know you don't want to say anything about the Indigo Tribe, but you had told me awhile ago that they weren't what people expect. And it's so true. In my head, I can't resolve the question of why the "compassion" corps would kill a Green Lantern, or play judge and jury. Will this be explained?
Johns: Sure. But it's an ongoing process. I just don't want to put it all out there.
http://i.livescience.com/images/blackestnight_7-01.jpg
Nrama: With the scope of this series and what comes after it, are you coordinating all these Blackest Night tie-ins and how the series affects things even outside the issues you're writing?
Johns: I spent three months at the beginning of the year in New York, and I've been working non-stop with Eddie Berganza and Adam Schlagman who are my Guardians. The three of us are really the ones at the center. I’m so grateful to all the hard work Eddie and Adam have put into this. They are amazing.
Nrama: You had a lot of experience coordinating this kind of thing because of your work on Infinite Crisis, didn't you?
Johns: Yeah. And with Eddie, which helped Blackest Night. We knew some of the challenges we’d encounter early on already.
Nrama: Earlier in the interview, you touched upon your issue of The Atom and Hawkman. Is there anything more you can tell us about the story you'll be telling in that issue?
Johns: You'll see Atom go to places that he's never been. I don't know what else I can really say. I mean, it's Ryan Sook. That's all you guys really need to know. He's amazing. Every one of his pages should be framed. The Atom's never looked this good.
Nrama: OK, so which of the Black Lantern action figures is your favorite?
Johns: Saint Walker. But Larfleeze, when he comes out, might beat him because he comes with his man-purse Glomulus.
Nrama: Do you have them?
Johns: I have Saint Walker and Atrocitus and I just got Indigo-1.
Nrama: I remember talking to Ethan about Saint Walker, and he didn't specifically intend this to be the final character, but he used him in the costume design sketches and you loved the way he looked.
Johns: Yeah, we talked about a fish-looking guy, I think. But I think the way he looks is perfect for his character. Then Ivan did some alterations to make it what you currently see.
Nrama: Were you involved at all in the decision to release Blackest Night #6 this week, when Diamond isn't shipping comics?
Johns: No, that was DC. But it's a great idea, and I'm really happy we can do that. I think it means Blackest Night #6 will be the only new comic that comes out that week. I’ll be at my store tomorrow.
Nrama: You've added so much to the mythology of Green Lantern, from this idea of the creation of the emotional spectrum to the history of all these characters to the oaths and the formation of the corps. And yet, last time we talked, you told me most of this is just up there in your head. It's not really written down anywhere. Is that still true?
Johns: I should write that down. My girlfriend is always telling me to write this stuff down before I forget it. [laughs] And all these new guys have massive stories. I mean, I could write a multi-book for every one of the corps members, easy, because they have so much story behind them and, more importantly, in front of them. Saint Walker, Indigo, Atrocitus, Larfleeze, Sinestro. It's more than what you see at first glance. Like Atrocitus, there's so much more to him than just the rage you usually see. And Saint Walker, there's more to him than just this peaceful, zen-like Blue Lantern.
Nrama: Dealing with all these colors and emotions for the last couple years, Geoff, do you start seeing emotions in your head the way the Black Lanterns do?
Johns: What do you mean?
Nrama: Like this idea that love is violet. Or rage is red. Have you found yourself, when maybe you're writing a love scene, or a fight scene... do you see those colors?
Johns: Oh, you mean me? [laughs] No. But I was in New York, actually, and one night I was having some weird dreams, and I remember just waking up and thinking “there are so many colors.” I blame the pizza.
i was lucky enough to pick up BN6 and i was just gonna talk about it..awesome....i wont reveal spoilers but, shit was nice.
"lex luthor, you want it all"
superhero comics at its finest.
i read asterios polyp by david mazzucelli...excellent book, plays with the artform of comics itself, it's definitely on an entirely different plateau
agreed...and ill try n check out asterios...mazz. is crazy.