Saturday, June 16, 2007

Justice League to be written by person who can actually write comic books

More news from the con front:
And the question is answered. Since he started his run on the series with #0, Brad Meltzer made no secret that his run as the writer on Justice League of America would end with #12. And that’s in August.

So – who gets the job next?

Dwayne McDuffie, longtime comics writer, and perhaps, best known in JLA fans view as one of the writers on the animated Justice League Unlimited series. McDuffie will start with the JLA Wedding Special in September, shipping just prior to Justice League of America #13, with art by Joe Benitez (regular series artist Ed Benes will return on the series with #14).
Okay, the Wedding Special looks like its going to be about the worst couple in comics since Nightwing dated Huntress (seriously, there had better be mind-controlling aliens involved if Dinah's actually going to say yes to this guy), and Boobs Benes is still going to be on art, but Dwayne McDuffie is writing and he has plans. (Emphasis mine)
We’re going to shift the team a little, partly because the team that Brad set up is a huge cast, because Brad wanted to work with a lot of characters. So, we’re looking to bring things down to a more manageable size, we’re going to bring other members in also, and bring in that sense of high action and high adventure again – bring the big scale feel back in to the book. Brad did such a fabulous job on the book in telling a very personal story which established and reestablished the bonds between these characters, so we felt it was time for a little bit of a tonal shift and we’ve got someone who understands the workings of the DCU to do it, which will allow for the book to interact with a lot more titles now, because of Countdown and what we have planned for the year.
I take back what I said yesterday. DC must love me.

8 comments:

  1. Joe Beneitez is on art for the special, but unfortunately Benes is on the main book.

    Also Benes loves ass shots. Tons and tons of ass shots.

    *sigh*

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  2. Mike McKone is actually the artist for the JLA Wedding Special; Benitez is the fill-in artist for JLoA #13.

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  3. You all serious? I thought Benes was doing a great job on JLA. The book's weaknesses did not stem from the art side of things.

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  4. Notintheface -- Meltzer's had to tell him to reign it in, apparently. He said something in his blog about making him reduce Wonder Woman's breast size, and knowing Benes from BoP and Supergirl I'm sure he had to do more than just that to keep things tasteful.

    If editorial keeps Benes' cheesecake to a minimum, the art looks beautiful. I'm just not sure if the requests to tone it down were from Meltzer or from the editor. A change of writer will make the story a LOT better, but might make the art worse.

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  5. Rumor is that a layout artist came in on the last issue to tone down the booty shots

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  6. Pedro -- *Sigh*

    Maybe they can put him on an all-male book. That might teach him a lesson.

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  7. Pedro,

    Yeah. Eric Wight, who laid out a couple issues to get teh book back on schedule. And who I wish would just draw the whole thing.

    I don't mind Benes too, too much, especially inked by Hope, but I think JLA deserves a better artist, and was kinda hoping he'd leave when Meltzer did to give the new guy (who I'm really excited about) a chance to work with a brand new artist.

    Benes' problem is he draws two bodytypes...all men look the exact same, and all women look the exact same, which makes for muddy storytelling, particularly when there are 20 characters all narrating over each other.

    Oh, and man, Benes draws the WORST wonder Woman costume ever.

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  8. My problem with Benes is it always looks like his characters are pornstars and are always preparing to jump each other. XD

    I like what McDuffie said tho, and I hope this means that the Justice League will start looking more like a serious superhero team and not just a collection of Meltzer's childhood fantasy teamups. XD

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