Tag: DC Comics

Justice League #9 continues the heroes’ exploration of one another in the New 52 universe as they work together to stop menaces both extraterrestrial and close to home. A new story arc, “The Villain’s Journey,” also welcomes back Jim Lee as the series’ artist after a two-issue hiatus. We’ve got an exclusive preview of the comic (you can quick-click through the pages above or find the links below that lead to larger images). The dynamic between Batman, Superman and Cyborg is played out a bit as they search Arkham Asylum for The Key, a being of some sort who is loose in the criminal stronghold. Cyborg’s ominous mention of being plugged into every computer on Earth, including Batman’s, sounds like there may be some tension brewing. Cover | Variant cover | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | ...

The American comic book doesn’t sell like it did in the 1940s, and the delirious collector speculation and buying-by-the-box sprees of the 1990s are long gone. Game-changing characters aren’t arriving on a monthly basis like they did during the early 1940s and then again in the early 1960s.  The 1980s will be remembered for bringing new ambition with masterpiece graphic novels; the 1930s were even more special because they brought the somewhat essential innovation of a man in tights leaping a tall building in a single bound. So what’s special about this moment in time for comics? Well, here’s one thing: For the first time in history,  it’s actually considered cool if you’re a comic book writer.  That’s a big deal. For decades it was the purgatory of publishing,  a sad refuge for a typewriter jockey who didn’t have a winning ribbon. Now famous people want to be ...

Few superheroes have soared as high as Captain Marvel — he was the first comic-book character to reach Hollywood’s silver screen (Republic’s “Adventures of Captain Marvel” beat the Fleischer “Superman” cartoons to theaters by six months) and he was a newsstand powerhouse, outselling every rival in the 1940s. But Earth’s Mightiest Mortal plummeted from pop culture due to changing tastes and legal issues and, from 1954 to 1972, his comics weren’t published at all. He’s been in the DC Universe since that 1972 revival but (despite some bright spots) he’s never lived up to that illustrious heritage. Now, in the pages of “Justice League,” Geoff Johns, the star writer and chief creative officer of DC Entertainment, and artist Gary Frank are adding new wrinkles to the mythology and hope to put some of the old magic back in the word “Shazam!” HC: We’ve seen different versions ...

The landmark legacy of “Watchmen” and the intriguing future of  “Before Watchmen” will be center stage at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, with an on-stage Q&A featuring DC Entertainment co-publishers Jim Lee and Dan DiDio as well as a rare big-screen presentation of the director’s cut of Zack Snyder’s 2009 film “Watchmen.” “Watchmen” was the 12-issue series (1986-1987) by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons that arguably redefined the ambitions and literary stature of the American comic book. DC is returning to that universe with the ”Before Watchmen” project, which will launch a series of separate, multi-issue prequels – a bold move considering that Moore has publicly criticized the concept and will not be participating. Hero Complex lead writer Geoff Boucher will moderate the discussion with Lee and DiDio. The discussion is set for 1 p.m. on April 21 in USC’s ...

Bruce Wayne wears the mask of Batman, but what is the hero’s true identity? The question is a knotty one and the answer depends on which Gotham City you have visited and when you were there. Some people visualize Adam West in a cowl, others see Christian Bale or Michael Keaton behind the mask. Maybe you think of the sunny, Saturday morning sleuth from “The Super Friends” – or is it the bitter, battered fading solider from Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns”? Interestingly, right now, the video game Arkham City and its brawny incarnation of Batman is shaping the base perception of the widest new audience to the hero. Even if you go back to the original medium, the pages of DC Comics, you can find recent versions of the hero that feel like caped riffs on James Bond, Sherlock Holmes or Dirty Harry. Batman first appeared in comics in 1939 and at this point he’s been in ...

Vertigo Comic fans got a glimpse of the future — which includes an adaptation of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” a graphic novel by chef Anthony Bourdain and a 10th anniversary “Fables” collection — during the publisher’s Friday evening panel at WonderCon. Editor Will Dennis, writer Scott Snyder and artist Dennis Nguyen spoke during the panel for Vertigo — the edgy-spirited imprint of DC Comics – highlighting a slate of comics, including “Fables,” “The New Deadwardians,” “Saucer Country,” “Voodoo Child,” “American Vampire,” “American Vampire: Lord of Nightmares,” “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” “Get Jiro,” “Sweet Tooth” and “Scalped.” The “Dragon Tattoo” book, adapted by Scottish crime author Denise Mina from Stieg Larsson’s bookshelf sensation,  is slated for a November release and will be the first in a set of six — two graphic novels for each book in the original trilogy. “It’s ...

DC Comics is teaming up with WonderCon attendees to fight hunger in the Horn of Africa through a text-to-give campaign. DC Entertainment’s campaign, called We Can Be Heroes, is targeting the tens of thousands of TV, film and comics fans converging on the Anaheim Convention Center this weekend for WonderCon (Comic-Con International’s junior sibling) to raise money for three humanitarian aid organizations working to alleviate the hunger crisis in the drought-stricken African region: Save the Children, International Rescue Committee and Mercy Corps. People can donate by texting the word “HEROES” to 80888. DC Comics, whose Justice League superheroes are serving as fictional spokespeople for the campaign, is matching every dollar donated up to $1 million. “Fans at WonderCon and beyond can band together with the Justice League to make a difference and save lives, just by sending a simple text ...

The entire Marvel Universe will feel the impact on April 4 when war breaks out in “Avengers vs. X-Men” No. 1, the publishing “event” that features two storied super-teams and — in a real-world rivalry — represents Marvel’s bid to reclaim the spotlight that shifted to DC Comics with the New 52, the landmark relaunch of every DC title that made national news in August and September. But Joe Quesada, chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment, scoffed when asked if “Avengers vs. X-Men” could be viewed as a response to the New 52 or any other DC initiative, for that matter. The Marvel exec said he’d been hearing those half-baked theories but that’s all they are if you look into the history of the planned showdown series. “Yeah, of course — that’s what people want to think,” Quesada said. “But let’s be clear: The DC relaunch ...

Joe Simon, a titan in comics, died in December at 98, just months after his most famous character, Captain America, was leaping to the silver screen. Together with artist Jack Kirby, Simon made the star-spangled superhero one of the most iconic characters in comics. A new book, “Leaping Tall Buildings: The Origins of American Comics,” by writer Christopher Irving and photographer Seth Kushner, explores the life and career of Simon, Kirby and more than 50 other comics creators. “Leaping Tall Buildings” arrives in May, but in the meantime, Hero Complex readers can enjoy a sneak peek with this excerpt: “I was the sacrificial lamb,” Joe Simon says of his first job, at fly-by-night publisher Fox Comics in 1940. “I came in, and we had no staff and I had to do all the covers. I didn’t have a letterer, I ...

Yes, “The New Deadwardians” is another comic about vampires and zombies, but the new miniseries from Vertigo also throws in a generous helping of Sherlock Holmes and a dash of “Downton Abbey.” The miniseries follows Chief Inspector George Suttle, a lonely detective in post-Victorian England, where members of the lower class are zombies, and members of the upper class voluntarily become vampires to escape them. The first issue doesn’t come out until March but is previewed in the “Vertigo Preview 2012″ free sampler, which hits comic stores today. “The New Deadwardians” is illustrated by I.N.J. Culbard and written by popular comics writer Dan Abnett. Culbard has made a name for himself in the comics world, turning classic books into graphic novels — among them Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles” and most recently H.P. ...