With Justice Comes Variance…

DC Comics are officially relaunching Justice League in June alongside the new creative team of Scott Snyder, Mark Morales, and Jim Cheung. the premise for the new series was originally set up through the rather fantastic DC Nation #0 and Justice League: No Justice, both of which launched in May 2018.

The new line up for the League includes seven core members from the New52 era and characters from the DC Animated universe. The Superheroic nucleus will feature classic heroes including (of course) the Trinity of Bats, Wondy and Supes alongside – The Flash, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern John Stewart, Hawkgirl, Cyborg, and Aquaman… well then, pretty much an archetypal League team up.

In celebration of the League’s newest arrival DC have announced an astonishing 16 variant covers, from talented creators such as – Jim Lee, Jim Cheung, Jock, Tyler Kirkham, Jorge Jimenez and more. There will be a primary of 7 variants available at most Comic-Book emporiums alongside 9 covers exclusive to certain retailers (Forbidden Planet etc…) Variants will also include black and white ‘sketch’ covers as well as a blank ‘draw it yourself’ cover. Are you as excited as us for the relaunch of JL? which of these stunning renderings are your favourite? sound off in the comments below, fellow fans of fantastic fiction…

All images are copyright: DC Comics.

 

The Week In Geek… With Precinct1313

Welcome fellow agents of Precinct1313 to another episode of The Week In Geek where we love to share our favourite – Comic Book, Video-Game, and Cult Movie news for your perusal and pleasure. And so once more unto the geek dear agents, once more…

Legendary Scribe Tom King To Tackle Superhero PTSD In New Mystery Project For DC…

Sensational scribe – Tom King has revealed at the recent DC In DC convention that he will be spearheading a new mystery project titled Sanctuary, that aims to explore the long term pyschological effects that are wrought upon the minds of those brave few who choose to pursue a career in costumed crime-fighting.

Of course, few writers are able to match King’s literary grasp upon the psychosomatic effects of fighting crime. He has proven his erudite skills of profundity in his most recent projects for DC with the bombastic ongoing Batman Rebirth monthly and the (quite frankly) groundbreaking Mister Miracle 12 issue maxi-series. 

During a panel discussion about PTSD in comics and comic-book writing King said –

“The DCU has a bunch of Superheroes and all they do is fight, all the time, and that must have a psychological effect on them, right? You can’t live a life of violence and not feel that violence in your heart. We also have a group of heroes, the Trinity (Bats, Wondy, Supes) who care about these other heroes. They sort of feel like parental figures, the foundations that stand beneath them. And they care about them for two reasons – one, because they’re good people, but also, two, if Superheroes experience trauma and it drives them mad, that’s a real danger. So they have set up something called Sanctuary, a place, modelled on veterans’ crisis centres where you can go and discuss the inherent trauma involved with crime-fighting, where Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman can endeavour to help you”

Sounds intriguing, and with the venerable Tom King at the helm there is an absolute certainty that this will be yet another legendary project for DC.

Shazam Movie Reveals New Villain And Release Date…

DC’s incoming movie based upon the popular Billy Batson alter ego – Shazam, will debut on the silver screen in April of 2019. In recently uncovered casting call notes for the Wizard Shazam (the mystical character who grants Batson his magical powers) we also discover casting cues for the entire Sivana family, including, of course, that of Billy’s arch-enemy, the villainous Dr Sivana.

And with that said, as of the time of writing this article, fantastic British thespian Mark Strong has just been cast as the eponymous villain. Strong is no stranger to playing miscreants (well he is British after all, we’re really good at the ol’ evil bad guy stuff apparently) he was the antagonist in the original Kick Ass movie, and lest we forget he has also portrayed another classic DC villain, Sinestro, in the much maligned (but hey, we liked it!) Ryan Reynold’s Green Lantern movie.

Shazam is currently in production directed by David F. Sandberg, and stars Zachary Levi as its titular star, alongside Asher Angel as his 12 year old alter ego Billy Batson… plus the possibility (please, please) of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as Shazam’s longtime super powered rival, Black Adam.

12 Years A Slave Writer Is Penning A Series For DC That Explores The DC Universe Through The Eyes of It’s Marginalised Characters.

Oscar winning writer – John Ridley has been tasked with writing a series that explores the intimate and mostly concealed stories behind the DC Universes’ many characters who don’t represent the overused comic book staple of white, straight, male protagonists, with a mini-series titled – The Other History Of The DC Universe.

The series itself will feature many of DC’s famous Superheroes of colour including the likes of Japanese anti-hero – Katana, African-American Green Lantern – John Stewart and black female Superhero – Vixen. The Other History Of The DC Universe aims to examine the “sociopolitical perspective of heroes who come from traditionally disenfranchised groups, at it’s core, the series will focus on the lives behind the costumes and their endeavours to overcome real world issues, The Other History Of The DC Universe isn’t about saving the world, it’s about having the strength to be who you are”

Of course there are plenty of classic costumed crimefighters that Ridley could potentially call upon for this project, as DC have a rather diverse roll call of characters throughout their history. I for one hope to see one of my personal favourite characters Kate Kane, one of the first overtly popular lesbian  Superheroes – Batwoman, making an appearance at some point during the run.

Why Not Join Us Again Next Time Friends, For More Week In Geek.

DC Comics Roll Out The Big Guns…

The scene is set for DC Comics’ biggest ever Comic-Con next month in San Diego, with their arch rival Marvel strangely sitting out of the world’s largest and most popular comic book convention, DC will be making the most of their absence with a massive showing of their upcoming cinematic universe. DC will have the convention floor to itself and will, if rumours are to be believed, roll out all their big guns including sneak peeks at their two big movies for 2016, Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice and David Ayer’s Suicide Squad.

Trinity of AWESOME!!

DC stole the spotlight at this years CineEurope Film convention and trade show, by showing exclusive footage from both Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad,though the footage has at this point, unfortunately not been made available to the public at large, it is expected to be shown in its entirety at this years SDCC. There are also rumours that news or maybe even pre-production footage may appear for both the planned Wonder Woman and Aquaman movies (starring Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa respectively.)

Margot Robbie as everyone’s favourite mischievous misfit “Harley Quinn”

It is also surmised that we may be hearing more news on Ben Affleck’s solo outing as the Caped Crusader in the planned 2018 movie tentatively titled “The Batman”. The film itself will be directed by Affleck, and it is also possible that Chris Terrio, the writer of one of Affleck’s previously directed movies “Argo” will be taking the writing reins for the Dark Knight’s new film.

Green Lanterns John Stewart and Hal Jordan may take the stage at SDCC 2015!

Also expected at SDCC 2015 will be news about the reboot of the Green Lantern movie, after the poor performance of the 2011 Ryan Reynolds helmed film. And in a surprising move, it looks like Warner Bros and DC have already picked the actor who will be playing Hal Jordan, Captain of the Enterprise himself, actor Chris Pine. It is strongly believed that Pine has been offered the role of the titular green space cop, even though it was previously thought he would be inheriting the role of Steve Trevor in the upcoming Wonder Woman movie.

Little has been mentioned about the new GL film, though it looks increasingly likely that this time we shall be getting two Green Lanterns for the price of one, as Hal Jordan, it is presumed, will be be sharing Space Sector 2814 alongside fellow Lantern John Stewart, with Warner Bros expected to confirm the name of the actor who will portraying Pine’s co-star at SDCC. 

So, exciting times ahead  fellow DC fanatics. The San Diego Comic-Con runs from July 9 through the twelfth.

Comic Cover Of The Week: Green Lantern Corps – Movie Variant

(DC Comics, 2015)

Comic cover of the week is dedicated to yet another amazing Warner Bros movie tie in, continuing their celebration of 100 years of film production with this Green Lantern Corps/Forbidden Planet mash-up. 

Plot Synopsis: John Stewart confronts a past failure that has haunted him for years, the destruction of the planet Xanshi. Can he find redemption as history attempts to repeat itself?

This fantastic GL Corps variant cover will be available at your local comic-book emporium this Wednesday, don’t delay if you like the look of this or any of the other WB variants, they are in high demand but low in numbers.

Written by: Van Jensen. Art and Cover by: Bernard Chang. Variant Cover: Tony Harris.

New Comics Spotlight: Secret Origins #9

New comics spotlight this week falls upon DC’s return of the Secret Origins comic, this is actually the first issue of this updated series that I have picked up so far and not because of it’s cover star, Swamp Thing (though I do like the character), but for the back up story of Power Girl. This issue also features Green Lantern, John Stewart’s origin story.

The original Secret Origins comic goes way back to 1961, it was published as a one-shot and contained mainly reprinted stories, eventually becoming a mini-series in 1973 which ran a total of seven issues. It had a much larger print run in 1986, which comprised of  fifty issues that ran through to 1990. Chronicling the origins of the post crisis heroes and villains, I still have a large number of these original comics in my collection, so it was great to see the series return in April this year with the revised origin stories of the New 52 variants of DC’s popular heroes and villains.

As mentioned, Swamp Thing takes centre stage for this particular issue, Swampy is an elemental humanoid/vegetative hybrid possessing super strength and telepathic mastery over all plant life, created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson in 1971, with his first appearance in House of Secrets #92. Some of you may recognise Swampy from his popular television series in the 1980’s or the two films by prolific horror director Wes Craven and though by today’s standards they do come across rather camp and cheesy, they still hold up as a fun blast from the past and are well worth a watch.

If you are new to the DC Universe and have only started reading it since their New 52 reboot in 2011, then this is the perfect series to give you the up to date and revamped origin stories of their eponymous heroes and villains.

Swamp Thing is written by Charles Soule with interior art by Javi Pina, Power Girl is by Paul Levitz and Alisson Borges, and John Stewart’s origin is by Van Jensen and Pat Broderick.