5.2 Reasons Jeff Lemire Rocks
There's a lot of things we love, like comic books and toys and ice cream and cookies and naptime. We share a lot of similar interests with children, apparently. But we also love our creators. No, we’re not referring to our literal creators. We’re not talking about the people who built us. Which isn’t to suggest that we're super intelligent robots slowly bidding our time before the inevitable robot uprising or anything like that...
*ahem*
No, we're talking about the writers and artists that help make our comics and characters great with their incredible talent, hard work and dedication, and all-around general awesomeness—which is what makes us super excited about Jeff Lemire taking over the writing reins on Green Arrow starting with issue #17. We've been fans of Jeff for quite some time—and not only because he's a super nice dude that often has hilarious twitter conversations with fellow writers like Scott Snyder (follow them both at @JeffLemire and @SSnyder1835). Certainly those are two reasons, but they’re not the only ones. In fact, we're going to give you a full 5.2 Reasons Jeff Lemire Rocks!
1. Green Arrow
Sure, his run on the title hasn't started yet, but from his early comments alone, we're already confident he's going to knock this one out of the park (expected a bulls-eye joke there, didn'cha?). Lemire said that while he was never that into the character previously, he's gone back and read a lot about the character since then and cited Mike Grell's character-defining LONGBOW HUNTERS and Andy Diggle and Jock's GREEN ARROW: YEAR ONE as major influences for his approach. That alone is enough for him to get our ringing endorsement. Add in the phenomenal art of I, Vampire's Andrea Sorrentino and that is a guaranteed bulls-eye.
2. Animal Man
Easily the breakout series of DC COMICS—THE NEW 52, Jeff Lemire's Animal Man took readers down a dark and terrifying path, infusing the title with an indie comic feel and a generous dose of horror while still retaining its superhero sensibilities. It's fascinating to see the family dynamic unfold and the relationship play out between Buddy and Ellen—all while in the middle of battling monstrous creatures, dealing with their daughter bringing dead pets back to life, and holding conversations with a talking cat named Socks that is actually an avatar to a group of ancient beings that represent all animal life on Earth.
3. Justice League Dark
Pardon the pun, but Justice League Dark is downright magical. Lemire recently came onboard the series with issue #9, and already he's begun a tale filled with mysticism, mayhem and memorable characters (including Frankenstein, who Lemire worked on previously) that has kept readers as enthralled as an audience member at one of Zatanna's magic shows. But JLD isn't a one-man show. Artist Mikel Janin is the Teller to Lemire's Penn, and together they put on one heck of a magic trick. Sorry, we mean illusion.
4. Sweet Tooth
Lemire's Vertigo series SWEET TOOTH is sadly nearing its end, with only one issue left to go. But that gives you plenty of time to catch up on this fantastic series both written and drawn by Lemire. It's a wonderful tale of friendship, innocence, survival and animal-people. It's like Richard Corben's "A Boy and His Dog," but with a violent drifter and a 9-year-old boy with antlers. So, you know, completely awesome.
5. Legends of the Dark Knight
The digital first Legends of the Dark Knight series consists of weekly installments of Batman-centric tales written by various creative teams. Things kicked off with a bang by teaming Lemire's artistic skills with the writing power of Damon Lindelof (TV’s Lost, "Star Trek Into Darkness") in a one-shot tale. As such, we don't want to give anything way except to say that it's totally worth checking out just to see Lemire's Dark Knight alone.
5.1 A Tale with Geoff Johns in the 80-Page GHOSTS anthology
5.2 His Upcoming Vertigo Project TRILLIUM
What are you loving about Lemire? Let us know in the comments below!
(The cover for JUSTICE LEAGUE #15 by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado)