This Just Happened: The Doctor Is In

SPOILER ALERT: If you have not read JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #19 yet and do not wish to know what happens, stop reading this post now (major spoilers ahead!).

This summer, the highly-anticipated “Trinity War” crossover event will pit the Justice League, Justice League of America, and Justice League dark in an epic showdown that will have monumental effects on the entire DC Universe.

This week, JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #19 hit stores and kicked off “House of Misery,” the final story arc for the series before it heads into “Trinity War.” Guest-starring both The Flash and Swamp Thing, JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #19 ended with the New 52 debut of a major villain: Doctor Destiny!

“Basically, it’s a new villain for The New 52, but is actually an old face for Justice League fans," JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK co-writer Ray Fawkes recently teased to MTV GEEK about Doctor Destiny entering the series. "He’s going to be a really big problem. In many ways, he’s their nightmare come true. So they’re going to be psychically handling being changed so radically. For instance, Madame Xanadu aging so fast, then coming back to her youth; she’ll be grappling with that at the same time this insane new threat surfaces ... I think readers will be really excited when we have the reveal of the villain in this arc at the end of the issue. It is going to blow some minds, and they’re going to be really into it. It is a really exciting reveal … I think readers will want to take a look at this because [artist] Mikel Janin has pulled out all the stops. This will be packed full of wild stuff and it’s like nothing else being put out right now.”

Above, take a look at the final page of “House of Misery, Part One” as Doctor Destiny reveals himself to Swamp Thing in the House of Mystery. And in the comments section below, sound off on what impact you think Doctor Destiny will have on the members of the Justice League Dark during this time of great turmoil!

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #19, written by Jeff Lemire and Ray Fawkes and illustrated by Mikel Janin and Vicente Cifuentes, is available in stores now.

TRINITY WAR Tie-ins Announced!

Earlier this month we announced that the highly anticipated “Trinity War” will be a  massive crossover event spanning the three Justice League titles—JUSTICE LEAGUE, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA and JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK.

Well, that’s not all. This morning we revealed with IGN that there are tie-ins! TRINITY OF SIN: PANDORA, TRINITY OF SIN: PHANTOM STRANGER and CONSTANTINE will all have a part in “Trinity War”.

“It's not only the first New 52 meeting of all three Justice League teams, it's the first time we'll see how they all interrelate,” says editor Brian Cunningham who spoke with IGN about the upcoming event. Head on over to IGN for more insight from Cunningham and be sure to add “Trinity War” to your summer reading pile!

This Just Happened: Sibling Rivalry

SPOILER ALERT: If you have not read BATGIRL #18 and do not wish to know what happens, stop reading this post now (major spoilers ahead!)

“Death of the Family” is over, and Barbara Gordon (a.k.a. Batgirl) has survived yet another terrifying ordeal with The Joker. But is she ready for a showdown with another one her greatest foes, her brother James, Jr.?! He’s already sold her out to The Joker – but what will he do next?

In “The Mask of Ashes,” from the creative team of guest writer Ray Fawkes and artists Daniel Sampere and Rob Hunter, Batgirl and her devious brother take sibling rivalry to a whole new level.

Last issue, Batgirl found herself in Firebugs’ path as he proceeded to burn down an entire building. Now, the fire seems to have set off a bigger trap, which brings the entire building down – with Batgirl still in it!

James witnesses the whole scene, and watches the locals dig through the rubble to find Batgirl. Just as hope begins to dwindle, Batgirl emerges, bloodied and bruised.

Meanwhile, Barbara’s father, Commissioner Gordon, receives tragic news from Batman about the death of his sidekick, Robin (for more on this, click here. And be sure to check out all of the Bat-family books this month for more of Damian’s “Requiem”).

Commissioner Gordon delivers the news to his daughter, but before she can grieve the death of her ally, she receives a phone call from James. He’s got plans for his sister. Big ones.

But before Batgirl can investigate these plans, she must bring Firebug to justice. After knocking him out and leaving him for the police, Batgirl sets off to track James. Her signal tracer leads her to an abandoned house, the perfect place for James’ secret headquarters, but he is nowhere to be found.

Instead, James is in a child’s bedroom, calling his newly recovering mother. But this isn’t your typical mother/son talk, as James has an ultimatum for her: Come to the Gotham Bay Aquarium or Barbara dies!

Will James’ mother agree to his terms? And what does this have to do with his plans for Batgirl? Place your bets in the comments section below!

Below, take a look at the final page of “The Mask of Ashes,” as James teases a gruesome death for Batgirl! And be sure to pick up a copy of BATGIRL #18, in stores now!


DC Entertainment Announces Two New Series at Emerald City Comic Con

This past weekend, the streets of Seattle were awash with the colors of capes, cowls, tights, and more, as Emerald City Comic Con took over the Washington State Convention Center for three days.

Timed to the convention, DC Entertainment announced the launches of two exciting titles – DC Comics’ new ongoing monthly series, TRINITY OF SIN: PANDORA, and Vertigo Comics’ BROTHER LONO, an all-new 8-part miniseries spinning out of the critically acclaimed and New York Times bestselling series, 100 BULLETS!

In stores this spring, TRINITY OF SIN: PANDORA will shine a solo spotlight on the elusive character Pandora and begin to unravel the details of why she’s such an integral part of DC COMICS-THE NEW 52. Written by Ray Fawkes (CONSTANTINE; JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK) and illustrated by Daniel Sampere (BATGIRL; JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK), this new series will be complimented by THE PHANTOM STRANGER – which will be retitled to TRINITY OF SIN: THE PHANTOM STRANGER when co-writer J.M. DeMatteis takes over full writing duties in June.

“She's spent thousands of years crossing the globe, over and over again, hearing her name cursed for all the evils of the world,” Fawkes exclusively teased to COMIC BOOK RESOURCES about the new series’ mysterious protagonist. “She carries this unfathomable guilt and this searing anger with her -- guilt because she may very well be responsible for all this suffering, and anger because she thinks she never had a chance to avoid unleashing it. She has reason to believe the game was fixed. So she's had all the time in the world to crawl through every kind of shame and pain and remorse you can imagine, and she's come out on the other side of it with a strong, pure sense of purpose. Is that going to lead to more trouble? Yeah, of course it is. But trouble for whom?”

“TRINITY OF SIN: PANDORA is an action/horror title,” Fawkes continued. “It's about a blistering quest for vengeance, no-holds barred, with blatant disregard for the costs incurred -- until it breaks, like a bloody wave. Then it's about something else entirely, and I'm not going to give that away just yet.”

Also landing on shelves this spring, BROTHER LONO will reunite the Eisner Award winning creative team of Vertigo Comics’ 100 BULLETS – including writer Brian Azzarello, artist Eduardo Risso, colorist Trish Mulvihill, letterer Clem Robbins and cover artist Dave Johnson.

“It's not a continuation of 100 BULLETS. I wouldn't even call it a sequel. It's dealing with one of the characters that happened to survive. Everyone else in the series [BROTHER LONO] — it will be all new characters. It's just, what's Lono been doing since the end of that series,” Azzarello exclusively revealed to NEWSARAMA, who also debuted the cover for 100 BULLETS: BROTHER LONO #1. “We're not going to learn more about his background. We're going to learn what drives him. He's not a character that looks toward the past. He's always moving forward.”

As for how the creative team feels to be re-entering the world of 100 BULLETS together?

“We're really excited about this. We're happy to be back,” Azzarello told NEWSARAMA. “We wouldn't be doing it if we didn't have a story to tell. So luckily, we had one.”

Look for TRINITY OF SIN: PANDORA and BROTHER LONO in stores this June. And keep checking back to THE SOURCE and GRAPHIC CONTENT for more about the launches of these two new series in the coming weeks!

First Look at TIME WARP #1!

Next month, Vertigo’s latest anthology-style one-shot will take you into the far reaches of space. Filled with spectacular sci-fi stories of robots, deep space and lots of time travel twists, TIME WARP #1 comes to you from a wide array of comic book greats and up-and-coming stars of tomorrow – including writers Damon Lindelof, Toby Litt, Matt Kindt, Peter Milligan, Ray Fawkes, Simon Spurrier, Tom King, Gail Simone, and Dan Abnett, and artists Jeff Lemire, Mark Buckingham, Victor Santos, Matt Kindt, MK Perker, Andy MacDonald, Tom Fowler, Gael Bertrand, INJ Culbard, and more!

 

Below, take an exclusive first look at some of the interior art featured in these various stories, and don’t forget to pick up your copy of TIME WARP #1 when it flies into stores on March 20!

 

 

 

 

 

Preview Monday: YOUNG ROMANCE: A NEW 52 VALENTINE'S DAY SPECIAL #1 and FAIREST #12

Welcome back for another installment of Preview Monday! This week we’re giving you exclusive first looks at YOUNG ROMANCE: A NEW 52 VALENTINE’S DAY SPECIAL #1 and FAIREST #12.

 

Romance is in the air in the DC Universe! In this anthology of stories just in time for Valentine’s Day, Catwoman fondly recalls her first time meeting Batman, Mera discovers a pile of old letters and the tragic love story they tell, Batgirl finds unlikely romance on the streets of Gotham, Nightwing meets a girl that can keep him on his toes, Apollo travels to Seoul to find Midnighter, and Wonder Woman and Superman take another important step in their blossoming relationship. Plus, as a special bonus, this unique one-shot includes perforated Valentine’s Day cards featuring the stars of all the stories! From writers Andy Diggle, Ann Nocenti, Cecil Castellucci, Peter Milligan, Kyle Higgins, and Ray Fawkes and artists Emanuela Lupacchino, Jaime Mendoza, Inaki Miranda, Julius Gopez, Simon Bisley, Sanford Greene, Robson Rocha and Julio Ferreira, YOUNG ROMANCE: A NEW 52 VALENTINE’S DAY SPECIAL #1 hits stores this Wednesday. Click here for an exclusive preview of the issue.

 

Meanwhile in FAIREST #12, “The Hidden Kingdom” continues. In the heart of the dark forest, Rapunzel discovers that bloody vengeance will come back to haunt you. And on the frenetic streets of Tokyo, Bigby and Frau Totenkinder get caught in the middle of a war between Tomoko and Katagiri! Be sure not to miss the murder, mayhem, terrible compromises and unholy hairballs that are all part of this month’s issue! Written by Lauren Beukes and illustrated by Inaki Miranda, FAIREST #12 hits stores this Wednesday. Click here for an exclusive preview of the issue.

Jeff Lemire talks CONSTANTINE

Earlier today we announced that Jeff Lemire and Ray Fawkes will be writing the new ongoing series CONSTANTINE. We asked Jeff Lemire about writing his favorite character. Check out what he had to say about the character he's been dabbling with in JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK and will now be launching in his own ongoing series with Fawkes.

 

"John Constantine is my favorite character. He has been since I was sixteen and I grabbed a copy of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's Hellblazer 61 from my local comic shop, Olympic Records in Windsor, Ontario. I was hooked from the moment I saw that amazing Glen Fabry cover with John, leaning, exhausted and bloody, scalpel in hand, against a door frame. I quickly went back and scrounged for every back issue I could, discovering the rest of Ennis' amazing run as well as Jamie Delano's groundbreaking original issues.

 

"I'd known Constantine from Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run, but his solo book was what really hooked me. The mix of magic, politics, humor and horror as well as John's undeniable cool, really struck a chord with me. I continued to follow Constantine through all 300 issues of Hellblazer and have had the unbelievable fortune to end up writing him in Justice League Dark. And now, along with my good friend and JLDark co-writer, Ray Fawkes, I get to help shepherd Constantine on the next stage of his journey as co-plotter of his new solo monthly comic, CONSTANTINE in March.

 

"Ray will be doing the heavy lifting, scripting the book (I've read his first three scripts and they are fantastic!!) along with the talented Renato Guedes on art. But I am thrilled to be a part of the book in any capacity.

 

"As someone who has nothing but respect for the character and the incredible legacy of writers and artists who have worked on him in the past, I want to do everything I can to help create a comic that pays respect to who John was, but also reintroduces him to a whole new audience.  Constantine will be different from Hellblazer. No doubt about it. For one thing JC now haunts Manhattan instead of London (the reason for the move will be explained in Issue 3!). And, he once again has one foot planted firmly in the DC Universe, much like he did in the original Swamp Thing stories. But rest assured, Ray and I are not pulling any punches in Constantine. John's still the same as he always was.

 

"We have a bunch of cool stories coming your way, from the ongoing threat of the mysterious CULT OF THE COLD FLAME, to a brand new Sargon the Sorcerer and a horror called THE WITCHBREAKER, Constantine will have his blood-stained hands full. I hope you come a long for the ride."

 

CONSTANTINE debuts in March. Look for it at your local comic shop or digitally.

 

 

 

Subscribe to ray fawkes