This June will see the relaunch of Justice League of America by Bryan Hitch at DC Comics. Hitch has drawn JLA before back in 2000, but now he's in complete control as both writer and artist on the series.
We talked to Hitch via email about how he came to be on the book, what he's bringing to the series (new villains!), and how this project two years in the making came to be a reality.
IGN Comics: How did you come to be on Justice League of America?
Bryan Hitch: [DC Comics Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee], over several years have kept in touch and offered me a number of things, which, for various reasons never quite came together. Finally, in the summer of 2013, Dan said “Okay wise-guy, what would YOU do?”
I was on our family holiday when I got that mail and something sparked so I wrote a quick, half-page idea down and sent it to Dan who liked it and wanted to make it happen. Gradually it all sort of began to coalesce and Dan suggested we use it as a re-launch of JLA. I was using those core characters in my outline anyway so it made a lot of sense. The outline became a full treatment and eventually several scripts.
What was nice was, after reading the full outline and first scripts, Brian [Cunningham], our editor said that it felt like a story only I could draw. Whilst flattering and lovely, I really haven’t made it easy for myself!
IGN: The previous New 52 JLA had a distinctly different set of characters, whereas yours will use the same cast as Geoff Johns’ Justice League comic. What was the thinking behind using the same cast instead of a different group?
Hitch: Actually, there’s a story reason in my first issue why these specific characters get involved in this adventure. There’s no sitting around a clubhouse table deciding to go off and do what they end up doing. They are pulled into it and so, that’s our cast.
From a personal point of view, it was always these guys; it’s core DC and the very reason why I wanted to be a comic artist in the first place. I grew up with these people; they are my comic book DNA. While it was a very organic process getting from summer 2013 to today, it was always only ever going to be Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg, Flash and Green Lantern.
IGN: As far as continuity goes, when does Justice League of America take place in relation to Justice League?
Hitch: It’s very much the same world, same universe, just different adventures, different stories. You don’t need to read one to understand the other. Right now they aren’t crossing over, but never say never.
Continuity only needs to mean that; it doesn’t need to mean that I have a tear in Batman’s cape the same month JL does. Our editor, Brian Cunningham, keeps us straight anyway, but continuity in the fans have come to think about can be suffocating; Brian sees that it isn’t and we’re free to tell our stories.
IGN: What are your thoughts on the overall artistic look of the New 52 when it first launched versus where it is now in 2015? Art-wise, what are you bringing to the New 52 that it doesn’t already have?
Hitch: I’m not sure I have an answer for that. To me, they’re still the same people, characters and heroes they always have been. Cosmetic changes don’t really mean anything.
If I’m bringing anything, it may be a touch of the ‘classic’. I’m somewhat known for a sense of realism and it’s certainly true that I brought a feeling of reality to the superhero costumes in Ultimates, but that’s the wrong approach here. With the JLA I went back to spray-painted muscles as it’s the only way the DC stuff looks right to me. Easy to add lines and seams etc., but no creases and no sense they are wearing real clothing. I don’t want to be drawing cosplay.
There has to be a sense of true legend, almost myth to the way these guys look, but you can still put them in the real world, next to real people and exaggerate their visuals, make them look like Greek heroic sculpture in motion! They are the most amazing beings in the world and they need to look like that.
I guess words like "cinematic" and "widescreen" have been used to label my work since the days of The Authority, but it’s just my natural approach and I’m certainly using it here, but I’m also putting extra visual emphasis on their figure work; making it more upfront than in my previous work.
IGN: Do you have a set number of issues that you plan to do? How many issues (if any), have you already completed?
Hitch: I do, but if I tell you and fall short, you’ll all start to throw things at me. I could also outstay my welcome. If I ask you to wait and see while I have the full intention of surprising everybody, will that do?
IGN: What can you tell us about the first story arc? Any word on who the first villain will be?
Hitch: What I’m determined to do, no matter how long I stay on JLA, is to always create new villains. If I do the next Darkseid story, the next Weapons Master or Starro the Conqueror then firstly, you’ve seen it all before you know immediately who the villain is. I want to surprise you; I want to use antagonists that aren’t automatically a villain, and hopefully make you question everybody’s motivations, fears and concerns. At least with a new villain, you don’t know quite what to expect the first time around. That’s not to say familiar faces aren’t popping up, but in terms of the main antagonists, it’s all new territory.
There was a time all this stuff, comics, heroes, villains and so on was new to each of us. Every issue was a surprise. I’m not in the nostalgia business; I don’t want to repeat the stories I read as a kid, but I do want us all to feel like we felt when we first read this stuff. The excitement of the unexpected!
IGN: What would you say to fans to get them excited to pick up this comic?
Hitch: This is why I draw comics. From eight years old I’ve wanted to draw comics -- DC Comics -- and the chance of writing and drawing, especially JLA, is 37 years in the making.
At seven, I rolled out of the cinema and into the newsstand next door to buy the DC books, the only comics they stocked, and I dreamed of the day I’d get to do this. Every day is a pleasure; the work is a joy. The scale is huge, vast but for all that, writing these characters who’ve lived in my head since Christopher Reeve first took flight is the unexpected wonder. They’re myths, gods, heroes but they’re people too and as both a writer and artist, I’m happy to say I take them all to hell and back nearly every issue.
This is passion for me and I really hope it shows.