Tag: J.M. DeMatteis

‘Robin Lives!’ will show what might have happened if Jason Todd never died

‘From the DC Vault: Death in the Family: Robin Lives!’ kicks off in July.

The death of Jason Todd at the hands of the Joker — aided by a 1-900 number and 5,343 fans — is a story that has lived in infamy within the annals of comicdom since “Batman: Death in the Family” first hit comic shelves in 1988. But what if Robin hadn’t died? What if 73 more people had called the number that asked DC not to kill him?

Writer J.M. DeMatteis and artist Rick Leonardi will explore that alternate reality in From the DC Vault: Death in the Family: Robin Lives! (Which is quite the title; maybe they should have just called it “Life in the Family”) The four-issue miniseries follows last year’s “faux-simile” edition of Batman #428, which featured the alternative ending to the story that Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo created back in the 1980s in case fans showed Jason Todd mercy.

“Continuing this classic, and controversial, story and following in the footsteps of Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo, two creators I greatly admire, has been both a challenge and a joy,” said DeMatteis. “This is a great opportunity to tell a story that’s big on action, but also takes a very deep dive into the heads of our main characters as we ponder what would have happened if Jason Todd had survived The Joker’s brutal attack. And having a master like Rick Leonardi bringing it to life visually? I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

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Back to school: DeMatteis + Nauck will revisit Magneto’s time as headmaster of the New Mutants

The four-issue ‘Magneto’ miniseries will introduce a new character, Irae, when it debuts in August.

Magneto’s slow and complicated face turn back in the 1980s was one of the highlights of the X-Men titles at the time, and now J.M. DeMatteis and Todd Nauck will explore one of the key milestones in that timeline — the period when Magneto became headmaster of Professor Xavier’s school and taught the New Mutants.

“Magneto may be the single most complex character in the Marvel Universe: a man of dizzying contradictions who has endured, and caused, extraordinary suffering. Who’s been both villain and hero. Whose long, tangled history invites endless exploration,” DeMatteis said. “Our new Magneto series allows us to look at all aspects of Erik Lehnsherr’s soul and psyche—at a period when he was trying to put his life as a so-called ‘evil’ mutant behind him and step, somewhat reluctantly, into Charles Xavier’s shoes, attempting to guide a new generation of mutants. We also get to look back at the early days of the X-Men—one of my favorite periods in Marvel history—and introduce a new villain, born in the cauldron of Magneto’s dark past.”

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DeMatteis + Spellbound Comics will launch ‘The DeMultiverse’ next week

DeMatteis will team with several artists on four new comics coming to Kickstarter Oct. 11.

J.M. DeMatteis, one of the most prolific and beloved comics writers of the last several decades, will team up with an exceptional group of artists for four new comics coming from Spellbound Comics, which they’ve dubbed “The DeMultiverse.”

DeMatteis will work with Matthew Dow Smith, David Baldeon, Tom Mandrake, Shawn McManus and more on Anyman, Godsend, Wisdom and Layla in the Lands of After. Spellbound will release them as individual comics, as well as a single 100+ page trade paperback. The TPB will include an introduction by Tom DeFalco. Their Kickstarter will kick off next week.

Here’s more on the four titles:

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J.M. DeMatteis returns to Spider-Man + Kraven for ‘The Lost Hunt’

Eder Messias will provide the art for the five-issue miniseries.

J.M. DeMatteis, who wrote one of the best and most popular Spider-Man stories of all time, “Kraven’s Last Hunt,” will return to both characters in a new miniseries in November.

Like many of Marvel’s recent projects, Spider-Man: The Lost Hunt isn’t set in the present day Marvel U. — it’s set around the time of Spider-Man: The Final Adventure, when Ben Reilly took over as Spider-Man in New York and a powerless Peter Parker settled down with Mary Jane on the opposite coast. A run-in with a man from Kraven’s past will allow DeMatteis to “dive into Kraven’s origins, revealing secrets and answering mysteries Spidey fans have been waiting for.”

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DeMatteis + Baldeon will tell stories from Ben Reilly’s past

‘Ben Reilly: Spider-Man’ launches in December.

As Ben Reilly prepares to retake the mantle of Spider-Man from Peter Parker, Marvel has announced that J.M. DeMatteis, David Baldeon and Israel Silva will tell a story from Reilly’s past, set during his first run at being Spider-Man.

Ben Reilly: Spider-Man is set in the 1990s era and will involve the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane. DeMatteis was one of the writers of the original clone saga, which he talked about extensively in this blog post.

“Peter and Mary Jane have headed off to Portland to have their baby and live happily ever after while, in New York, our titular hero is taking his first steps toward building a new life as both Ben Reilly and Spider-Man,” DeMatteis said on his blog. “But it’s not going to be easy!”

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DC returns to the Animated Universe in ‘Justice League Infinity’

Almost 15 years after ‘Justice League Unlimited’ ended, DC launches a new comic set in that same world.

Like they did with the recent Batman: The Adventure Continues, DC will revisit their 1990s/2000s Animated Universe — sometimes called the “Diniverse” after Paul Dini — with Justice League Infinity.

The DC Digital First series will feature stories from the world shown in Justice League Unlimited, which went off the air in 2006. JLU producer James Tucker and series writer J.M. DeMatteis will team with artist Ethen Beavers on new stories about Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern John Stewart, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter and many more.

JLU ran for three seasons on Cartoon Network and was best known for its revolving cast that would grow or shrink as needed, pulling in characters from all over the DC universe. So expect to see that in the comic. Hopefully we’ll get to see a Question/Huntress/Green Arrow/Black Canary team-up at some point as well.

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The Justice League at 60, Part 6: Globetrotters

Take a look back at the “International” era of the Justice League that brought new faces, more titles and lots of laughs to the team.

Check out part one, part two, part three, part four and part five of this series.

Folks, we’ve got a lot to get through today, so I’m going to give it to you straight: Some of this stuff was just a mess. Much of it was good and some of that was great. Some of it we can look at as “the ’90s.” However, some of it was, again, just a mess. I’m going to start in the middle and end with the beginning, so we can go out on a not-so-bad note.

Now then: Among the random bits of weirdness in this extended Justice League International period of 1986-1996 are the not-insignificant contributions of Slave Labor Graphics publisher Dan Vado. Starting in Early August 1993 (after Dan Jurgens left), he wrote 14 issues of Justice League America and then wrote the first 8 issues of Extreme Justice. Vado and his artistic collaborators Mike Collins, Kevin West and Marc Campos presided over a two-year stretch of League history, which threatens to be overlooked between the Jurgens and Gerard Jones/Chuck Wojtkiewicz runs.

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The Justice League at 60, Part Five: The Experiment

You gotta lose your mind as Tom Bondurant dives into the infamous ‘Detroit League’ of the late 1980s.

Check out part one, part two, part three and part four of this series!

There’s a lot crammed into the 40-page story writer Gerry Conway, penciller Chuck Patton and inker Dave Hunt tell in 1984’s Justice League of America Annual #2. The issue charts the official end of the JLA (as Aquaman exercises his founding-member privilege to disband it) and the subsequent creation of a new, ostensibly more focused team. Along the way the Leaguers say goodbye to their ruined satellite headquarters and hello to “the Bunker,” a mall-sized fallout shelter in the middle of Detroit, built by an ex-superhero who apparently saw too many movies about NORAD. Everything that happens in the annual happens quickly: four experienced Leaguers decide to re-form the team moments after dissolving the original; the new League gains two new members who each saw the re-forming happen on live television; and the third and fourth new members basically break into the supposedly impregnable new headquarters. The issue ends with a block party, welcoming the Justice League to this particular run-down part of town.

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What Are You Reading? ‘Friday,’ Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has checked off their “to read” list lately.

If you’re looking for something to read while sheltering in place, you’ve come to the right blog, as the Smash Pages crew has a whole mess of comics to talk about this week. So without further ado …

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Comics Lowdown: Abrams pulls ‘A Suicide Bomber Sits in the Library’ from its schedule

Plus: “Olivia Jaimes” speaks, Bill Maher doubles down on his comic book comments, a comic convention apologizes for giving ‘Saga’ to kids, and much more!

Abrams has abandoned plans to publish A Suicide Bomber Sits in the Library by Jack Gantos and Dave McKean following online criticism and controversy. The book is about a young boy who plans to blow up a library, but he changes his mind when he sees how captivated the people inside are with their reading.

An open letter to Abrams from the Asian Author Alliance, signed by more than 1,000 writers, teachers and readers, reads: “The simple fact is that today, the biggest terrorist threat in the United States is white supremacy. In publishing A Suicide Bomber Sits in the Library, Abrams is willfully fear-mongering and spreading harmful stereotypes in a failed attempt to show the power of story.”

McKean responded to some of the controversy on Twitter: “The premise of the book is that a boy uses his mind and faith to decide for himself that violence is not the right course or action.” The book was due to be published next May.

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Comics Lowdown: Remembering Stan ‘The Man’ Lee

Plus: ‘The Brotherhood’ writer revealed! Transformers’ growing female fan base! Plus Art Spiegelman, Stan Webb and the scariest comic panel in ages!

Following the death of Marvel legend Stan Lee on Monday, many outlets covered not only his death, but turned the focus on his wide-reaching life and legacy. Some of the mainstream coverage included:

  • The New York Times not only wrote a thorough obituary of “The Man,” but also featured a comic by Brian Michael Bendis, Bill Walko and Howie Noel.
  • Peter David, freelance comics writer and a former Marvel employee, wrote a remembrance of Lee for Vulture. “Still, there was a time where Stan became the incarnation of that line from The Dark Knight: You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain. In the ’80s and ’90s, it became increasingly stylish to bash Stan, to accuse him of hogging attention for his creations from the artists. But the fact is that before Marvel Comics, comics writers and artists were anonymous. It was Stan who made the artists the centerpieces of the work, giving them snappy nicknames like ‘Stainless’ Steve Ditko, ‘Genial’ Gene Colan, ‘Larrupin’’ Larry Lieber (no, even his brother wasn’t immune), and many others. We would come to know the artists (and other writers) as well as, if not better than, members of our only families. DC editors were so disdainful of this practice that they referred to him as ‘Stan Brag,’ before eventually following suit and crediting people.”
  • Roy Thomas, a legendary comics writer in his own right, shares the memory of his last Saturday spent with Lee at the Hollywood Reporter.
  • Marvel dedicated a special section of their website to Lee, with a tribute video.

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‘The Girl in the Bay’ surfaces at Berger Books next year

J.M. DeMatteis and Corin Howell team up on a new comic coming from Karen Berger’s Dark Horse imprint.

The Berger Books line continues to grow, as the Dark Horse imprint announced a new title at the New York Comic Con this weekend — The Girl in the Bay by J.M. DeMatteis and Corin Howell.

This isn’t the first time the prolific DeMatteis has worked with editor Karen Berger, as Vertigo published The Last One and Mercy back in the day.

“The chance to work with Karen Berger again was too good to pass up,” said J.M. DeMatteis. “I was part of the launch of the Vertigo imprint 25 years ago, and I’m delighted to be a part of this exciting new chapter in Karen’s career. I’m equally delighted to have the amazing Corin Howell illustrating our project, The Girl in the Bay: a dark tale of mysticism, time-travel, cosmic identity theft, and murder.”

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