Justice League vs. Suicide Squad #1 Lettered Preview + Comicosity Interview

>It was inevitable. The two powerhouse teams of the DC Universe end up facing each other. The only surprise? That the biggest menace they each had to face wasn’t going to be each other!

>With the arrival of Justice League vs. Suicide Squad #1 this week, writer Joshua Williamson and artist Jason Fabok kick off the first big event of the Rebirth line with a cadre of villains you might not have expected, including the return of classic Justice League antagonist Maxwell Lord. The creators sat down with Comicosity to share their thoughts on Maxwell Lord, Amanda Waller, and the new crew of villains the two teams will be facing.

>Matt Santori: Jason is the returning champ right now, having done a long run on Justice League and now returning for this one issue. How does it feel to be jumping back in to these characters and then expanding out to introducing all these others for the event?

>Jason Fabok: It was a lot of fun!

>After Justice League, I was tired. [laughs] I was just exhausted. Geoff and I put our hearts and souls into the Darkseid War and I needed to take a couple of months off. I took a lot of family time. And since, I’ve been doing a couple of little things here and there, including a back-up in Suicide Squad #1 — a Deadshot story. That was when I was approached about doing Justice League vs. Suicide Squad #1.

>Hearing “Justice League vs. Suicide Squad” was the title, I was like, YEAH, I’ve got to do this. It just evokes a lot of questions about how these two groups are going to pit off against each other and how that was going work.

>But also, I heard that Joshua was going to be writing it. The first book I ever worked on professionally was Superman/Batman #70-71, and Josh was the writer on those issues. I got to work with him on the first ever book I did and now it’s come full circle five or six years later for the first event book of DC Rebirth. I just had to do it.

>It was a lot of fun and I’ve never been able to draw the Suicide Squad in my career, so it was a total win-win. I really enjoyed my time on this first issue. I think it turned out really good!

>MS: Joshua, you’re writing the entire six-issue mini, but being neither the ongoing writer on Justice League nor Suicide Squad, how does that feel for you to be taking these characters and working with them in this arena?

>Joshua Williamson: In taking on the project, I was really excited, because I really like both teams. They are books that I wanted to write. So, when I started hearing about the project happening, I kept asking about it. And when it was offered to me, I was surprised, but super excited and happy about it.

>And then the challenge set in, right? I have not written anything this big with this many characters before. I love these characters and love both teams, but it definitely was intimidating.

>One of the things I was really grateful for is that I was able to talk to Geoff Johns about the series and about these characters. Being in the room with someone like Geoff who’s written the Justice League and has this vision of the universe, I was able to start asking a lot of questions and hear about what some of the challenges are even after years of writing these characters.

>And then, I got to sit down for dinner with Rob Williams and really pick his brain about the Suicide Squad and some of the characters. About his take on the characters and mine. We had this looooong conversation about Amanda Waller. I’ve always liked her, but it was great to have that chance to talk to him about it.

>Then it just became fun. I think the hardest part was dealing with so many characters. I feel, though, that I was able to find places in the series to reflect the personalities of each one. It was definitely intimidating. Definitely challenging. It’s easily the hardest and most intense project I’ve ever worked on in my life. But I would totally do it again.

>MS: Speaking of Amanda Waller, you have her running the Suicide Squad, but Maxwell Lord returning to run his own team of villains as well. Talk to me a bit about having two layers of antagonists or villains in the series.

>JW: Well, let me ask you: would you call Max and Amanda villains? Because they definitely don’t see themselves that way.

>Maxwell Lord 100% sees himself as a hero and thinks he’s the only one who truly understands and sees the facts. He’s the only person capable of saving the day. In writing JLvSS #1, I tried to get some of that perspective in there. There’s an Easter egg in that issue for Infinite Crisis, referring back to what his thoughts and motivations were back there.

>He has a twisted idea of things. That is one of the differences between them, I think. Amanda Waller is less idealistic than Maxwell Lord. I think she’s a bit more realistic and more… factual. Is Max deluded? Does Max really believe in this twisted version of Rebirth. I think that’s the main difference between them.

>A lot of Rebirth is about hope, right? And I think Max believes that. He believes in hope and inspiration. Whereas in the beginning of Rob Williams’ Suicide Squad, you get this scene with Waller that shows she’s really content with what she’s doing and why she’s doing it. There’s a confidence there. But with Max, it’s bravado, and that raises a level of doubt.

>One of my favorite scenes in this entire series is Max and Amanda talking one-on-one about some of these ideas, and how, in Max’s mind, he feels they have a lot in common. That they should be getting along and seeing eye-to-eye. But as we explore, you’ll see there are differences.

>MS: That leads into a little of what I just want to focus in on, which is some of the villains that get introduced here. Let’s start with Jay’s take on Maxwell Lord.

>JF: Visually, I just stuck with the classic look for the character, keeping him simple and to the point. It was pretty essential for me. Just the classic black t-shirt and gun-holster across the chest, and a pair of army-khaki explorer pants. That’s really all the character needs.

>I really had fun with the intro scene in issue #1, trying to keep it so you didn’t know who this villain was and just tell everything by the actions, not the characters. It was a challenge, but visually, I wanted to keep him very classic.

>I find that fans want that comfort of the classic look of a character from when they first read or was introduced to them. I feel the same way, generally. Going into the redesigns — or really just updating — of each of these characters, we focused on classic versions of the characters.

>MS: So, let’s talk Emerald Empress.

>JF: Yeah! She’s had a whole bunch of different looks in the past, and we wanted something that distinguished her a little bit from Enchantress. We wanted them not to look exactly the same, although they have similarities in their looks. I think that’s the one we changed the most out of all of the characters. Just trying to give her a more updated look.

>JW: I remember the days of going back and forth over email with some of these designs, like with Max and the Emerald Empress. It was fun talking about it and going back and forth. And even Jim Lee even jumped in and talked to us about some of them.

>Emerald Empress, I think, really turned out great with what Jay put together. I think it’s a great, modern interpretation of her look.

>MS: You’re also bringing in Rustam, a character created for the original Suicide Squad run by John Ostrander and Luke McDonnell, who we haven’t seen in quite some time.

>JW: Every character we picked, we picked for a reason. It was us sitting down for a day-long conversation making sure that we had the right team. Rustam kept coming up in these conversations.

>All of us working on this book are huge Ostrander-McDonnell Suicide Squad fans. And in having these conversations about who were going to be the villains, we all really felt like there needed to be a classic Suicide Squad villain. Someone who represented that idea. Because really, each one of these villains represents a different part of the DCU, whether you see it or not. Some are more obvious than others.

>But since this was a Suicide Squad book, of course we had to have a SS villain. You’ll see throughout the series what Rustam’s motivation is, but I think it’s too big of a spoiler for the book to get into now. He has a very interesting perspective and he’s going to be a big character moving forward. We really wanted to reinvigorate him for this new universe. We all like him, and felt like he has a unique perspective.

>We crafted a role for him in the series that I think people will be surprised by.

>JF: Jim Lee was the one who really came up with the new Rustam design. We were batting around ideas and he said, “Let’s go with something that’s a little more Assassins’ Creed.” Once he said that, I just sort of got it.

>He’s not that far from where he was at in the past. We just sort of added a cloak, and a few other bells and whistles.

>Rustam’s just really cool. I hadn’t really heard of him until working on this book, and he’s got some nice visuals for his powers. I’ve always loved DC books because writers aren’t scared to use obscure characters, and I’ve learned to love so many new characters from reading Geoff Johns’ series. He was never afraid to use those B-list, C-list, D-list characters and bring them to the forefront. I love getting the opportunity to explore the DCU and use these characters.

>MS: Time for one more: tell me about Johnny Sorrow, probably the most obscure choice of the bunch.

>JW: When we sat down to talk about these villains, it was like a day-long conversation of who they all were and what each one represented. Johnny Sorrow was the first we picked. It was the first we all agreed on and said, “We have to have Johnny Sorrow.”

>Part of that is because of Johnny Sorrow’s history and who his heroes are. Part of it was that we all wanted to have a powerful character in there that could be a little scary. For me, I always like characters that can be over-dramatic, and Johnny Sorrow was an actor. I like the idea of this character as seeing the world as his stage. He gets to go out there and be this showman.

Some of this book that really strikes me is that Johnny Sorrow is out there and these are his enemies he’s fighting, but they’re also his audience. He gets to show off and be this showman who can perform for everyone. That led to a lot of fun stuff for him.

>JF: I’m just really proud of this issue. I really think it turned out great.

>As for the series as a whole, I think fans are in for a visual treat with all these different artists. Tony Daniel’s work on issue #2 is amazing. It’s all really this big blockbuster you want to read. I hope fans see how much fun we had working on this. I’m as excited as all the fans to check out the rest of the series. Josh has put so much work into the series, so he deserves all the eyes on him now! [laughs]

>He’s going to deliver. It’s going to be a great series, and Josh really deserves all the success!


End of interview

End of preview proper

Wait! CBR has more!

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FIN

>you know she is
you're god damn right

>sidecut Killer Frost

I'm hype for Johnny Sorrow

Hopefully Max will be good, I just want to know what Rebirth answers we'll get with this, it probably won't be very much though

I don't get the point of keeping the identities secret in this preview when there's been teasers with the characters in like every book

I hope Max rots in Hell and receive the asskicking he so much deserves since Ted's murder

So Fabok is Gary Frank lite

This page made me excited about the event despite the fact that I was completely uninterested before the preview.

So I guess they're ignoring the fact that Hitch had Jessica quit the league.

What is Max' history here? Did he go Brother eye in N52? Ted's alive tho' also why is Rustam still alive?

Im kinda digging that they are using Brimstone as the initial villain, though I hope the titan version would later appear

no one should read Justice League. no one. Its like the second weakest Rebirth title after Super Woman

With this inker it sure looks like it.
His work on the darkseid story line on JL was a fuck ton better.

>Its like the third weakest Rebirth title after Super Woman

FTFY. First is Harley solo

>Power house teams

How is this a damn contest again?

Waller is still fat and old again.

>Its like the second weakest Rebirth title after Super Woman

Wasn't that supposed to be good? Never read a page, but i've only seen praise for it so far

It is good, butthurt Loisfags dislike it

Would Superman tell thme about what he knows about them?

DC is dead. Rest in peace.

Newsarama interview


>Billed as the first event of "Rebirth," Justice League vs. Suicide Squad puts two of DC's most popular properties on a collision course by The Flash writer Joshua Williamson, and will spin into next year's new Justice League of America title. Originally conceived early in the planning stages of "Rebirth," Justice League vs. Suicide Squad was orchestrated under the direction of "Rebirth" architect Geoff Johns, who's now the Chief Creative Officer and a president at DC Entertainment.

>Justice League vs. Suicide Squad #1 is being drawn by artist Jason Fabok, with twice-monthly issues featuring a slate of other artists through the six-issue series.

>DC recently revealed that the main villain behind the story is Maxwell Lord, a complicated character who's been both an ally and enemy of the Justice League in the past. He puts together a team of villains that includes Emerald Empress, Johnny Sorrow, Doctor Polaris, Rustam, and Lobo.

>With Justice League vs. Suicide Squad #1 debuting this week, Newsarama talked to Williamson and Fabok to find out more about the story, how it affects the rest of the DCU, and which version of Maxwell Lord inspired Williamson's depiction of the character.

>Newsarama: Josh, we've been talking for a long time about your work, and I have a sense of what you might be feeling, being the writer on DC's biggest event so far in "Rebirth." What was your first reaction when you were first told about the team-up between Justice League and Suicide Squad?

>Joshua Williamson: I was really curious about it at the beginning. We started talking about it a long time ago. We started having these conversations around it. We didn't know who was going to be doing it. They didn't even know what it was yet. It was just conversations.

>I probably annoyingly asked. I probably was like, "What is that? What's going on with that? What is this thing you're doing?" The moment I heard about it, I thought, "I want to know what that is!" I wanted to know what the plan was, because I started thinking about it and starting having ideas about how it would work. I started thinking about the characters of it and the concepts involved.

>Since I write The Flash, I was very interested in Flash and Captain Boomerang. I hadn't had a chance to write Captain Boomerang yet, so that's part of why I was asking about it a bunch. I just really wanted to do that.

>And then we were having a meeting, and Geoff just asked me, "Do you want to write it?"

>It was funny; later on my editor told me, as the conversation was growing, they - in their heads - were like, "Josh should write this." But they weren't sure if that was going to happen. So I guess Geoff, they just decided, and they were like, "Hey, do you want to do this?" And I'm like, "Yes! Of course!" I jumped on it immediately.

>And then we started talking about what it was going to be and how it was going to work. And we had a lot of meetings about it.

>It was really great getting to sit there and talk with Geoff and my editors about this big story we were building. It was really exciting. Everything about it.

>Like you said, you and I have been talking for a long time. So for me, it's kind of surreal to be able to do this. But at the same time, it's really, really exciting.

>Nrama: Part of the idea of the Suicide Squad is that nobody really knows about them. There's a plausible deniability. Is it a risk to put them more into the mainstream of the superhero world? Or will this be something that the "Rebirth" era is going to handle over time?

>Williamson: They are coming into the spotlight, but they're fighting the Justice League. And super villains fight the Justice League all the time. So it's not like that's going to stand out in the DC Universe.

>The Justice League finding out about the Suicide Squad doesn't mean the group will be completely public knowledge. You'll see as the story progresses what happens and how things change, and the crazy stuff that happens throughout the story. I don't think it'll necessarily become public knowledge what this thing is.

>I don't want to say too much more. I'm worried that I'm going to accidentally say a spoiler.

>Nrama: One of the things that was already spoiled is the main villain behind this: Maxwell Lord. What version of this character are you bringing into the "Rebirth" universe? We've already seen that he has mind-control abilities, and we know he was formerly involved with Checkmate, so it feels very pre-"New 52." Is he a full-fledged supervillain?

>Williamson: I think Max Lord sees himself as being a hero. He really sees himself as being someone who is willing to go the distance to do what's right. He really thinks he's going to save the world.

>If you go back and look at the way he was in Countdown to Infinite Crisis and O.M.A.C. Project, he had that same opinion of himself, where he was the only person who could be trusted. He was the only person who saw the cracks, and he was the only person who could possibly save the world.

>But that meant people were going to have to die. And it meant that people were going to have to be used to get there. He really believed that in the end, it would all be worth it.

>He's working on the big picture. He's working on this giant scale, and anyone who gets into his way not only gets in his way, they are in the way of saving the world.

>So he thinks putting together a team like this is just what has to be done. He feels like this is how far he's been pushed.

>He's very much like the way he was in Countdown to Infinite Crisis. I remember reading that and being surprised. I remember being shocked that it was him. But I really liked that version of him. I thought that was a great twist they did and I wanted to continue with that. I wanted to continue with that version of the character.

>Nrama: Looking at the pages in Justice League vs. Suicide Squad #1, Jason, you seem to be taking a very cinematic approach. With this many characters and players involved on both sides, did you want to capitalize on that "big story" feel?

>Jason Fabok: Yeah, I feel like it's how these events should be drawn - big, epic, wide-screen panels so you can showcase a lot of different characters gathered around or talking to each other.

>I've always been drawn more toward a cinematic feel toward comic book layouts anyway. If I could just draw four panels wide-screen every single page for a comic book, I would. I've always loved that approach. Steve McNiven uses that a lot, Ivan Reis does that as well, Frank Quitely loves those wide-screen panels. I've always just been really attracted to that kind of storytelling visually.

>Then again, this book - it's big, and you want action almost bursting out of the panels. You want to have those big, two-page spreads just explode across the page, like when you go to an IMAX movie and all of the sudden the screen gets huge because a big fight scene is coming.

>Those are the kinds of things I personally love to see in comic books and I really tried to incorporate into this book.

>Having Alex Sinclair come in on colors and make everything bright, exploding with color on the page, I think really brought about something really visually great.

>Nrama: You were originally advertised as drawing the whole series, but you are just doing the first issue, right?

The thing that killed my hype for this series is the fact that Fabok isn't going to draw al the issues.

>Fabok: Yes, I drew the first issue. I've seen the art from issue #2. I've seen some of the art from the other artists coming in for the rest of the series. And artistically, the book is just going to look phenomenal. Alex Sinclair is going to color the whole thing, so it's going to have a style that runs through all the different issues with the colors. It's going to be a beautiful looking book. And Josh's story is great.

>We're really excited to see what the fan response is going to be, and we're excited for the fans to pick it up and read it. Hopefully, it'll be a really nice holiday present for them.

>Nrama: Josh, you talked about Maxwell Lord doing what he thinks is right for the world. But what is the motivation for all these other characters who are joining him on his hand-picked team. You've got a group of villains with very different backgrounds and powers. Is there a common motivation? Or are they kind of in the mood to hurt people?

>Williamson: As the series goes, you'll see that they have things in common. They weren't a random assortment. We really put a lot of thought into this group and what they each represented and what they had in common.

>We spent a lot of time talking about this group, and talking about which characters we wanted to put in it, which would make sense. And we didn't want to be random. That's something we talked about a lot.

>With this group, we were able to find ways to have connections between them that were organic.

>As the series goes, you'll see the big thing that connects them and drives them to work together. There is something in the series - it's part of the mystery of the book. It drives them and motivates them and connects them.

>Nrama: Was any of the selection process just, "Oh my gosh, I love that character and I want to make them great?"

>Williamson: I think they were already great! It was funny because we have a room - we're all professionals, right? Everybody's in this room. But we're all big DC fans. And so we all had characters that we love.

>For me, I fell in love with Doctor Polaris when he was a Ray bad guy back in the '90s Ray series. So for me, when he came up, I was like, "Yes! Doctor Polaris! We'll do Doctor Polaris!"

>The first two that were the easiest picks for us were Emerald Empress and Johnny Sorrow. We all really gravitated toward that. Those two were going to happen, because everyone in the room loved them.

>And then we started building out from there, adding characters that we thought would make sense.

>We were all really excited about having the original Lobo. We all got really excited about Rustam, because that was another thing - everybody in the room was Suicide Squad fans. So we were like, hey, that's a character we haven't seen in a long time. Let's elevate him.

>Nrama: Jason, is there any character or scene in this issue that emerged as a favorite or a challenge?

>Fabok: Yeah! One of my favorite portions to draw of this issue is the opening sequence, which was quiet and almost creepy, with this unknown character making his way into a bunker and taking out everybody and releasing these villains.

>To me, that was a challenge because I had to hint at it but not give it 100% away. I had to wait until the end of the book to reveal who the villain is. We had a lot of conversations back and forth about how much I could show.

>So I had a lot of fun with that sequence.

>The cat's out of the bag who the character is, but I hope some fans might have held off on spoilers. I'd be interested in seeing if anyone guesses who the character is based on that sequence.

>That was my favorite scene to draw. It was expertly written by Josh.

>And of course, all the fight scenes and two-page spreads are always cool to draw.

>I was excited to draw Aquaman in there. We didn't have him featured in Justice League's "Darkseid War," and I know fans were excited to see me draw him. So it was fun to put him in there and to draw him the one or two times he appears, to get him into some good action. He was another.

>And the whole Suicide Squad was great to draw.

>My only regret in only doing the first issue of this book is that I'm not going to get to draw Lobo. I really enjoyed the one who of Lobo on that two-page spread. Maybe I'll get to draw him on a cover or something in the future.

>Nrama: It looks like Lobo is sticking around for a bit, so you'll probably run into him. And I'm sure he was fun to write, wasn't he Josh?

>Williamson: Yeah, he really was. It took me awhile to get into his character. I liked Lobo a lot as a kid, and it took me a minute to get back into his head a little bit. I wanted to get Lobo right.

>That was one of the great things about this project - we worked so far ahead that as I went through the series, I figured him out even better, and I was able to go back to earlier issues to tweak things, to make it more in line with what he should be.

>Absolutely one of my favorite moments in the entire book happens because of Lobo - it was something I wasn't sure if DC was going to let me do. I had an idea, and I remember thinking, "Oh, man, please let me do it." And they let me do it! And I'm really excited to see what people think when we get to that part of the story.

>Nrama: As the battle and the team-up happens in the title, is there anything you can tell us about ramifications on the rest of the DCU?

>Williamson: I think the biggest thing is that Justice League of America is spinning out of it. If you wonder what would make Batman need to form another Justice League team, and put Lobo and Killer Frost on the team, then this is where you find out.

>We're going to be some impact on the Suicide Squad and the Justice League.

>And of course, there are things I cannot mention that will come up pretty quickly.

>And it's going to change some characters' opinions on things.

>But yeah, it will definitely impact certain aspects of the DCU.

Williamson is a hack, I hope he turns things around with this event but my expectations are very low.

He's more Finch than Frank. Well if Finch had cleaner pencils, better anatomy and some sense of motion.
Fabok inks his own work. They changed the colorist.

>Superwoman
>bad

Wait so who are these people?

That is a sexy Aquaman.

This is fucking stupid as fuck.

...

I really don't like the new Polaris outfit.

>>It was predictable:
>>MUH SYNERGY!
At least they didn't make Deadshot a nigger.

Fabok's Aquaman is sexy and scruffy

It's a crime he didn't get to draw him in Darkseid War

>>sidecut Killer Frost
I guess they didn't fill their quota with Grail.

>The two powerhouse teams of the DC Universe end up facing each other

>suicide squad
>powerhouse team of the dcu

That's Dr. Polaris?

I thought it was fuckin' Prometheus.

Yeah it's Polaris

Prometheus has more of a knight helmet, Polaris has the two things on the side of his head

I like it when DC pushes the lesser known villains more
It worked with Black Adam, Sinestro, and Cold a long time ago so people like them now

How are they going to asspull Batman not getting utterly rekt by Eclipso ?

Pretty easily. They have two Green Lanterns to lock him down since light is Eclipsos main weakness.

>justice suicide league squad

pretty easy if you think about it. Eclipso's weakness is fucking light.

Holy shit does this look like shit, are people actually hyped for this?

Yeah, it's Suicide Squad vs Justice League. The only time that ever happened was like in the Giffen/DeMatteis Run. Even so, it has Johnny Sorrow and Emerald Empress and is supposed to be integral to the Rebirth mystery, people are interested. Even if it's shit worst case scenario it's just one month of this and one moth of Justice League and Suicide Squad being tie-ins which not a lot of people read anyway.

It's synergized JL vs SS though.

yeah, and by one month it'll be over. The none casuals will be more interested on what's gonna happen to Maxwell Lord and his team anyway.

>The two powerhouse teams of the DC Universe end up facing each other

Fucking Damian's Teen Titans have more claim to powerhouse team title than Suicide Squad.

God, I hate brand synergy.

But you are wrong, the Rebirth shit tier is JL and Birds of Prey

Haha, get used to it, if dc wants them Disney bucks they have to employ synergy as much as we fans hate the notion

Thankfully it will be over in a month instead of being dragged for half a year. Gotta love the double shipping policy

>implying all the different series take place at the same time
How new to comics are you?

>Doctor Polaris
>Johnny Sorrow
>Max Lord

Really only in it for them.

More like.

Lobo, Sorrow, Empress... how do you even get these people in line? Max is not that good a telepath

why is Harley attacking Cyclops?

>why is Harley attacking Cyclops?
That's Crossfire, you pleb.

A better question is how exactly will they explain Emma Frost and Inferno getting along well enough to fight Madam Viper and Sandman.

>Being this much of an idiot
What are you talking about? Suicide Squad is the 2nd best selling team title DC has, 3rd if you count Det' which I don't.

>Max is not that good a telepath
he made the entire earth think Ted committed suicide you fucking idiot