The Justice League has found themselves in the middle of an epic battle between Anti-Monitor and Darkseid. Things have gotten even more crazy since Batman took over Metron's chair. Writer Geoff Johns and artist Jason Fabok talked to us over the phone about this story arc and what's coming down the line.
COMIC VINE: For those who haven't dived in yet, what's "Darkseid War" all about?
GEOFF JOHNS: The Justice League is caught in the middle of a war between the two most powerful and evil forces in the DC universe: Anti-Monitor and Darkseid. That as it basic as it gets. Obviously, there's a lot more to it: why they're fighting, and what they want.
CV: Batman has taken Metron's chair and with it comes unbelievable knowledge and a ton of arrogance. To me, it seems like there's this addictiveness to the chair's knowledge. Is that something Batman will be struggling with?
JOHNS: I think the chair, obviously, gives Batman ultimate knowledge. He can ask anything he wants and get anything he needs. That kind of power definitely will alter Batman and his perspective. That, to me, is a big part of this issue and storyline. He has all this knowledge and it's a very life-altering thing and he's going to go through some big things for some time to come.
CV: A big theme of this story is "absolute power corrupts absolutely." Is that something wanted to really hit with this story?
JOHNS: That's definitely an aspect of power that is often explored and it's just one avenue we're looking at. There's a multitude of what power does to something. It can corrupt somebody. I can also destroy somebody. It can also change your perspective. It can be a lot of thing, both good and bad and we're going to be exploring all those in this story.
CV: Mister Miracle is a big part of this story. What do you both enjoy about the character?
JOHNS: We talked about Mister Miracle before. We fell in love with the character when we were looking at the New Gods and I've said it before and I'll say it again: he's the single best character out of this entire mythology. He's all about freedom and free will, while Darkseid is all about control. They're completely opposite forces. I feel really grateful people seem to be liking his storyline.
JASON FABOK: The first time I was introduced to the character was a Justice League Unlimited story Bruce Timm animated. I'd never seen the character before. He has a lot of goofy qualities: his name, his big, bright costume. In the way they told the story of how he escaped from Darkseid's prison and all his cool powers he has, like the flying discs, and the characters that surrounded him, like Big Barda, I just fell in love with him. To get the opportunity to draw him was one of those career goals I thought I'd never have the opportunity. That goes for a lot of the New Gods. I would love to have the chance to tackle a New Gods series. Anyway, we tweeked his [Mister Miracle] outfit a little but kept it close to the original design and I hope I get to continue drawing him in the future.
CV: Is New Genesis going to come into play to this story at all?
JOHNS: You may see them but we're really more focused on the characters from Apokolips.
CV: Jason, you got to make tweeks to a lot of characters in this story. Which designs were some of your favorites for the story?
FABOK: Mister Miracle, Metron... We're toying around with established mythology, Jack Kirby mythology. We took the designs we wanted to do and updated them while still keeping them the characters you recognized. The original designs are perfect and great, but at the same point, we did want to update them a little bit. We toyed around with Darkseid a little bit. Each and every time, it feels a little bit daunting for us, but it's been a ton of fun. Sometimes, I have to pinch myself because I'm drawing all these characters that I remember reading and watching on the Justice League animated series, so it's really special to get to draw them and put your take on them.
CV: Looking mainly at Anti-Monitor, what did you both want to do differently with this character?
FABOK: We went back to the original design from Crisis [On Infinite Earths]. The original designs are really creepy looking. It's a mix of alien and machine. I just feels like that look and design, when you compare it to Darkseid, who is much more organic. He's a rock man but he has a much ore organic look to him and you have this other guy [Anti-Monitor] who is decked out in the alien-tech armor. It separates the two characters. With Anti-Monitor, every time I have to draw him, it takes a lot longer because there's so much going on there. He always turns out to be my favorite character, after I draw him. I love the character. He's great.
JOHNS: Jason is an unbelievable artist and designer and storyteller and he's blown me away. I don't quite have the words to express how much he's grown and changed. For us, he really wanted to do an event. He really loves the Justice League. He wanted to make this an event book and make it biggest comic book event out there. We want to make this as exciting as he can and Jay does that. He is a phenomenal artist. We wanted to go back a little to the Anti-Monitor original look but keep it updated. Jay put his stamp on it. It's pretty amazing to look at and I feel extremely lucky to have him here.
Thanks to Geoff and Jason for talking to us and make sure to check out JUSTICE LEAGUE #43 when it hits stores on August 19.
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