Ladies and Gentlemen Introducing Your New Justice League of America

Hey there gals and geeks, your friendly neighborhood InfiKnight here. Hope you guys have been keeping up with the amazing story lines from the good people over at DC Comics have been providing. us loyal followers because I continue to be wowed by their efforts.
The latest nugget of awesomeness I got my hands on was issue 1 of Justice League of America. While I don't get why they felt it was necessary to make the JLA, the JLI and the core Justice League 3 separate groups, it does make for an awesome bit of story.
 ARGUS decides they need an insurance plan in case the league ever goes rogue but they didn't want to just have a team of supers come out of nowhere and take them down they wanted their new group to be a league to represent America and match each member of the Justice League. With that being said they recruited Hawkman to match Aquaman, Catwoman to match Batman, the new Green Lantern Simon Baz to take on Hal Jordan(not realizing its Hal Jordan's ring Baz possesses) , Katana to combat Wonder Woman, Star Girl as an answer to Cyborg, Vibe as their Flash, and Martian Manhunter in Superman's place. While all of this is happening a group of villains is coming together in a remote location and Oliver Queen aka the Green Arrow has been sent to gather information and is nearly killed in the process.

This new take on the JLA is interesting, its like they took the most vicious group of supers with a few rookies and are planning on giving them a PR makeover ala Dark Avengers. I don't like this new Amanda Waller they made her look more attractive then her pre-New 52 counterpart who was fat and ugly to match who she was on the inside. But being attractive hasn't made her any less of a bitch to get Steve Trevor to abandon his loyalty to the core League she threw it in his face that Diana has moved on and is now with Clark, harsh! the art was of good quality I have no real complaints and the story made for a good intro to the series. All in all I give this issue a Grayson Red Robin(3.5 out of 5).  

Comic News: 52 Covers For Justice League of America #1 Plus 2 New Spin Offs

Your Brand New Justice League of America . . . Thieving Pussy Included.

  Yes, Infi-knights. You read that correctly. 52  Covers for Justice League of America #1 when it debuts this February  The title will spin off of DC's main book, Justice League as well as be written by Geoff Johns. Artist David Finch will be artist. But here's the thing. The 52 covers will not represent the DC New 52 (which by now has grown a bit since the cancellation of over 15 titles only to replace them) but actually the 50 states of the United States with 1 extra cover for the commonwealth of Puerto Rico and 1 extra cover for the US capital itself, Washington ,DC.

   This announcement came from Dan Didio from MTV Geek He told them the following about the covers and why DC is launching that with 2 other spin offs:

"We've done a lot of great things with the 'New 52, and now we're putting the focus back on Justice League, with the launch of 'Justice League of America'. We want to make people realize that this is one of our key franchises, and we plan to build it out not just with the main 'Justice League' titles, but other books that tie into them as well.  . . . Given the title of the comic and the year in which we're announcing -- an election year -- we wanted to celebrate the country, as well as the various states."


 With that, comes the question of what are the 2 new spin off titles? Is it a Justice League of  Europe title? Nope. (Personally, I wish but *sigh*)

   What we are getting are a "Katana" solo title ... and a "Vibe" title. Yep. You are reading that correctly. A VIBE solo title.

    The new Katana title will be written by Ann Nocenti with art by Alex Sanchez. The popular character has been getting more press since her inclusion in the next Batman animated series Beware The Batman and the popular relaunch of the Birds of Prey book. Now, as both a member of the JLA and with her own solo book, 2013 may shape up to be Katana's year.

    The new Vibe book will focus on the once reviled JLA member, with a fresh start in the new 52, thanks to  Johns. The latino hero who can generate vibrations (*cough* Rictor possibly ripped off of him or vice versa*cough*) will get the limelight this time around as his solo book will be written by Andrew Kreisberg with arpt by Pete Woods. All three titles will connect with Justice League. All three titles are slated to debut This February. 

NYCC Comic News: A New Kind of Justice League of America

  There has been so many different things coming out of NYCC but this certainly makes one of the best announcements. As recently reported here on BI, Evan Van Schiver will be taking over as artist on Batman: The Dark Knight as of issue #16. Which left us a question of  ... where is artist David Finch going?

  And we go our answer to that all right. Finch will join Geoff Johns for the launch of the brand new Justice League of America title. The new title will join Threshold and the upcoming Superman title by Scott Synder and Jim Lee come next year. This new JLA will be spinning off the events that have transpired during the first year of Justice League, also written by Johns.

   The first inkling of this happened in this months Justice League #13 where we saw Steve Trevor meet up with Green Arrow again for a different kind of mission, as they will operate for Trevor and A. R.G.U.S. Johns quoted to Newsrama that the new JLA title:

"The book is going to have a tone that is JSA[and] the original Ostrander Suicide Squad, which was very character driven and...utilized characters we don’t necessarily see together a lot," Johns said of the new book. "Those are the two biggest influences on where the book is going."


   The new Justice League of America will definitely utilize an interesting cast as it features: Green Arrow, Hawkman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern Baz, Stargirl, Kitana, Vibe and Catwoman. Johns also promised that this group will definitely feel very different from any other incarnation of the League. Stargirl, according to Johns, will be the heart of this team much like she was on his run on JSA. Meanwhile, Catwoman's reasons for joining are personal and deals directly with Steve Trevor and something she wants while Johns stated that this title will set up Martian Manhunter as the most dangerous man on the planet.

Look for the new Justice League of America #1 by Geoff Johns and artist David Finch to hit shelves early in 2013. 

Comic Legend & Teacher Joe Kubert Passes Away At Age 85

   Earlier today, it was stated on artist Dave Gibbon's Twitter that Legendary artist and instructor Joe Kubert passed away to day. The artist is best known for many of his work in Golden Age Hawkman run, Sgt. Rock, Unknown Solider and more military comics; he was also aptly known as a forefather in teaching sequential art.

   In 1976, he founded the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon & Graphic Art. His sons, Adam and Andy, are two of the biggest graduates of the school. Kubert worked along side his sons to teach at the school, now known as the Kubert School. Kuberts work can be seen with his son Andy in the recent Before Watchmen: Nite Owl mini series.

Many within the comic book industry have already expressed their condolences and sadness in Joe Kubert's passing. The following are from the Twitter's of the respected creators:

Justin V. Gray :
    I have no words to express the sorrow or the gratitude. I only hope that others live by the example set by Mr Kubert and make art.

Jeff Lemire:
    Im deeply saddened to hear of Joe Kubert's passing he was my favorite cartoonist and a huge inspiration for me. Rest in peace, Joe.   Tex was my favorite Kubert work. Absolutely brilliant and beautiful . 


Gabriel Hardman:
   RIP Joe Kubert. Without question, he was one of the great cartoonists. I never met him but I can't overstate his influence on my work.

Andy Diggle:
   Farewell to Joe Kubert. A comics giant.

Kurt Busiek:
    Joe Kubert always seemed eternal. But 86 doesn't look that far off to almost-52. Time to make sure "someday" projects start getting done...
If Joe Kubert had peaked with Hawkman in '61, he'd have had a memorable and accomplished career. If he'd peaked with Enemy Ace, in '65, too.
But Joe Kubert was one of those artist who just kept getting better. His TEX: THE LONESOME RIDER, from 2005, is brilliant, gorgeous stuff. 
 
(he even shares a personal story about meeting the artist on his twitter.)



Mark Waid:
    Joe Kubert was a friend, a teacher, an influence and a giant. My condolences to the family.

Jimmy Palmotti:
      Joe Kubert and Amanda this past year. Joe, ... we all will be thinking of you, and missing you forever. 
   


   All of us here in the Broken Infinite offer our condolences to the friends, family and students of Joe Kubert. You will be sorely missed.