In Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, a “good” Lex Luthor arrives
from an alternate universe to recruit the Justice League to help save
his Earth from the Crime Syndicate, a gang of villainous characters
with virtually identical super powers to the Justice League. What
ensues is the ultimate battle of good versus evil in a war that
threatens both planets and, through a diabolical plan launched by
Owlman, puts the balance of all existence in peril.

All-star voice cast led by Mark Harmon (NCIS) as Superman, James Woods (Ghosts of Mississippi) as Owlman, Chris Noth (Sex and the City, Law & Order) as Lex Luthor, William Baldwin (Dirty Sexy Money) as Batman, Gina Torres (Serenity, Firefly) as Super Woman and Bruce Davison (X-Men) as the President.

I must say they do one helluva job with the casting. James Woods?! Hometown hero Chris Noth? Awesome.

I enjoyed Philip Tan drawing Green Lantern during those Agent Orange issues.  Tan has a creepy, sinewy, and lean quality to it, and even though he’s no Frank Quitely this news of Stewart will keep me with the title.  Hopefully the Seaguy collaborator stays on the title for a LONG time. Congrats, Cameron, looking forward to seeing the issues.

Diane Nelson, the lady who brought the Harry Potter franchise to Warner Bros., is not a fan per se of comics. Speaking to The Wrap, Ms. Nelson said:

“I’m the first to admit, I’m not by my nature a comic fan. What I bring to the party is a skill at moving properties and brands.”

Okay, so you’re in charge of a company that’s main property is comics, and you’re not a fan. Oh God.  Though that is not great, Ms. Nelson spoke with Jonah Weiland at Comic Book Resources where she stressed the importance of being focused on creators.

Jonah Weiland: Diane, what do you see as DC Comics’ greatest strengths and assets today?

It’s a reflection, I believe, or at least it’s consistent with what Warner Bros. has cared about and stood for, that we are a talent-friendly company and are a place that values creators. I think the depth and breadth of the DC library and all of its imprints give us a real advantage over any competitor, however you define them. This isn’t just about the biggest or most well-known properties — those will clearly be a part of our initiative — but it can equally be about much lesser known properties that we incubate and build throughout the company, and it can be and should be about the acquisitions of new properties and characters. We are a content company and we’ll be even more focused on that in the future and that’s on a Warner Bros. and Time Warner level. I think recognizing the value of what our creators have created in this library and treating them carefully for the long term is the single greatest thing we have to work with here.

I think that is incredibly heartening, I must say.  So, even though she might not be a fan, I think she trusts the people who are to keep creator’s interests and keep what is essentially the lifeblood of the universe pumping and happy.  So, as long she sticks to the business role and enhancing the line’s visibility, the company should be fine. But I’m an optimist by nature, and I know many, many people are probably freaking out over the headline to this post.

In the mean time, I’d like to know who is going to be the Publisher now that Nelson is President.

Since Wednesday’s announcement, there have been a large number of posts looking back on the career of Paul Levitz, and all of them sounding like his career is over.  Throughout the posts, there seems to be an overture of career death when it comes to him.  Though Heidi catches herself,  he’s a guy rejoining the ranks of company he’s most comfortable with.

He’s going back to the universe that he helped build, but not something he’s been directly involved with on a writer level for years now.  Besides a run on Justice Society during Infinite Crisis Mr. Levitz hasn’t written a comic in who knows how long.

I mean, he did a metric ton for comics.  Most importantly, he helped shape the modern method to writing comics.  Denny O’Neil writes in his DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics about how Levitz studied writing, and developed the Levitz Paradigm:

Paul Levitz probably thought about what a comic book writer does more than any of his contemporaries, or mine, and during his dozen-plus-years stint as writer of The Legion of Super-Heroes, systemized what his predecessors did haphazardly, if at all. Then, as an aid to his own work, he created three versions of the Levitz Grid.

O’Neil explains that the procedure involves the writer having two, three or four plots going at once, but yet his editor wants single issue contained stories.  The main plot, Plot A, occupies most of the pages and the character’s energy.  Plot B is a subplot. Plot C and D are given some space, we’re talking a couple of panels.  What happens when Plot A concludes, Plot B takes over at the issue’s conclusion.  You may see something similar in this paradigm–its the base with which most, if not all, serialized dramas are based upon.  In another post I’ll probably talk more about how this paradigm works in comics today.

Heidi puts it very well at the end of her post on Mr. Levitz: “Paul Levitz is One of Us, and he did about as much as One of Us could ever hope to do. And I’m pretty sure we’ll see some more achievements from him before this game is over.“

I agree. Looking forward to what he has in store.

My buddy Kiel Phegley said it: “Craziest nine days in comics history much?”  Oh yeah. Little bit.

Today was supposed to be a big day as there was supposed to be some kind of announcement in CBR’s Cup O’Joe column regarding the Disney/Marvel deal, but in one swift move something else came up.  That something else was the announcement that DC Comics would be restructuring and renaming itself DC Entertainment, to be run by Diane Nelson, with Nelson reporting to Jeff Robinov, President of Warner Bros Picture Corp. President Paul Levitz will be stepping down, and  returning to his role as a writer, picking up on titles he’s most famous for, namely Adventure Comics and Legion of Super-Heroes.

The purpose of the restructuring of the company and bringing it under the WB’s motion picture banner, according to the release, is to “strategically integrating the DC Comics business, brand and characters deeply into Warner Bros. Entertainment and all its content and distribution businesses.”

Nelson who is known for bringing the Harry Potter to the WB and optimizing the film, and video game franchises across the board with that franchise will be the creative head to the company.  But what does this mean for you and me? Hard to say at this point, to be honest.  It is clear that this formation is meant to shore up the big screen adaptations of DC Comics characters, and their printed counterparts.  Will that change the quality of the books by making them more accessible to the movie-going audiences? Hard to say. Regardless, like Kiel said, its been quite the historic week for comics.