Justice League United Replaces Justice League of America, Introduces Adam Strange in April

Jeff Lemire and Mike McKone will launch Justice League United in April, a new series that teams members from Justice League of America with outsders who haven't yet appeared in a team book in the New 52 and even one who hasn't appeared at all yet since the line-wide relaunch that followed Flashpoint. The series will follow the final issue of Justice League of America, with a zero issue hitting in April and a new #1 in May. The team, composed of Martian Manhunter, Adam Strange, Stargirl, Supergirl, Green Arrow and Animal Man (with more to come), will take on cosmic-level threats while being headquartered out of Canada, Lemire told USA Today (so this is the rumored "Justice League Canada" project). The writer also describes it as a "swashbuckling" adventure title, which might differentiate it somewhat from the dour and dark tone that Justice League of America had for much of its run.

"One thing I wanted to do with the book was really touch on every corner of the DC Universe in one team," Lemire told the newspaper. "Thus the United title." Strange gets a costume redesign and a new background in the series, according to USA Today, but is key to the team dynamic: In United, he and his wife/teammate Alanna are Canadian, and there's a different dynamic between them than in previous DC incarnations. (However, they're still bouncing between Earth and the rest of the galaxy via the Zeta Beam.) "Maybe the swashbuckling space hero we're used to from Adam Strange would probably describe Alanna a bit more," Lemire said in the interview. "Adam's a bit more of a nerdy science guy. He's not so much the swashbuckling one." No word yet as to whether we'll see Booster Gold in the title. Editorial declared him Canadian at a comic book convention near the start of the New 52, but that has never been made explicit on the page. The time-traveler has been missing in action for a while, but may turn up in the time-hopping The New 52: Futures End, which also launches in May and is partially written and drawn by Booster Gold creator Dan Jurgens. While the first arc will focus on the post-Forever Evil status quo that causes the team to go Canadian, the second will see them head to Thanagar for a Hawkman-centric story. "I've gotta say I've put more work into this book than I have for anything I've ever done for DC," Lemire said. "It's been really fulfilling, and hopefully on top of all that it's a big fun action-adventure superhero comic that people will enjoy."