ARKHAM CITY Artist To Draw JUSTICE LEAGUE #8

Before Jim Lee ever gets to draw the Justice League in its present day setting, not one but two artists will have a shot to help define the New 52 version of DC’s greatest super-team. DC announced yesterday at The Source that Batman: Arkham City artist Carlos D’Anda will fill in on Justice League #8, the second consecutive stand-alone story featuring a guest artist following the best-selling first arc by Lee and writer Geoff Johns.While it was previously announced that Gene Ha would be filling in for Lee on Justice League #7, the first issue following the title’s first full arc, there was at the time no comment made with regard to the eighth issue.Lee will still provide the cover for the D’Anda-illustrated issue (seen at left), which will apparently feature Green Arrow trying to win his way into the Justice League despite opposition from Aquaman. Given the way Hal Jordan has been antagonizing Batman throughout the first arc, it seems as though Johns is using the characters whose solo books he writes as something like devil’s advocates when it comes to the League roster.It’s been a big week for Green Arrow, who in addition to this announcement has seen substantial movement on getting a TV pilot at the CW.In addition to drawing the Paul Dini-scripted Batman: Arkham City, D’Anda was the concept artist both for that game and for its precursor, Batman: Arkham Asylum. While the Arkham City comic series was originally released only digitally, it was recently made available in a hardcover collected edition.Lee returns to action full time in #9 for the beginning of Johns’s second full arc. DC’s blog identifies that issue as the first chapter in an arc called “The Villain’s Journey,” presumably a play on Joseph Campbell’s theory of the Hero’s Journey.