We are well on our way down the road to Dark Crisis, and the world is not in the best place leading into Dark Crisis #1 after the death of the Justice League. DC’s heroes are doing what they can to fill the void, but the ripple effects of that loss are wide-reaching and will cause a number of different reactions as we move through Dark Crisis. ComicBook.com had the chance to speak to Dark Crisis writer Joshua Williamson ahead of Dark Crisis #1, and during our conversation, he broke down how certain heroes are responding to their loss and the oncoming threat, as well as the role Green Lantern plays, who steps in for the League, and more!
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While the League is gone, there are still some veterans and former League members in the mix, including Hal Jordan. Jordan is someone who isn’t just going to buy that the League is dead without any proof, and if you happen to be a Green Lantern fan like me, Williamson has good news regarding their presence in the series. “Oh, dude, you’re going to be … Let me tell you, you, my friend are going to be a very happy person in this story. You’re going to be super pumped,” Williamson said.
“I knew I wanted Hal involved from the beginning. I knew it had to be Hal. I mean, also think about back in Green Lantern Rebirth where Hal decked Batman, you know? It’s like he definitely is the one to be like, ‘Oh no, no, no. No, no, no, it’s like this.’ And he is fearless. So he is not the one to be like … He’s going to say what’s on his mind. And so when Black Adam tells him, basically gives him the recap of what happened, Hal’s the one to be, ‘Oh no, bulls***. No way, no way.’ And then he’s the one that starts the motion of ‘Okay, here’s what we’re going to do next. While I go here, Jon, go here. I’m going to go take care of this.’ And then Hal’s story throughout the issues is really important. He has a lot of screen time across the whole thing, and it’s really cool. He has some really big moments through this, and then again, if you’re a Green Lantern fan, I think you’ll find a lot of stuff to be really happy with throughout this story,” Williamson said.
Each character is going on their own journey and dealing with the loss of the League in their own way, and for Jon that manifests in how he approaches filling the void left by his father and the rest of the League. Jon wants to inspire like his father does, and you can see how genuine and earnest his next steps are as Dark Crisis moves forward, but you also see the flaws and fractures in his initial approach.
“I wanted to show you Jon is a very optimistic person, super optimistic.I don’t want to show him being naive, but it is not easy to just say … I mean a big part of what I’ve been saying since Death of Justice League, and as you’re building to this, there is no Justice League,” Williamson said. “And part of that is because you can’t just make one, and this is something that’s kind of said throughout the issue, is you can’t just make a Justice League just because you say you want to make one. That’s what he goes to do. He’s just like, ‘I’m going to make a Justice League. I’m going to do it myself. That’s the answer.’ And it’s not that easy.”
“And I wanted to show that, but it’s also about putting … A lot of these characters like Jon, I think, need to be put to the test. They need to be really challenged, and that’s a big part of this story too. That’s a piece with some of these characters like Jon, and his role throughout this story is showing them being challenged and tested in different ways, and you’ll see that a lot in issue two, issue three, there’s all kinds of stuff that happens throughout this book that shows these characters being tested,” Williamson said.
“So with that scene, a big part of that with Black Adam and how he basically rips apart, verbally rips apart, that team that Jon builds, is because he’s like, ‘You’re not it, and it is not going to be this way. You’re not going to make a team just because.’ There’s a scene later where Black Adam kind of talks about this, where Black Adam is like, ‘The Justice League’s shadow is so big. It is so big, and you are lost in that shadow.’ And I wanted to establish that early. It is not easy to just say, ‘Oh, we’re the Justice League now. We did it.’ It’s like, no, it’s not that simple. Black Adam is the voice of that. That was the part of that scene, or the point of that scene.”
You can read Dark Crisis #1 in full when it hits comic stores on May 31st, and let us what you think of the lead-up to Dark Crisis so far in the comments. You can also always talk all things comics and DC with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
