Justice League Loses Jim Lee, Gains Ivan Reis in January

The current Aquaman art team of Ivan Reis and Joe Prado will take over the pencilling and inking duties on Justice League, beginning with January's #16, according to a story at Buzzfeed. The site reports that Justice League #15, which will ship on December 26, will be Jim Lee's last one on the title before he leaves to pursue his "next major DC project," which they indicate will be announced at New York Comic Con next month. It's been rumored for quite a while that DC was looking to replace the often deadline-challenged Lee on Justice League, with Reis being the only name seriously mentioned in any reports. More recently it's come to be widely believed that Lee will take a few months off from regular pencils on a monthly title in order to launch a new, monthly Superman: Man of Steel title with Scott Snyder, likely timed to coincide with the movie of the same name which hits theaters in June. Reis will provide a (likely variant) cover to Justice League #15, seen at right, as well as the cover for Justice League #16, seen below, which looks to be a reimagining of the recent Robot Chicken variant for Justice League #12.

"There is no other choice for the next A-Star art team on Justice League," writer and DC Entertainment Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns said in a statement. "Ivan Reis and Joe Prado bring power, grace, emotion and epic storytelling worthy of the world's greatest super heroes. From Green Lantern to Blackest Night to Aquaman, I couldn't ask for better collaborators. The second year of Justice League will begin an adventurous, mysterious and heroic storyline focusing on our members as their greatest secrets are revealed...and the repercussions change the world. Ivan and Joe begin with a story they were born to draw — Throne of Atlantis — a story between Justice League and Aquaman that will have the League experiencing what Aquaman does — they'll be caught between land and sea. With new relationships developing – like Wonder Woman and Superman – new members coming on – like Shazam! and the all-new Atom — and new threats rising — like Ocean Master & Atlantis — the Justice League will grow and change as we march towards the impending Trinity War."

The Throne of Atlantis story was hinted at (though we didn't know what it would be called) in the recent Justice League International Annual, which featured a panel that included the Justice League facing off against an army of Atlanteans.