DC’s Dark Crisis event has created an all-new world of danger for its premier team of superheroes — literally. After their recent deaths at the hands of Pariah and his dark legions, the spiritual essences of the Justice League have been taken and imprisoned in worlds crafted around them with the intent of keeping them placated, unwilling, and unable to return to Earth-One. These worlds and the heroes inhabiting them are explored in a series of one-shots entitled Worlds Without a Justice League, with the first of the series focusing on the iconic Man of Steel, Superman.
Some of the most prolific creators in the comics world have been tasked with bringing the issues to life. Worlds Without a Justice League – Superman brings together the super team of writer Tom King (Batman, Human Target, The Vision) and artist Chris Burnham (Batman Incorporated, Batman: Urban Legends, Nameless). The creators sat down with CBR to discuss the one-shot, teasing what fans can expect from the issue and its direct correlation to DC’s ongoing crisis.
CBR: What do fans need to know before reading Worlds Without a Justice League – Superman?
Chris Burnham: Nothing much other than how to turn a page, honestly. I think once you know that, you’re ready to go.
Tom King: That’s totally true. Everything is pretty much explained in the book. But in case you want the background, Superman has been “killed.” He’s been taken off the board of DC Comics, and he’s being held captive. In order to keep him from rebelling, they’re making him live his ideal life in a world where there is no Justice League. On some levels, this story is about what Superman would see when he closes his eyes and dreams of a better world.
It sounds like this story has shades of Alan Moore’s classic Superman story, “For the Man Who Has Everything.” Were either one of you fans of that story, and how did that affect how you approached Worlds Without a Justice League?
King: That’s one of my top five Superman stories of all time. It’s one of the most perfect stories, and even the animated version is brilliant. My original assignment from [Dark Crisis writer] Josh Williamson was to basically do that story again, which is a terrible assignment to get as a writer. [Laughs]. So we had to find a way to make it different and more modern.
“For the Man Who Has Everything” was about a man who misses his home and his parents. Our story is about a different tragedy, not the loss of his planet, but the years Superman missed of his son’s life. So Worlds Without a Justice League is not so much about him losing his home, but rather about him losing the family he built. It’s about that moment where Jon goes from being twelve to twenty in the blink of an eye, and Superman wanting to get that time back. To me, that made this a nice parallel to Moore’s story and allowed us to reflect and build on that story without [it] being a copy.
Burnham: I read “For the Man Who Has Everything” and somehow managed to extract it from my brain. I was able to just focus on the actual script in front of me and just tell the story as well as I could without worrying about how the geniuses of comics would have done it forty years ago.
Whose idea was it to put Jon Kent in a Robin costume for Worlds Without a Justice League – Superman?
Burnham: That idea was baked into the story, and I think it came from Joshua.
King: That was definitely Josh Williamson’s idea. His idea from the start was to give Superman a Robin-like sidekick in a way that we hadn’t seen before. The actual marching orders were to make something you’d want your kids to play with as a toy.
Jon Kent is a very popular and beloved character, especially as of late, and this issue sees him on the receiving end of some very brutal treatment. Was it difficult for the two of you to write and draw this well-loved and respected character in such a way?
Burnham: Drawing people in great agony comes pretty naturally for me. It seems like I’m always illustrating gory scenes where people are in terrible pain and anguish. It’s kind of what I’m known for. But I think as long as it comes from a place of affection, it doesn’t come off as mean-spirited. Most of my stuff is a little different, but my work in Worlds Without a Justice League is pretty emotional and heartfelt, and in comics, emotions tend to come with physical strain.
King: The reason Jon gets beat up so badly in the story is [that] he’s trying to save a world. He really suffers for that. Sometimes, in order to be loved, you have to suffer, and it’s expected in this kind of storytelling for our characters to go through hard times because life itself is hard. But what makes these characters superheroes is overcoming those hard times and enduring them for a good and worthwhile purpose. That is essentially what being a good hero is all about.
Worlds Without a Justice League – Superman, written by Tom King and features art by Chris Burnham, is on sale now.