Mobile Menu Toggle

Perfection Correction: DC’s Gods May Be Monsters

Article Image 65deby Vince Brusio

When you have perfection, what does one wish for next? Well, if you truly want to be entertained, the answer is simple. Take the perfection you have in your hands and feed it into a wood chipper. The remains spat out: yeah. Try putting them together. Now that’s entertainment. Because while you may be able to reassemble the bits and pieces into something that looks like what you had before, clearly you still have something new. Something jagged. And something that cuts your hands. Something like Justice League: Gods and Monsters #1 (JUN150200). In this exclusive interview with writer J.M. DeMatteis, we’re about to meet new versions of DC’s “Big Guns,” and while we may recognize them, their attitudes are not what you’d expect from … “heroes.”

Justice League: Gods and Monsters #1 (JUN150200) is in comic shops August 12.

**********

PREVIEWSworld: What’s the premise for Gods and Monsters? Can you start at ground zero, and take us from there?

J.M. DeMatteis: I don’t want to give too much away, but Gods and Monsters offers a very different DC Universe with very different incarnations of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.  Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett established the characters beautifully in the upcoming movie (and Bruce was there every step of the way to guide us through this story, too), but, with the mini-series, we’re free to dig deeper into the back story, adding and enriching the mythos Bruce and Alan established.  

We’ve got a three-issue origin of the Justice League (explaining how three people who really don’t play well with others came together) and we’ve got three solo issues, exploring the individual origins.  We learn about their families, the events that shaped them, and what drove them to a much darker place than their DCU counterparts.   

Article Image 8ee1PREVIEWSworld: If someone wasn’t familiar with the morals and scruples of the original Justice League, might they be attracted to how swiftly this new Justice League brings justice? Who’s to say there needs to be a balance or “code” when crushing criminals?

J.M. DeMatteis: Well, that’s one of the fundamental questions, isn’t it?  What makes a hero?  Once you step over a certain line, can you even call yourself a hero?  There’s a scene in the third issue of the team origin story that addresses this question head on.  

PREVIEWSworld: How did you toy with the personalities of these new characters in Gods and Monsters? What was the most fun? And what took more time to tweak?

J.M. DeMatteis: They were all great fun because they’re so different from the League we know…and, yet, there’s an essential quality that all incarnations of these characters share.  

You can bend these icons in so many directions (and things get fairly dark for them here) and yet the heart and soul, the Intangible Something that has allowed them to resonate in our collective consciousness for more than 75 years, remains the same. 

Article Image c03aAll that said, I think I’m enjoying Wonder Woman the most; perhaps because, of the trio, she’s the one who still clings to a purer ideal…an ideal that’s constantly tested by the darkness and lunacy of the world around here.

Of course, ask me tomorrow and I might say Superman (who has a fascinating back story, both on Krypton and Earth) or Batman (who is far more tortured and tragic than the Batman we’re all familiar with) is my favorite.  

As for tweaking and toying:  Bruce T created such a strong template that it was more about just letting them come alive on the page and following them.  The best stories work that way:  You don’t lead the characters, the characters lead you.

PREVIEWSworld: Did you consider past works when thinking through the plot? Are there any thoughts on contemporary works or themes you have explored before that you mixed into Gods and Monsters?

J.M. DeMatteis: Every writer has themes that recur again and again in his or her work—the search for identity, both personal and cosmic, is one of the big ones in mine—and I’m sure if you look through the mini-series you’ll find many of my personal themes threading through it.  It’s not always conscious: sometimes it is, but, for me, it’s even better when the theme appears unexpectedly.  When you look back and go, “Huh…I didn’t even realize that I put that in there!”  

Article Image d9a4Speaking of past works (not mine, but the collective works of the DC Universe):  One of the fun things we’ve done is take certain elements of the DCU—the Forever People and Joe Chill, to name two—and use the names as jumping-off points, creating entirely new characters and concepts.  That’s been a blast.  

PREVIEWSworld: If you had to “geek out” over any particular scene that you’d ramble on about over dinner or on social media, what would that scene be?

J.M. DeMatteis: There’s a scene I’m working on now for the final issue of the JL origin:  an encounter between Lois Lane and Superman (and let’s just say they’re not exactly fond of each other) that goes to the heart of the question we discussed earlier:  What makes a hero?  In many ways, I think it will be the defining encounter of the series.  But, again, that could change tomorrow!

Follow Us Facebook Icon Twitter Icon Instagram Icon YouTube Icon Rss Feed Email
Search for a Comic Shop

Cookies
We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. To manage our use of cookies click Cookie Policy.
By clicking 'Accept & Continue' or closing this banner, you accept our use of cookies.
}