Posts tagged: Justice League

Join Me in the Metaverse

(COUPON CODE BELOW!)

It’s been the year without conventions…

After having had to pass on Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) this year because of scheduling, the pandemic saw the cancellation of my usual cycle of conventions: Emerald City Comic Con, MCBA SpringCon, CONvergence, and now New York Comic Con. I’ve been working away as part of the crew of Season 4 of Young Justice from my apartment in Studio City, CA. I’m doing fine, but definitely missing my usual convention rounds. I’ve missed the time with friends, the travel, meeting fans, and the whole convention experience. So I jumped at the chance to take part in the Metaverse event put on my Reedpop, the people behind NYCC.

Christopher Jones Metaverse ad

What is Metaverse? Here’s how they describe themselves:

New York Comic Con x MCM Comic Con’s Metaverse is a virtual realm that is the sum of all fandoms, taking place on October 8-11. 

You’ll encounter FREE panels streamed to YouTube, experience one-of-a-kind interactions with your favorite celebs and creators, discover new releases, explore a rich exhibitor marketplace and our famous Artist Alley, get access to exclusive merchandise, and connect with other fans from across the globe to celebrate all things pop culture.

Check out their main page here: https://www.findthemetaverse.com/

Shortcut to Artist Alley listing: https://www.findthemetaverse.com/artist-alley


BUT CHRIS, WHERE DO I BUY YOUR STUFF?

If you find my Artist Alley listing, the link will just take you back to this website. So where you can you buy my stuff? Here.

And for the rest of October, if you use the Coupon Code “METAVERSE” you can get 33% off any order of $50 or more. Which means you can get any 11″x17″ color print that normally sells online for $30 for the convention price of $20 if you buy 2 or more.

Justice League Reunion at New York Comic Con 2015

DCAU FANS! If you’re going to New York Comic Con, this is your year!!!!! There is a Justice League Animated Series reunion happening! The voice talent behind the series will be doing a panel, including A LIVE TABLE READ, and they will all be meeting fans and signing autographs for the duration of the convention!

Justice League Reunion at NYCC 2015 Informational Graphic

If this doesn’t get you excited, I’m not sure what’s wrong with you.

Oh, also, I made a new art print to mark the occasion.

Anyway, without further adieu, here’s everything you need to know about the New York Comic Con 2015 Justice League Reunion!

 

Twitter

You’ll want to follow the Twitter account @JLReunion for up-to-the-minute coverage, not to mention Justice League fun stuff leading up to and during the NYCC 2015 Justice League reunion!

Also, follow and tweet under the hashtag #JLNYCC for everything Justice League Reunion related! (Don’t forget to also add the official New York Comic Con hashtag, #NYCC!)

Oh, and make sure you’re following the voice cast while you’re at it! Their Twitter handles are @georgenewbern, @Maria_CB@phillamarr@RealKevinConroy, and @susaneisenberg1.

 

Reunion Panel

Promotional Image for Justice League Reunion Panel at NYCC

The Adventure Continues: A Justice League Reunion Event – Fri. October 9, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM, Empire Stage 1-E

The league is back! For the first time in over a decade, the founding members of the acclaimed series Justice League will reunite at NYCC! Join Batman (Kevin Conroy), Wonder Woman (Susan Eisenberg), Superman (George Newbern), Green Lantern (Phil LaMarr), Hawkgirl (Maria Canals-Barrera), Martian Manhunter (Carl Lumbly) and legendary Voice Director Andrea Romano as they reminisce about their fondest memories from the show, answer questions from the Fans, perform a live table read from an original JL script and more. The Watchtower is calling – we’ll see you there!

 

Justice League Art Print

Wonder Woman voice actress Susan Eisenberg asked me on Twitter if I’d be interested in creating an art print to mark the occasion of the New York Comic Con 2015 Justice League Reunion. I don’t think I can quite communicate to you the enthusiasm with which I immediately began sketching. You see, that I drew a handful of Justice League Adventures comics is almost irrelevant next to what a MASSIVE FANBOY I am about the Justice League animated series. So, creating this art was a huge honor. I hope you like it, and that if you do, you take home a copy for yourself.

Justice League art print by Christopher Jones

I’ll have it available all 4 days (or until I run out!) at the usual convention price of $20. After the convention, it will join the rest of my prints on my Etsy store for $30. You’ll find me at New York Comic Con Artist Alley table D9. Here’s a map:

Map to find Christopher Jones at Artist Alley D9 at NYCC 2015

 

Voice Cast/Crew Signings

The original voice cast and crew are doing signings ALL WEEKEND! You should have no trouble meeting these fantastic, talented people and getting all your Justice League swag – including that Justice League print – signed!

Here are all their signing schedules in one handy place for your reference, with links so you can easily add them to NYCC’s My Show Planner.

Andrea Romano (Voice Director)

Carl Lumbly (Martian Manhunter)

George Newbern (Superman)

Kevin Conroy (Batman)

Maria Canals-Barrera (Hawkgirl)

Phil LaMarr (Green Lantern)

Susan Eisenberg (Wonder Woman)

Out TODAY – Young Justice #22: Invasion 3 of 6

Young Justice #22 Cover

Young Justice #22 Cover

Young Justice #21, the latest issue of the DC Comics title based on the current Cartoon Network animated series of the same name, arrives in comic book and hobby stores TODAY.

In case you missed it, YOUNG JUSTICE has jumped five years ahead to mirror the hit Cartoon Network animated series, Young Justice: Invasion. The team’s new adventures continue in YOUNG JUSTICE #22.

Brainiac has trapped Metropolis within a force field and only the Young Justice team and the Justice League can save them! Little do they know, Lex Luthor’s secret weapon has just escaped and is ready to wreak havoc on the city. Can the teams save their friends and the citizens of Metropolis in time? Meanwhile, Superboy and four very powerful members of the League discover who has imprisoned them on the moon. Can they escape to help their friends on earth before it’s too late? Or will they be trapped in space forever?

YOUNG JUSTICE #22, in stores tomorrow, is written by Greg Weisman and illustrated by Christopher Jones.

Preview Page 1

Preview Page 1

Preview Page 2

Preview Page 2

Preview Page 3

Preview Page 3

Preview Page 4

Preview Page 4

Preview Page 5

Preview Page 5


Young Justice: Invasion, and the entire DC Nation programming block, is currently on hiatus until January 2013. In the meantime you can get your fix with the Young Justice comic, so be sure to pick the issue up at your local comics shop or in digital form!

And don’t forget to grab your copy of the COLLECTED Young Justice! If you know a Young Justice fan, they make great gifts!

In stores NOW:

YOUNG JUSTICE: VOLUME ONE
Features issues #0-6. Cover Price: $12.99

YOUNG JUSTICE: VOLUME TWO – TRAINING DAY
Features issues #7-13. Cover Price: $12.99

and coming in 2013:

YOUNG JUSTICE: VOLUME THREE – CREATURE FEATURES
Features issues #14-19!
Release Date:
February 13th, 2013 Cover Price: $12.99

Toy Turns: Robotman

Justice League Unlimited characters

Justice League Unlimited characters


I’m launching a new series of posts here, as I wanted to share with you some of the character turns I did for DC Licensing which became the basis for some action figures by Mattel.

Mattel did a huge line of action figures based on the popular Justice League animated series that aired on Cartoon Network a few years ago. With the legions of heroes and villains and variant versions of those characters they appeared on the show, they had a lot to work with. But as they were coming to the end of the marketable characters to make toys from, Mattel wanted to keep the successful line going. The solution was to make figures based on DC Comics characters who never appeared on the show, and convert them into the distinctive style of the Justice League show!

I was hired by DC Licensing to do character turns (front, back and side views) of certain DC characters, translating them into the style of the Justice League animation designs. I was a fairly logical choice to do this as I had done other work for DC Licensing in the past and had drawn several issues of the comic book tie-in for the animated series in question, so I was fairly familiar with the stylistic traits of the series.

Robotman - Comic Book version

Robotman - Comic Book version


To be clear, I wasn’t designing toys, I was creating animation designs: I wasn’t making any allowances for hinged action figure joints or anything of the like, I was just trying to create a sleek, simple version of each character that would be the kind of interpretation that would be made when translating the character for animation. Even if these designs would never be animated, those are the sensibilities behind the existing Justice League designs I was trying to match. Taking my lead from what had been done with other DC Comics characters designed for the show, I felt I could take certain liberties with a given character’s look or costume to make that sleek/simple thing work, but that I otherwise should stick with a classic interpretation of the character.

The most fun I had with this series might have come when I was given the chance to do a 4-character set of designs featuring the Doom Patrol. These characters had appeared in animation on the Teen Titans animated series, but that show had a very different design style than Justice League, so I didn’t really refer to those designs and instead drew all my inspiration from the original 1960s versions of the characters from the comics. The first Doom Patrol member we’ll be looking at is Robotman.

The most noticeable thing about the Justice League animation style is that the heroic male characters have *ridiculously* broad shoulders – they’re all chest and shoulders with narrow hips. (The scary thing is that when you draw these characters for long enough, those proportions start to look normal.) The characters are constructed from fairly basic geometric shapes, and the silhouettes tend to be angular, but slightly rounded. I put Robotman through the Justice League animation filter and got this:

JLU Turns - Robotman

JLU Turns - Robotman

Aside from wrapping the comic book design around the proportions typical of the Justice League animation style, the one departure I took from the classic look was the D I placed on Robotman where a belt buckle would be. I placed this D on all the Doom Patrol designs I did, figuring that it would be a nice visual element to tie the four together, as nothing else about their appearances connected them as  a team. If anyone had objected, it was the kind of detail that would be easy enough to remove!

Robotman - Front

Robotman - Front

Robotman - back

Robotman - back

Robotman - DRAMATIC!

Robotman - DRAMATIC!


I guess they liked the D! You can see where some compromises were made to translate the “animation design” drawing into an action figure. The legs are a little stockier and the stance is wider so the figure will balance better, but otherwise it’s pretty close!

Robotman card back

Robotman card back

And check this out! Here’s the back of the card from the packaging for the Robotman figure. It shows the other characters from the Doom Patrol set within the larger Justice League Unlimited figure series. But wait, what’s that across the top?

Robotman bio & artwork

Robotman bio & artwork

Yep, that’s my Character Turn art on the packaging. They did this with pretty much all the figures I helped design. Cool, huh? I sure thought so! Next up for Toy Turns, the rest of the Doom Patrol, and then we’ll move on to some of the other characters I did.

Doom Patrol action figures

Doom Patrol action figures

As always, questions and comments are welcome!

Blue Beetle and Booster Gold

NOW IT CAN BE TOLD!

I couldn’t have been more excited when I got the script for an issue of Justice League Adventures I was to draw that featured guest stars Blue Beetle and Booster Gold and was written by Keith Giffen. Beetle and Booster were key players in the much-loved 1980s incarnation of the Justice League comic book, that mixed drama and humor in a Buffy-esque sort of way with a League comprised of B-listers like Beetle and Booster, Guy Gardner, Fire & Ice and others with serious mentors like Batman and the Martian Manhunter. It was gloriously absurd stuff, and was written by J.M. DeMatteis and… Kieth Giffen!

Justice League #1

Justice League #1

Justice League Adventures was the tie-in comic to the then-current Justice League animated TV series, and was in continuity with that show rather than the “mainstream” DC Universe Justice League comics. In his story “Wannabes,” Keith brought his magic to the animated incarnation of Justice League, and had Beetle and Booster at the beginning of their superhero careers encountering the experienced Justice League. Beetle and Booster spent the story bickering in their best style, and the sparks flew in hysterical ways as the Justice League reacted with exasperation at their antics. Plus, Keith Giffen indulged his love of obscure, ridiculous characters and used the existing DC super-villain group The Demolition Team as the bad guys. It was great stuff. I was so excited to draw it, and my love for the material showed page-by-page in the artwork as I worked through the issue.

The Demolition Team

The Demolition Team

What could go wrong?

Just as Wannabes was being completed, we got word that Booster Gold was actually going to be used in an episode of the animated TV show upon which the comic was based. The Justice League animated series was given a makeover and was becoming Justice League Unlimited – featuring a much larger cast of DC Heroes, and one episode was to focus on Booster Gold. Great news, right? Extra publicity for us! Not so fast…

Booster on Justice League Unlimited

Booster on Justice League Unlimited

There was concern expressed by the powers-that-be at DC Comics that Wannabes might conflict with the show’s depiction of Booster both in terms of his visual appearance and in terms of story continuity. My position was… “who cares?” The Atom appeared in the tie-in comic before being used on the show, and his costume was different and was written with a distinctly different characterization when he appeared on the show, and the world didn’t end. If Wannabes appeared when scheduled, it would be almost a year until the announced TV episode would be completed and would air. By then Wannabes would be such old news I couldn’t imagine anyone really caring about whatever minor differences might exist between the two versions of the character.

But that’s not how the powers-that-be felt. It was decided that Wannabes would be shelved until the TV episode aired and we could see whether the comic represented a calamitous continuity error. I was terribly disappointed, as Wannabes was my favorite work on the Justice League Adventures series to date – story and art – and while I was paid for my work I really wanted it to be seen!

So a year goes by, the TV episode aired, and it turned out that their version of Booster was almost identical to ours. Not surprising really, as it was based on the same source material. The visual character design was similar to mine, and the character was portrayed as an attention-craving newbie working with the League and could easily have been seen as a follow-up to the comic’s “first meeting” story.

Good news, though, right? Now there’s no reason not to publish Wannabes, which had been gathering dust on a shelf somewhere in DC editorial. Right?

Not so fast!

Johnny DC

Johnny DC

When the Justice League TV show changed to Justice League Unlimited the comic was re-branded as Justice League Unlimited as well and started over with a new #1 issue. DC used this re-branding as an opportunity to bring the comic in-line with it’s new Johnny DC brand for all it’s animation based titles and kids books, which included cutting the page count of the stories from the DC-standard 22 to 20, and using those two extra pages for a kids-friendly letter column section. The result of which was that the Wannabes story was now two pages too long to fit the new format. I never understood why it why it would have been such a big deal to cut a couple of pages of in-house ads from the issue or cut the letter column for one issue, but this problem kept Wannabes from seeing the light of day for another three-and-a-half years, until the Justice League Unlimited TV show was coming to an end and the tie-in comic was being wrapped up as well.

Finally motivated to use the paid-for inventory stories that were sitting around unused (there was more than one – I actually had drawn TWO of them!), these stories saw print as “untold tales” of the Justice League, and the length problem was solved by cutting two pages from the story. I wasn’t happy about the cuts, but I was happy that at least the bulk of the story finally was to be seen by an audience!

Justice League Unlimited #43

Justice League Unlimited #43

Wannabes finally saw print as Justice League Unlimited #43. The pencils from this story – including the two missing pages – are up in my gallery. Give ’em a look!

Wannabes - page 8

Wannabes - page 8