Waiting for Goyer, Part 1

By: Arnold T. Blumberg
Date: Wednesday, November 21, 2001

David Goyer has been turning up in countless reports about upcoming Marvel movie projects from BLADE 2 to GHOST RIDER to DR. STRANGE and beyond, but now this fan favorite is returning to the comics themselves, and we took the opportunity to catch up with the man trusted to bring so many comic book heroes to the silver screen. Although he's lately been associated with Marvel characters, his comic book career resumes with another run at the classic DC ensemble known as the Justice Society of America.

"I wrote two years of JSA," says Goyer. "I was off for six months and messed around with ZIG ZAG and BLADE. My first new issue of JSA will be in January, #32. I am shocked that I came back, but I have a lot of love for the characters. There were just some stories that I wanted to tell. Geoff [Johns] and I have already written eight more issues. We have like another eight issues in the can. I think I'll be around for at least until issue #50." Despite his unexpected return to the title, Goyer has definitely enjoyed reuniting with this legendary team.

"That's been fun. It's been really hard at times to keep that going while I have been doing all the film stuff, and I try to write four or five issues at a chunk to keep ahead of the film stuff. I am sure Kevin Smith has the same problem." It may be difficult, but Goyer is determined not to short-change readers by jumping ship too quickly.

"As a real die-hard comic book fan I think it would be a disservice to the fans to just to do an issue or two," says Goyer. "And then I feel like there has to be a certain commitment there in terms of staying on as an archive, but I was surprised I was able to do 25 issues in a row."

Goyer was still on his initial run for the "Return of Hawkman" storyline, with #25 as his final issue, but he kept up to date with events.

"I work closely with [writing partner] Geoff [Jones]," says Goyer. "It wasn't like I didn't know what he was doing or the first six issues that he did on his own. And Geoff's been great. He actually stepped in when we were on issue #3, even though his name isn't on there until issue #6, but he's been involved as early as issue #3. He's a lot of fun to work with. I wouldn't do it without him."


Goyer also expects to be involved in the much anticipated JLA/JSA crossover, which will take the form of a 100 page hardcover release. While the project is eagerly awaited by fans of both teams, it presents something of a challenge to the creative team behind the heroes. And don't expect Goyer to know when the book is scheduled to hit comic shop shelves.

"I have no idea," says Goyer. "We are in the midst of writing it right now. It's a big pain in the ass. They sort of required seven or eight characters on each team, and Carlos, who I think is one of the best guys working in comics I love what he was doing on FANTASTIC FOUR had a list of seven or eight other characters that he wanted to work on. Geoff and I said, 'Oh my God. How are we going to do this?'"

It may be an uphill battle to get the crossover completed, but Goyer and company will see it through.

"I suspect it will probably see publication late 2002, but don't quote me on that. [Carlos] is beginning to draw the first chunk of the script and Geoff and I have to get off our asses; we've written about a third of it, so we have to finish it up."

Goyer is also well aware of the expectations built into such a story.

"It's going to be really nice. Everyone's been clamoring for JLA/JSA," says Goyer. "There were so many changes going on in JLA that we just could never coordinate the damn thing. We kept on trying. We talked with Mark Waid and Joe Kelly, and finally we just decided that [a single 100 page hardcover] was the best format, which I am happy about because it's a nice big beefy project. I don't know who else could have done a better job of drawing [this than Carlos.]"

Goyer isn't forthcoming with too many plot details, but he does offer a bit of insight into the planning process, particularly in terms of the threat faced by the assembled heroes.

"I don't want to give anything away but that was an interesting issue," says Goyer. "Do we create a new threat or do we utilize an old threat? We thought about it. Should it be cosmic? Should it involve time traveling? What should it be? It doesn't involve time travel and we decided to not do it cosmic. We just decided that there's been so much of that, [so we said] let's do something based solely on Earth. And more than anything, we kind of approached it from a fan standpoint. So we said, 'What are the kinds of scenes and events that as fans we would like to see happen?' So that's how we approached it."

TO BE CONTINUED...