A crisis of darkness is upon us, and the world now finds itself without its most famous heroes in the Justice League. Everyone is still catching up and coming to terms with what they’ve lost, but they don’t have much time to grieve, because Pariah’s Dark Army is on the move and ready to put their feet on the necks of our world. This is where we find ourselves in Justice League: Road to Dark Crisis #1, which follows many of DC’s remaining heroes, all dealing with the crisis in their own way and trying to fill the void left by the League. I had the opportunity to speak to Road to Dark Crisis and Dark Crisis writer Joshua Williamson about this issue, including how the heroes dealt with the death of the League, what’s really behind the Pariah War, and more.
The issue starts with a great story from Nightwing and Superman (Jonathan), and Death of Superman fans will surely find some big nods to that story and its time in the issue. “Yeah, my friend, that was one of the really cool things working on that story, he was obviously working with Dan, but he had to reconsider those things,” Williamson said. “It was really funny talking to him on the phone about that scene and saying, ‘Which one do you want to do? And he goes back and forth. And then he called me, and he said to me, “Yo, should Nightwing have a ponytail?” Because he had a ponytail when that happened. And I was like, ‘Yeah, he’s got a ponytail.’ Give him a ponytail.” He said, “Well, some people don’t like ponytails.” And I’m like, “Man, listen. Continuity is important. He had a ponytail. Leave the ponytail.”
“I always remember that scene in Nightwing when Scott McDaniel had his… he’s fighting a ninja and his ponytail was cut off in the middle of the fight, so they got rid of it. But yeah, working with Dan Jurgens was really cool, and it was my dream to work,” said Williamson. With him.” “When we started, when we knew we were going to do a story about John and Nightwing talking about death. I was like, ‘It has to be Dan Jurgens, it has to be Dan Jurgens.’ So, I’m with the editor, and I was like, “Hey, can we get Dan Jurgens?” He said, “Yes, we can make it happen.” So I spoke to Dan Jurgens on the phone. We talked about the whole story. I was like, “Listen, that’s what I think. That’s what I have to be. Those are her themes. Then Dan just pulled her out of the garden. It was a great experience.”
One of the dominant themes throughout the issue is how different the DC Universe champions handle the league’s death, and we get a front row seat to two very unique approaches when Superman and Nightwing team up. Nightwing has seen many die and then come back, while this is Jon’s first experience.
“Yeah. That’s what I was striving for. When we started putting this stuff together when I was writing, I actually wrote Dark Crisis #1 first, then I wrote Justice League #75, and then I wrote this. So, I was actually able to reverse-engineer Kind of for two. But because of that, very early on, I was like, “I’m really curious how people react to this story.” So up to the idea, the moment we announced the Justice League, how would people react? “Some people won’t believe it. And some people will believe it.” And that’s been my experience since then. I have people, even when 75 came out, there were people like, ‘Oh, death doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t mean anything.” “I’ve got very angry people,” Williamson then said.
“So, being able to see that experience, we knew getting into these things. I knew that, and until writing this way of things, I wrote this particular chapter before we announced it. And so, I knew getting into these things, I’m like, ‘Oh, you’re going to be there Different reactions to that.” And that was part of my motivation for that, let’s show it. If we knew that, if we knew that people would have different reactions to the idea of death in the remote, let’s show it through the characters,” Williamson said. “Let’s use two characters, one that she has a lot of experience with, and one that she’s not. They are John and Nightwing. So, a big motivation for putting together this story was to show those different points of view that I knew readers and fans would have.”
We also see the unfolding events through Wally West’s eyes, and between this case and what happens in the Nightwing solo series, it’s really cool to see Wally transform into Wally.
“Connie Wally, dude. We had a retailer’s meeting. I talked about it too, but I’m glad someone who follows me on Flash will get Wally’s book, something I’ve always wanted to do,” Williamson said. “I’ve always wanted to write Wally and The Flash and it never worked out. So the idea that now it’s about Flash, it’s about Wally, and it was written by Jeremy who really understood and really enjoys this book. I think these things are really basic. So yeah, I’m Very excited about that, too.”
If you’re a fan of DC’s extensive roster of characters, you’ll be happy to know that Road to Dark Crisis makes use of this roster, bringing in some surprising faces rather than just the regular crew. While Nightwing, Hal Jordan and of course others are in the mix, we also have some welcome on-screen time for characters like Nocturna and Spoiler.
“I agree,” Williamson said. “Yeah, that was one of the things that was a big part of getting into the Dark Crisis for me is that I saw these stories from these perspectives.” “Let’s see them from a few different points of view. That’s a big part of this. I saw the big summer event through the eyes of the Justice League, and don’t get me wrong, the Justice League is important to the story, but I’ve seen it. So I want to see it from different people, and here it is. The music of Nocturna and Spoiler comes in. That’s where things come with Wally and Wallace, which I’ve obviously seen the Crisis events from Wally. But a big part of that story is that Wally talks about Wally’s reaction to things, and so I just wanted to show different points of view. And that’s going to be a big part of a crisis as you get to see some different perspectives that you can’t normally see.”
The case also provides a much clearer picture of what pushes the castaway to the brink of war, but while there are answers here, Williamson teas that it may not be all as it seems.
“Yes, there are some tricks that we’ll get into later because you have to start evaluating as if it’s dark, or is it in the castaway’s head and how much of that is real and unreal? These are the things we play with as we go through the crisis of darkness,” Williamson said. But yeah, I wanted to show an untouchable motive and kind of teasing some of those things, and that what I talked about with Philip Kennedy Johnson was, ‘These are the pieces I need for a pariah. He definitely did a really great job of showing who the pariah is, in an emotional way, not just a history lesson. Because a part of me was like, I’m going to give a history lesson. And I said, “No, no. Let’s talk about this character’s feelings a little bit.” And that’s what Philip brings to the table,” Williamson said.
Justice League: Road to Dark Crisis #1 hits comic stores May 31, and you can find more coverage of the Dark Crisis and DC Comics on the ComicBook Nation podcast, which airs live on Twitch every Friday at 11am CST. You can also watch full episodes on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Are you excited for Dark Crisis? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk to me about all things comics on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
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