and Mike Spicer
Polygon reports that writer Daniel Warren Johnson (“Wonder Woman: Dead Earth,” “Beta Ray Bill”) and artist Juan Gedeon (“Venom”) are taking applying a prehistoric sheen to DC’s premiere superteam. The upcoming six-issue miniseries “Jurassic League” features a version of the Justice League populated by anthropomorphic dinosaurs, with a man-shaped Brachiosaurus as Superman, an Allosaurus as Batman, and a Triceratops as Wonder Woman.
“I didn’t know if it was a good idea or not,” Gedeon told Polygon. “I just knew I wanted to draw these creatures.”
“You know the story: an infant escapes the destruction of its home planet and is deposited on Earth to be raised by human parents,” DC’s plot synopsis reads. “A goddess from a lost city defends truth. A theropod dons the visage of a bat to strike fear into evildoers’ hearts. This heroic trinity, alongside a league of other super-powered dinosaurs, join forces to save a prehistoric Earth from the sinister machinations of Darkseid. Wait … what? Okay, maybe you don’t know the story. So join us and bear witness to a brand-new — yet older than time — adventure and experience the Justice League as you have never seen them before!”
“I dig the Justice League,” Johnson told Polygon via email, “but I dig them MORE as dinosaurs.”
Gedeon and Johnson pointed to various points of inspiration for the series, including Street Sharks, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” and Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal. An important aspect of the comic’s visual aesthetic was preserving what makes each character iconic while adapting them to this ancient new world.
“I wanted each Dino to be recognized immediately as the hero they represent,” Gedeon said. “If anyone saw them and thought ‘which character is this supposed to be?’ it would mean the design was not successful. So I tried to pick a dino that captured the essence of their human counterpart to use as base.”
You can find a first look at the dino-fied Justice League – as well as the Dilophosaurus Joker – over at Polygon. “Jurassic League” #1 takes a bite out of the comics market on May 10.
