Warning: This article includes spoilers for Justice League/Aquaman: Drowned Earth
James Tynion has been one of the most prolific creators on DC’s roster in recent years, and he’s about to bring the comics world crashing in on itself with the massive Justice League and Aquaman event Drowned Earth. We chatted with Tynion about bringing the story to life, devastating the Hall of Justice, and saving the world with Wonder Woman!
Tynion revealed to us that Drowned Earth is such a huge story that it actually outgrew its original home in another DC comic. “Originally we just had a storyline that was going to be playing out in the pages of Justice League that Scott [Snyder] had come up with, and we were working very closely on it,” Tynion said. “But it was actually DC that realized not only is this right before the Aquaman movie comes out, it’s also before the massive new Aquaman run by Kelly Sue [DeConnick], and Scott’s just cooked up an event-level storyline in the pages of Justice League—so why don’t we just turn this into an event?”
The world of the story is vast one, spreading over the entire globe and featuring a huge roster of DC heroes. For Tynion and collaborator Scott Snyder, it was a riot. “It was a lot of fun! The thing I really wanted to zero in on was that this is what happens when most of the Justice League has been taken out,” Tynion said. “Three members of the Justice League are off-world, Aquaman and Wonder Woman have basically fallen off the edge of the world after the events of the previous issue of Justice League, Batman is in a wheelchair under the Hall of Justice, and all of a sudden there’s a full-on alien invasion. How does this stripped down Hall of Justice deal with that?”
It’s a visually stunning book with art from Howard Porter and colors by Hi-Fi, and Tynion was quick to celebrate his collaborators. “The Ocean Lords are these seagods that had already been established by Francis Manapul, so creating the visual landscape for this book was a real collaborative effort working with Howard, Hi-Fi, the Aquaman editorial team, and the Justice League editorial team,” Tynion said. “So it was a huge discussion down to how we distinguish the infected water from the normal water! It was honestly just this big, fun collaboration bringing all these ideas together. But for me, what Howard really brings to the table is his character work and the physicality. He just has such a great understanding of how they need to sit on the page.”
The first issue is a huge statement of intent, and for Tynion and Snyder it was a chance to set up a new status quo. “The most fun here was the fact that Scott and I have talked a really big game about how we want the Hall of Justice to be the centerpoint of the whole superhero community, a rallying point, and this is the first time we really get to see that,” Tynion said. “It might not be their best go, as the aliens are definitely winning as we get to the end of the issue, but this is the kind of huge and immersive DC Universe that we wanted to establish coming out of Metal.”
As our exclusive unlettered pages showcase, Wonder Woman is a vital player in Drowned Earth, and her appearance is a fantastic character beat that teases the future of the event. “Diana plays such a key role in the story, and it was one of those things where we were going back and forth on whether we wanted to reveal whether or not Diana was coming to the rescue, or if we wanted to end the issue on a down note,” Tynion said. “But I’m really happy with the way we landed it. From the pages of Justice League, we know that Poseidon is dead—he was killed by the Legion of Doom—and that these seagods have been summoned to Earth and pulled out of Grave of the Gods, which is this big mysterious place that we’re going to learn about. So as much as we’re dealing with the mythology of the sea, we’re also dealing with the idea of how gods work in the DCU.”
Will you be picking up Justice League/Aquaman: Drowned Earth #1 when it lands tomorrow? Just want to see Wonder Woman kick some alien butt? Let us know below!
Images: DC Comics
