DC's 'Death of the Justice League' put nearly the whole roster of the core team on ice, 'dead' at the hands of a cadre of villains called the Dark Army. And with 'Dark Crisis' about to focus on a world without a Justice League, Black Adam, the League's only survivor, is getting his own limited series, which takes place primarily before the events of 'Death of the Justice League.'
At least to start...
In a new interview with Newsarama, series writer Priest explains that he planned the story that way partially to capitalize on what would have been the confluence of the timing of the limited series' release and the release of the Black Adam movie and to give new readers an easy way in to Black Adam's adventures, but complications stemming from the delay of the film and the entire Justice League dying in another title had a hand in dictating the story's events.
"I had assumed that we'd be coming out after the movie. I'm a little nervous – no, I'm a lot nervous – that the film got delayed. Apparently, all of the VFX houses are all backed up because of what's been going on, so we're out of the gate before the movie, much to my horror," explains Priest.
"There's so much attention on the movie itself and so the sharks are circling, just looking for something to do while they're waiting for the movie to come out. And they're like, 'Aha! Here's this Black Adam comic. Let's rip that to shreds.' I'm like, 'Please be nice to me!'" laughs Priest.
"Beyond that, I had assumed that people would come out of the Black Adam film and hopefully pick up the Black Adam comic book," the writer explains of the timing of the Black Adam series in comparison to the recent 'Death of the Justice League' and upcoming 'Dark Crisis' stories.
"I didn't want them to immediately be confused if I had to explain why all the heroes are dead and all this other stuff, and so forth, so our first act of our series – the first six issues – if you want to place them in continuity, they actually take place just before the Justice League all gets squashed like bugs."
"Issues #1-6 take place before that, and the events of Dark Crisis and the death of the Justice League will be reflected in issue #7 onward," Priest clarifies. "That way, if you've never read any DC, you don't have to prepare yourself. You don't have to study. You don't have to read anything or learn anything or know anything. If you've never read a comic book in your entire life, you could pick up Black Adam #1 and not feel confused."
Black Adam #1 goes on sale June 21.
Learn all about the comic book history of Black Adam before his movie.
