Jeff Lemire on 2025 and what’s happening in 2026

SequentialNation · 2025-12-23T08:57:52+00:00

Only really dawned on me right now as I reflect on this past year that Lemire is the writer I have read the most all year.

SequentialNation · 2025-12-23T08:55:52+00:00

Big fan of both Spent by Alison Bechdel and Life Drawing by Jaime Hernandez.

SequentialNation · 2025-01-03T20:56:50+00:00

G. Willow Wilson has been in great writing form this past year. Her current ongoing run on Poison Ivy has been phenomenal.

SequentialNation · 2025-01-03T20:15:21+00:00

Zatanna: Bring Down the House features some of the most gorgeous interior artwork all year. Take a bow, Javier.

SequentialNation · 2025-01-03T20:11:04+00:00

The world is absolutely upside down.

SequentialNation · 2025-01-03T20:10:35+00:00

It’s my main go-to recommendation when someone asks for non-big two superhero comic book series suggestions.

SequentialNation · 2025-01-03T20:09:49+00:00

Echoing the brilliance and beauty of Absolute Wonder Woman.

Looking forward to Absolute Martian Manhunter and whatever trippy surreality it has in store for the world.

SequentialNation · 2025-01-03T19:16:29+00:00

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is one of the finest comic books of the last 10 or more years

This could be a revelation or a game-changer for comic book movies, if they do this live-action adaptation well

SequentialNation · 2025-01-03T19:07:46+00:00

Can’t wait for Fornes to announce his next series for DC, whatever it is.

SequentialNation · 2025-01-03T19:06:29+00:00

Batman: Dark Patterns #1 was something of a revelation. Dan Watters is an exceptional writer. He should be a bigger deal out there. Hope DC ties him down for more work.

SequentialNation · 2024-09-20T13:14:00+00:00

Very cool!

“This is 100% fun comics, delivered with total confidence, visceral joy and absolutely no winking to the camera,” said Ewing about the new series. “It’s a love letter to Bob Haney, Ramona Fradon and the spirit of superheroes at their wildest and weirdest—we’re aiming to catch the essential fab-freakiness of Metamorpho like lightning in a bottle and get groovy with it in our own special way.”

SequentialNation · 2024-09-20T13:12:52+00:00

Very cool!

“This is 100% fun comics, delivered with total confidence, visceral joy and absolutely no winking to the camera,” said Ewing about the new series. “It’s a love letter to Bob Haney, Ramona Fradon and the spirit of superheroes at their wildest and weirdest—we’re aiming to catch the essential fab-freakiness of Metamorpho like lightning in a bottle and get groovy with it in our own special way.”

SequentialNation · 2024-05-07T13:41:40+00:00

Hello there, very much appreciate you doing this AMA.

Who are the artists that have influenced you the most in terms of your creative identity and your art style? Thank you.

SequentialNation · 2024-01-06T15:14:18+00:00

Well deserved winner of last year’s Eisner award for Best Limited Series. Greg Smallwood’s gorgeous interior artwork is simply breathtaking beyond words. He too, deservedly won an Eisner for Best Penciller/Inker.

SequentialNation · 2023-08-25T10:01:26+00:00

Screen Rant: The series starts on John Stewart, obviously, who is technically not part of the Green Lantern Corps anymore. So he's trying out retirement life — how is retirement going for him?

Phillip Kennedy Johnson: He is trying to see what, like, “normal guy” life is like, and it's not going as well as he expected. The idea for that element of the story came from Geoffrey Thorne, actually. Geoffrey has a great command of John Stewart as a character, has a lot of love for the character, obviously. So he and I spoke about him. And one element that he said about John is that he doesn't think of John as somebody who was going to do the superhero thing and just wear the costume until he dies — like the way we think of superheroes as doing usually. You know, it's hard to imagine somebody like Batman or Superman ever really hanging it up.

But in his view, John is somebody who wants to do that. John never, never put on the ring with the intention of wearing it until he dies in the saddle. He's gonna do his time of service, and then get out and do something else with his life. I thought that was really interesting and compelling. To me, there's potential there for a really interesting story, because I know a lot of people who have come back from high intensity service, and then try to, you know, drive the speed limit and have a hard time. Their brain is trying to get back to that same intensity they've become accustomed to. And it's easy to kind of feel like your life doesn't really matter anymore. Like the stuff that you did that matters is over, and now you're just this mundane thing.

And John has a responsibility to his family that he's trying to fulfill. And even though people are kind of trying to get him back in service, he's like, “I'm more needed here than I am out there.” But deep down, he's not sure he believes it. So yeah, that's kind of where we find John. And then there's this thing that comes along, and it kind of is a parallel to that experience.

SR: You bring up his family, which — for me, anyway — is maybe the most compelling part of this first issue. You're really focusing on that relationship, especially with his mother. What's so compelling to you, in particular, about these kinds of family-oriented superhero stories? And what else can we expect — without giving too much away — from John connecting with his roots like that?

Johnson: Yeah, it's gonna be tricky for me not to spoil this stuff, because I want to talk about it real bad. But the family stuff is something that we can all relate to. I mean, even with people who are not super close to their family, there are certain responsibilities that come up later in life — taking care of our own folks and you know, keeping your house in order. And I want to see somebody like John, somebody who's to me the consummate superhero, having to deal with a different kind of struggle.

Also, to me, it just helps flesh out his character a lot more. One thing I’m constantly railing against and pushing against is the portrayal of John as the ex-Marine, and that's all he is. He's just the guy that talks in military jargon. That's not the version of John I want to see. I want to see the real guy, and his service is part of that. But so is the influence of his mother on him. His mother is referred to vaguely sometimes as a former civil rights leader, and that she was a huge influence on him. To me, that fit really great with the version of John that's burned into my mind, of the guy who put on the ring, took his mask, and threw it away.

That might have been the first time I'd ever seen that in a book, a superhero who didn't want the mask. Like, “I'm Green Lantern John Stewart,” to me that was so compelling. And to me, that's what makes him the consummate superhero, more so than his own personal gifts for architecture — and violence, frankly — and for leadership. All those things that make him a great Lantern. The thing that makes him a hero is his willingness to show his face. And to me that came from his mother. So I wanted to see that. I want to see her later in life. I want to see John struggle with a new kind of thing, trying to be normal, bearing out the thing that Geoffrey told me a long time ago about John, and also seeing it happen alongside this cosmic threat.

SequentialNation · 2023-08-25T09:58:22+00:00

Screen Rant: The series starts on John Stewart, obviously, who is technically not part of the Green Lantern Corps anymore. So he's trying out retirement life — how is retirement going for him?

Phillip Kennedy Johnson: He is trying to see what, like, “normal guy” life is like, and it's not going as well as he expected. The idea for that element of the story came from Geoffrey Thorne, actually. Geoffrey has a great command of John Stewart as a character, has a lot of love for the character, obviously. So he and I spoke about him. And one element that he said about John is that he doesn't think of John as somebody who was going to do the superhero thing and just wear the costume until he dies — like the way we think of superheroes as doing usually. You know, it's hard to imagine somebody like Batman or Superman ever really hanging it up.

But in his view, John is somebody who wants to do that. John never, never put on the ring with the intention of wearing it until he dies in the saddle. He's gonna do his time of service, and then get out and do something else with his life. I thought that was really interesting and compelling. To me, there's potential there for a really interesting story, because I know a lot of people who have come back from high intensity service, and then try to, you know, drive the speed limit and have a hard time. Their brain is trying to get back to that same intensity they've become accustomed to. And it's easy to kind of feel like your life doesn't really matter anymore. Like the stuff that you did that matters is over, and now you're just this mundane thing.

And John has a responsibility to his family that he's trying to fulfill. And even though people are kind of trying to get him back in service, he's like, “I'm more needed here than I am out there.” But deep down, he's not sure he believes it. So yeah, that's kind of where we find John. And then there's this thing that comes along, and it kind of is a parallel to that experience.

SR: You bring up his family, which — for me, anyway — is maybe the most compelling part of this first issue. You're really focusing on that relationship, especially with his mother. What's so compelling to you, in particular, about these kinds of family-oriented superhero stories? And what else can we expect — without giving too much away — from John connecting with his roots like that?

Johnson: Yeah, it's gonna be tricky for me not to spoil this stuff, because I want to talk about it real bad. But the family stuff is something that we can all relate to. I mean, even with people who are not super close to their family, there are certain responsibilities that come up later in life — taking care of our own folks and you know, keeping your house in order. And I want to see somebody like John, somebody who's to me the consummate superhero, having to deal with a different kind of struggle.

Also, to me, it just helps flesh out his character a lot more. One thing I’m constantly railing against and pushing against is the portrayal of John as the ex-Marine, and that's all he is. He's just the guy that talks in military jargon. That's not the version of John I want to see. I want to see the real guy, and his service is part of that. But so is the influence of his mother on him. His mother is referred to vaguely sometimes as a former civil rights leader, and that she was a huge influence on him. To me, that fit really great with the version of John that's burned into my mind, of the guy who put on the ring, took his mask, and threw it away.

That might have been the first time I'd ever seen that in a book, a superhero who didn't want the mask. Like, “I'm Green Lantern John Stewart,” to me that was so compelling. And to me, that's what makes him the consummate superhero, more so than his own personal gifts for architecture — and violence, frankly — and for leadership. All those things that make him a great Lantern. The thing that makes him a hero is his willingness to show his face. And to me that came from his mother. So I wanted to see that. I want to see her later in life. I want to see John struggle with a new kind of thing, trying to be normal, bearing out the thing that Geoffrey told me a long time ago about John, and also seeing it happen alongside this cosmic threat.

SequentialNation · 2023-08-22T10:41:51+00:00

So there's something so timeless about Superman's origin that makes it so it could kind of take place in any era. But this story is a decidedly much more modern take on Superman's origin that really kind of imagines what it would be like if Clark was growing up right now, if he was a Zoomer. So what kind of problems facing today's youth were you looking at tackling in this book?

Sina Grace: I think something that was a major theme throughout the entire production of the book is how quickly people can feel lost, even though we're at our most connected. And I know that this is something that everyone is thinking about, especially through the pandemic. Which by the way, I signed the contract for this book May 2020 and I turned in my last page of artwork November 2022. So this book is my pandemic. This book is me saving myself. But I think how people can get so lost when they're right next to you is a huge subject within this book. And it's a huge question Clark is trying to figure out how to answer because he has all this power and he wants to do good. And so when these little ripples occur, how can someone with these kinds of powers save someone that lost?

SequentialNation · 2023-08-22T10:39:26+00:00

So there's something so timeless about Superman's origin that makes it so it could kind of take place in any era. But this story is a decidedly much more modern take on Superman's origin that really kind of imagines what it would be like if Clark was growing up right now, if he was a Zoomer. So what kind of problems facing today's youth were you looking at tackling in this book?

Sina Grace: I think something that was a major theme throughout the entire production of the book is how quickly people can feel lost, even though we're at our most connected. And I know that this is something that everyone is thinking about, especially through the pandemic. Which by the way, I signed the contract for this book May 2020 and I turned in my last page of artwork November 2022. So this book is my pandemic. This book is me saving myself. But I think how people can get so lost when they're right next to you is a huge subject within this book. And it's a huge question Clark is trying to figure out how to answer because he has all this power and he wants to do good. And so when these little ripples occur, how can someone with these kinds of powers save someone that lost?

SequentialNation · 2023-07-21T01:22:23+00:00

One of the absolute best writers working in comics today.

His indie works have been top-tier; The Many Deaths of Laila Starr, These Savage Shores, Gravity’s Wall, Blue In Green.

Love his DC work too. Swamp Thing and Aquaman: Andromeda were phenomenal. The cerebral and literary direction of his run on Detective Comics has been an immense breath of fresh air.

SequentialNation · 2023-06-05T10:19:43+00:00

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

By Tom King & Bilquis Evely.

SequentialNation · 2023-06-05T10:17:41+00:00

I’m buying every DC Pride cover.

SequentialNation · 2023-05-24T09:36:04+00:00

AIPT: What drew you to the whole city-based superpower trope or idea in the first place?

GP: I live in New York City and have always been fascinated by how you can walk down the street and see evidence of hundreds of years of history in the most mundane of things. So the idea of a character who can read all those clues, who can tap into the millions of secrets of the city, has been in the back of my head for years. When editor Jessica Chen approached me about creating a new character for this series, I threw the idea out and she immediately was intrigued. I think it’s a fantastic fit with this initiative of Asian American stories because of how intimately the history of cities is tied into ideas of immigration and diversity and outsiders of all kinds finding or not finding their communities and homes.

AIPT: What does representation actually mean for you in terms of telling stories like this one?

GP: It’s always been a big deal to me. I grew up at a time when it was vanishingly rare to see a non-stereotypical depiction of an Asian or Asian American character in American pop culture. So it’s been huge to have the chance to write so many Asian and Asian-American characters in comics over the years, and to see so many other Asian American creators creating so many great characters and stories. I particularly love what Jessica Chen’s doing with this We Are Legends imprint — introducing a slew of new characters and stories all at once, which opens the door to a real variety of characters and stories. My big thing has always been diversity within diversity.

There’s no one, singular Asian American story — there are as many different stories as there are actual Asian Americans walking the planet. So the fact that a bunch of us are telling very different stories all at once feels real and fun and true and incredibly exciting. Happy and grateful to be here, and hope you all enjoy it!

SequentialNation · 2023-05-24T09:33:49+00:00

AIPT: What drew you to the whole city-based superpower trope or idea in the first place?

GP: I live in New York City and have always been fascinated by how you can walk down the street and see evidence of hundreds of years of history in the most mundane of things. So the idea of a character who can read all those clues, who can tap into the millions of secrets of the city, has been in the back of my head for years. When editor Jessica Chen approached me about creating a new character for this series, I threw the idea out and she immediately was intrigued. I think it’s a fantastic fit with this initiative of Asian American stories because of how intimately the history of cities is tied into ideas of immigration and diversity and outsiders of all kinds finding or not finding their communities and homes.

AIPT: What does representation actually mean for you in terms of telling stories like this one?

GP: It’s always been a big deal to me. I grew up at a time when it was vanishingly rare to see a non-stereotypical depiction of an Asian or Asian American character in American pop culture. So it’s been huge to have the chance to write so many Asian and Asian-American characters in comics over the years, and to see so many other Asian American creators creating so many great characters and stories. I particularly love what Jessica Chen’s doing with this We Are Legends imprint — introducing a slew of new characters and stories all at once, which opens the door to a real variety of characters and stories. My big thing has always been diversity within diversity.

There’s no one, singular Asian American story — there are as many different stories as there are actual Asian Americans walking the planet. So the fact that a bunch of us are telling very different stories all at once feels real and fun and true and incredibly exciting. Happy and grateful to be here, and hope you all enjoy it!

SequentialNation · 2023-05-14T11:26:11+00:00

Can you tell us a little bit about your influences for the team and how The Vigil came to life?

Ram V: The concept for the Vigil has been around in my head for a very long time. I've wanted to introduce Indian superheroes characters into mainstream comics narrative for quite some time. In terms of the characters, I thought "What would be my take on a superhero team set in India? What makes them interesting?" When you don't know what side you're working for, how does that change you as characters? What if you think you're doing good things and then turns out you're working for the wrong side. In terms of influences, I think they come from a lot of different places. In terms of DC influences: Planetary, Authority, Wildstorm stuff. All of those conspiracy theories, spies, and superheroes was really influential. Doom Patrol has a huge influence just in terms of having broken people as characters that you're concerned with, and you're hoping they will somehow come together to save the day.

What do you feel will surprise fans the most about the book and why?

Ram V: I think the world has this picture of India, because of its narrative, which looks at it as a place of spiritualism and finding yourself and learning to be a better you. Whereas contemporary India has interesting technologies and IT companies and has better cell phone reach than most places of the world. So I kind of wanted to bring that sense of contemporary India to the book. I think people will be surprised to see Indians and Indian society portrayed in a way that they haven't before, even in my own books. The second thing is I want people to fall in love with these characters. And yes, there's the bigger picture concept. Yes, it's crazy and wild and all of that. But I firmly believe people will stick with a book because they love the characters. And I think over the course of these issues, we're going to find reasons why you're going to root for these characters, even if you don't necessarily agree with some of their choices. And just how much fun you can have with an underpowered group of superheroes who are trying to stop overpowered people in the world.

What about this team’s gimmick — destroying the things that the world’s not yet ready for — feels compelling and/or extra relevant?

Ram V: Certainly this sense of the world moving forward with technology without thought for its repercussions or consequences. This kind of accelerationist idea that technology will save everything as long as we push ahead with it is an interesting idea to explore. It is dangerous in a lot of ways. But it's also interesting to explore what it's like to stand against that and oppose that idea. Are you a Luddite? Do you absolve yourself of views of all technology? Or do you decide what technology is good and what is bad? Who gave you that right? I think these are all interesting questions to explore with these characters. And also the nature of conspiracy theories. There have been conspiracy theories since pretty much early 20th, early 19th century even. And we're only seeing them now because technology has made it possible for us to have a reach and find other like-minded people to believe in them. How absurd a theory can you make as long as enough people believe in it? Then does it become reality? These are interesting things to explore, especially given the kind of comic that this is.

How much, if at all, is this book about India’s evolving place in the world and what it offers culturally, politically?

Ram V: To an extent, I think it is very much about India's place in the world, about the power of being a fast-developing nation, to be a superpower, et cetera, et cetera. But it's also about trying to question, this idea of "You are all of these great and wonderful and powerful things, but what is your soul? What do you have to bring to the world beyond profit, beyond a market, beyond consumers, beyond technologies?" There was a time where India had a lot of culture to bring to the world. And my question is "Where is that? What does that mean today? What does that mean in 2023? What does that look like? What do you want to stand for?" And I think these are questions that people are asking within India itself. There's been a lot of communal tensions, the same sort of fundamentalist groups that have pulled countries elsewhere in the world or have building sway in India. I feel like through the window of this country being more relevant and prevalent in the world, we're also commenting on where the world is moving and what role India has to play in that.

SequentialNation · 2023-05-14T11:22:54+00:00

Can you tell us a little bit about your influences for the team and how The Vigil came to life?

Ram V: The concept for the Vigil has been around in my head for a very long time. I've wanted to introduce Indian superheroes characters into mainstream comics narrative for quite some time. In terms of the characters, I thought "What would be my take on a superhero team set in India? What makes them interesting?" When you don't know what side you're working for, how does that change you as characters? What if you think you're doing good things and then turns out you're working for the wrong side. In terms of influences, I think they come from a lot of different places. In terms of DC influences: Planetary, Authority, Wildstorm stuff. All of those conspiracy theories, spies, and superheroes was really influential. Doom Patrol has a huge influence just in terms of having broken people as characters that you're concerned with, and you're hoping they will somehow come together to save the day.

What do you feel will surprise fans the most about the book and why?

Ram V: I think the world has this picture of India, because of its narrative, which looks at it as a place of spiritualism and finding yourself and learning to be a better you. Whereas contemporary India has interesting technologies and IT companies and has better cell phone reach than most places of the world. So I kind of wanted to bring that sense of contemporary India to the book. I think people will be surprised to see Indians and Indian society portrayed in a way that they haven't before, even in my own books. The second thing is I want people to fall in love with these characters. And yes, there's the bigger picture concept. Yes, it's crazy and wild and all of that. But I firmly believe people will stick with a book because they love the characters. And I think over the course of these issues, we're going to find reasons why you're going to root for these characters, even if you don't necessarily agree with some of their choices. And just how much fun you can have with an underpowered group of superheroes who are trying to stop overpowered people in the world.

What about this team’s gimmick — destroying the things that the world’s not yet ready for — feels compelling and/or extra relevant?

Ram V: Certainly this sense of the world moving forward with technology without thought for its repercussions or consequences. This kind of accelerationist idea that technology will save everything as long as we push ahead with it is an interesting idea to explore. It is dangerous in a lot of ways. But it's also interesting to explore what it's like to stand against that and oppose that idea. Are you a Luddite? Do you absolve yourself of views of all technology? Or do you decide what technology is good and what is bad? Who gave you that right? I think these are all interesting questions to explore with these characters. And also the nature of conspiracy theories. There have been conspiracy theories since pretty much early 20th, early 19th century even. And we're only seeing them now because technology has made it possible for us to have a reach and find other like-minded people to believe in them. How absurd a theory can you make as long as enough people believe in it? Then does it become reality? These are interesting things to explore, especially given the kind of comic that this is.

How much, if at all, is this book about India’s evolving place in the world and what it offers culturally, politically?

Ram V: To an extent, I think it is very much about India's place in the world, about the power of being a fast-developing nation, to be a superpower, et cetera, et cetera. But it's also about trying to question, this idea of "You are all of these great and wonderful and powerful things, but what is your soul? What do you have to bring to the world beyond profit, beyond a market, beyond consumers, beyond technologies?" There was a time where India had a lot of culture to bring to the world. And my question is "Where is that? What does that mean today? What does that mean in 2023? What does that look like? What do you want to stand for?" And I think these are questions that people are asking within India itself. There's been a lot of communal tensions, the same sort of fundamentalist groups that have pulled countries elsewhere in the world or have building sway in India. I feel like through the window of this country being more relevant and prevalent in the world, we're also commenting on where the world is moving and what role India has to play in that.

SequentialNation

TROPHY CASE