DC‘s Convergence wraps this week — taking the last of the tie-ins with it.
I am a long-time fan of the Crime Syndicate. As I recently wrote about the Reverse-Flash, I am an absolute sucker for “Mirror, Mirror“-type stories. So when I heard that one of the Convergence offshoots was going to focus on the worst Earth-3 has to offer, I was into it. Casting them in the role of protagonists made it even more intriguing.
Taking all that in, I made sure to include the World’s Nastiest Villains in our weekly Convergence spotlight — bringing in Crime Syndicate artist Phil Winslade. (Oh, and if you want an EXCLUSIVE preview of Issue #2 — out 5/27 — click here.)
And in case you missed them:
Week 1: Tom Peyer and Steve Yeowell pick The Atom’s Greatest Hits
Week 2: Justin Gray and Ron Randall pick Catwoman’s Greatest Hits
Week 3: David Gallaher and Steve Ellis pick the Green Lantern Corps’ Greatest Hits
Week 4: Doc Shaner picks Shazam’s Greatest Hits
Week 5: Batman and Robin’s Ron Marz picks Batman’s Greatest Hits
Week 6: Justice League International’s Ron Marz picks the JLI‘s greatest gag
Week 7: Jeff Parker picks the best of Hawkman
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Dan Greenfield: What’s your favorite Crime Syndicate cover?
Phil Winslade: I think it’s Justice League of America #30 (1964), it’s quite an anachronistic choice but I really like those covers where they’re really selling the story and the action. There’s nice compositional depth and movement and it’s the sort of cover you rarely see these days. The feel has that pop art edge and the colors sit really nicely. I can imagine to an 11-year-old in 1964 this cover was an irresistible thing — it’s not overtly sophisticated but shouts “READ ME!”
Greenfield: What’s the most fun part of working on Convergence with these characters?
Winslade: There’s been lots of fun to be had with this book for me. I really enjoy the clunky, left-field feel of them, I think they have a lot of legs from a storytelling and visual point of view. They are slightly quirky, I mean Owlman‘s not going to win any fashion awards but there is an innocence about these characters from 1964 and to a certain extent, pathos. Like childhood’s end.
I think (writer) Brian (Buccellato) has really drawn out their characters in an interesting way and because they are not heroes they have a more modern feel towards motivation and they’re allowed to be a little un-vanilla. They need to have motivation beyond “because it’s the right thing to do” and they can be small, petty, moody and irascible with it. More like real people.
The other great thing about working with Brian is that he is a very visual writer who gives the artist space to be an artist. I’ve had such fun with the storytelling and layout of these comics, trying to get a blend of the best of classic Silver Age and modern approach and playing the beats of the story in interesting ways. In some cases there’s counterpoint, in others just full-on building to what I hope is a visually exciting conclusion.
Oh, and I get to draw fist fights and wanton destruction to boot!
It’s great that Brian colored the covers too, so both writer and artist contribute on every front.
I have to say I would like to see more of these characters, as I feel with this more left-field approach to them there could be some really entertaining comics about them. They are post-modern characters in many ways and deserve to have someone figure out an exciting and entertaining path for them. I think it would be a fun journey.
