Once upon a time, Batman was a monster truck. But as it turns out, that's not the strangest version of the Dark Knight out there, as DC has announced Jurassic League, a new six-issue series that reimagines the entire Justice League, including Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman and villains like the Joker as dinosaurs in a world of evolved prehistoric creatures.
Or in DC's words... "Defenders of Truth, Justice, and the Prehistoric Way."
According to the publisher, the dino-versions of DC's "trinity" join forces with super-powered dinosaurs to "save a prehistoric Earth from the sinister machinations of Darkseid."
Or is that Dino-seid?
Written by co-written by Daniel Warren Johnson (who also illustrates the series' main covers) and Juan Gedeon, who also provides the interior art. Jurassic League looks to be pure weird popcorn fun, with a wacky twist that is sure to turn heads just based on the images of the entire Justice League as dinosaurs.
Speaking to Polygon, Gedeon explains that he wanted the dinosaur embodied by each hero to match the characters' personality traits, and picked the dinosaur mash-ups accordingly.
"I wanted each Dino to be recognized immediately as the hero they represent," Gedeon explains to Polygon. "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 a base."
To do so, Gedeon cast Superman as the gentle-giant herbivore Brachiosaur, Wonder Woman as a Triceratops, and Batman takes on the form of the Allosaurus, the Tyrannosaurus rex's slightly smaller cousin (though Gedeon is also quick to point out that his Allosaurus Batman is technically still a vegetarian).
At the same time, at least one of the League's classic enemies, the Joker, has also been dino-fied for the story, with Gedeon mashing the Clown Prince of Crime up with a Dilophosaurus, capturing his colorful appearance.
As for Daniel Warren Johnson's motives for writing Jurassic League, they couldn't be simpler.
"I dig the Justice League," Johnson states. "But I dig them more as dinosaurs."
"Words cannot express how excited I am for this book," says DC senior editor Katie Kubert in the publisher's own announcement. "As a life-long dinosaur lover, and a dinosaur tour-guide and fossil preparer for two of the most prestigious natural history museums, this book speaks to my heart and science-soul. When Juan came to me with the idea, and Daniel Warren Johnson doubled down on it, I knew we had something truly special and I can’t wait for fans to fall in Mezosoic-love."
Here's a gallery of interior art and covers from Jurassic League #1:
Jurassic League #1 (of 6) is on sale May 10 and will also feature a variant cover by Megalustre "Dino Skin" variant cover by the fan-favorite Walt Simonson and another variant cover by Gedeon.
Stay tuned to Newsarama for DC's full May 2022 solicitations, coming later in February.
Dinosaur Batman joins Monster Truck Batman as one of the strangest variant Batmans ever.
