Brian Truitt

USA TODAY

%27Justice League of America%27 is being relaunched as %27Justice League United%27 in April

Jeff Lemire begins run on the book starting with zero issue

Group based in Canada includes Adam Strange%2C Supergirl%2C Animal Man%2C Green Arrow and Stargirl

In addition to telling a big honkin' superhero story with his new comic book, Jeff Lemire wants to teach everyone there's more to his native Canada than hockey, poutine and maple syrup.

DC Comics' Justice League of America series ends in April, and then later in the month Lemire relaunches it as Justice League United with a zero issue and a diverse superhero team that will split its time between Northern Ontario and cosmic locales.

"It keeps the book fresh when you have those two very different settings or landscapes to go between," says Lemire, who's working with artist Mike McKone on the new effort.

"It's very much a swashbuckling, world-jumping space adventure."

Lemire was going to call the book Justice League Canada but as he worked out the series with DC co-publisher Dan DiDio and others, "we decided it was a good idea to expand the scope of the series."

The aftermath of the current Forever Evil saga, headed up by Justice League writer Geoff Johns, creates a new paradigm for the A-List League, Justice League Dark and the new squad north of the border, according to Lemire.

United kicks off with celebrity superheroes Animal Man and Stargirl signing autographs at a convention in Toronto, but duty calls for both up north in Moose Factory and Moosonee near the James Bay coast, just below the Arctic. That's where the main adventure starts and also where the United team will be based after the first arc.

Stargirl, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman and Green Arrow are members of the previous JLA who carry over into the new squad, which also includes Animal Man, Supergirl and a reintroduced Adam Strange.

"One thing I wanted to do with the book was really touch on every corner of the DC Universe in one team," Lemire says. "Thus the United title."

A sci-fi character who first was introduced in 1958, Strange gets a costume redesign and a new background: In United, he and his wife/teammate Alanna are Canadian, and there's a different dynamic between them than in previous DC incarnations. (However, they're still bouncing between Earth and the rest of the galaxy via the Zeta Beam.)

"Maybe the swashbuckling space hero we're used to from Adam Strange would probably describe Alanna a bit more," Lemire admits. "Adam's a bit more of a nerdy science guy. He's not so much the swashbuckling one."

Lemire didn't want to make the mistake that a lot of "cosmic" comics make in that they're too disconnected from the main universe "or what's happening on Earth, basically," the writer says. So United will act as a bridge between worlds — much of the first arc takes place on the planet Rann, which acts in contrast to the heroes' "very stark, rural Northern Ontario location."

And the second arc sends the team off to Thanagar for a story line revolving around Hawkman and his past, Lemire says. "The character is going to continue to evolve, pretty dramatically actually."

The scribe, who writes and draws Trillium for Vertigo, aims to put a renewed focus on United's characters and their interactions so they're not overshadowed by plot and action. Lemire has written the solo books for both Animal Man and Green Arrow, and in the new series he's "creating this unique friendship and love/hate relationship between the two of them."

Lemire also plans on introducing an all-new character to the DC Universe as a member of the team, a superpowered Cree teenager from the Canadian area where the team is setting up their headquarters.

There's a mystery surrounding who she is and her name is being kept secret for now, but Lemire says she's of First Nations lineage — a reference to the indigenous people of Canada — and her creation was influenced by Cree legends and folklore.

To capture the right amount of authenticity, Lemire spent the past six months traveling up to Northern Ontario, doing research and working with kids in schools to get their input.

"It was really important for me to try to reflect different aspects of our country," the writer says. "I thought it'd be great to create someone who represented that aspect of the culture.

"I've gotta say I've put more work into this book than I have for anything I've ever done for DC. It's been really fulfilling, and hopefully on top of all that it's a big fun action-adventure superhero comic that people will enjoy."