Starman returns to the DCU

WARNING: The following interview contains minor spoilers for Justice League #8, by James Tynion IV, Mikel Janin and Jeremy Cox, in stores Wednesday, Sept. 19.

With the mysteries surrounding the Totality only deepening and some familiar faces from the DC Universe's topsy turvy history making their official return, things in Justice League are showing no signs of slowing down. And issue #8, the next in the series' Legion of Doom centric interludes written by James Tynion IV rather than regular writer Scott Snyder, is setting out to keep up that breakneck pace in spectacular fashion.

Will Payton, one of the many people to use the codename Starman in the DC Universe, is back -- for real this time, not just as a whispered hit or a background character. But what does that actually mean? Who wants to use him, and what makes Will, one man in the long line of Starmen, so perfect for this particular moment?

We sat down with Tynion to get some answers and to tease some upcoming Justice League developments in this exclusive preview of Justice League #8.

CBR: This is an issue with quite a few major developments in it but we have to start with the most obvious one. What can you tell us about bringing Starman back into play for the Rebirth era?

James Tynion IV: The Starman legacy is one of the most interesting and rich veins in the DC lore that hasn't really been tapped in the last few years. The characters and the mythology connected to them are some of my all time favorites; I love the James Robinson and Tony Harris run on the character so much, it was something Scott and I talked about a lot. Plus, the name "Starman" is just cool. It's one of those really cool superhero names, and it's just not in play right now, so that's just something we really wanted to bring in.

For this issue, I went back and I read a big chunk of the run from the late '80s, and it was really fun seeing the pieces that were there. We're dealing with this like a conspiracy that goes back to the end of the beginning of the universe. We had these engineers who have been sort of working through the shadows in DC's history, and we've seen hints of this Legionnaires Club and the larger group around it in the first arc of Justice League. Now we're seeing more and more of the level and the scale of the experiments they were up to. [The question is], where does Starman tap into those experiments?

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What influenced your decision to use Will versus maybe one of the more recognizable Starmen like Jack or Thom?

Will is someone who came out of scientific discovery, the cosmic unknown of the DC Universe. The story of Will Payton and the experiments he was involved in, the story of what they were trying to attempt and how he was accidentally chosen by these cosmic forces -- it all just fit so perfectly into what we wanted to do with the Totality. It just made absolute sense to use him. The first page of this issue and the first page of that first Starman from 1988 are very similar, and that's by design. It all just fit into place so well.

Over the last few weeks Scott and I have been mapping out all of 2019 for Justice League, and the Starman thread that is going to build through the series is a really crucial one and one that we're really really excited about. What we've established right now is that the cosmic energy inside of Starman is tied to the Totality, it's tied to those fundamental energies of the universe. Which means that when he interacts with these powers, he's going to interact with them different than the rest of the League. The mystery that we're building there and how that's going to come into play is really crucial.

Not to steal the spotlight away from Will but the Batman who Laughs gets a pretty big moment in this issue, too…

Yeah! People have really has gotten really excited about this character, going all the way back to the introduction with Metal and then back during the Batman who Laughs, where we got to establish his full history. The thing that is almost the hardest thing to grasp while you're looking at him and trying to figure out what you're facing is that this creature you're trying to process is Bruce Wayne. It's Batman. It's just that he's completely unhinged from any level of morality. He's this ultra predator -- Batman always wins. Batman always has a plan. Batman always overcomes what is put in front of him. It's not an easy thing to realize when you're looking at that monster with that smile. He's not The Joker. The Joker is still a very chaotic character. Batman is cold and calculating. This is still Batman. If he's in a cage, it's because he wants to be there.

Justice League #8 hits shelves Wednesday, September 19.