Jim Lee on how he came to work on DC Universe Online
Comic book fans and gamers looking forward to DC Universe Online are likely familiar with the work of Jim Lee. What some comic fans may be less familiar with is Lee's interest in videogames, even before he got involved with DCUO as Executive Creative Director. Indeed, Jim Lee's twin passions in life are comics and videogames, he said in an interview with 1UP's Billy Berghammer.
Lee discusses how he came to work on a project that brought those passions together -- DC Universe Online -- and what he's doing to breathe life into the game. The interview ranges from Lee's first steps into the comic book industry to creating the best-selling comic book in history, and beyond. Lee also brings up some of the goals he and the DC Universe Online team have in terms of storytelling, including the introduction of tertiary characters from the DC universe that haven't ever been featured in videogames before. (Ambush Bug and The Metal Men, we're looking at you.) "Introducing this to a crowd of gamers that never has seen these characters before is really exciting. Putting them in context and creating storylines with these characters is really the fun part of working on this game, and we're in the meat of it," Lee says.
Working with comic book writer Geoff Johns (for the first time) is also quite an experience, Lee relates, addressing the challenges of introducing a great number of new superheroes (the players themselves) to the DC universe setting in terms of storyline -- or, in Lee's own words, "...why players are needed in the game, and why they're needed in the DC universe." And on the DC setting, Lee believes that its rich legacy, stretching back to 1939, will ultimately differentiate DC Universe Online from the other superhero MMO titles on the market.
If you're either a Jim Lee fan or are interested in hearing more about the creation of DC Universe Online, you'll want to check out Jim Lee's interview over at 1UP.
