'Inside the NBA' Crew Teams Up with Justice League in Comic Book
I've never been a big comic book guy, save for a brief childhood stretch when my neighborhood friends and I teamed up to create our own superhero universe—names, costumes, power ratings, you name it. It didn't last long.
But the idea of TNT’s Ernie Johnson getting turned int a superhero is maybe the best thing I've heard all week.
According to Pro Basketball Talk’s Kurt Helin, D.C. Comics has teamed with our guys at Inside the NBA—Ernie, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith—for a special Justice League All-Star commemorative issue:
"The 12-page, limited-edition comic book will be distributed free to fans at NBA All-Star Jam Session in New Orleans during NBA All-Star weekend. I am soooo picking one of those up. If you’re not going, the comic will be available on nba.com Feb. 12.
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Entertainment Weekly has a small sneak peak of what this thing might look like, if y’all are inclined.
For their part, D.C. confirmed as much in a tweet sent out just the other day:
I'm really curious to see what everyone’s superpower ends up being. I have my guesses:
- Ernie: Steadfast logic and objective perspective in the face of unwavering goofiness and bias.
- Kenny: Superior leaping ability that more than makes up for his slight stature.
- Chuck: Saying things to confuse the enemy, thereby lulling them into a kind of catatonic stupor.
- Shaq: Umm, size.
Actually, I think Shaq might have dibs on a slightly more familiar skill set. From a story by ESPN's Zach McCann written in the wake of Dwight Howard's famous 2008 Dunk Contest victory:
"'The whole Superman thing doesn't work for me,' Shaq wrote in his autobiography in reference to Howard. At Shaq's retirement press conference in Orlando, he passed out shirts that read, 'The Real Superman,' an obvious dig at Howard. LeBron James, Shaq's former teammate in Cleveland, once said, 'That's definitely his nickname, and the fact that everybody kind of gave Dwight his name kind of bothers him a little bit.'
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All kidding aside, chalk this up as one more example of the NBA’s ever-bourgeoning media savvy.
Indeed, this kind of partnership would've been unheard of 20 years ago. Basketball’s foremost studio team—which features three former NBA players and one multifaceted sports savant—joining forces with a comic book company?
Surely you Jester!
I’ll let myself out.
