Image from @DCComics
DC Comics have always been my biggest draw, ever since I first discovered Superman as a kid, so this year’s SDCC I was keeping a particularly keen eye out for any DC news coming through, whether relating to their comics line or new collectibles. Certainly not disappointed, I can tell you. Firstly, there was a slew of news surrounding the “Earth One” line of DC Comics. I’d hoped this line of OGNs would pick up a bit more traction, volumes 1 & 2 of Superman and volume 1 of Batman were great books. Admittedly I haven’t picked up Teen Titans yet but that will probably change this week. Anyway, DC Comics finally showed some art from Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette’s Wonder Woman Earth One meaning that maybe we’ll get our hands on it sometime this year. Either way, it’s good to see some progress on the book, considering how long ago this book was announced. It’s interesting, Grant Morrison actually gave Comic Vine an interesting interview explaining that now he’s off the monthly grind schedule he’s finding more time to do one off graphic novels and other works he’s had building for a while. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why this book has seemingly moved along so slowly. On top of the art reveal (not showing it here since all I’ve seen are photos taken of a screen showing the images during a panel) DC also revealed two new Earth One titles coming in the future, Flash Earth One which will be written by J. Michael Straczynski and Aquaman Earth One drawn by Francis Manapul. JMS on The Flash can surely only be a good thing, I’m thrilled to see him working on more superhero books, being a big fan of his work kicking off Earth One with Superman and his superb run on Spider-Man. Aquaman is a hero that still doesn’t get enough credit, unfortunately he became one of those characters that it became “cool” to hate on, being misunderstood for so long. Geoff Johns helped drive this misconception away somewhat, and hopefully an Earth One book will help bring him into an even more positive light. Francis Manapul is a stellar artist too, yet another hugely talented artist at one of the big two publishers that got their big break at Top Cow incidentally, so I can’t wait to see more from that. And back on to Grant Morrison, it looks like DC Comics have basically given him the green light to go do whatever the damn hell he wants, which as far as I’m concerned is fantastic news. Grant will be leading the charge in further exploring the multiverse and what lies outside the multiverse. During his Comic Vine interview he basically explained that his idea is that while there is the DC multiverse which consists of 52 universes, there could quite easily be multiple multiverses all existing separate from one another. The idea behind this is that Morrison and others will be able to tell any story they like, no longer restricting writers to sticking to the current continuity. All they need is a good story. This is freaking awesome.
To top off the great news surrounding the new Multiversity titles coming, we were treated to the news of upcoming Convergence spin-off titles, Superman: Lois & Clark, Titans Hunt and Telos. Dan Jurgens is on writing duty for the new Superman title, bringing us a Lois & Clark that are presumably still a couple looking to make their way in a new and unfamiliar world. Bringing visual life to Jurgens’ story is Lee Weeks, a very accomplished and talented artist, leaving me intrigued and excited for a Superman book I’ve been clamouring for for quite some time. It’s DC’s equivalent of bringing Peter Parker and MJ back together. Titans Hunt, written by Dan Abnett (score!) and with art from Paulo Siqueira this looks to return us to a Titans team me and a whole slew of people have been dying to see back together again. Dick Grayson. Donna Troy. Roy Harper. “An Atlantean named Garth” (we all know who this is). Top top it off, there is also mention of Hank Hall and Dawn Granger, also known as Hawk & Dove. I’m pleased with this, I’ve always found Hawk and Dove to be an interesting team up, the problem being that every time they get a book of their own they put Rob-fucking-Liefeld on it. Excuse me, but god damn I can’t stand his work, so I’ve only read them when they’ve shown up in other books and they seem pretty cool. Finally we have a solo book for Telos, written by Jeff King and with art from Carlo Pagulayan and Jason Paz, this will be looking into the mysterious past of the titular character after being freed from the shackles of Brainiac. I’m guessing we will see plenty of his current adventures too, most of which will probably involve him investigating where he came from and what happened to his friends and family from his long forgotten past life. I can say for sure that two of these titles will be going on my pull list, Superman and Titans, and I will certainly give Telos a go mostly because I think Jeff King is a great writer, but there is a certain level of intrigue behind what makes this character tick and who he really is.
Finally, in other DC news, Geoff Johns announced a series of six one-and-done issues called Justice League: Gods and Men spinning directly out of Darkseid War. The stories look pretty nuts, putting some of the characters in some seemingly totally ridiculous situations while remaining in canon. I’m quite pleased, it’s nice to see Johns being able to get some more stories out while taking on more and more responsibilities within DC as a whole.
DC also announced even more Superman titles coming from Neal Adams and Max Landis, with Neal Adams’ story using Darkseid and Kalibak as the main protagonists but most interestingly it seems to be taking place during pre-flashpoint continuity, as Superman’s main allies are heroes from “New Krypton”, the sole surviving city of Krypton originally known as Kandor. This one has been announced as a six issue mini series and I will be buying this. The Max Landis series, American Alien, is a seven issue series looking at various times in Clark Kent’s life, I believe using rotating artists for each issue. And in Robin news, there has already been a crossover event announced for the new Robin titles, a whole, whopping one issue in to two of them. Seems like a bit of a stupid and contradictory move from DC but since I’m reading none of the affected titles I don’t really care. Also announced was a new weekly title (yup, another one) called Batman & Robin Eternal which has much of the same creative team as Batman Eternal, which is cool, and won’t be running for a full year like Batman Eternal did, so it’s arguably less of a major commitment for fans. Regardless, I’ll be skipping that one too. I don’t feel like delving into another weekly series, especially so soon after finishing up with the three DC last ran with so I’ll consider picking this up in trade, depending on how strongly it reviews.
Anyways, that about sums it up I think, at least in regards to the stuff that jumped out at me. A lot of really cool stuff coming out soon, DC made a real splash this year and for good reason. Now, there was a second post due today looking at one of the trailers dropped in Hall H but due to a serious lack of sleep I’m postponing for a day or two, but they will both definitely hit this week along with all the other planned SDCC posts. Going to get off and attempt an early night, take care folks.
Nerd World Problems 