This weekend at WonderCon, DC held their live stream of their Publishers Panel and they brought along several announcements to share. We here at The Batman Universe offered a way to catch the stream on Twitter, but if you missed out we have gathered together some of the best Batman-related tidbits to share.
First up, Scott Snyder revealed a few details about the upcoming Justice League series including that the team will be based out of the Hall of Justice, the Legion of Doom will be returning and there will be portals within the Hall of Justice to the other teams’ bases. Which leads to the other major announcement, that aside from the relaunch of Justice League coming out of the No Justice miniseries, two brand new teams will also headline their own Justice League titles. Both teams will be featured in their own titles and release monthly.
The first is Justice League Dark, written by James Tynion IV with art by Alvaro Martinez. The team will feature Wonder Woman as the leader, with Zatanna, Detective Chimp, Swamp Thing, and Man-Bat. Tynion has already promised that anyone within the DC Universe dealing with magic could end up in the series and just because a character is not featured on the cover, doesn’t mean they won’t appear. This falls in line with comments from Scott Snyder last week regarding the fluidity of the Justice League with having multiple members who appear for different missions.
The second book will be Justice League Odyssey, written by Joshua Williamson with art by Stjepan Sejic. Odyssey will focus on space-based stories and feature Azrael, Starfire, Cyborg, Darkseid, and Jessica Cruz. Both titles are scheduled to ship this July.
The Metal event that has taken over the DC Universe has been marked a success and with it the desire for DC to honor the past of their characters but also push them into new directions.
Meanwhile, the Teen Titans are about to experience a creative and team shakeup as Adam Glass will take over writing duties starting with the special previously announced for June. The team will still feature Damian Wayne, Kid Flash, and Red Arrow along with new teammates including the daughter of Lobo. Time will tell if her famous father makes an appearance. Meanwhile over in Titans, Nightwing and Raven will lead the team as Dan Abnett stays on as the writer, but takes the team in a new direction being described by Snyder as the Justice League’s training team.
DC Black Label, the imprint that is creator-focused is not meant to be an adults-only imprint, but rather a showcase of top talent without the constraints of continuity or deadlines. Size, page count, trim size, and collected size are all up to the creators, giving them full reign over the stories they wish to tell. That said, Brian Azzarello’s Batman: Damned, will be a grimy horror story.
The DC Zoom and DC Ink imprints, aimed at younger readers, have been pushed back to March of 2019 from this fall. The publisher credits the success of DC Super Hero Girls for helping to create the imprints.
Wrapping up, it’s still a year away, but Detective Comics #1000 is coming in March of 2019, as mentioned by Dan Didio in the final moments of the panel. The timing of the release means the title will continue to be bi-monthly until then.
Excited about the new directions for the Justice League and their younger counterparts? Sound off below.
