Much like Gerard Way is both writing and curating content for the Young Animal line, DC Comics has recruited Warren Ellis to revive and curate a new WildStorm line.
Ellis, who breathed new life into the imprint back in 1999 with the launch of The Authority and Planetary, will write The Wild Storm with Clean Room artist Jon Davis-Hunt. It’ll reset the WildStorm shared universe and feature Grifter, Voodoo, The Engineer, Jenny Sparks and others. It launches in February as an ongoing series and will serve as the launching pad for new WildCATS, Zealot and Michael Cray (AKA Deathblow) series.
“After long reflection, I couldn’t turn down the invitation to renovate the house that Jim Lee built, and refit its unique combination of cosmic paranoia and paramilitary conspiracy for the post-political space madness of the twenty-teens,” said Ellis. “Looking back to look forward.”
Founded in 1992 when Jim Lee left Marvel to help form Image Comics, WildStorm was independent until 1999, when Lee sold the studio to DC Comics and joined the company himself (where he now serves as co-publisher with Dan Didio). The imprint was shut down in December 2010, and in 2011 many of the WildStorm characters found their way into the New 52 relaunch of the DC Universe, including Grifter and Voodoo, who received their own series. Other characters from the line have also appeared in various titles. A new Apollo and Midnighter miniseries coincidentally starts tomorrow.
Which brings up the question — is this its own thing, or is it somehow tied to DC continuity? Given the events of Rebirth, will there be some sort of tie-in to that — will Dr. Manhattan show up to kick Grifter and company out of the New 52 and send them over to their own universe? Or will they just pretend they never showed up in the first place, and focus on the future? That seems to be working just fine for the Doom Patrol, but time will tell.
“There are precious few visionaries in our business and fewer still like Warren who can elevate mythos with both stylistic panache and idiosyncratic spectacle. His work at WildStorm remains the tone which best defines and reflects the WildStorm Universe,” said DC Publisher Jim Lee. “I know I speak for WildStorm fans the world over when I say I can’t wait to see what Warren and Jon have in store for fans in February!”
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