The decade of pouches, big guns, variant covers and Image Comics will come back in a big way this November at DC — and on a smaller scale at Marvel. Both publishers will get “extreme” in their own ways later this year.
Let’s start with DC, who earlier this week announced a new Black Label Batman miniseries by none other than Marc Silvestri. Silvestri of course is one of the founders of Image Comics and is one of the names synonymous with 1990s comics, when he launched Top Cow and introduced the world to Witchblade, CyberForce, The Darkness and many other comics.
Batman/The Joker: The Deadly Duo finds the caped crusader teaming up with his worst enemy.
“Batman and The Joker are two of the world’s most iconic characters and have been at each other’s throats for more than 80 years,” Silvestri said. “I always thought is would be pretty entertaining to have them on the same side, so I wrote a story about it. Needless to say, stuff happens.”
The two are brought together when a mysterious enemy kidnaps Harley Quinn, around the same time that Jim Gordon goes missing and “mysterious, Joker-like creatures are stalking the streets of Gotham, collecting severed heads.”
Here’s a look at variant covers for the first issue:
And here’s a look at the covers for the second issue:
From Top Cow’s chief doing Batman, let’s switch gears and look at another Image studio. Jim Lee’s Wildstorm comes back in a big way in November with two new series. Let’s start with Waller vs. Wildstorm:
This is another Black Label miniseries, from the writing team of Spencer Ackerman and Evan Narcisse, and artwork by Eric Battle. Here’s the solicitation info:
WALLER VS. WILDSTORM # 1
In the early 1980s, as the Cold War stubbornly refuses to thaw, a new battle heats up…for the soul of the intelligence agency Checkmate. As the agency’s super-heroic public face, Jackson King—a.k.a. The armored Battalion, former leader of Stormwatch and the symbol of American might—has long suspected that Adeline Kane is up to dirty tricks overseas, engineering horrors that betray everything he believes about service to one’s country. But King doesn’t know that Kane has a clever new ally—an ambitious young woman named Amanda Waller. She has her own ideas about how metahumans can serve their country. And honor, dignity, and long lives don’t factor into them… National-security reporter Spencer Ackerman (The Daily Beast, Reign of Terror), comics and video game writer Evan Narcisse (Black Panther, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Batman: Gotham Knights – Gilded City), and veteran artist Eric Battle (Aquaman, Kobalt) celebrate WildStorm’s legacy of espionage-flavored superhero morality plays, pitting Stormwatch against the deadliest people in the DCU—including Deathstroke himself!
Written by SPENCER ACKERMAN and EVAN NARCISSE
Art by ERIC BATTLE
Cover by JORGE FORNÉS
Variant cover by ERIC BATTLE
1:25 variant cover by MIKE PERKINS
$5.99 US | 32 pages | 1 of 4 | Prestige Plus 8 1/2″ x 10 7/8″(all covers are card stock)
ON SALE 11/15/22
And then Matthew Rosenberg and Stephen Segovia will bring back WildC.A.T.S. as an ongoing series. It’s set in the DC Universe and will see the team facing off with the Court of Owls.
“WildC.A.T.S. has always been a mix of everything I love in comics,” Rosenberg said. “From the very first issue it exploded off the pages with the coolest characters, the most gorgeous art, the craziest ideas, and it was never afraid to be subversive, go harder, and push things further than its contemporaries. Now we’re smashing all of that good stuff full speed into the heart of the DC Universe. I’d say we’re going to be respectful and try not to break things…but that would be a lie.”
Here are covers, for both the first and second issues:
And solicitation info for the first two issues:
WILDC.A.T.S. #1
Spinning from the pages of BATMAN comes the senses-shattering new series! The HALO Corporation has gathered a motley crew of operatives, led by Cole “Grifter” Cash, who are going to make the world a better place…no matter who they have to kill! Working in the shadows of the DC Universe, this new covert team has been tasked with gathering an elite group of scientists for the first phase of their plan…but the ‘Cats mysterious leader, Void, might have other plans!
Written by MATTHEW ROSENBERG
Art and cover by STEPHEN SEGOVIA
Variant covers by JIM LEE, STANLEY “ARTGERM” LAU and BEN OLIVER
1:25 connecting variant cover by JEFF SPOKES
1:50 variant cover by ALAN QUAH
1:100 variant cover by DAN HIPP
1:150 pencil variant cover by JIM LEE
‘90s Cover Month variant cover by BRETT BOOTH and SANDRA HOPE
$3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 11/8/22
WILDC.A.T.s# 2
The mission has gone sideways for the ‘Cats team as they inadvertently run afoul of the LAST group they wanted to cross paths with…the Court of Owls! It’s the fight of the year with Talon vs Zealot!
Written by MATTHEW ROSENBERG
Art and cover by STEPHEN SEGOVIA
Variant cover by BEN OLIVER
1:25 connecting variant cover by JEFF SPOKES
1:50 variant cover by HOWARD PORTER
$3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 12/6/22
There’s also a Wildstorm 30th anniversary special in the works. It features stories from Rosenberg, Joshua Williamson, Brett Booth, Jim Lee, J. Scott Campbell and more. Some of the stories appeared in the WildStorm: A Celebration of 25 Years hardcover, while others are new. Covers!:
And solicitation info:
WILDSTORM 30TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL # 1
In 1992 Jim Lee changed the course of comics history with the founding of WildStorm Productions, which would revolutionize the business and launch the careers of so many top creators. 30 years later the impact of the imprint, character and creators is felt to this day! In honor of this legacy comes a 100 page giant that pays homage to the past…and looks toward the future! Part of this mammoth special will be reprinting—for the first time in periodical form!—short stories from the acclaimed WildStorm: A Celebration of 25 Years hardcover, including stories by Jim Lee, J. Scott Campbell, Brett Booth, Dustin Nguyen and more…and also included will be new stories featuring WildStorm characters in the DC Core line, charting their future in the DC Universe.
Written by MATTHEW ROSENBERG, JOSHUA WILLLIAMSON, BRANDON CHOI, J. SCOTT CAMPBELL, BRETT BOOTH, ED BRISSON, and more!
Art by JIM LEE, J. SCOTT CAMPBELL, BRYAN HITCH, BRETT BOOTH, and more!
Cover by JIM LEE
Variant covers by SOZOMAIKA, BRYAN HITCH, JOSHUA MIDDLETON, J. SCOTT CAMPBELL, and LEE BERMEJO
1:25 Glow in the Dark cover by JEFF SPOKES
1:50 Foil Variant by SOZOMAIKA
$7.99 US | 96 pages | Prestige | One-shot (all covers are card stock)
ON SALE 11/29/22
And finally from DC, something that doesn’t have its roots in those early days of Image Comics — a collection of variant covers that pay tribute to DC’s own output during the era. They include everything from Superman’s mullet to Batman vs. Bane to Jim Balent drawing Catwoman again:
Here’s the complete list of artists and issues. Bolded covers will be embossed, just like in the 1990s:
- Action Comics #1049 by ROGER CRUZ
- Batman #129 by RYAN BENJAMIN
- Batman Incorporated #2 by CHRIS BURNHAM
- Batman vs Robin #3 by CARLO BARBERI
- Batman/Superman World’s Finest #9 by CHIP ZDARSKY
- Batgirls #12 by PAULINA GANUCHEAU (to be revealed)
- Black Adam #6 by
CARLO BARBERIPete Woods - Catwoman #49 by JIM BALENT
- Detective Comics #1066 by KYLE HOTZ
- Harley Quinn #24 by JONBOY MEYERS
- I am Batman #15 by KHARY RANDOLPH
- Nightwing #98 by BRIAN STELFREEZE (to be revealed)
- Superman: Son of Kal-El #17 by STEVEN BUTLER
- The Flash #788 by TODD NAUCK
- The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing #2 by KELLEY JONES
- Tim Drake: Robin #3 by TODD NAUCK
- WildC.A.T.s #1 by BRETT BOOTH and SANDRA HOPE
- Wonder Woman #793 by JEN BARTEL
Not to be left out, Marvel has also announced their own round of variant covers Now technically these covers are in honor of the relaunch of X-Treme X-Men, a title that first debuted in the 2000s, but how can you not think of the 1990s when you hear the word “extreme”? And the aesthetics on display in the art certainly fall into that area; they even brought in Rob Liefeld, founder of Extreme Studios, to draw Deadpool again:
Here’s the full list:
On Sale 11/2
BLACK PANTHER #11 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by TAKASHI OKAZAKI
CAPTAIN MARVEL #43 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by FEDERICO VICENTINI
DEADPOOL #1 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by ROB LIEFELD
On Sale 11/9
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #13 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by RYAN STEGMAN
AVENGERS #62 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by MIKE McKONE
CAPTAIN AMERICA: SENTINEL OF LIBERTY #6 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by NIC KLEIN
DAREDEVIL #5 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by SCOTT WILLIAMS
FANTASTIC FOUR #1 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by PHIL NOTO
GHOST RIDER #8 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by MARTIN COCCOLO
MARAUDERS #8 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by TODD NAUCK
MOON KNIGHT #17 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by PACO MEDINA
SPIDER-MAN #2 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by IVAN SHAVRIN
On Sale 11/16
SHANG-CHI AND THE TEN RINGS #5 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by CULLY HAMNER
SHE-HULK #8 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by DIKE RUAN
On Sale 11/23
CAPTAIN AMERICA: SYMBOL OF TRUTH #7 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by KEN LASHLEY
On Sale 11/30
CARNAGE #8 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by JONBOY MEYERS
NEW MUTANTS #32 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by GERARDO SANDOVAL
STRANGE ACADEMY: FINALS #2 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by DAVID BALDEON
THANOS: DEATH NOTES #1 X-TREME MARVEL VARIANT COVER by LEINIL FRANCIS YU