Tom Taylor + Daniele Di Nicuolo explore Arthurian legends in a new series at DC

Now this is interesting — DC has announced a new series by Tom Taylor and Daniele Di Nicuolo, and it doesn’t involve Batman, Superman or any of their existing characters. C.O.R.T.: Children of the Round Table draws from the legend of King Arthur, and Taylor called it “the first original IP in periodical form at DC Comics.”

I’m guessing he meant that it was his first original IP at DC, because DC has published things like Cinder and Ashe, Watchmen and Camelot 3000 in the past, which were also original stories set outside the regular DC Universe. But it’s not something we see on the regular these days.

The new series will introduce “an elite force known as the Camelot Corps,” which has “protected ancient secrets, waiting for the day when these myths are needed by the world. That day is today.” Colorist Rain Beredo and letterer Wes Abbott round out the creative team.

“Like King Arthur asleep in a mountain, waiting for the day he will wake, CORT has been in my mind, and in my drafts folder, for a long time,” said Taylor. “These brave young heroes will finally rise, and I couldn’t imagine anything more perfect than to partner with Daniele Di Nicuolo and DC Comics to bring them to the world. DC has some of the greatest heroic teams on the planet, like the Justice League and the Titans. Now a new team of champions is coming to take on a tyrant: the Children of the Round Table.”

DC shared more details on what to expect from the series:

Young Fel, Connor, and their friends are stunned when they’re almost crushed by a giant stone falling from the sky. Their lives are changed forever when they find a sword stuck fast in the stone. Fel pulls the sword from the stone, her friends all receive their own Arthurian legend, and the game is on for a new generation of champions!

These children of destiny will soon face a great evil. But they won’t do so alone. For these friends have been chosen to wield ancient, magical weapons. Great weapons bonded to knights of legend. Weapons that… speak? Weapons that argue. The bickering weapons are fused with the spirits of the Knights of the Round Table, and the kids have been chosen to wield these weapons as a new dark age falls upon the world.

“I’m thrilled to be on this new project,” said Di Nicuolo. “It’s exciting to be a part of a project that represents a first for DC, and I can’t wait for readers of all ages to join this band of new, young heroes!”

Here’s a look inside the first issue:

And here’s Nicoletta Baldari’s variant cover for the first issue:

Teh first 40-page issue will arrive Sept. 10.