Mark Waid – SMASH PAGES

SDCC | DC announces ‘Justice League Unlimited’ by Mark Waid + Dan Mora

The ‘Absolute Power’ team brings back DC’s premiere super-team with a fun, throwback title.

In the wake of Absolute Power, the Justice League will return to DC’s core universe in Justice League Unlimited by Mark Waid and Dan Mora.

The new title was revealed by DC in San Diego yesterday, following hints and teases in various places over the last couple weeks, including the solicitations for Absolute Power #4 and the Scott Snyder/Joshua Williamson All In video.

What’s really fun is the title itself, as Justice League Unlimited was of course the excellent DC animated series that wrapped up the series of cartoons that started with Batman: The Animated Series and grew from there. Like that program, perhaps the title hints that the team will have an open roster? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Dan Mora shared a cover on social media, which reveals at least some of the members: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Black Lightning, Satr Sapphire, Atom, Flash and Captain Atom.

DC reveals more details on their ‘All In’ line-ups

The publisher has shared creative teams and cover art for three Absolute Universe titles, along with plans for several DCU series in the post-‘Absolute Power’ era.

If you missed the YouTube video yesterday, DC has revealed their next publishing initiative, All In, which will see several creative team changes and the birth of a whole new universe. Headed up by Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson, the Absolute Universe will come into being thanks to Darkseid in October’s All In one-shot.

And today DC revealed some of the creative teams you can expect to see on some of the Absolute titles and the regular DC titles.

Starting first with the DC Absolute Universe — which is what they’re calling it in the press release, so we can assume that’s the official name — the line will launch with Absolute Batman by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta, as revealed yesterday. The first issue will come out Oct. 9. It’ll be followed by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman’s reinvention of Wonder Woman “from the ground up” in Absolute Wonder Woman #1, due out Oct. 23. Then you have Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval launching Absolute Superman #1 on Nov. 6.

“The creation of the AbsoluteUniverse is how I always imagined coming back to DC, and DC All In will be a great jumping-on point for new readers as well as lapsed fans to discover new stories to love and the chance to explore the new directions in store for DC’s core series lineup,” Snyder said in the press release.

Here’s more details and cover art for those titles, along with several DCU titles (which they refer to as the “Core Line” in the press release):

Mark Waid + Chris Samnee show us the early days of Dick + Bruce in ‘Batman and Robin: Year One’

The 12-issue series begins in October.

The creative team behind beloved runs of Daredevil, Captain America and Black Widow will bring their magic to DC this fall, as Mark Waid and Chris Samnee present Batman and Robin: Year One.

The series will focus on the early days of the relationship between Bruce Wayne and his new ward, Dick Grayson, as they navigate their new roles both as superheroes and father/son. It’ll also introduce a new mob boss, The General, and feature Two-Face.

“While Batman and Robin are the stars of this tale and get most of the panel time, at its heart, this isn’t a Batman/Robin story, it’s a Bruce/Dick story,” Waid said. “It takes place only a month or two after Bruce adopted Dick, and it’s sinking in for Bruce that he has no idea how to be a father to a kid that age. He has no role model—his own father was long dead by the time he was Dick’s age. Nothing he’s ever done has prepared him for this, and Alfred—wise as he is—doesn’t have much experience here either.”

‘Absolute Power’ corrupts absolutely in DC’s July titles

Amanda Waller and friends have big plans for DC’s heroes and villains.

DC has revealed more details about their upcoming Absolute Power crossover series, including a companion series titled Absolute Power: Task Force VII and Absolute Power: Origins, which will tell the “definitive history” of Amanda Waller.

These follow the Free Comic Book Day issue in May and the prelude issue that comes out in June that we learned about earlier this year.

The press release also gives some information on Amanda Waller and the Trinity of Evil‘s plans — using Failsafe, Brainiac Queen and Amazo to capture the super powers of every superhero and villain on Earth. As a squad of Amazo robots captures the powers of DC’s mightiest heroes, leaving them powerless, a “league” of resistors led by Batman starts to form. Each issue of Absolute Power: Task Force VII will be by a different creative team and will be focused on a different Amazo who has stolen someone’s powers, including Last Son (Superman), Depth Charge (Aquaman) and Jadestone (Green Lantern).

You can find more details on Absolute Power and the tie-ins below.

DC announces ‘Absolute Power,’ DC Finest and a return to Wednesdays

DC made several announcements during the ComicsPRO industry meeting this week.

If you’re wondering why so much comic news broke today, it’s because ComicsPRO, the Comics Professional Retail Organization, is hosting its industry meeting over the next three days. As a part of that meeting, comics publishers are presenting some of their future plans to attendees and, in many cases, releasing that news into the wild.

DC was one of many publishers on hand to talk to retailers, and gave several updates on their future plans. But let’s not bury the big news — DC announced at the conference that they plan to move the release of their new issues back to Wednesday. DC moved the release date of their comics from the traditional Wednesday to Tuesday back in 2020, when they moved away from Diamond to Lunar Distribution and other distributors. It was, and remains, a controversial move, and from what I’ve heard retailers gave this news a standing ovation at ComicsPRO today. The shift will occur in July.

In other news …

Slugfest | Soule + Alburquerque continue ‘The Shrouded College’ storyline in a new miniseries

Plus: News and announcements about Star Wars, Sea Serpent’s Heir, Richard Corben, Kingdom Come, Stranger Things and more.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. Hit the links for more information.

Charles Soule and Alberto Jiménez Alburquerque will present the second of seven interconnected miniseries in “The Shrouded College” saga that started with Soule and Will Sliney’s Hell to Pay.

The Bloody Dozen will run for six issues and kicks off in December.

Waid + Lupacchino revisit the original Teen Titans in a new series

‘World’s Finest: Teen Titans’ will spin out of Waid’s work on ‘World’s Finest.’

Readers of Mark Waid and Dan Mora’s World’s Finest know that the Teen Titans, Robin in particular, have played a key role in the series. Now the younger heroes who will one day become DC’s premiere superhero team will have their pasts explored in World’s Finest: Teen Titans by Waid and artist Emanuela Lupacchino.

“I’ve had so much fun writing the Teen Titans in Batman/Superman: World’s Finest that DC asked for more, and I couldn’t be happier,” Waid said. “Taking our cue from the main World’s Finest book, the series is set in the not-too-distant past, when Robin led the team—including Bumblebee and Mal Duncan—as they answered calls for help from kids worldwide and dealt with their celebrity status. The real fun for the wonderful Ema Lupacchino and me is revealing many surprising secrets about who each of the Titans really is. Even longtime readers will be stunned by these untold revelations.”

Waid + Hitch team for ‘Last Days of Lex Luthor’ Black Label series

The ‘JLA: Heaven’s Ladder’ team is back together for a story that spins out of ‘Superman: Birthright.’

Mark Waid and Bryan Hitch, who previously worked together on JLA: Heaven’s Ladder, will reunite for a new Superman miniseries under DC’s adult-oriented Black label imprint.

Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor will feature the Man of Steel traveling far and wide to find a cure for a dying Lex Luthor, and will extend the story Waid told in Superman: Birthright. Waid and Hitch will be joined by inker Kevin Nowlan and color artist David Baron.

“For the first time, Superman’s fighting the tide of public opinion, embarking on a mission that billions of people outright oppose. But he has his reasons—partly because of who he is, but partly because of a debt he feels he owes—and readers of Superman: Birthright might already guess what that perceived debt is,” Waid said. “Together, Superman and Lex are racing the clock in search of a cure as they travel the breadth of the super-universe, from Atlantis to Kandor to the Phantom Zone, all spectacularly re-imagined by Bryan Hitch.”

DC announces ‘Lazarus Planet’ event at New York Comic Con

Mark Waid will oversee an event that spins out of the upcoming ‘Batman vs. Robin’ series.

DC has announced a new crossover coming next year, Lazarus Planet, that spins out of Mark Waid’s work on both World’s Finest and the upcoming Batman vs. Robin series.

Lazarus Planet, a series of seven one-shots, will see the DC Universe “rocked to its core” as “dangerous and transformative chemicals” are released into the atmosphere, causing some ordinary humans to develop super powers and already empowered metahumans to find their abilities have changed. It’s chaos, baby!

NOTE: This story contains some spoilers for the upcoming Batman vs. Robin, which hasn’t even started yet.

Here’s the teaser art, which features Batman and Robin, as well as Power Girl, Poison Ivy, Cyborg and the Monkey Prince:

What Are You Reading? | World’s Finest, Shadow War Zone, Grim and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our look at what the Smash Pages crew has been checking off their “to read” list lately. Today’s edition includes thoughts on Batman: Killing Time and a new Shaolin Cowboy miniseries coming this week.

Let us know what you’ve been reading lately in the comments or on social media.

Waid + Asrar team for ‘Batman vs. Robin’ this fall

The event series will run for five issues beginning in September.

If things have seemed tense between Batman and Robin lately, well … as the saying goes, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

With a post that exclaims “The Bat is out of the bag!” artist Mahmud Asrar reveals that he’s working on a new Batman vs. Robin event series with writer Mark Waid and colorist Nathan Fairbairn.

“BATMAN vs ROBIN is a five part event by Mark Waid and I coming this fall from DC Comics to shake things up for Bruce’s world,” the artist said on both Tumblr and Twitter.

Humanoids will donate some proceeds from new graphic novel to benefit Ukraine

Portions of proceeds from ‘Makhno: Ukrainian Freedom Fighter’ will benefit the Ukrainian nonprofit Razom.

Makhno: Ukrainian Freedom Fighter arrives in stores this week, and publisher Humanoids has announced plans to donate some of the proceeds they make from it to the Ukrainian nonprofit Razom, which supplies medical aid to Ukrainian fighters on the front lines.

The graphic novel was created by Philippe Thirault and Roberto Zaghi, and was published through Humanoids’ Life Drawn imprint. It arrived in stores today.

It’s a fitting choice, as the graphic novel spotlights Nestor Makhno, the real-life Ukrainian revolutionary from the early 20th century, who served as the commander of an independent anarchist army in Ukraine. They fought the Ukrainian National Republic, the Central Powers of Germany and Austro-Hungary, the Hetmanate state, the White Army, the Bolshevik Red Army and other factions that sought to impose their authority over southern Ukraine.

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