DC announces ‘Dark Crisis’ event series

Joshua Williamson and Daniel Sampere team up for a crossover that spins out of ‘Justice League’ #75 and pays tribute to DC’s past.

DC has announced their next big “Crisis” crossover series, following on a long tradition of using the term, whether said crisis is Infinite, on Multiple Earths, Final or, um, “Identity.” (Maybe it’s best to skip that last one).

This particular crisis ties back to Crisis on Infinite Earths, the landmark 1980s series by Marv Wolfman and George Perez that reduced the multiverse to a single Earth and introduced us to Pariah, who watched multiple universes die after his own did. It also has roots (appropriately) in one of my favorite stories from Swamp Thing, issue #50 by Alan Moore and Stan Woch, which saw Swamp Thing and his allies attempting to save Heaven from “The Great Darkness.” Finally, it’ll spin out of Justice League #75, due out in April, where the team will die at the hands of “a new  Dark  Army  made  up  of  the  DCU’s  greatest  villains.”

Dark Crisis will run for seven issues and is written by Joshua Williamson, featuring art by Daniel Sampere, colors by Alejandro Sánchez and lettering by Tom Napolitano.

Dark Crisis is an epic DCU event about legacy,” said writer Joshua Williamson. “It will have all the giant, fun cosmic battles and Multiversal set pieces, but it’s not about reboots, retcons, or rewriting time and space. At its core it’s about the characters and the relationships that we’ve seen built over DC’s great history. Dark Crisis spins out of Justice League 75 ‘Death of the Justice League’ and connects all the story threads across the DCU since Infinite Frontier #0 in a major way. Unifying the new legacy of the DCU as we honor the classic. You can’t miss it!”

Here’s a teaser trailer:

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Lemire + Mahnke send Swamp Thing to ‘Green Hell’ in December

Alec Holland fights for the last humans alive in the new Black Label miniseries.

Jeff Lemire, Doug Mahnke and David Baron will take Swamp Thing to the end of the world in a new DC Black Label series, as Alec Holland fights for the fate of humanity in Swamp Thing: Green Hell.

The three-issue “prestige” series will debut Dec. 28.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | ‘Infinite Frontier,’ ‘Nocterra’ and more

This week brings new comics by Keanu Reeves, Dan Rather, Scott Snyder, Tim S. Daniel, Chris Samnee, Peach Momoko, Kalinda Vazquez, Carlos Gómez, Tyler Boss and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide each week to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital. This week sees a new one-shot setting up the return of DC’s regular titles, more King in Black tie-ins, new comics by Scott Snyder and Keanu Reeves, and much more.

Also this week I’m happy to welcome aboard Brigid Alverson, who will be helping to cover manga and other things she finds interesting each week.

Check out a few highlights below, or visit ComicList for this week’s full list of new comics arriving in stores, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.

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The State of Future State, Part 2

JK, Shane and Tom continue their look at DC’s Future State titles, this time around focusing on ‘Justice League,’ ‘Green Lantern,’ ‘Harley Quinn’ and ‘Swamp Thing.’

Following part one from earlier this week, Shane Bailey, Tom Bondurant and I are back to talk more about of DC’s Future State comics, roundtable style.

This time around, Shane and I finish off week one by discussing Harley Quinn and Swamp Thing, and then Tom rejoins us as we jump into week two’s Superman of Metropolis and Green Lantern.

As always, the timeline DC provided helps put these stories into context:

So let’s get to it …

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DC reveals additional creative team changes after ‘Future State’

DC held several panels at Brazil’s CCXP to announce new titles, creative team changes and more.

For two months, DC will focus on the future of the DC Universe as they present DC Future State in January and February. Limited series starring future version sof Superman, Batman, Wonder and more will temporarily replace their regular titles.

Come March, though, many of the creators bringing Future State to life will stay on to work on the ongoing titles as well. DC revealed many of these creative changes during CCXP, a big comics convention held in Brazil. This year, the event was held virtually, of course, and DC used it as an opportunity to highlight several of these changes.

Here’s a rundown of what we know so far on what to expect from DC’s regular line-up when it returns in March after their two-month hiatus:

(Note: I’ve updated this based on the press release from DC that came out Dec. 7, with new details and artwork)

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Swamp Thing blossoms again in March

Ram V and Mike Perkins, who will work on the character during Future State, will re-team for the new series.

Just in time for Spring, Writer Ram V and artist Mike Perkins will harvest a new Swamp Thing title in March. They will be joined by colorist Mike Spicer and letterer Aditya Bidikar.

The seeds for the new title will be planted during DC’s Future State event, as V and Perkins will work on a story featuring the character’s future self during January-February.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Zombies, vampires and more

New comics and graphic novels arrive this week from Scott Snyder, Howard Chaykin, Rafael Albuquerque, Peter Milligan, Jerry Craft, N.K. Jemisin, Jamal Campbell and more.

We are back with a look at what’s arriving in comic shops, bookstores and on digital this week.

If you’re wondering what to get this week, check out a few recommendations below. Comic List seems to be down right now, so I’ll have to direct you to Diamond’s new release list to see (most of) what’s arriving in comic shops, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.

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Rest in peace, Martin Pasko

After a career that spanned comics, TV and animation, the writer/editor passed away at 65.

Martin “Marty” Pasko, a writer and editor whose career span decades, has passed away at the age of 65, multiple sources have reported, including his friends and colleagues Paul Levitz and Mark Evanier.

During his long career, Pasko worked in many creative and editorial capacities, with much of his career spent in the comics industry and animation. His love for comics, though, started before that, as a fan and frequent contributor to letter columns.

“Marty connected with comics originally as a letterhack, with Julie Schwartz pinning the label ‘Pesky’ Pasko on him,” Levitz said on Facebook. “Whether commenting on the latest comic he read, the events of the day in politics, creative theory, or just making conversation, Marty had one of the sharpest wits of our generation, and opinions…oy, did he have opinions. I learned from him, learned by arguing with him, and took joy in ample helpings with the hamburgers or Chinese food we shared over the decades.”

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DC to release ‘100-Page Giant’ stories digitally

Starting today, look for daily almost-new comics through the DC Digital First program.

DC Comics today announced that they will make stories from their 100-Page Giant anthologies available digitally, starting today with a Superman story by Robert Venditti, Paul Pelletier, Drew Hennessy and Adriano Lucas. Additional stories will be added daily for at least the next week.

“Comic book fans want more access to content than ever before,” said Jim Lee, DC Chief Creative Officer and Publisher, in a press release. “This strategy is intended to get daily content to fans immediately, and also to ensure that when comic shops open back up for business, they will have new content and product that their customers will want. In the meantime, we will have properly stoked and protected the demand for comics, keeping fans interested in our characters and stories.”

Here’s the line-up for the next seven days:

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Comics Lowdown: Spiegelman withdraws essay after Marvel wanted to remove Trump reference

Plus: Hector Gonzalez Rodriguez III on the El Paso shooting, thieves caught selling comics to their actual owner; and more!

Marvel asked legendary comic creator Art Spiegelman to remove a line from his introduction for a new Golden Age comic collection for being too political. The essay refers to current president of the Unites States Donald Trump as an “Orange Skull.”

“In today’s all too real world, Captain America’s most nefarious villain, the Red Skull, is alive on screen and an Orange Skull haunts America”

The graphic novelist decided to withdraw his entire essay meant for a Folio Society deluxe collection and published it online at the Guardian, fully intact, and added a few paragraphs at the end about his experience with Marvel, being edited, and about how CEO of Marvel Entertainment Ike Perlmutter donated $360,000, the maximum amount allowed, to the “Trump Victory Joint Fundraising Committee.”

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DC adds two new Walmart titles, renames others

‘Flash” and ‘Swamp Thing’ join the line-up, with new material by Tim Seeley, Gail Simone and more.

DC Comics is adding two more titles to its slate of Walmart-exclusive comics, bringing the number from four to six. And they are renaming two existing ones.

The two new titles are Swamp Thing 100-Page Giant and Flash 100-Page Giant, and like the other titles in the line they will feature new stories packaged with reprints of previous stories. Justice League and Teen Titans, meanwhile, will get new names — the former becomes Wonder Woman, while the latter will shorten its name to Titans — no doubt to match the name of the show that can be found on DC’s streaming service.

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Wein’s final Swamp Thing story will appear in ‘Swamp Thing Winter Special’

The special will also include a new story by Tom King and Jason Fabok.

Before he passed away in September, Swamp Thing co-creator Len Wein was working with Kelley Jones on a follow-up to their 2016 miniseries featuring Alec Holland’s alter ego. Although the miniseries will never be finished, Entertainment Weekly reports that the first issue will appear in Swamp Thing Winter Special #1, with other stories.

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