When it comes to previewing the Dawn of DC books, maybe taking a weekend off for WonderCon will only slow things down. “There are editors in this room I owe pages to,” joked writer Tom King. With Mitch Gerads by his side, King may be responsible for some 75 titles out of 73. While that’s an exaggeration, at least he does have some breathing room with The Penguin. DC delayed that book until August, possibly to make a closer tie-in to the upcoming HBO Max series. Both comics and television will be positioning Oswald Cobblepot as more of “the Scorsese Penguin. He’s just a very mean human being.”
Others in the room could breathe easier, as their books debut much sooner. Both Tini Howard and Sweeney Boo’s Harley Quinn #28 and Dennis Culver and Chris Burnham’s Unstoppable Doom Patrol #1 land in comics shops this week. Notice it’s a mix. Dawn of DC lies more as an umbrella than an event. Some books are new; some just get timed to have a new direction or creative team. King called it “…a DC renaissance.”
In addition to wrapping up Danger Street, King and Gerads will launch a new The Brave and the Bold. The first four issues don’t seem to be following the traditional format associated with that title. Instead, it’s a retelling of a story from 1940’s Batman #1. For those not dangerously steeped in comics history, that’s the first Joker story. Gerads called it “…a scary, creepy retelling,” intriguing the audience with the promise of an artistic device in how the Joker interacts with people. But he doesn’t want to reveal it yet. At least he confirmed that his obsession with Batman: The Animated Series will shine through.
A few weeks ago, King was revealed to be the new writer of Wonder Woman. Teamed with artist Daniel Sampre, King sees this as the opportunity to get back to the Amazon’s roots. From her very creation in 1940, she was a rebel with a theme of “I am different and I am awesome because I’m different.” That’s not to say King made an assumption. Approaching this assignment, he read many people’s opinions about what makes Wonder Woman great. And as he has a daughter, he wanted to write a book for her.
“I do lots of books that are men looking down into their belly button and crying,” he told the audience. “But I also do books that are just good superhero stories.”
To other good superhero stories, the panel turned to Dennis Culver. He has a difficult job melding many interpretations of the team — including the HBO Max series — with a new role. Though they are “outcasts of the DC Universe,” Culver has recast them as superhero first responders. In the wake of the Lazarus Rain, normal humans suddenly find themselves changed. Someone has to help them adjust. The Doom Patrol won’t be training new metahumans for some anticipated war a la X-Men. They just want to help people live.
That said, Culver and artist Chris Burnham are introducing a new character, Beast Girl. Nodding back to Beast Boy’s origins with the Doom Patrol, Culver likes the contrast of a hopeful young hero bringing different energy to an often cynical team. She has one key power Beast Boy doesn’t. In addition to being “adorable” in Burnham’s design, she can mess with people’s fight or flight response.
To spur collectability, DC will be releasing Unstoppable Doom Patrol with five variant covers. The catch is that even if you buy one, you don’t know which one you get because they’ll be scratch offs like a lottery ticket. As the new “Chief” will actually be one of Crazy Jane’s personas, the cover focuses on her looking into a mirror. The fan has to scratch to see which persona looks back.
I’ll be honest — I don’t love this. I want new fans to just fall in love with the Doom Patrol, and everything else about this book should be enough. But I’m a grumpy old fanboy, so… scratch away!
Of course, any soft reboot of the DC Universe needs a Green Lantern or 3600. Writer Jeremy Adams seems to be taking Hal Jordan back to his 1970s portrayal. A bit rootless after years away in space, Hal is now trapped on Earth for reasons that will unfold. He has to find his place in a world that moved on without him. Adams characterizes his writing as having two speeds: 80s action movies and teeny bopper romances. His take on Green Lantern sits between The O.C. and Cliffhanger. Is artist Xermanico up to bringing that to life? You be the judge with this preview art.
Giving hope to some internet journalists, writer Morgan Hampton has made the transition to comics. The former comics journalist was recruited into the Milestone Initiative, and turned loose in the Dawn of DC. Teamed with veteran artist Tom Raney and able to tap Marv Wolfman on the shoulder, Hampton tackles Cyborg. Like Hal Jordan, Victor Stone has to reconcile who he was with who he is, and thus goes into therapy. Bringing Victor Stone back to Detroit, Hampton will explore the souls of both Vic and the city. But first he begged Raney to put Cyborg in some clothes.
Back to the beginning of this piece with the upcoming Harley Quinn and Catwoman transitions by Tini Howard. She offered a simple and insightful reason she can take these books into new territory. “A lot of my co-workers are men,” she said. “I can explore areas that other writers haven’t been comfortable with.” Writing two lead characters who aren’t exactly heroes seems to be right in her wheelhouse. “I like grey,” she said. “One of the strengths of women is how we act when we’re backed into a corner,” she continued. That means she plans on backing both Harley and Selina into dark corners of Gotham.
For Harley Quinn, Howard loves collaborating with artist Sweeney Boo. “She doesn’t NEED me,” she mock complained. Their take brings Harley back around from the post-ironic version most people now know from movies and the animated series. Now she’s a character who may be overly sincere. But there’s inspiration and truth to Howard’s viewpoint on the character. As someone who has dealt with mental illness much of her life, the writer knows that “… sometimes the things in your life you want to preserve are hard to preserve when you feel like you have the weight of mental illness on you.”
With Catwoman, the writer wanted to put Selina in an unglamorous situation. The character will begin in jail for murder, not knowing what she’s going to do. Trying to bring the Gotham crime families under her control, she is at least stuck in a building with a lot of mob-connected women, the daughters and girlfriends of powerful criminal figures. At the same time, one of her mentees fights in the streets as a different kind of Catwoman. (Confession: I’m not familiar with the current status quo but Howard has me intrigued.) This seems like it might connect directly to The Penguin.
Also intriguing, Mitch Gerad outing The Penguin writer Tom King as someone who writes sound effects as if they were memes said by a cat. Now it’s full circle, and Dawn can break into Day.
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