DC Reveals 8 New Limited Series

[lordultimus]

DC Comics announced via USA Today Monday morning eight new miniseries debuting in 2016 that has the goal to "freshen up and contemporize" some classic characters, according to co-publisher Dan DiDio.

In 2016, DC will launch Swamp Thing, Metal Men, Raven, Firestorm, Katana: Cult of the Kobra, Metamorpho and Sugar & Spike. Some of the series will be written by the characters' original creators. The list of titles and writers are:



Swamp Thing by writer Len Wein




Metal Men by writer Len Wein




Katana: Cult of the Kobra by writer Mike W. Barr




Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life & Death by writer Amy Chu




Metamorpho by writer Aaron Lopresti



Sugar & Spike by writer Keith Giffen


And the one's I don't have scans for:
Raven by writer Marv Wolfman
Firestorm by writer Gerry Conway

"We want the best writers working on our characters, and these are the best writers for these characters," said DiDio.


Of Raven, Marv Wolfman says it's a way to to tap into the renewed popularity of the character from the Teen Titans Go! animated series.

"When I go to comic conventions it thrills me to see all the young fans cosplaying as Raven from the Teen Titans GO! cartoon show," said the long-time Teen Titans writer. "Because so many comic fans are boys, it's wonderful that there's something about her that connects with both girls and boys."

One title that will be featuring a decidedly different take on its characters thans seen before in comic books or animation is Keith Giffen's Sugar & Spike.

"They're not spoiled kids anymore," explained DiDio," but they're older and they're operating as private investigators handling problems and mysteries that the superheroes can't handle themselves."

USA Today describes these upcoming series as tweaks to these character similiar to what's been done to Batman and Superman in their comic book series, with an intent to gain more interest in the characters.

"This is about character but there is a complete story in every one of those miniseries," said DiDio. "It has a beginning, middle and end, and something that affects the course of that character that we would be able to launch and take further if things are successful."

Comments

[beyondthefringe]

Huh.
Not sure I like how the Metal Men look geared for war, with guns and blades, but maybe.

I see what looks to be Halo in her "original" glowy light ball form with Katana. Intrigued.

I wonder if Poison Ivy is getting some sort of Swamp Thing treatment with past incarnations of the Green.

None of these completely turn me off, but I will need more info before I make up my mind. DC has disappointed me a lot with their reinterpretations of characters over the past few years... like that Blue Devil/Black Lightning revamp.

I wish they'd brought in some other fresh blood, because as much as I like seeing Barr and Conway get another whack at characters they've handled in the past, I wonder how they'll do with the new DC status quo, and if we'll see them try to invoke the past or adapt for the future. (And of course, with the exception of Amy Chu, it's like where's the diversity?)

[sarahnewlin]

IVY'S GETTING HER OWN SERIES?! EEEEE!!!!!!

[captainbellman]

I KNOOOWWW! Here's hoping Chu has a good handle on her.

[doodleboy]

Slightly miffed that we're not seeing the art credits.

Hm... Never heard of Amy Chu before, interesting. Honestly DC needs new blood.

[aperturedreams]

Here's a Sugar & Spike scan http://www.comicbookresources.com/imgsrv/imglib/0/0/1/SugarNSpike-3c609.jpg

[lordultimus]

Thanks! Edited.

[dragontail]

Is it just me, or has Platinum been drawn with realistic proportions and body shape? Or, at least, more realistic than normal?

I hope it's not just me because I'd really like to be happy about something pop-culture related today...

[kamino_neko]

Her hips and waist are pretty reasonable. The boobs are weird, though. Not, like, excessively huge or anything, more 'Magnus should probably have consulted an anatomy book to figure out where they're supposed to be placed'.

[mrstatham]

WE NEED TO REVAMP THESE CHARACTERS TO MAKE THEM MORE CONTEMPORARY AND APPEALING TO AUDIENCES!

*promptly hands some of them to some of the oldest writers they have in their stable and includes fucking Swamp Thing*

Fingers REALLY on the pulse there, DC. Swamp Thing just had perhaps his best run since Moore with Soule's work, and while I know Wein and Wolfman played a hand in making some of these characters, their recent track record is not the best.

[q99]

Ivy's the one out of these that seems like it's going to break out.

[icon_uk]

Except the complaint that is levelled against most of the revamps is "These writers just don't GET what these characters were all about in the first place"

This time around DC has given them, in some cases, to the people who created them in the first place and who would understand those characters better than anyone.

[katefan]

Katana, Firestorm, Metal Men and maybe Metamorpho have me interested. I'll be very interested in seeing which incarnation of Firestorm they'll use. Is it too much to hope for them to go back to the Ronnie Raymond/Prof. Stein team up? With them being featured in The Flash it makes sense.

[icon_uk]

I'm sort of torn on Firestorm, lining them up with The Flash/Legends of Tomorrow makes sense for cross marketing so we'd be back to Ronnie/Prof Stein, but I'll miss Jason.

[dragontail]

Actually, it appears Ronnie isn't going to be in Legends (Amell is off filming X-Files), so it may well be Jason.

'Course I'm happy with any combination of the three gents... or even (dares to dream) all three of them alternating... so this'll likely be the first set of cash DC's earned from me in quite some time.

[alschroeder3]

Actually most of them sound like fun---

With the exception of that abomination of SUGAR AND SPIKE. I know RUGRATS stole the premise from SUGAR AND SPIKE, but why in the world should I be interested in a grown Sugar and Spike?

Will a grown Bernie the Brain challenge Lex Luthor and Niles Caulder for the top genius position in the DCU?

Keith Giffin writing this---?

I like Keith. But I don't have high expectations for this one.