DC Rebirth has been all about bringing back what fans love about classic characters, and for recent issues of Batman that includes the palpable tension between Batman and Catwoman as they try to resolve their feelings for each other with their very different lives.
After a successful mission in South America, Tom King and Mitch Gerads' Batman #14 features Bruce and Selina having one last night together, and DC has provided us with an exclusive preview.
Every month, comic publishers release their solicitation announcements to provide information to readers and retailers on comics that are coming out in three months’ time, but there’s so much information dropped at once that a lot can slip through the cracks.
This month in DC's January solicitations, we've got some surprising guest stars, some surprising guest artists, and the debut of one of the most ambitious books DC has published in a decade.
When Tom King and Mitch Gerads launched Sheriff of Babylon, one of the most striking things about it --- aside from the fact that it's one of the only DC Comics that has to be run by the CIA before publication --- was its use of sound effects. In an interview right here at ComicsAlliance, King mentioned that he lifted the idea from the first issue of Y The Last Man, but still, those three big gunshots that united that first issue's three disparate stories were enough to make a pretty big impression.
So with that in mind, it's nice to see that they're still around as the series heads into its tenth issue. Check out an exclusive preview.
The codename "Vigilante" has been around for 75 years at DC Comics. Originally appearing in 1941's Action Comics #42 as the nom de guerre of country singing motorcycle cowboy Greg Saunders, it's been handed down through the ages to a handful of other heroes who operate outside the law, and now, a new hero is stepping into the costume for a story that DC promises will tackle "gun violence, class struggle and Black Lives Matter."
The character is Donny Fairchild, and in October, he'll be appearing in The Vigilante: Southland, a six-issue miniseries from writer Gary Phillips and artists Elena Casagrande and Giulia Brusco, with covers by Mitch Gerads.
The first issue of Tom King and Mitch Gerads' Sheriff of Babylon was notable for a whole lot of reasons. For one thing, it was the first Vertigo comic that had to be run by the CIA before publication thanks to the influence of King's time working as a consultant during the Iraq War, but for another, it was quite simply an incredible first issue. Three separate stories, each punctuated by gunshots, setting the stage for a murder mystery set during the reconstruction of Iraq.
Now, the second issue is bringing those threads together, as Christopher and Nassir meet to discuss their investigation in what has to be the most tense lunch since... well, probably since we all saw our relatives over the holidays. Check out an exclusive preview!
Tom King might have the most impressive résumé in comics. Long before he became one of the breakout stars of superhero comics with books like Grayson and Omega Men, he specialized in counter-terrorism, including working for the CIA in Iraq. Now, he's drawing on those experiences for The Sheriff of Babylon, a new ongoing series from Vertigo with artist and co-creator Mitch Gerads.
To find out more, I spoke to King and Gerads about the origins of the project, their approach to research, and the three characters taking center stage in their crime story.
Vertigo is making a big push with its 12 new series this fall, with an impressive roster of creators including Gail Simone, Holly Black, Peter Milligan, Gilbert Hernandez, Darwyn Cooke, and Micheal Allred.
Survivors’ Club, The Twilight Children, Clean Room and Art Ops launch next month, followed by Unfollow, Slash & Burn, Red Thorn and Jacked in November. The four books rounding out the dozen are Sheriff Of Babylon, Lucifer, New Romancer and Last Gang In Town, all launching in December and solicited in this month's Previews catalog.
We have an advance look at those solicitations, and with it your first comprehensive look at the new Vertigo line-up. Check out the covers, creative teams, and synopses below, in order of release:
With most of its major hits and standout series having run their course months or years ago, Vertigo has been due for a renaissance for a while now. Judging from the announcements made at San Diego Comic Con late on Thursday, the publisher may be rallying, with 12 new series set to launch in the closing months of 2015 at a rate of one new issue #1 every week.
Those 12 titles include a couple of previously announced books that have been rescheduled, but enough new announcements to suggest that Vertigo means to impress with its ambition. Sci fi and the supernatural are inevitably well represented, and the roster includes veteran talents, emerging names, and a few cross-disiplinary transfers in the form of novelists Lauren Beukes and Holly Black — the latter on a relaunch of Lucifer — and Supernatural creator Eric Kripke.