Sorry we missed last week - we were very busy and had very little to report. But as Mrs Doyle might say, we're here now...
DC RELEASES FOR DECEMBER
If we'd written a waffle for last week, we'd have included the DC December solicitations. There are some interesting titles - including the long, long looooooooong awaited Batman/Catwoman from Tom King and Clay Mann. If you told me you wanted this you might want to tell me again, because this wasn't just solicited in the before times of long ago - issue #1 was originally supposed to be out in January 2020, so there's a chance I might've forgotten.
Check out everything over at Games Radar HERE.
MARK WAID RETURNS TO DC
If you've checked out the credits in the DC December solicitations you might have clocked that veteran writer Mark Waid is contributing a story to "Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Last Stories of the DC Universe anthology one-shot". (What is it with DC and these crazy long titles by the way?)
Waid hasn't worked for DC since 2008, and it isn't clear whether his contribution to the "Last Stories" anthology is a one off thing, or whether he be returning to pen some longer projects. Next year is the 25th anniversary of the first issue of Kingdom Come - that mid-nineties epic collaboration between Waid and artist Alex Ross which projected a bleakly optimistic future for the DC Universe.
It's widely regarded as one of the best things DC has ever published, and following the success of the republished Marvels, the epic mid-nineties collaboration between Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross which is widely regarded as one of the best things that Marvel ever published, and DC's current enthusiasm for sequels to past successes (yes, Doomsday Clock, I'm looking at you...) could we be in for Kingdom Went? (What? That's what I'd call it!)
Waid has also pitched a bunch of Superman stories over the years, and given that Bendis is quitting both Action Comics and Superman in December, could there be an opportunity for Waid to take over? Or might his sights be set instead on Shazam? He made comments to that effect at WonderCon back in 2017, and given that the current run of Shazam! is drawing to a close, he must at least have pitched for it, right?
As ever, we'll just have to wait and see.
5G REBOOT NOT HAPPENING AT DC
At the DC FanDome the other week, DC's Chief Creative Officer Jim Lee confirmed that the previously trailed but long presumed doomed "5G" reboot will not go ahead. Rather than starting the whole universe from issue #1 again as part of a massive event, like The New 52 or Rebirth, which seems to have been the original intention, Lee stated that DC would instead focus on individual titles.
5G, which was purported to involve dividing the DC Heroes into five generations, was a project favoured by former DC boss Dan DiDio, who was suddenly and unceremoniously fired back in February, so perhaps it's not that surprising that the current top brass at the publisher aren't interested in following DiDio's direction. Have to say, I'm happy they're not. No disrespect to DiDio, but I think the very last thing either of the big two needs right now is another massive reboot event.
Lee has indicated that he will instead be having characters evolve organically at a pace that suits their story, rather than having to force the story to fit into an event schedule. To my way of thinking, that can only be a good thing.
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