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DC Launches ‘Dark Matter,’ A New Publishing Line

By | April 20th, 2017
Posted in News | 3 Comments

In the spirit of ‘Young Animal’ and ‘The Wild Storm,’ DC has launched a third small, contained line: ‘Dark Matter.’ Announced at the Diamond Retailers Conference and exclusively through Entertainment Weekly, the line is comprised around the idea of DC’s top talent working together on “new” (quotations purposely included) characters/titles. The books will all spin out of “Dark Nights: Metal,” the previously announced kick off to DC’s next big, universe-wide crossover. However, ‘Dark Matter’ seems to be focused, aside from that initial series, on new characters that won’t be, initially, too interlaced with the main DC Universe.

The other difference between this and other similar lines is that this appears to be very artist driven, with DC seemingly selecting their most beloved artists and pairing them with some of their top-line writers. Interestingly, aside from Andy Kubert and John Romita Jr, these are all artists intimately associated with the New 52, DC’s recently ended publishing initiative from 2011.

The announced titles are:

“Dark Nights: Metal,” written by Scott Snyder, illustrated by Greg Capullo.

“Dark Nights: Metal” is the previously announced DC crossover that will center around Batman and the Justice League.

“Sideways,” written by Dan DiDio and Justin Jordan, illustrated by Kenneth Rocafort.

“Sideways” will star “a teleporting teenager changed by the events of [“Dark Knights: Metal”].”

“The Silencer,” written by Dan Abnett, illustrated by John Romita Jr.

“The Silencer” will “focus on Honor Guest, the former world’s deadliest assassin now trying for a quiet life in the suburbs until (surprise!) her former life comes back to haunt her, and she must become The Silencer to protect her family.”

“The Immortal Men,” written by James Tynion IV, illustrated by Jim Lee.

This book is “a story about five immortal siblings who “operate from the shadows, recruiting the elite against the foes who seek to bring about Armageddon.”

“Damage,” written by Robert Venditti, illustrated by Tony S. Daniel.

This book sees “army recruit Ethan Avery granted the power to unleash an unstoppable monster for one hour at a time.”

“New Challengers,” written by Scott Snyder, illustrated by Andy Kubert.

The title is a reboot of “Challengers of the Unknown” with a new cast.

[Note: the Latin phrase translates roughly to “No day without a line”]

This video was released in association with the announcement:

A few observations from this lifelong DC fan:

– “Damage” is the name of a character introduced during the ‘Zero Hour’ crossover, though his name was Grant Emerson, and he was the son of the original Atom, Al Pratt. This character sounds like a cross between Damage and Hourman, which is an odd, though interesting, combination.

– “Challengers of the Unknown” is a property that many die-hards love, but has never really caught on in any of DC’s planned revivals. Most recently, it was part of “DC Universe Presents,” the New 52 anthology series, written by Dan DiDio and illustrated by Jerry Ordway.

– I can presume “Sideways” has nothing to do with Pinot Noir or Thomas Haden Church.

– Rocafort is an interesting choice to be placed among DC’s elite artistic talent. I’m a huge Rocafort fan, but he doesn’t quite feel on the same name-recognition level as the other artists. Good for him, though. Ditto Justin Jordan. I’m very happy for both of those creators to be recognized in this way.

– Does Dan Abnett sleep?

– DC3cast podcaster Vince Ostrowski had an interesting assessment: “Dark Matter sounds like the element that Batman discovers [in “Dark Nights: Metal”]. Is this DC’s Inhumans, with the element being their terrigen mist?”

– Three imprints later, and still no Milestone. On that notes? Lotta white dudes.

We will follow up with more on these titles as news is announced.


Brian Salvatore

Brian Salvatore is an editor, podcaster, reviewer, writer at large, and general task master at Multiversity. When not writing, he can be found playing music, hanging out with his kids, or playing music with his kids. He also has a dog named Lola, a rowboat, and once met Jimmy Carter. Feel free to email him about good beer, the New York Mets, or the best way to make Chicken Parmagiana (add a thin slice of prosciutto under the cheese).

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