DC Comics revealed more about Dark Nights: Metal and Dark Matter during a panel at San Diego Comic Con. The panel was moderated by DC Co-Publisher Dan Didio and featured the creative team for “Dark Nights: Metal,” Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Other Dark Matter creators such as Phillip Tan, James Tynion IV, Robert Venditti and Jeff Lemire were also present.
The panel began with the recently released image of the Dark Knights. Snyder described the characters, which are Batmen analogues of the Justice League, as “total nightmare Bruce Wayne Batmen,” and explaining how “in the dark multiverse, all your feelings about yourself become real.” It was also mentioned there’s a seventh Batman yet to be revealed, The Batman who Laughs. Each of the Knights are receiving a one-shot revealing the characters’ origins and their secret plans to destroy the universe.
Next, while bringing out the creative teams for each of the Dark Matter books, Dan Didio announced a new title: “Brimstone,” a horror book from writer Justin Jordan and artist Phillip Tan. Tan said the book was inspired by DC’s Vertigo imprint and meant to bring something underserved to the DC Universe.
Following that, the mysterious team leaked on the Dark Matter poster by Tom King during preview night and teased by Jeff Lemire on Twitter was announced. “The Terrifics” is a new book by Lemire and Ivan Reis seekung to recapture the feeling of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee’s “Fantastic Four.” The team will include Mr. Terrific, Metamorpho, Plastic Man, and Phantom Girl.
Lemire was also announced as the writer of “Hawkman: Found,” the sequel to Snyder’s “Batman: Lost.” Both one-shot stories tie into “Dark Nights: Metal.” Bryan Hitch and Kevin Nowlan will round out that creative team. Lemire teased that he just might be working on a Hawkman series but said nothing one way or another.
At the very end of the panel, “Batman: The Signal,” a new series featuring Duke Thomas as Gotham’s “hero by day,” was announced. It will be co-written by Tony Patrick.
Didio reconfirmed all the books will launch at $2.99 with no variant covers. He also set a new release schedule, saying “Immortal Men” and “Silencer” will launch in December with two books launching a month until they’re all out.
The rumor that Dark Matter artists are only on for three issues was not addressed. Kenneth Rocafort’s “Sideways” was mysteriously absent despite the panel’s moderator being credited as one of the book’s writers. Readers shouldn’t jump too far to conclusions though as the character does still feature front and center on the Dark Matter poster.
