Okay, so we have a lot to get through here so I’m going to save all of you the filler and get right to it.
First, DC finally officially announced Villain Month over at Buzzfeed of all places (with the above image coming from USA Today). The gist of it is pretty much the exact same as what we saw last year with Zero Month. Basically, for the whole of September DC will be numbering all of as .1 issues (gee, I wonder where they got that idea from?) and each issue will be focusing on a villain to challenge the usual hero of the series. Also, all of the covers will be in 3D. Yeah, you read that right; 3D covers to go right alongside your die-cut “Death And The Family” covers and upcoming embossed “Zero Year” covers.
So far the announced titles go a little something like this (now updated with books revealed at CBR and Crave Online):
- “Superman” will be replaced by”Bizarro”
- “Detective Comics” will be replaced weekly by “Poison Ivy”, “Harley Quinn”, “Scarecrow” and “Man-Bat”
- “The Flash” will be replaced by “Grodd”
- “Action Comics” will be replaced by “Cyborg Superman”
- “Green Lantern” will be replaced by “Relic”
- “Batman: The Dark Knight” will be replaced by “Ventriloquist”
- “Justice League” will be replaced by “Darkseid”
- “Justice League Dark” will be replaced by “The Creeper”
- “Earth 2” will be replaced by “Desaad”
- “Batman And Robin” will be replaced by “Two-Face”
- “Batman” will be replaced weekly by “Joker”, “The Riddler”, “The Penguin” and “Bane”
- “Green Arrow” will be replaced by “Count Vertigo”
- “Justice League of America” will be replaced by “Deadshot”
And Batman will be tied up more faster than you count say “Jeez, Batman is really kinky, isn’t he?”
But, that’s clearly not all of them because, as DC keeps mentioning, they have 52 titles to cover so look to see the rest of the titles get announced as we draw closer and closer to September. You can check out what the 3D effects on the covers will look like thanks to .gif technology over at the Buzzfeed announcment.
The fun doesn’t stop there. Not only did DC announce Villain Month, they also announced “Forever Evil”. “Forever Evil” is going to be seven issue miniseries spinning out of the conclusion of the “Trinity War” crossover that will focus heavily on the villains of the DC universe by Geoff Johns and David Finch, focusing on an exploration of the DCU’s Villains. I’m hoping for a last minute return of Superman Prime. Now, that would shake things up.
In addition to that, the following new titles will be launching:
- “Forever Evil: Rogues,” by Brian Buccellato (“The Flash”) and Patrick Zircher (“Suicide Squad”) focusing on Flash’s rogues
- “Forever Evil: Arkham War,” by Peter Tomasi (“Green Lantern Corps”) and Scot Eaton (“X-Men”) and focusing on Arkham villains
- “Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S.,” written by Matt Kindt, starring Steve Trevor as he explores the dark corners of DC’s shadowy organization
With Kindt also taking the reigns of “JLA” to tell a Manhunter-centric story.
And you can also expect folks like Black Manta, Lex Luthor, Catwoman and Black Adam among others to take over some DC titles, if that above Finch illustration is to be believed.
Oh, and all books are going to be $3.99. In an effort to one-up last night’s Game of Thrones, DC has done their best to George RR Martin it up with the price of their books, assuredly causing just as much screaming, crying and woe amongst comic fans everywhere as any episode of GOT.
The other little tidbits that Dan Didio and Jim Lee let slip during the announcement were that they have big plans for the character Hush coming up and that “one of [DC’s] major recognizable characters will be affected in a very dramatic way” by “Forever Evil”. So, time to place bets. Where and how do you think Hush will show up in the New 52? Who do you think will be “affected” by “Forever Evil” and how will they be affected? Be sure to chime in.
For the full interview with Jim Lee and Dan Didio check out Buzzfeed, and for more on “Forever Evil” check out USA Today.
