Yesterday we told you about how DC plans to revive “National Comics” for a series of one-and-done stories featuring Z-List characters, but we only knew about Lemire and Hamner’s (Kid) Eternity story. Yesterday when we weren’t paying attention, though, DC revealed the full line-up, and now we’d like to share it with you for your Tuesday morning.
The line-up for the first wave of “National Comics” is:
ETERNITY, written by Eisner Award nominee Jeff Lemire with artwork by Cully Hamner, tells the story of police coroner Christopher Freeman. Given a second chance at life, Freeman discovers the ability to resurrect the dead. Now this clumsy wannabe detective partners with the recently deceased to find their murderers–and find them closure before they once again shuffle off this mortal coil.
MADAME X, written by Rob Williams with artist Trevor Hairsine and a cover by Fiona Staples, starts off with a clear vision of who did it – but the real challenge is trying to prove it. As an upstart law firm’s psychic consultant, MADAME X uses tarot cards to divine the truth behind cases, helping skeptical lawyers gather evidence that will hold up in court.
ROSE AND THORN, written by Tom Taylor with artwork by Neil Googe and a cover by Ryan Sook, is a Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde story about Rose Canton, a good girl with a very bad side: Thorn, an ass-kicking femme fatale out for revenge.
LOOKER, written by Ian Edington with art by Mike S. Miller and a cover by Guillem March, tells the story of Emily Briggs, a model who loved looking at herself in the mirror–until the day she couldn’t. Turned into a vampire, LOOKER prowls the dark underbelly of NYC’s elite modeling world, hunting all predators, including the creature that spawned her.
We snuck in links there about who the characters originally were, for those of you who are curious about them. It’s certainly an interesting line-up of characters, and while bringing back Kid Eternity ostensibly makes sense (they tried multiple times for him, including a four-issue Grant Morrison/Duncan Fegredo story you can grab in trade from Vertigo), the others essentially came and went. Why these four characters is an interesting question to be asking, although I would assume there is no great conspiracy to it outside of “well, because.”
Either way, that Madame X one-shot by Williams and Hairsine sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun, and is their first collaboration in a decade (probably) after doing “Cla$$war” together.
Eternity’s story hits in July, with the others to follow.
