Last October, at New York Comic Con, we chatted with Steve Orlando about some of his future work at DC. One of the things we discussed was “The Unexpected” written by Orlando with art by Ryan Sook. Today, DC revealed that “The Unexpected” #1 will release some time in June with some new insights from the creators as well as some character designs from Sook.
In case you’ve forgotten, “The Unexpected” consists of the characters Neon the Unknown, Ascendant, Firebrand, and Viking Judge, a group of characters who have done something “unforgivable.” In DC’s statement today, Orlando and Sook provided more details about the upcoming series and the characters involved, as well as the book’s villain. Orlando compared the book to Stephen King’s The Dark Tower in that “The villain of this book, Alden Quench, is really a citizen of the Multiverse, the same way that [The Dark Tower‘s] Randall Flagg was,” and “As someone who has walked between the multiversal raindrops, Quench is someone who immediately brings that level of scale to ‘The Unexpected.’” According to Orlando, the book will intertwine books like “Dark Nights: Metal” and “Final Crisis,” with ties to events going as far back as “Infinite Crisis” and “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” Although he says readers needn’t read the aforementioned comics, Orlando does say that “Metal” and “Final Crisis” have a big impact on the book:
We want this book to act as a unifier for the DCU. Just look at the tagline, “To Prevent Crisis, Expect the Unexpected.”
Of the new characters, Orlando says “They’re four all-new characters, much in the way in the other New Age of DC Heroes books are handling it. Some of these names are carrying on DC tradition.” Ryan Sook added “the one character we got right, right off the bat was Firebrand. She really came to life right away, so that design hasn’t changed from day one.” According to the creators, Firebrand must get into a fight every 24 hours or she’ll die. Literally, “she has to pick fights, she has to push envelopes, or her heart will stop beating. She’ll drop dead,” Orlando said. Sook continues about his process saying “What I was really hoping to do was give the characters a lasting visual impact, something that will look new and unique but at the same time have the familiar characteristics that you’ll be drawn to in a superhero team comic.”
Finally, Orlando and Sook say that the most exciting thing about the book is experiencing new parts of the DCU neither creator has had the chance to dabble with. Sook adds “When you’re working with characters like Superman or Batman, you get to handle them with a ton of love and care, but you also have to approach them with a level of caution. There’s a fanbase, there’s continuity, there’s an audience. What I love about ‘The Unexpected’, and this group of characters, is that right off the bat, we don’t have to be careful.”
“The Unexpected” will hit comic book shelves in June, so keep your eyes peeled for what seems to be a new and exciting comic.
