DC Comics is starting to roll out the news and plans for this year's big event, Futures End at the ComicsPro Retailer Summit today. We've already seen the first solicitations for the event with the second new weekly series, The New 52 - Futures End, coming out in May (the first weekly series being Batman Eternal, launching in April). And now we're getting a third weekly series in October!
The third series is, so far, unnamed, and its length has not been announced yet either. What we do know for sure is that both Batman Eternal and The New 52 - Futures End will still be running come October. Which means DC will be releasing three concurrent weekly series! But before you get too upset about that, DiDio stated that after October, these three series would not be adding these books on top of other titles currently being published, but rather they would be taking the place of other books, resulting in about the same amount of monthly titles from the publisher that we're used to.
Dan DiDio told Newsarama in a statement and following full interview, that the industry needed another "boost" on the level of DC's universe reboot in 2011, and that's what they intend to do. The new unnamed weekly series will be taking place in the current DCU continuity while other books take place in the future. He also stated that the new book would be "much more world-building" than Batman Eternal, which focuses mainly on the Bat characters.
Also, several titles will be launching in June/July that will tie into these big event plans, which likely means other titles will be cancelled or put on hiatus for a time. These new series will be ongoing series, not one-shots or minis.
As far as The New 52 - Futures End goes, that series will show possible futures of our favorite characters and where they might wind up. Meaning the series isn't necessarily canon or set in stone, which should prove an interesting twist on the entire event, and create a backdoor to put things back the way they were should DC so choose.
If that wasn't shock enough, DC also announced that with the September event "Five Years Later," like with last year's Villains Month, they will be introducing more 3D lenticular covers. The Superman one can be seen here. DiDio said those covers did extremely well for DC last year, so it was a no-brainer to do them again.
Superman #35: Futures End SAMPLE COVER/NOT FINAL
DiDio also expounded on the details of Futures End a bit, stating that the story would actually begin 35 years in the future and work its way down to 5 years in the future And the basic idea behind Futures End is to present a way for the heroes to not end up with that ultimate future, but rather change it.
In the coming months, especially at San Diego Comic Con I'm sure, we'll see how these plans play out and just what kind of impact it has not only on the DCU, but on readers and the books they normally pick up. Like with anything, we will have to wait and see.
What are your thoughts about this big news? Three weekly series running concurrently, new ongoing series launching, implications felt in most books later in the year, and more 3D covers. Are you filled with excitement, dread or apathy? Let us know in the comments below!
Hoping they put out standard covers as well so I don't have to waste the extra cash on those stinky 3-D covers. This is all New 52 so I don't care much. Will buy based on artists.
ReplyDeleteGimmicks, gimmicks and more gimmicks. Right.
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