In the October 2023 DC Comics solicitations, they’ve announced a one-shot prequel comic book for the upcoming Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom — you know, the sequel to the highest grossing DC movie ever — and I’m excited to say I’ve written a full-length BLACK MANTA story, drawn by the incredible Ray-Anthony Height.
Black Manta is unquestionably the baddest badass in the DCU (he could chump Deathstroke, no question — fight me!), so it was really fun to dig into him a little bit.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Special #1 Cover by Ivan Reis
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Special #1 Variant Cover by Jim Cheung
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Special #1 Variant Cover by Belen Ortega
The book hits on Oct. 31, featuring awesome covers from iconic Aquaman artist Ivan Reis, and variants by the amazing Jim Cheung and Belen Ortega. It’ll also have a photo variant featuring Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa.
Plus, there’s an Aquaman tale by Tim Seeley and Miguel Mendonca, as well as an Ocean Master story by Ethan Sacks and Scot Eaton. It’s gonna be good!
To paraphrase Vince Gilligan who is probably paraphrasing someone else, “I don’t enjoy writing so much as I enjoy having written.”
Part of that is because I can see how the finished product came out versus my grand plans at the conceptual stage, figure out where I could have improved, and make the next thing that much better.
To that end, since it’s now available for reading on DC Universe Infinite, I thought it’d be fun to do some quick notes on my Batman/Plastic Man story from Batman: Urban Legends #15, “Bending the Rules.”
This is both for readers who may want insight into the comic-making process and my intentions, and also for myself to take a more critical look at the final product.
Batman: Urban Legends #15 variant cover by Riley Rossmo
Page 1
Two things immediately jump out to me here — Pat Brosseau’s used his own font instead of something you typically see in a Batman book, and I love it. Also, artist Jason Howard keeping Batman in shadow for the whole first page is a great choice.
Some Easter eggs here: the first is obvious, which is that “Dixon Shipyard” is obviously a reference to longtime Batman scribe Chuck Dixon. I believe originally it was in the script as “The Gotham City Docks” or something and at the request of Editorial I gave it a real name.
The second is the character upon which this story centers: Brad Sampey. Brad is based on a very real friend of mine. He’s got the build of a bouncer, very tall, very imposing. He’s a huge Batman and DC fan, and a very long time ago he told me it was his dream to be a bodyguard to the Penguin.
A couple weeks back, DC Comics revealed their October 2022 solicitations and with it, my next Batman story — a 4-part arc called “The Murder Club” with the incredible artist Vasco Georgiev, who you may know from the current (and excellent) Aquaman/The Flash: Voidsong series.
To say that writing a full arc of Batman is a dream come true is an understatement, and who knows if I’ll have the opportunity to do so again, so I can promise that I’m going all-in on a Batman story I’ve always wanted to read.
It goes on sale October 11, so be sure to tell your favorite comics retailer!
Here’s just one of the incredible covers from this issue, by Edwin Galmon:
And before that, my short story with the incomparable Mikel Janin in Batman: Urban Legends #19 hits on September 13!
I’m so pleased to say that Pawn Shop, by me and Sean Von Gorman, is being published by Z2 Comics this fall, as announced by Publishers Weekly earlier today.
The book is currently available for pre-order on Amazon and at your local book and comic stores. If you were a Kickstarter backer or purchased one of the self-published editions from us at some point, your support means the world! If you enjoyed it, we’d love if you could continue spreading the word and get your local shops to order a copy or just tell a friend!
Spoilers for Game of Thrones. And early ’90s Superman comics, I guess.
Death in stories is important. Or at least, it should be.
Coming from comics, we’re used to death being a revolving door. Heroes and villains die frequently and eventually return. It’s part of the tapestry that makes superhero comics what they are. The impact of these deaths, when done well, is a source of great drama and character exploration. Their purpose is to reinvigorate the ongoing stories with a new status quo and open up new paths of storytelling. Likewise when the same characters return.
The most well-known example — and the best, I would argue — would be the death of Superman. By 1992 Superman had become sort of passe, an optimistic character in a pessimistic world. In an era of things like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, Superman had become almost anachronistic. The public’s wants seemed to be shifting, and this was reflected in Hollywood as much as in comics. 1987 delivered the ill-conceived and repugnant Superman IV: The Quest for Peace — an abysmal flop — while the grittier Dark Knight found smashing success in Tim Burton’s Batman only two years later. The era of the morally upstanding hero was done, it seemed, and the ’90s ushered in the era of the anti-heroes and grim avengers. More brooding, more bullets, more blood.
