Wednesday Comics is to be the next 12 issue weekly series launched, with multiple creative teams and a brand new format!
This is the teaser image released for DC’s newest weekly comic project. According to Dan Didio on Newsarama: The concept is that we are trying to recapture the spirit, format, and sense of enjoyment that people had form reading the Sunday comics that arrive in newspapers every week, So, for this 12 week period, we’re creating 16 weekly strips that will be presented in newspaper format, which will feature some of our primary characters, as well as some of the premiere creators in the business.”
Each feature will take up exactly one page, but they will be HUGE pages according to DC Comics Art Director Mark Chiarello who according to Didio, deserves the credit for this idea and put it all together.
“The publication size is 14 inches wide by 20 inches tall, so it’s big. That’s the front page – so when you open it, it gets 28 inches wide, so it’s an enormous page. So for 12 weeks, that “cover” will be an installment of the Brian Azzarello/Eduardo Risso Batman story. Page 2 will be Sgt. Rock, and so on. So essentially, it’s 12 big-ass pages. Each story takes up one whole page, with no staples. It’ll be just like the Sunday funnies you read as a kid,” says Chiarello.
The pages will have to be unfolded and opened to read and there will be an average of sixteen panels per page. There will also be sixteen features. And so far, this is what we know about the features and creative teams behind them. All these features will be out of continuity.
Brian Azarello (writing)/Eduardo Risso (art)- Batman
Adam Kubert (writing)/Joe Kubert (art)- Sgt. Rock
Ben Caldwell (writing and art)- Wonder Woman
Neil Gaiman/Mike Allred- Metamorpho
Jimmy Palmiotti/Amanda Conner- Supergirl
Kurt Busiek/Joe Quinones- Green Lantern (Hal Jordan, it looks like)
Kyle Baker (writing/art)- Hawkman
?/Sean Galloway: Teen Titans
?/Karl Kerschl (judging from teaser)- Flash
Other features are: Adam Strange, Catwoman, Demon, Deadman, Kamandi, Superman, and the Metal Men.
Creators not yet linked to features are: Paul Pope (who according to Chiarello is doing ” a 1950s style sci-fi strip” making Metal Men his likely choice), Walt Simonson, Dave Bullock, Dave Gibbons, Ryan Sook, John Arcudi, Lee Bermejo, and Eddie Berganza. More will be announced at a later date, along with an official pairing of creators and characters.
Various creators have already released images and information related to their features. Sean “Cheeks” Galloway is the lead character designer on the Spectacular Spiderman cartoon, and here are the characters from his “Teen Titans” feature, straight from his blog :
So the team will consist of Robin (Tim Drake), Miss Martian, Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark), Kid Devil and Ravager.
Kyle Baker also made available several of this Hawkman pages, all which are posted at The Pulse.
On his blog many moons ago, Baker described the feature like this: By the way, just for the fans, I’m making this story the bloodiest and most depressing story ever! Full of realism! HAWKMAN’S WORLD WILL BE CHANGED FOREVER! I’ve revealed too much. I can say no more.”
Joe Quinones also posted some Green Lantern teaser images on his blog:
Ben Caldwell posted a lot of Wonder Woman stuff on his blog; He’s previously handled Wondy by doing illustrations for the Wonder Woman children’s novel “The Journey Begins”.
He posted on his message board: “my original story was going to concentrate on the origins of WW and the amazons, working in a lot of mythic material that i think was been overlooked in the comics. as usual, TONS of research that is for nothing… DC gently steered me in a different direction. the new story will still focus on WW’s early days, but less of the amazon mythology. can’t say much more without giving away the story, but it will feature lots of classic WW villains like dr poison and cheetah, and also a lot of myths and history from around the world.”
Here’s some samples of the stuff he posted, check out his blog for color tests he put up, where he reveals his second WW story will take place in a Japanese lake, and the first at Gotham Plaza.
That’s all we have at the moment! Thanks to the new scans daily, Newarama and various other sites for this information!