Wednesday Comics- DC's next weekly series

[Sawyer]

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/030919-Wednesday-Comics.html

Sunday Comics on Wednesday? DC's New 'Wednesday Comics'
By Matt Brady
posted: 19 March 2009 04:11 pm

At a time when many newspapers are cutting back on their comics sections, DC Comics is looking to remind readers of the fun and excitement a full Sunday-sized comics section can offer.

Except they’re going to do it on Wednesdays.

The publisher today officially announced Wednesday Comics, a new 12-part weekly series launching this summer that will be presented in a 14” x 20” broadsheet format and will have to be unfolded and opened to be read. The "Wednesday" part of the title refers to the fact new comic books go on sale at comic book stores nationwide every Wednesday.

“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,” DC Sr VP and Executive Editor Dan DiDio explained to Newsarama. “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.”

DiDio credits DC Art Director Mark Chiarello’s passion and persistence for the project seeing the light of day.

“Mark really championed and fought for this,” DiDio said. “He has a real sense for putting together some of the more commercial projects we do, as well as some of the most eclectic and critically successful things we’ve done as well. He was instrumental in pairing Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee on Batman: Hush, he put together the teams on all the Batman: Black and White projects, and created the concept of the Solo series, which allowed some of comics best creators to come to a comic and do, literally whatever they wanted to do. Mark has an incredibly keen eye for story and art, and from the start was very passionate about this format – and how the stories would play out, and the art would be almost larger than life for the reader.”

Characters coming up in the pages of Wednesday Comics include: Hawkman (already linked to creator Kyle Baker art for which can be seen here), Batman, Adam Strange, Metamorpho (linked to Neil Gaiman and Mike Allred), Catwoman, Demon, Deadman, Kamandi, Superman, Sgt. Rock, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Teen Titans, Supergirl, Flash and the Metal Men . Each story will have its own full-page installment each week for the 12 issues. The stories may be standalone stories with each installment, or a 12-part serial – the choice was left up to the creators.

DiDio listed off names of some of the other creators joining Baker, Gaiman and Allred on Wednesday Comics: Brian Azzarello, Paul Pope, Walt Simonson, Dave Bullock, Dave Gibbons, Ryan Sook, John Arcudi, Lee Bermejo, Joe Kubert, Ben Caldwell, Kurt Busiek, Eddie Berganza, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner and Karl Kerschel. More will be announced at a later date, along with an official pairing of creators and characters.

“Mark had creators in mind that he wanted to work with, and he approached them and asked what they wanted to do and work on. We didn’t want to have any redundancies, so we shot for the widest breadth of storytelling we could, and I think we got it,” DiDio said.

Finally, DiDio stated that the stories in Wednesday Comics will not take place in current DC Comics’ continuity, but rather will be accessible by any and all readers. “All the creators are working to make sure that these stories are being created from the standpoint that the readers is someone who has never seen or read anything with the character before,” DiDio said, “And really capture both the essence of the character as well as the magic of comics.”

This... actually sounds kinda cool.

 

[Assassin]

cool

 

[Harlekin]

Yeah, sounds good. Now all I need is a price tag.

 

[SuperFerret]

Sounds interesting enough.

 

[Green Lantern]

I like the premise. AND that Kurt Busiek is doing a Green Lantern story.

 

[PWN3R]

Nice concept with mad talent behind it. Awesome!

 

[WompuM]

I don't dig it. Will these fold into normal sized books for storage purposes? And if Kyle Baker is as involved as they make it seem, well, count me out. Red, White, and Black did not do it for me.

 

[Green Lantern]

Yes, Womp, they fold to fit storage

 

[BrianWilly]

Hmm.

Will try on case by case basis.

 

[yenaled]

I think it sounds great.

If anyone remembers Solo this will be a lot like that (same Editor) which really was a wonderful series and allowed creators the freedom to showcase themselves.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'll give it a try. I'm not really into the fold-out format, but that's minor.

 

[Cosmic]

I think this is a good idea. Maybe it will bring in some new readers.

 

[Assassin]

is it printed out on news print?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Some art from Wednesday Comics

 

[WompuM]

the **** is Cassie wearing?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I have no idea, but it looks terrible.

 

[Dope Nose]

more art has been posted on Scans Daily.

 

[WompuM]

Ok, so Cassie is wearing 3/4 length grey shirt under a cut-off tan hoody/skirt under her old costume, which now has pockets and a zipper. Under the hoody/skirt, she is either wearing half a pair of blue jeans, or she has one leg of her 90's gangsta rap blue jeans tucked into her storm trooper boots. Red Devil is not Asian somehow.

The good news is, if they made these designs into action figures, they would have to trouble standing up without falling.

When will people remember that Robin's cape is spiky like Batman's now?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Meh to the art and Ravager on Teen Titans, good art on Hawkman and GL but meh to the characters, good art on Wonder Woman.

 

[Harlekin]

That Kamandi looks awesome.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Don't know much about Kamandi, but he seems kind of boring. Kid in a post-apocalyptic world with scavenged tech and such. I've seen it a bunch of times.

The more I learn about Wednesday Comics, the less interested I am, in fact. I think I'll probably end up skipping it altogether.

 

[Assassin]

hawkman alone is worth it

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Hawkman seems more like DC's version of Wolverine to me every time I read him in anything.

 

[BrianWilly]

He's definitely got that vibe. The b****y little temper tantrums he's been pulling in JSA haven't been helping, either.

I've read through the recent Hawkman series, though, and it's actually quite excellent. I think the main diff between him and Wolverine is that when Wolverine takes off the mask, he's still Wolverine.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I've heard the Hawkman series is great, which doesn't surprise me. Johns was kicking ass on JSA around that time and actually made me like Hawkman in that series. I just never got around to trying the Hawkman series out. Plus, I think the fact that Hawkgirl was heavily featured in it discouraged me. I've never liked the current Hawkgirl.