This afternoon at the DC Comics’ Young Animal panel, the the all-star team of creators including editor Jamie S. Rich, line curator and Doom Patrol writer Gerard Way, Cave Carson has a Cybernetic Eye writer Jon Rivera, Doom Patrol letterer Todd Klein, Mother Panic writer Jody Houser, and Shade the Changing Girl team Cecil Castellucci, Marley Zarcone, Kelly Fitzpatrick, and Saida Temofonte joined forces to talk about the future of the line.
Beginning in January 2018, the four main titles in the Young Animal lineup will go on hiatus. In their place, the teams will be working on a series of four one-shot crossovers that see the Young Animal characters team up with various members of the mainstream DC universe.
The first title, revealed during the panel, is Doom Patrol/JLA (Justice League of America). The book will be co-written by Way and JLA writer Steve Orlando. Joining them on interiors will be Midnighter & Apollo artist ACO. Legendary All-Star Superman artist Frank Quitely drew the cover for the one-shot. The cover, showcased on screen, is a play on his All-Star Superman #1 cover and features a new character named “Milkmanman,” according to Gerard.
“One of the things I do like is that it is on the fringe,” Gerard said when asked about how Young Animal titles relate to the continuity of the DCU. Way was ambiguous about how much these one-shots would clarify the positioning of books like Doom Patrol and Shade in the wider universe, but said that he liked how the Young Animal titles were “the center” of their own “timeless” universes.
During an interview prior to the panel with, which you can find on our site in the near future, Gerard said that the one-shots will give the Young Animal creators the time to “reassess” where they are at and craft a new plan for the future. Way said that when he started planning Doom Patrol, he hadn’t planned past Doom Patrol #12. He said it was time to “put the pedal to the medal” in the year to come.
Other reveals included a variant cover for Doom Patrol #8 by The Crow‘s James O’Barr. The variant features Lotion the Cat, who we will find out more about in this issue following his transformation into an anthropomorphic animal in the previous arc.
We also got a look at Leslie Hung’s (Snotgirl) variant for Shade the Changing Girl #11.
Check out the first Casey Brinke cosplayer that Gerard has seen!
