We’re less than a week away from Dark Crisis, DC’s latest multiverse-shattering event series, kicking off, and the publisher is ramping up for the occasion with a slew of new tie-in reveals. Yesterday DC announced two new one-shots tied to the events of the main Dark Crisis series, as well as that issues of The Flash and I Am Batman would cross over with the event.
Here’s an updated checklist for the event for those keeping score at home:
On the one-shot front, Dark Crisis: The Deadly Green #1 and Dark Crisis: The Dark Army #1 will follow Superman Jon Kent and Robin Damian Wayne on separate missions to combat the forces of The Great Darkness. Here’s how DC describes the two books, which do not yet have creative teams announced:
The Supersons are going on separate missions to stop Pariah’s attacks on the Multiverse! In October’s Dark Crisis: The Deadly Green #1, Jon Kent joins forces with Swamp Thing, John Constantine and more to explore the spread of the Great Darkness’s influence on the Multiverse and beyond. While in November’s Dark Crisis: The Dark Army #1, Damian Wayne, Doctor Light and a ragtag team of heroes cross enemy lines to steal control of the Dark Army from Pariah. But in the process uncover a secret about Doctor Light’s place in Crisis on Infinite Earths that rocks the future of the DCU! Creative talent teams for both issues will be announced at a later date.
The Dark Army is the team of heavy-hitter big bads that includes Darkseid, Doomsday, Eclipso, Ares, Neron, Nekron, and The Empty Hand. The Justice League faced off against Pariah and the team in Justice League #75, shortly before their untimely demise.
The ‘Doctor Light’ in question here is presumably Kimiyo Hoshi, who first appeared and was given powers by The Monitor in Crisis on Infinite Earths #4. The second DC Comics character to bear that name, Doctor Light played a pivotal role in the final battle against the Anti-Monitor, absorbing the energy of a star and using it to blast a hole in the creature.
Along with the two new one-shots, the September-shipping The Flash #786 from writer Jeremy Adams and artist Amancay Nahuelpan will also tie-in to Dark Crisis. The series was already slated to be part of the event with a three-part story in issues 783-785, with Wally West and the rest of the Flash Family off in search of Barry Allen, who has been missing since the conclusion of the Infinite Frontier miniseries. Here’s how DC describes the new fourth part of the tie-in:
Wally West is exhausted, and has been running nonstop since even before he had to step up in the wake of the loss of the Justice League. But, as he’s figured out what he needs to do to free Barry (while also keeping Wallace from falling into Pariah’s plans), he’s also long overdue for a chat with Linda.
The issue will sport a main cover by Taurin Clarke, seen above, and a variant cover by George Kambadais, seen below.
Also announced, though without much detail, was that the November-shipping I Am Batman #15 from writer John Ridley and an as-yet-unrevealed full creative team will also tie-in to Dark Crisis. Considering the role that the successors to the Justice League looks to play in the event, it’s no wonder the next Batman would be getting in on the action as well.
And finally, if that all wasn’t enough, DC has also unveiled a new open-to-order homage variant cover for Dark Crisis #2. The cover by artist Rafael Sarmento is a recreation of the cover of Justice League of America #21, the first meeting of the Justice League of Earth-1 and the Justice Society of Earth-2.
If Dark Crisis continues to follow the trajectory of DC’s last big event, Dark Nights: Death Metal, expect there to be plenty more tie-ins where these came from.
The whole shebang kicks off next week, when Dark Crisis #1 arrives in stores and digitally.
