Gerard Way Provides a Supersized Update on the DC Young Animals Line– New DOOM PATROL Art and More!

Last month, DC Comics announced the creation of Young Animals, an imprint overseen by Umbrella Academy writer Gerard Way.  The line was announced to a great deal of fanfare and excitement, but the buzz was tempered following the dismissal of Vertigo’s longtime Editor Shelly Bond.  Today though, Way sought to clear up any speculation about the future of Young Animals and rebuild hype by posting a major update about the line to his blog.

In the post, Way showers praise upon the creative teams of each book in the Young Animals line, which is presently comprised of Doom Patrol, Shade: the Changing Girl, Mother Panic, and Cave Carson has a Cybernetic Eye.  He showcases concept art from each of the series, giving readers a closer look at Casey Brinke, the newest member of the Doom Patrol.

A particularly salient moment in this update comes from his description about the creation of Mother Panic.  According to Way, he decided to work on this character in lieu of attempting to write a Batman story because he felt like he “wasn’t in a dark enough place.”

But MOTHER PANIC is something different altogether. Even though Bruce Wayne is a famous person, I could bring things from my personal experience as a musician into the character of Violet Paige, a.k.a. Mother Panic, filtering these elements through a different lens: the red carpets, the galas, the weirdos you meet, the fame and the negativity, addiction, misery, combat. Tommy and I created a character that saw a very different Gotham, and we found a whole other world to explore in Gotham—the underbelly of Gotham’s wealthy and famous, the secret things that happen, the secret world. Tommy began designing the character using only some of my crude ballpoint pen notebook scribbles of the character. Mother is still a work in progress, but Tommy blows me away with every design.

Way said that he would post future updates about the Young Animals line to his blog on a weekly basis.  There’s a lot to chew on here, so be sure to check it out– and stay tuned for more.