DC Comics kicked off their 2023 New York Comic Con with a panel this morning covering the far reaches of the publisher’s lineup of titles. The “Elsewhere in the DC Multiverse” panel featured a packed stage of creators, including Brian Buccellato, Tate Brombal, Tirso Cons, Leandro Fernandez, Clay Mann & Seth Mann, Tom Taylor, and Matthew Rosenberg. The group was on hand to discuss current projects, and to tease the big news out of the panel, the launch of a new line of Elseworlds titles from DC.
DC Executive Editor Ben Abernathy kicked off the panel with a trailer for Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong before bringing Buccellato to the stage to talk about the book. “They fight a lot,” Buccellato said to laughs from the audience. Abernathy teased the Legion of Doom playing a role in the series, and debuted a second, new trailer for the event that highlights the roles the larger DC Universe and Monsterverse play in the story. Abernathy also had the Godzilla and Kong ‘roars’ that will accompany the “Roar” variant covers play, and previewed art from issue 2 of Superman fighting Godzilla. The panel then offered signed variant covers to audience members who did their best roars.
Abernathy next welcomed the rest of the creators to the stage, and went into introducing the new Elseworlds line, which DC provided some details on ahead of the panel. That line-up includes:
Gotham by Gaslight: The Kryptonian Age — A 12 Issue Series by Andy Diggle and Leandro Fernandez
Gotham by Gaslight: The Kryptonian Age by Andy Diggle and Leandro Fernandez expands the mysterious and gothic world created by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola beyond the confines of Gotham City, introducing DC’s greatest heroes as they come together for the first time to form a 19th-century Justice League. As they unite against the greatest threat the world has ever known, they will learn their world’s secret Kryptonian history.
Fernandez said he was excited about the project from the beginning, and that staying true to the historical time period of the story is important to him. As for adding to the lore of the universe beyond Gotham, Fernandez described how disconnected the world was in the late 19th Century as opposed to today, and how much there is to discover in the world of the series.
Batman the Barbarian — A Six-Issue Series by Greg Smallwood
Batman the Barbarian is a brutal and remarkable retelling of Batman’s origin set against a rugged, medieval Earth, written, and drawn by Eisner Award-winner Greg Smallwood (The Human Target).
Abernathy said this was the project Smallwood pitched to him after Human Target. “Greg is a phenomenal storyteller,” he said, “and his style evolves per project. This series is beyond what you could imagine.”
Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter — A Six-Issue Series by Jay Kristoff, and Tirso Cons
New York Times best-selling writer Jay Kristoff (Empire of the Vampire, The Aurora Cycle, The Nevernight Chronicle) and artist Tirso Cons make their DC series debut, in Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter.
In this new series, the snows fall thick, blood runs black, and color itself is only a distant memory. The legendary assassin Deathstroke stalks a frozen wasteland, killing for coin among a nation of ever-warring jarls. But when our murderer for hire finds himself cast in the role of reluctant guardian, will he fight to end the icy curse destroying his land, or be consumed by the sins of his own dark past.
Inspired by Norse myth and set in Tom Taylor’s ground-breaking world of Dark Knights of Steel, Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter continues the tradition of casting iconic DC characters in a thrilling epic fantasy setting.
Cons said getting to enter this corner of the DC Universe was surprising but also very natural. He said working with Taylor and Kristoff is an easy process, and he’s excited to see how people react to the series. Taylor described seeing Cons’s artwork for the first time in a bar after a con in Spain, and said the artist “just gets fantasy.”
Green Lantern: Dark — A Seven-Issue Series by Tate Brombal and Werther Dell’Edera
Green Lantern Dark by Tate Brombal and Werther Dell’Edera reimagines the DC Universe as a dark fantasy wasteland where monsters overrun a post-apocalyptic earth. The battle between good and evil ended long ago.
Now, darkness prevails as humanity struggles to survive on a corrupted planet. Only one hero remains, the one who wields the green flame that can return light to a dark world—The Green Lantern. But she’s been missing for years, and, on the isolated island of New England, the horrors only get worse by the night.
Abernathy said the series reimagines the Tangent Universe, and Brombal described bringing a dark fantasy angle to a normally space sci-fi character. “It’s basically a horror manga,” he said. “He’s bringing the same energy from Something is Killing the Children.” Abernathy said the script for the first issue of the series blew him away.
Dell’Edera said that when the series was pitched to him by Brombal, he was instantly excited, but sheepishly didn’t want to volunteer to do it, preferring to be asked to do it. He mentioned bringing an insect aspect to the character, wanting to give her wings, and Abernathy said that would make more sense once the first issue hits.
Batman: Nightfire — A Six-Issue Series by Clay and Seth Mann
What happens when twin brothers, Seth & Clay Mann, are turned loose in Gotham City?
They burn it all down.
Batman: Nightfire sees superstar Clay Mann unleashed in a mind-expanding mystery, beautifully counterbalanced with explosive action, in this unflinching reimagining that sees Bruce Wayne try to rectify a devastating tragedy by traveling to the past.
What secrets does this Batman hold so tight that he would watch Gotham be reduced to ashes? What truths are exposed when there is nowhere left to hide? Batman: Nightfire by Clay and Seth Mann is a story of obligation and the ultimate burden that promises to set the Batman world ablaze!
Seth Mann said this book is “not a Batman that you’ve ever seen,” and that he didn’t know what to say because he didn’t want to give too much away. The Manns also had t-shirts to give away featuring artwork from the series.
Asked what his goal with the book was, Clay Mann said he wanted to “do the opposite of what Tom King does,” and that he just wants to draw cool images and work with his brother, to applause from the crowd.
DC vs. Vampires: World War V — A 12-Issue Series by Matthew Rosenberg and Otto Schmidt
DC vs. Vampires was the brutal first chapter in a larger war for the fate of Earth! In this upcoming sequel by Matthew Rosenberg and Otto Schmidt, sunlight is restored to the Earth, but was it too late? As a new Ice Age dawns, humanity faces their most deadly threat yet—Barbara Gordon Queen of the Vampires!
Rosenberg described how the new series spins out of the events of previous DC vs. Vampires series, picking up six months later after the vampires tried to block out the sun. “There’s a Cold War, literally and figuratively, but it’s heating up,” Rosenberg said. He also teased the return of some characters who died in the earlier series like Batman and Green Lantern.
Beyond the titles announced, Abernathy praised Tom Taylor, describing their long relationship and how this relaunched Elseworlds line sort of comes out of his work on books like DCeased, Dark Knights of Steel, and Injustice. Abernathy teased Taylor about doing a sequel to Dark Knights of Steel, and Taylor pretended to begrudgingly agree before they debuted a teaser image for the series.
With that the panelists told everyone where they could be found throughout the con, and the panel ended.
