COUNTDOWN TO ADVENTURE LAUNCHES IN AUGUST

[MattBrady]

Sometimes, even if you leave space, space calls you back.

Case in point, DC’s “space heroes” of the recently-concluded 52: Animal Man, Starfire and Adam Strange. They all made it back to their respective homes by the end of the series, but in August, they’re going back in Countdown to Adventure, an eight issue miniseries.

We spoke with DCU Executive Editor Dan Didio for the details of both the miniseries and some creative ripples it causes.

“Countdown to Adventure is similar to what we did with Mystery in Space. The front half of the book follows the space team from 52 – Animal Man, Starfire, and Adam Strange on their latest adventure, which picks up on some threads left over from 52.

“And the backup will feature a new character named Forerunner which is a brand new character who will be introduced and play an integral role in the early part of Countdown. We’ll see a lot of her background and origin in this miniseries.”

Creatively speaking, the “space heroes” storyline will be written by Adam Beechen, with art by Eddy Barrows; while Forerunner’s story will be handled by Justin Gray and Fabrizio Fiorentino.

As for what calls the heroes back into space, especially considering that one of them died the last time they did this? (he got better though)

“There were certain threads that were left with the team itself,” Didio said. “What happens is that we find out a little bit about Adam Strange’s adventures on Rann, and ultimately some of the troubles that he finds there will cause him to pull back his old friends, Starfire and Animal Man to help him with a returning menace in outer space.”

And would that returning menace share a name with a fabulous rock band whose hits spanned the ‘70s and ‘80s?

“Yes – the menace is from Boston,” Didio laughed. “But more seriously, there’s a good chance of that, yes.”

The miniseries marks another of a growing list of solo outings for Gray (that is, without co-writer Jimmy Palmiotti) at DC, although he’s written stories for both Batman Confidential, JLA Classifed and Superman Confidential that have yet to see print.

As for just who this Forerunner is?

“She first shows up in Countdown, and she gets involved with one of the major villains in the story,” Didio said. “The story in Countdown to Adventure follows her adventures with that character, while touching on her origin and her world, and how she came to be.”

Along with Gray, Beechen is also one of the writers on Countdown’s writing team under Paul Dini. Didio said that, in terms of Beechen, the immersion that has provided showed him that the writer was ready to tackle an expansive story set in the DCU’s “u”.

“Adam’s up to speed with so much that’s been going on, and has an affinity for that material and a great sensibility in regards to Adam Strange’s personality, and more importantly, he really handles character interaction well, and I think he’s going to bring a lot of fun to the table.”

Beechen’s move to the new miniseries does come with a cost – he had to give up Teen Titans, where he was recently named as the series’ new writer, stepping in for the departing Geoff Johns. Moving over to that series will be another member of the Countdown team, Sean McKeever.

McKeever will join Johns, Marv Wolfman, Mike McKone, George Perez, Todd Nauck and other creators for August’s Teen Titans #50 “jam issue,” and then head off on his own with September’s #51 with artist Randy Green.

“Sean’s is able to write in that great younger voice that the Teen Titans book really needs and a great sensibility for the characters, and again, like Adam, with his time working on Countdown, he was able to learn a lot about the interaction between them. When Teen Titans came free, Sean just seemed the most logical choice. Sean will be writing two of our team books now, with Titans and Birds of Prey, and he brings a great voice to both those books.”

Newsarama Note: Eddy Barows will be illustrating the "space heroes" portion of the miniseries, not Joe Bennet as we had previously reported.

[Grievous]

Great news, first post ever!!!!!!

[KatarHol]

Never read anything from McKeever. But I like Randy Green a lot, so it's better than the prospect of having Adam Beechen and Al Barrionuevo, after the horrible "Titans East" fiasco...

[cncoyle]

"Forerunner" is an odd name (can I call her "Toyota"?), but the character design looks cool.

[nietoperz]

I guess I'll be picking up Teen Titans again with #51 then! Also, Countdown to Adventure sounds great!

[pitdroid3]

"And would that returning menace share a name with a fabulous rock band whos hits spanned the ‘70s and ‘80s?"

I knew Journey would eventually destroy us all.

[BanMan]

Depending on the artist Titans is officially becoming a regular book again!!!

YES!!!!!!!

EDIT: I guess I'll have to see some Randy Green TT sketches first because he doesn't exactly thrill me.

[wonderfish]

Sean McKeever on Teen Titans? Oh man, I've been hoping for that ever since I heard he was jumping ship to DC. This is beautiful.

[SuperStories]

I do hope they keep it tied in with the Brave and the Bold that Waid is doing with Rann

[biffordmichael]

Originally Posted by KatarHol

Never read anything from McKeever. But I like Randy Green a lot, so it's better than the prospect of having Adam Beechen and Al Barrionuevo, after the horrible "Titans East" fiasco...

McKeever is awesome, he did some teen characters over at Marvel (Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, Gravity) that were spot-on, well constructed character driven pieces. He's going to be a perfect fit on Titans following Johns!

Biff

[Livewire2nd]

It sucks that Adam Won't be able to write Titans I was looking forward to his Run, But the fact that we get Sean McKeever in his place Totally Makes up for it.

[Big Red]

With McKeever on TT, I will probably stick around on the book.

I wasn't too excited about Beechen taking over.

[IvCNuB4]

Originally Posted by pitdroid3

"And would that returning menace share a name with a fabulous rock band whos hits spanned the ‘70s and ‘80s?"

I knew Journey would eventually destroy us all.

Foghat was too retarded a name for a space villain

[Leland]

McKeever is an interesting choice for the book. He does have a good feel for the teen voice. I'm wondering how he'll do with a team book, though, as most of his stuff has been focused on one or two characters (SENTINEL, MARY JANE, etc...) To be fair, I've never read THE WAITING PLACE.

As far as Randy Green on the art, after Barrionuevo's last issue (the "Titans East" finale), I'm really looking forward to him coming on the book.

[Nobody]

Forerunner? Foreigner? Hot-blooded? Check it and see? Got a fever of 103?

[durkadurka]

Wow. I did not see a spin-off of the space team's adventure coming. But i must say that i like it. Big fan of Animal Man in 52, and Starfire and Adam Strange were definitely cool as well. More Lobo please.
I was curious about how Beechen would be on Titans, but like KatarHol mentioned above, the Titans East fiasco really hurt me. Oh man did that sting.
Can somebody tell me what else McKeever has done? His name is really familiar, but i don't read either SLMJ or Gravity.

[Snowspinner]

I'm meh on Countdown to Adventure, mostly because I'm currently a bit meh on Countdown in general (Issue 51 really needed to sparkle more than it did), but I love Titans and was not at all excited about Beechen on it.

A win for me, at least.

[TCJohnson]

Very, very happy to see Justin Gray doing some solo stuff!


McKeever taking over Titans? Might pick that up. I don't think I have ever seen McKeever do a team book, and now he is doing two. WIll be interesting.

Beecham handling Animal Man? Hmmmmm, got some reservations on that. After seeing how he handled Batgirl....we will have to see.

[Thalya]

Countdown to Adventure?

They wouldn't be counting down to the return of Adventure Comics, now would they?

[jonnynyc]

McKeever!!!!!!!!!!
Beechen off titans !!!!!!!!
Best monday ever

I can't believe Didio made a smart business decision based on fan reaction for once

[TCJohnson]

Originally Posted by durkadurka

.
Can somebody tell me what else McKeever has done? His name is really familiar, but i don't read either SLMJ or Gravity.

He did a limited series for Marvel called Gravity, which was about a teenage hero. I really enjoyed that.

He also did two miniseries about a character called Sentinel...first one got good reviews, the second not so much.

Finally he was doing a series for Marvel called Spiderman Loves Mary Jane. Not that many people read it but those that did really liked it.

Here is some more stuff: http://www.seanmckeever.com/comicbooks/

[Darthphere]

What does this for Bennet on Checkmate though?

[durkadurka]

Originally Posted by TCJohnson

He did a limited series for Marvel called Gravity, which was about a teenage hero. I really enjoyed that.
He also did two miniseries about a character called Sentinel...first one got good reviews, the second not so much.
Finally he was doing a series for Marvel called Mary Jane Loves Spiderman. Not that many people read it but those that did really liked it.

Seems he's got the Teen part down. Hopefully the Titans part won't be a problem for him. Regardless, it's going to be hard to follow up Geoff Johns.

[greenflameuk]

Countdown to Adventure sounds cool, it'll be interesting to see Adam Strange, Animal Man and Starfire teaming up out of choice, and not being thrown together by some cosmic accident.

I just hope they make Lady Styx more interesting though, i thought she was a bit of a dull villain in 52 and in Omega Men.

[Fazhoul]

Randy Green on Titans? Is this the same guy who worked on the Emma Frost series? Can't say I'm crazy about that assignment.