BACK TO THE FUTURE: DC ANNOUNCES FIVE YEAR ONE MINISERIES

**MattBrady** · 10-17-2006, 01:02 PM

Next year, DC Comics will turn back the clock on four characters and one team, and tell of beginnings.

In 2007, the publisher will launch five Year One miniseries, each one designed to streamline, clarify, or emphasize the start of a character(s) who will be playing major roles in the months to come. The five series are:

Green Arrow: Year One by Andy Diggle and Jock
Metamorpho: Year One by Dan Jurgens
Teen Titans: Year One by Amy Wolfram and Karl Kerschl
Black Lightning: Year One by Jen Van Meter and Cully Hamner
Huntress: Year One by Ivory Madison (w) and artist tba

We spoke with DC Universe Executive Ediutor Dan Didio for some more details about the five minis.

Newsarama: First off Dan – why now for these particular characters?

Dan Didio: Basically, it all ties into the concept that we came out of Infinite Crisis with, where we’re looking at some characters that, over the years, given the twists and turns and reboots and shifting continuities, may have had their focus shifted a little. These allow us to refocus the direction for each one of these characters and reestablish their origins are, and also where they might be headed to in the future.

NRAMA: So this is a chance to streamline and tweak the official origins and make pieces fit a little easier?

DD: Yeah, but also I want to use the Year Ones to reestablish these characters’ places in the DCU. These are major players in the DC Universe – these are characters that have had series, have series, have had followings, but may have also had some twists and turns in regards to continuity and have become a little convoluted over the years. I’m looking to reestablish them, and I think the best way to reestablish any character is with a Year One story, and build out from there.

NRAMA: Convoluted how? Take Green Arrow for example – is his origin really that convoluted, or are you talking about it needing a contemporary coat of paint?

DD: Okay, Green Arrow is probably the exception to the rule. We have a lot of big plans for Green Arrow next year, and we also had real interest in the team of Andy Diggle and Jock wanting to do this series, so one of the reasons why we’re doing it is to reestablish Green Arrow’s roots, but also give a chance to showcase what I feel to be an incredibly strong and talented team

NRAMA: Let’s just move down the list then – Metamorpho…it’s been a long time since he’s had any spotlight time, aside from what went on in Outsiders a couple of years back…

DD: Exactly – Metamorpho’s a character who’s had several starts and fits of popularity over the years, with Outsiders always being a showcase for him. We sort of played the fakeout with Outsiders, having Shift be in the lead, rather than Metamorpho, and now, we felt that Metamorpho came out strong from Infinite Crisis, and we wanted to clarify his role in the DCU. But also – the story is about Simon Stagg too, and Simon is going to be one of the key players in the DCU in regards to his role in “corporate DC America” so to speak.

NRAMA: The Teen Titans – which incarnation are we talking about?

DD: That’s the whole thing. We want to go back and show what the earliest team was, and rebuild that origin, too. I don’t think we’ve ever done a Year One with that team before, and by doing this, it will allow us to look at the relationship between Robin and Wonder Girl and Kid Flash, Speedy, Aqualad and the rest as the team is built, while showing some of the lesser-known Teen Titans characters along the way.

And also, because we’re in the position of creating the Titans East, we thought it would be a good time to go back and establish the roots a little more of the original team.

NRAMA: Black Lightning then…

DD: Again, he’s another character that has been peripheral for a number of years, supported his own series for a couple of years as well, and between his role with the Justice League and Thunder being so prominent in Outsiders for the past few years, we thought it would be a great time to show his origin as well. Also – we can also show the origin of Thunder in his story too.

NRAMA: Huntress…again, like Green Arrow, she had an origin miniseries ten or so years back…

DD: Yeah, she’s a funny one. As we’re trying to reestablish the Bat-Family, so to speak, with the re-introduction of Batwoman, and the “repositioning” of Batgirl, Huntress is one of those characters that’s been played with a lot in Birds of Prey, and we teased the Earth-2 version in Infinite Crisis, so it was important for us to get back and reestablish our version of Huntress’ roots again so everybody was clear about which interpretation of the character we had running around, and what her role was in the DC Universe.

NRAMA: Looking at the creative teams, aside from Andy, Dan and Jock, you seem to be pulling in creators who aren’t seen frequently on regular titles – or if ever in the case of Huntress, as Ivory Madison is a newcomer.

DD: That’s the other thing too – it’s important for us to start to expand our talent pool. We have some extremely talented writers who are established in other areas, whether its in prose novels or animation or just in writing in general, and I wanted to have an opportunity to get some of these voices out there, as well as get some fresh sets of eyes on these characters so that we can see a story that we may have known about form before with a twist or two along the way that gives it a nice fresh take.

NRAMA: Running down the concept again, since you brought up the tweaks aspect – fans who feel they know the stories would read these and find that…

DD: The main story that they know will still be there – but there might be two or three surprises along the way that not only add to the telling of the origin and backstory, but also things that will be expanded on in the upcoming years. So, a lot of this has to do with the fact that we’re not just revisiting the past, but we’re also planting seeds for the future.

As far as scheduling, the first set should be coming out in March or April, and then on a regular basis. My goal is not to have any of them overlap at the same point, but allow them to come out at a time that might be key for a character in the coming year. We’ve got a couple more coming down the pipeline too, and I think readers can probably start to figure out who would make good candidates, as we’ve got a few characters who, over the years, have seen their origins twisted and turned to a point that you want some level of clarity put back in there.

antillestk · 10-17-2006, 01:13 PM

FIRST POST!!!

This is a good idea. Too many of these characters are to convoluted.

nietoperz · 10-17-2006, 01:13 PM

Diggle and Jock on Green Arrow? Wow!!

aukevin · 10-17-2006, 01:14 PM

cool, looking forward to the Green Arrow, Teen Titans, and Huntress ones.

whitemarkd · 10-17-2006, 01:16 PM

These sound fantastic - very excited to hear about great things coming up with Ollie...

JohnLynch · 10-17-2006, 01:17 PM

Looks interesting. On the one hand some of those are obviously just milking characters that are currently hot, so we'll see if these are actually any good.

However others like the Teen Titans Year One sounds downright interesting (speaking as someone who has no interest in Teen Titans) and could help generate more interest in them.

skeletorjr · 10-17-2006, 01:18 PM

Jen Van Meter and Cully Hamner on Black Lightning? Sold!!!!!! Ditto Dan Jurgens on Metamorpho. Very cool

lordlad · 10-17-2006, 01:20 PM

Do we need another reboot after Crisis........?

skaly · 10-17-2006, 01:21 PM

Nice. DC really is focusing on the "lesser" characters in the wake of Infinite Crisis. They've always had superstar potential.

MatthewSmith · 10-17-2006, 01:22 PM

Sign me up for Green Arrow and Teen Titans.

Paradiso · 10-17-2006, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordlad

Do we need another reboot after Crisis........?

I don't think this is another reboot, but examining what got rebooted, if that makes any sense.

BriGuy · 10-17-2006, 01:23 PM

Well there's a lot of money I'll be spending. Surprised there's none by Scott Beatty. He's done pretty well in regards to Year Ones before. Mark Waid, Kurt Busiek and Geoff Johns would be great as well. Lets get Steve Sadowski on one of these too, please. And, DC, don't be afraid to make a few of these OGNs.

StripedTiger · 10-17-2006, 01:25 PM

DD: Again, he’s another character that has been peripheral for a number of years, supported his own series for a couple of years as well, and between his role with the Justice League and Thunder being so prominent in Outsiders for the past few years, we thought it would be a great time to show his origin as well. Also – we can also show the origin of Thunder in his story too.

Actually showing the true origin of Thunder might make this a MAX type book...

...because he's her father and there would be a conception scene and...ok...it was funnier in my head before I typed this out..

DeTroyes · 10-17-2006, 01:27 PM

Really looking forward to the Teen Tirans Year One. And probably the Green Arrow one as well.

Not so sure about the others, though.

kingofcities · 10-17-2006, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Green Arrow: Year One by Andy Diggle and Jock

Oh hell yeah.

Quote:

Black Lightning: Year One by Jen Van Meter and Cully Hamner

This is awesome on so many levels I wouldn't know where to start. That said, I take it Cully isn't on Blue Beetle then?

SaturnKnight · 10-17-2006, 01:34 PM

Sold. I'll buy them all. Good call, Dan.

Only dealbreaker for me will depend on who you pick for artist of Huntress: Year One.

Otherwise, these are all characters I love and writers I'm open to. Plus---and here's the $64,000 question---just exactly what are all these characters going to be doing in present day continuity that suddenly warrants them *all* getting the spotlight simultaneously?

That's what I really want to know. Methinks that Keith Giffen crossover may have something to do with it.

Or not.

BatWolverine · 10-17-2006, 01:35 PM

What the Huntress going do in the coming months that is so important. Join every team, just hang around b*tching and have sex with (at least) one member?

Ye Olde Iowa · 10-17-2006, 01:36 PM

This is a great idea. All of the Year Ones that I have read (Batman, Batgirl, and Nightwing) have been a lot of fun and great reads. Putting these together will only help solidify DC's new continuity push with the New Earth and should lead to some good reads.

Quote:

Green Arrow: Year One by Andy Diggle and Jock

I don't think I could be more excited about this. This could be a great read and Jock is an excellent choice for art. I will definitely be picking this up.

Quote:

Metamorpho: Year One by Dan Jurgens

Jurgens has been pretty hit-or-miss with me, as has Metamorpho. I'll try out the first few issues of this before commiting to the run.

Quote:

Teen Titans: Year One by Amy Wolfram and Karl Kerschl

Kerschel hit one out of the park with his Flash interiors a few issues back and Wolfram, if I'm not mistaken, was a writer for the Teen Titans cartoon. This could be either really awesome or really bad. Personally, I hope that it ties in with the origins of the Justice League, as I always saw a cool connection there.

Quote:

Black Lightning: Year One by Jen Van Meter and Cully Hamner

Who is Jen Van Meter? I'm not a Black Lightning fan, though I do love Hamner's pencils. I'm a little torn on this one.

Quote:

Huntress: Year One by Ivory Madison (w) and artist tba

I have no clue who Ivory Madison is. I'm not a huge Huntress fan. I dig Birds of Prey, but I've never felt much of a connection with the character. I'll probably give this one a shot out of curiosity, but my expectations aren't very high.

ComicBook Conventions.com · 10-17-2006, 01:41 PM

I wish Tony Isabella were writing the Black Lightning one.

And who is Amy Wolfram? Another writer with Wolf in the name writing Titans sounds funny.

JohnLynch · 10-17-2006, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skaly

Nice. DC really is focusing on the "lesser" characters in the wake of Infinite Crisis. They've always had superstar potential.

Seems to be a trend lately that both Marvel and DC are following. I personally hope it continues.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SaturnKnight

Otherwise, these are all characters I love and writers I'm open to. Plus---and here's the $64,000 question---just exactly what are all these characters going to be doing in present day continuity that suddenly warrants them *all* getting the spotlight simultaneously?

Much like many of the heroes dissapeared for a year in 52, I think it will be a "suspension of disbelief" type deal (although their missing in 52 did have logic behind it, some suspension of was still required, such as Superman losing his abilities until all of the superheroes suddenly start reappearing).

Also I don't think it will be all at one time. DD said that the year one's won't be published at the same time. So we have Year One: Green Arrow and once that ends something in Ollie's life happens where the spotlight is on him. We get Year One: Black Lightning and then something in his life shifts the spotlight onto him. Who has the spotlight on themselves is largely something that doesn't play any part within the comics. It just means that these are characters who are getting their stories told by DC, whereas before they were still happening, but went untold. AFAIK anyway. I could be wrong, some conjecture on my part there.

Primate · 10-17-2006, 01:42 PM

Metamorpho? I'm so there. Awesome.

khuxford · 10-17-2006, 01:45 PM

Man...I'm a little pissed...LOVE CULLY HAMNER...but Jen Van Meter's fill-in work for Winick managed to entertain me less than Winick's run around that time...

Jed Saxon · 10-17-2006, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ComicBook Conventions.com

I wish Tony Isabella were writing the Black Lightning one.

Because it worked so well the last time?
But damn, that series by Isabella/Newell was SO good. WAY ahead of its time and thus failing.

kingofcities · 10-17-2006, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by khuxford

Man...I'm a little pissed...LOVE CULLY HAMNER...but Jen Van Meter's fill-in work for Winick managed to entertain me less than Winick's run around that time...

I have a feeling that stemmed from her jumping into the middle of Judd's arc at the last minute. If you want to see what she's really capable of you need to check out her Injustice Society arc in JSA Classified. One of my favorite stories within the last year with dead perfect characterization.

ScottRowland · 10-17-2006, 01:57 PM

Quote:
Black Lightning: Year One by Jen Van Meter and Cully Hamner

Nothing against those creators, but I'm not buying a Black Lightning series unless it's written by Tony Isabella.

Come on, DC, the creator of the character is interested in writing him!