Well that's nice. It feels like some of the bigger books just got back their old numbering, although that probably happened a while ago at this point
DC has announced that they will be teaming up with a group of metal bands as part of the international release of Dark Nights: Death Metal. Each issue will be getting a new special edition with new cover art featuring one of the bands, and then an introduction from and interview with the band. Megadeath with cover art by Juanjo Guarnido Ghost with cover art by Werther Dell' Edera Lacuna Coil with cover art by Timpano/Antonio Fuso Opeth with cover art by Mathieu Lauffray Sepultura with cover art by Albuqerque/Pedro Mauro Dream Theater with cover art by Santi Casas Ozzy Osbourne with cover art by Marco Mastrazzo I'm not a fan of metal music, so I'm not really interested in this, but with the title and style of the series this does feel appropriate.
The Shilo Norman version of Mister Miracle will be getting his own miniseries after Future State is over. It's going to be a "de-facto origin story and reintroduction of the character" according to the series' writer, Brandon Easton, who will be joined by artist Fico Ossio. Yara Flor, the new Wonder Woman/Girl will be getting her own Wonder Girl series by writer/artist Joelle Jones starting on May 18. There will be also be a teaser for the series in Infinite Frontier #0. Definitely looks like DC is going all in with the character getting her own book, and even a potential TV series.
ok, so, I don't know how legitimate Bleeding Cool is, but this was so stupid I had to post it: DC Comics to rename Black Adam to Shazadam This is so stupid I now want it to happen. I both can and can't believe that this could be possible. I can believe because DC Comics is run by idiots and any of the big names can get away with anything, but I can't believe it because why would WB let them screw up a character that is just about to have his movie start filming. They're sure as hell not going to rename the movie "Shazadam", so even forgetting how horrible the idea is, I couldn't believe even WB, which seems to care even less about the comics then Marvel does, would let this stupid crap happen. Either way, its weird to live in a world where this is 100% a plausible story, regardless of whether its actually happening or not.
^The credibility of BC depends very much on the writer. In this case, Rich Johnston is a pretty well-connected industry veteran and has landed several scoops in the past. Sometimes, though, he is so much in the know that some of his scoops are for things that don't actually happen. It was him who had most of the big scoops on G5, which, as we now know, was abandoned once Dan Didio left DC. But when he writes about upcoming changes on a character, it's at least being considered by TPTB. Since he claims it's from March onward, those first books would have to be printing already, so this appears to be real. And, no, I'm not a fan of that change, either, but it's also far from being a dealbreaker. Especially since I don't think it will last very long.
I read someone online suggest that it was a possibly nickname one of the upcoming Justice League members (Naomi, maybe) gives him as opposed to an actual name change, which would make a lot more sense but at this point I have no faith that DC won't do objectively horrible things for no reason.
IGN has confirmed with their own sources that the Shazadam rumor is not true. They're one of the most trustworthy sites out there, so if they say it's not true, then it's not true. They also said that when Brian Michael Bendis found out about the rumor, he said "rumors are stupid", that sounds like a pretty straightforward denial. If it was true, you'd think he would have been a bit less adamant.
Shazadam does sound like a nickname somebody would give him. If I were Bendis I'd take it and run with it.
Rich Johnston over at BC is insisting that he didn't make this up, so my guess at this point is, yeah, probably a humorous nickname at one point, which through a game of telephone became "it's the new official name". In Johnston's defense, Bendis quote that rumors are dumb is not a flat-out denial.
Well, Johnston got hold of some advance pages of Infinite Frontier #0 which, yeah, show Black Adam being referred to as Shazadam, and not even as a nickname, but the name he is known under to people he saved.
Looking at the panels, it looks like that's just what the people are calling him, not necessarily what his actual official name is. DC is going to be doing at least one ongoing Future State comic after the main event is over. It's called Future State: Gotham, and will be set in the Magistrate controlled Gotham from the Batman Family Future State comics. The first 6 issue arc will focus on Red Hood, who has become bounty hunter for the Magistrate, being sent to hunt down the new Tim Fox Batman. It's being written by Joshua Williamson and Dennis Culver, with art by Giannis Milonogiannis.
The people he saved? Why would they call him that out of the blue? They can't have him mistaken for Shazam, because Superman asks them flat-out if they mean Shazam, and they say no. They got to have that name from somewhere, and I guess the idea is that he called himself Shazadam.
I don't know, I haven't read the comic, but so far more sites are saying they aren't going to change his name than are, so I'm going to assume that's the case until we have 100% proof it isn't.
Thing is, IGN took the Bendis quote as a denial that it actually wasn't, and most other sites just copied IGN. And they didn't even updated their stories with the leaked pages, so it really looks more like they don't want to admit they made a mistake. That, and it's also not unheard of for publishers asking favors from news outlets by not reporting on something. Judging by those tweets by Clark Bull (which also don't deny the story), it might very well be the case that he asked IGN to drop the story after their "debunking" so it wouldn't get more traction. I'm speculating, but it would make sense. I certainly wouldn't assume one case over the other based on how many news sites take one position. Right now, Johnston has the evidence that "Shazadam" actually is in the comic distributed to retailers - again, something most of those other sites don't even report on - so right now I'm more inclined to believe his version.
On the digital-first front, DC is launching Justice League: Last Ride by Chip Zdarsky & Miguel Mendonça, and a new batch of the Legends of the Dark Knight anthology, with the first story by Darick Robertson.
And the full list of solicits for May are out. Notes: - New series, aside from the two mentioned above, are Mister Miracle, Wonder Girl, and Future State: Gotham, all spinning out of FS. Only one I'm interested in at all is WG, and that one I'll probably trade-wait. - The Milestone Returns one-shot finally arrives, now labelled "Infinite Edition". Definite buy for me, been waiting for this since it was announced (and non-specifically for any Milestone stuff since long before that). - One-shot celebrating the Asian characters of DC. Certainly a couple just on the cover that I'm a big fan of, so I might just get this one. - Stargirl Spring-Break Special. It's new material of Stargirl, so yeah. - Johns and Frank actually did a third volume of "Batman: Earth One". Well, maybe, eventually, but not a buy right away for me. - Batman B&W concludes with #6. - Batman: The Dark Knight has been silently retitled Batman: The Detective. It's still early enough that #1 in April will probably already have the new title. - In The Flash, Wally goes back in time to World War II, so meeting Jay Garrick is a must. - In GL, John Stewart becomes Ambassador at the still young United Planets, a Guardian winds up dead, and Jo Mullein (who does not appear on the regular cover, but is front and center on Bryan Hitch's beautiful variant cover) has a "surprise appearance"(?!). John Stewart is also getting his own 50th anniversary hardcover. - Naomi features prominently of both covers for Justice League, and Ragman joins the JL Dark. - As a major kaiju fan, I might have to get this month's Mad Magazine. - Crossover between Suicide Squad and Titans Academy?! *sigh* Alright, but I hope this is for this month only.