The line will include previously announced titles, such as Frank Miller's Superman: Year One and John Ridley's The Other History of the DC Universe, as well as two brand new Batman series: Batman: Last Knight on Earth from Scott Snyder and Greg Cappulo, and Batman: Damned from Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo.
Last Knight on Earth, which was originally announced last summer, will see Snyder and Capullo team up once more to tell an epic Batman story. It's a bit of a surprise, as Sean Gordon Murphy was originally announced as the artist attached to the project, but no doubt the runaway success of his White Knight miniseries and rumors of a sequel are keeping him pretty busy.
The synopsis, per The Hollywood Reporter:
BATMAN: LAST KNIGHT ON EARTH from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, the creative team behind DARK KNIGHTS: METAL Batman wakes up in a desert. He doesn’t know what year it is or how The Joker’s head is alive in a jar beside him, but it’s the beginning of a quest unlike anything the Dark Knight has undertaken before. In this strange future, villains are triumphant and society has liberated itself from the burden of ethical codes. Fighting to survive while in search of answers, Bruce Wayne uncovers the truth about his role in this new world—and begins the last Batman story ever told.
Batman: Damned, meanwhile, sees the team behind 2008's original graphic novel Joker come together again for a new Batman-focused story. Check the synopsis below, along with a teaser image for the series:
BATMAN: DAMNED from Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo, the creative team behind JOKER On a deserted Gotham City bridge, a body is found. Whispers spread the news: Joker is dead. But is this a dream come true or a nightmare being born? Now Batman and DC’s outlaw magician John Constantine must hunt the truth through a Gotham City hellscape. The city’s supernatural recesses are laced with hints about a killer's identity, but the Dark Knight’s descent into horror will test his sanity and the limits of rationality, as he must face a horror that doesn't wear a mask.
To get an idea of the mission statement behind this new line, Jim Lee says “many of our perennially best-selling, critically acclaimed books were produced when we unleashed our top talent on standalone, often out-of-continuity projects featuring our most iconic characters, a prime example being Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. Creating DC Black Label doubles down on our commitment to working with all-star talent and trusting them to tell epic, moving stories that only they can tell with the highest levels of creative freedom.” More creative freedom and the opportunity to tell unique, out of the box stories? Color me intrigued.
Vlach is such a weird way to abbreviate my name LUL.
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Johnreplying to Thanasis
Yup. Vlachs are an Eastern Romance-speaking race of the Balkans in the Early Middle Age. It’s cool.
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Thanasisreplying to John
I know what Vlach's are. But my name is Greek and I've never heard it abbreviated that way. It sounds funny to me.
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Larry_King_REALreplying to Thanasis
Well there's nothing wrong with being funny, is there Vlach?
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Thanasisreplying to Larry_King_REAL
Nah. It's all in jest.
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JaymusYawsleyreplying to John
And I just learned something. Thank you.
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ItzSilentStorm
i dont love King's work but thats mostly because its just personally not really for me. Though i do think he is exploring an interesting part of the Bruce Wayne psyche that has not been touched on as much. I am interested in where his relationship with Catwoman goes
Isn’t DC just throwing around labels now? I mean, we’ve got the main label, the WildStorm being revived, the Young Animal, Vertigo with new Sandman stories, DC Ink, DC Zoom, the new Brian Michael Bendis label and now this one?!
Not complaining, I think it’s great. All I’m worried is that it won’t last...
Loved Romita's style on old school PUNISHER: WAR ZONE with Chuck Dixon, but not at all what I want from Superman, but I'm more apprehensive about Miller writing for Superman.
Nice creative teams and interesting premises in both cases, but that both seem to deal with something Joker-related takes some of my excitement. Azzarello and Snyder have done some amazing work with Joker, but I’m kind of tired of seeing them use him, especially Snyder. Still, I will remain with an open mind, maybe I end up amazed and thinking that them going back to deal with Joker was justified
Why Frank Miller? After all the crap Miller has done to Superman in his stories, and all the stuff he’s said in interviews about how he hates Superman, why is DC letting him do this? Ugh.
Fuck it--why not? If it's shit and no one likes it, it doesn't matter either way. They couldn't get Alan Moore back, so they got this guy back instead.
That's why i'm curious for this story, he's done some pretty terrible stuff ro Supes so i'm curious to what he will do for this story. I will say though he wrote Superman well in The Master Race, he had better moments then even Bats did in that.
So they’re gonna be original graphic novels? Fuck yeah! I’m definitely gonna pick up batman last Knight on earth, Batman damned and superman year one. So hyped
Interesting stuff. For all the Batman comics out there that have been mass produced, there really hasn't been much in the way of great Elseworld stories. Dark Knight Returns, Year 100.... and I suppose some adapted media tie-ins. The majority of Elseworld Batman stories are just gimmicks that don't really have anything interesting to say. Compare that to Elseworld Superman, where you have All-Star, Secret Identity, Kingdom Come, American Alien, and Red Son. Creature of the Night has the making of another classic, and hopefully Last Knight can continue bucking that trend.
Cannot express how damn excited I am for DC Black Label. Holy ****.
I tend to prefer these very kinds of stories to following a mainline series -- which is probably why I'm more forgiving of the movies taking an Elseworlds approach compared to other fans who get angry about it. :P
Intrigued what Snyder/Capullo will bring us next (though I prefer the more grounded stories they've done for Batman), but Batman: Damned with Azzarello/Bermejo sounds rockin' too. And that cover! Just wow!
Yeah, I wasn't a fan of Romita's art for Supes. I did grow up with him on Spidey, which definitely had high moments, so I can't knock him too hard.
...Superman: Year One by Frank Miller though? I dunno... His view of Superman is pretty iffy to me -- hell, his Batman has taken a really rough ride despite it's strong beginnings. I'm pessimistic about this. lol
It's so good. Has "Demon in a Bottle," first two parts of "The Man Without Fear," and that Spidey story where he fights the Juggernaut. It's worth it for those three stories alone.
Always down for another wild Snyder story. My favorite Batman writer. Very interested in Damned as well. A gritty Hellblzaer/Batman team up sounds really fun. People always like Batman being being grounded but I think there is definitely room for some supernatural stuff in Gotham. That place is a zoo. Would love to see a movie go that route tbh
