The five-issue mini-series Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds led into an all-new volume of Adventure Comics, featuring the revived Conner Kent/Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes. The main creative team of Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul debuted in a backup story in Adventure Comics #0 (April 2009). A secondary feature starring the Legion of Super-Heroes was co-written with Mike Shoemaker and drawn by Clayton Henry. The first issue of the new run of Adventure Comics was released on August 12, 2009, and features watermarked numbering marking it as both #1 and#504, thus continuing the original numeration of the series concurrently with the volume 2 numeration. For the variant incentive cover editions, the original numeration was dominant on the cover while the vol. 2 numeration was the watermarked numbering marking. The indicia of the comic book also reflects this dual numbering. The title officially returned to its original vol. 1 numbering with #516 (cover dated September 2010), until #529 when it was finally ended prior to DC’s The New 52 company reboot.
Static is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character, a creation of Milestone Comics founders Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, and Derek Dingle was initially written by McDuffie and Robert L. Washington III and illustrated by John Paul Leon. Static’s first appearance was made in Static #1. Born Virgil Ovid Hawkins, he is a member of a fictional subspecies of humans with superhuman abilities known as metahumans. Not born with his powers, Hawkins’s abilities develop after an incident exposes him to a radioactive chemical. This event renders him capable of electromagnetic control and generation.
DC celebrates Asian Heritage Month with all your favorite Asian DC characters, old and new! Join Cassandra Cain, Katana, Green Lantern Tai Pham, the Atom, Dana Tan (a.k.a. Batman Beyond), Red Arrow, Lady Shiva, Damian Wayne and the al Ghul clan, New Super-Man, and more as DC presents new tales of these characters from their thrilling history! Plus, Cheshire Cat’s relationship to Cheshire is revealed as Shoes asks Selina Kyle to take her under her wing as Cat Girl.
Following the company-wide rebranding in DC Rebirth with one focus point to bring back legacy and relationships, Arthur finally proposes to Mera in DC Universe: Rebirth #1. Aquaman was given an eighth volume of his eponymous series, which started with a one-shot comic book entitled Aquaman: Rebirth #1 (August 2016). This issue and the subsequent eighth volume of Aquaman kept writer Dan Abnett who had taken over the title of the three last issues in the New 52, having previously written the character for a short time a decade earlier.
The eighth volume of Aquaman focuses on Aquaman’s role as king and diplomat, with Arthur attempting to strengthen Atlantis-surface relationships by opening an Atlantean embassy in Amnesty Bay, with Mera appointed as ambassador. The series largely focuses on the main cast featured in the New 52 series consisting of Aquaman, Mera, and Black Manta, while also fleshing out forgotten side characters such as Murk, Tula (Aquagirl), Black Jack, and others.
In 2011’s The New 52, DC Comics relaunched its entire line of publications to attract a new generation of readers, and thus released volume 4 of the Wonder Woman comic book title. Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang were assigned writing and art duties respectively and revamped the character’s history considerably. In this new continuity, Wonder Woman wears a costume similar to her original Marston costume (except with a red-black-silver color scheme rather than the classic red-blue-gold), utilizes a sword and shield, and has a completely new origin. No longer a clay figure brought to life by the magic of the gods, she is, instead, a demi-goddess and the natural-born daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus. Azzarello and Chiang’s revamp of the character was critically acclaimed, but highly divisive among longtime fans of the character.
In a world where Superman hasn’t aged a day since the Nazis won WWII; Clark Kent infiltrates Axis dominated Europe in pursuit of Lana Lang, who has fallen prey to the enchantress Circe, while Lois Lane finds herself transformed by the power of the ancient gods into a Wonder Woman.
In the new status quo, all of DC history “counts” when understanding a character’s backstory, and legacy and history within the franchise is being emphasised by editorial mandate, with many characters now sharing the same codenames. For example, Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain share the Batgirl title, while Oracle (Barbara Gordon) reserves the right to also wear the Batgirl costume from time to time. Jonathan Kent and his father Clark Kent are both Superman, while Conner Kent is once again Superboy. Wally West has stepped up as primary Flash while Barry Allen and the Flash of China, Avery Ho, participate in Justice League Incarnate. While Diana of Themiscyra continues in her role as Wonder Woman from the afterlife, her mother Hippolyta serves in Wonder Woman’s place on the Justice League, and her sister Nubia explores the idea of succeeding Diana as Wonder Woman. New Batman Jace Fox succeeds Bruce Wayne for a short time, before later serving as the Batman of New York City while Bruce remains in Gotham. Another example of a relaxed approach to codename sharing among legacy characters is Robin: Tim Drake is officially Robin once again, but previous Robin (Damian Wayne) continues to head up the Robin comic book without an official codename, while newcomer Maps Mizoguchi steps into the role briefly in a short story.
The soft relaunch and new approach to history also completes what began with DC Rebirth in restoring the status quo of characters prior to popular New 52 changes, re-establishing characters’ memories and relationships with each other, while selectively retaining some of the simplified backstories from the modern era and many of the new characters. An example of this is Tim Drake once again serving as Robin. Some characters have simply returned to being as fans remembered then. For example Black Canary, who in The New 52 had been presented as a singular new version of the character, has been restored to being the daughter of her Golden Age predecessor.
Paul Kupperberg laid the groundwork for the new series by writing the John Byrne illustrated Secret Origins Annual #1, published in 1987, which recapped the origins of the two iterations of the Doom Patrol that had existed thus far. In October 1987, DC relaunched Doom Patrol, written by Kupperberg and illustrated by Steve Lightle.
After the first 18 issues (and various crossovers and annuals), Kupperberg was replaced by Grant Morrison, starting with issue #19. Kupperberg agreed to help Morrison by writing out characters Morrison did not want to use: Celsius and Scott Fischer died before issue #18—Celsius was killed in an explosion in DC Comics’ “Invasion!” event, and Scott Fischer (already suffering from a recurrence of childhood leukemia) was the only known active superhero casualty of the Dominators‘ gene-bomb (also in “Invasion!”); Karma had left the team as he was still on the run from the law (he became a member of the Suicide Squad and died on his first mission with them in the “War of the Gods” crossover event); the Negative Spirit left Negative Woman’s body; and Lodestone plunged into a coma, where she would remain for the first half of Morrison’s run on the book. Tempest gave up fieldwork to become the team’s physician. Conversely, Morrison picked up a throw-away character from DP #14, who was slipped into the art on the last page of #18 to set up Morrison’s use: Dorothy Spinner is an ape-faced girl with powerful “imaginary friends.” Morrison also substantially retooled Negative Man: Larry Trainor (revealed to be alive in the Kupperburg run, as a prisoner of an underground society but now powerless) is forcibly merged with the Negative Spirit (now a cosmic entity) and a black doctor named Dr. Eleanor Poole, to create a transgender transracial gestalt entity known as Rebis. The new writer introduced some new characters to the team, including the multiple personality-afflicted Crazy Jane; and sentient roadway Danny the Street.
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