DC’s mature-readers line is stepping out of Gotham. At its DC Black Label and Vertigo panel at New York Comic Con on Thursday, October 8, DC announced a new anthology line called DC Black Label Presents, plus a Hal Jordan series that Jason Aaron is pitching as Green Lantern’s answer to The Dark Knight Returns, according to The Beat.
DC Black Label Presents will be a series of 48-page, artist-driven one-shots, launching in summer 2027. Executive editor Chris Conroy said the line will feature characters from all across the DC Universe, and that “none of them will be Batman,” a joke about how Batman-heavy Black Label has been since it launched in 2018. The first three:
- Zatanna from Terry and Rachel Dodson, the artists who co-created Adventureman with Matt Fraction.
- Poison Ivy, written and drawn by Amy Reeder.
- O.M.A.C., written by Ho Che Anderson and drawn by Denys Cowan, starring Jack Kirby’s original version of the character.
The creators said they were grateful for long deadlines and real creative control. “This won’t be the last time I do this,” Terry Dodson said. “It’s been so satisfying drawing these pages that I wrote.”
The headliner was Green Lantern: The Dying of the Light, a five-issue series from writer Jason Aaron and artist Tirso, the artist of Dark Knights of Steel, due in 2027. The Beat reports it launches in March. Set 20 years in an alternate future, it finds an aging Hal Jordan locked in a galactic prison with a Green Lantern ring that is slowly running out of power. “It’s very much me doing, ‘What if Frank Miller had done Green Lantern?'” Aaron said.
DC also brought back Joker/Harley: Malicious Intent, Kami Garcia’s long-delayed sequel to Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity. The series had been cancelled, but now it is back for 2027, with Mico Suayan and Jason Badower returning, Cat Staggs joining the art team, and main covers by Martin Simmonds. Garcia said she worked with a criminal psychologist and that the book stands on its own for fans of Criminal Minds or True Detective, AIPT reports.
DC’s main line has big plans for next year too. RCG covered how DC revealed Batman: Justice Year for next year.
