Gerard Way is best known for his former band, My Chemical Romance and his recent solo album. But in the world of comics, Way has staked out a career as the writer of Umbrella Academy and The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. And now, Way is coming back to comics in a big way. Pun not intended.
Today at Emerald City Comicon, Way made a surprise appearance at the DC All Access panel where it was announced that he will be “curating” and writing a new imprint of DC Comics called Young Animal. According to DC co-publisher Dan Didio, Young Animal will consist of four monthly series, which share the tagline “comics for dangerous humans.”
The first Young Animal title is Doom Patrol, which will launch in September.
Next up is Shade, the Changing Girl, a gender-swapped take on the classic Shade, the Changing Man.
Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye is a very bizarre title about one of the founding members of DC’s Challengers of the Unknown.
This book will also come out in October, and “take readers on a strange adventure with DC Comics’ Silver Age character Cave Carson, his cybernetic eye and his college–age daughter as they travel to dark places deep in the earth and mind.” Way is co-writing Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye with Jon Rivera, and Michael Avon Oeming is the artist.
Finally, Way and writer Jody Houser will join forces in November on Mother Panic, a new series illustrated by Tommy Lee Edwards that appears to have ties to Batman.
In a statement, Way said “I am thrilled to help bring DC’s Young Animal to life, having been raised on experimental 80s and 90s takes on superheroes. I see Young Animal as a place to try new ideas- following the spirit of those books from the past but bring them somewhere else. I see it as an imprint where we can explore fine art, bold concepts, mature themes, and strangeness- with lots of heart.”
Are you excited about DC’s new Young Animal line of comic books? Sound off in the comment section below!
