DC Reveals Three New Next Level Titles
DC announced three new ongoing series launching September 2nd as part of the publisher’s Next Level initiative: Legion of Super-Heroes by Joshua Williamson and Hayden Sherman, Teen Titans by Kyle Higgins and Daniele Di Nicuolo, and The Doom Patrol by Darcy Van Poelgeest and Niko Henrichon. All three are team books, and all three are designed as jumping-on points set within DC's main continuity.
DC co-architect Josh Williamson framed where the line sits relative to the publisher's flagship titles. "These books are set in continuity," said Williamson. "While the series will be independent reads and not heavily tied to other books, they will exist alongside DC's ongoing comic book series like Superman, Batman, Justice League Unlimited, and more." Co-architect Scott Snyder added that the books are built with new readers in mind, describing the initiative as a welcoming entry point much like DC's Absolute line.
The three titles follow earlier Next Level launches including Batwoman, Lobo, Deathstroke: The Terminator, Firestorm, Zatanna, Barbara Gordon: Breakout, and Deadman.
Legion of Super-Heroes
Williamson and Hayden Sherman reimagine the far future of the DC Universe a thousand years from the present. Superheroes have been outlawed, enforcers called the Persuaders keep the United Planets in line, worlds are at war, and the future's last source of hope, R.J. Brande, has been murdered. To crack the case and restore some hope to the universe, Brainiac 1 of 5 sets out to gather a scattered group of gifted young rebels from across the cosmos.
Legion of Super-Heroes #1 has a main cover by Sherman and variants by Jim Lee (card stock and foil), Mark Spears, Yasmine Putri, Sherman, Dan Mora (Michael J. Fox cameo), and V Ken Marion (1:25).
Teen Titans
Higgins and Di Nicuolo, the team behind Power Rangers: Shattered Grid and Image's Massive-Verse, launch a new generation of Titans. When one of their own disappears after attending a rally for Ascend, a fast-growing youth movement that trains kids to survive in a world shaped by superhuman conflict, Fairplay, Cheshire Cat, Proxy, and Wildcard set out to find their friend. That search forces them into an uneasy alliance with Red Hood, who finds the group naive while they struggle with the fact that he still kills.
Teen Titans #1 has a main cover by Di Nicuolo variants by Dan Mora (card stock and foil), Jim Cheung, Sanford Greene (1:25), and Hayden Sherman (Next Level), plus a card stock blank sketch cover.
The Doom Patrol
Eisner winner Darcy Van Poelgeest and artist Niko Henrichon take on the World's Strangest Heroes. The team is broke, and to keep itself afloat both financially and emotionally it adopts a heroes-for-hire model. What looks like a routine job, a missing cat, turns into something far stranger, while a ghost from the team's past prepares to cross into their world from somewhere beyond reality.
The Doom Patrol #1 has a main cover Henrichon and variants by Clayton Crain (card stock and foil), Ian Bertram, Ashley Wood (1:25), and Hayden Sherman (Next Level).
