Letters to Ten Years Later Prelude #1

Well, Ten Years Later is coming quick, and this issue is more than just a sneak peek, it's an outright opening salvo!

That cover by Brandon Herren...! What a beautiful representation of classic characters, all of them with their own unique DC2 spin. No one will dispute that Brandon can draw, but the gradations of color and shading in this pic make it stand out as an instant Killerseamonkey masterpiece. Not all of those characters appear in this issue, but all of them have a role in 10YL, and it's fun to get a glimpse of them finally. I'm particularly fond of bearded Kal-El's purified Kryptonian uniform, and of Steve Howard's Superwoman design.

I'm proud that my story kicks off this issue (of course, that's simply because it happens to be the earliest chronologically, occurring just two years after the last Earth-One story that will post), and it's a big thrill to be posted on the DC2 again, after so many years since my last issue. When Charlie floated the idea for a 10YL sneak peek, I told him I wasn't sure what I'd contribute. But knowing what my plans were for my upcoming 10YL Superman story, Charlie (being the brilliant SOB that he is) suggested that I "do the funeral." I had no plans to include such a scene in my Superman mini, but I immediately saw the wisdom of it, and agreed to write it. So I did. My first draft is subtly different than the one posted here. When I showed it to Charlie, he offered some well-meant criticism on the tone and circumstances, which, admittedly, I still don't agree with. Nevertheless, I trust him, and Charlie is more often right than wrong (especially in these matters), so he did a work-over of my original draft, which I then worked over myself, thus this final draft. Big thanks to Charlie for suggesting it and making it possible--- the good parts are all his, the missteps are mine. Hope you like it.

That Authority story was just bursting with great ideas and concepts! These are totally unfamiliar characters to me (well, mostly), but this was a terrific primer on folks like Midnighter (jeez, that guy is Charlie-circa-2005 brutal!), Apollo and Hawksmoor. My only quibble is this feels like a bit out of place in an event designed to say goodbye, but (as I said above) I trust Charlie and his instincts on these things.

Speaking of bursting with great ideas... how about Scott Kruger's Legion of Super-Heroes teaser...! As I'm editing this mini I'm somewhat prejudiced, but I can say unreservedly this is the kind of story that gets me excited about fan fiction. Scott is in his element here, picking up right where he left off from his epic LSH run, and plunging headlong into a long-awaited conclusion to the great saga of the 31st century. This story feels like home in ways only writing JSA or Hawkman does for me. I know the rest of you will enjoy it, too. And who knows? It may even have implications for Omega Crisis...

Back later to read and review more of this super-sized issue!

You did an awesome job wrangling this beast of an issue, Charlie, and deserve a big thanks for doing the lion's share of work. Well done, sir!




You modestly understate the impact you had on this story, and how it sets the tone of 10YL! I've enjoyed our collaborations in the past, and this one was no exception. Kind of bittersweet that this era is coming to an end.



At its heart the DC2 has always been about fans having fun writing about their favorite DC characters, and this is never more obvious than with Scott and the LSH. And the fun is contagious!



This was a tough story to preview without including too many spoilers. This one is probably going to be the most personally satisfying one for me, as I'm realizing I've been waiting to tell it since I started writing Hawkman fan fiction, pre-DC2. It will wrap up the story I started 10+ years ago, pulling together threads I never even knew were there.



I share Charlie's unreserved admiration of Susan's DC2 work. There's just something so cool about the way Jonah integrates with DC2 history and continuity, and this story slots-into a huge and important chunk. Jonah's presence looms large, so much so that the last words of the story gave me goosebumps. This will be one to read, for sure!



In a lot of ways, feels like we never left.

Thanks for saying that, Susan. Don and I are both fervently against the whole incest angle with Kon, and doing away with that was high on my list of priorities when coming back to these characters. That's not to say all the stuff with Doctor Xadu is irrelevant. Having a Kryptonian super-scientist-- General Zod meets Josef Mengele-- flitting about the universe is something I think adds a whole new dimension of horror to the DC2niverse. Even if we don't see him Ten Years Later, Xadu will continue to be a boogeyman that threatens the sanctity of the galaxy in the present day-- I know Don had plans for him in one of his stories! Flamebird will appear in the Young Justice special Jamie and I are collaborating on, and maybe we'll see him in Omega Crisis too...

Superwoman on the other hand... ooooh boy. I'll say more later. Ha!

Julia Pennyworth is Alfred's daughter, someone who debuted in the nu52 in Batman: Eternal and continues to appear in Snyder's Batman run. DC2-wise, chronologically, Julia will have been around in the Cave a while at this point, but this is her first appearance on the site. I've mapped out the timelines for the majority of the characters I'm using so that everything fits together nicely as the event progresses. So I know the point when Supergirl becomes Superwoman, when Flamebird manifests above Metropolis, etc. She plays a larger role in the two Bat-centric 10 Years Later stories that are hitting later this year.


Unfortunately, and like you say, I think that a lot of people had a bad taste in their mouth over the development that Kon was borne from half Kal / half Kara DNA. The fact that he was referred to as Superman's 'son' in issues of Action Comics made that worse! Now, it would have been easy to retcon it out to something we've seen before in the DCU, half Lex Luthor / half Superman, for example, but I didn't want to follow their lead this time. At the end of the day now, it doesn't matter where the DNA came from, because that was just a body to gestate in...  the true Kon-El, the true Flamebird, has 'hatched', and where that takes us will be followed up in time. It also means we'll be looking for a Kryptonian Nightwing...


I'm not too worried about this error! Why can't the inspiration be both? I can see why the development was written in Teen Titans (grounds his character evolution into the Titan-books rather than the Bat-books) but it was always a cool little thing that connected Dick to both of the World's Finest.

Similarly, it's always interesting to see how mythology and religion can reverberate through time and space. I was reading Joseph Campbell and his comments on Jesus Christ's similarities to other figures across religions older than Christianity is fascinating. I can see this working out.

Who knew... there was some connection... between Azarath... and ancient Krypton..? Gets the brain cogs spinning, if I do say so myself.


Thanks, David. Looking forward to what you think of the rest!

That was Julia Remarque, who indeed was Alfred's daughter and a major figure for a period in early Eighties Batman and Detective Comics. She was around about the same time they were introducing Nocturna and Night-Thief, and the Film Freak, along with Jason Todd (original red-head Dick Grayson-clone version).

Take care
Don

My plan is to post little pieces expanding on the thought processes behind each of the stories, but I thought I'd address your 'quibble' first, David!

While you and the other founders are telling your final stories on the site, I'm not going anywhere any time soon.

Justice League is written up till Spring 2016 with more stories planned for as long as I can keep going and Green Lantern Corps is plotted pretty thoroughly up till around #75, plus I'm working on my final two issues of the year as we speak. I have a miniseries concerning The Flash that I've written the first issue for, which involves some major status quo changing stuff that's actually "piloted" in Justice League #9 (out next month!), and I'm always coming up with ideas and stuff that will find their way into my work here.

So, while many are approaching the ten year jump as a "black hole" that could have involved anything to make their stories work for Ten Years Later, I'm using it to add stakes to a series I'm planning behind the scenes that plays really well into what we're doing here. When we get enough issues written, I'll be launching The Authority, and the idea of a decade plus lost in the multiverse is a major part of what we're going for in that title. I say 'we' because I'm looking for contributors. I have two already, the first issue is written and fun stuff planned for the concept. You're saying goodbye with this event, but I'm saying something else entirely! 

Anyway, thanks again for taking the time! Looking forward to hearing what you have to say about the other stories-- I wrote one because of you!

On THE AUTHORITY in… BLACK AND WHITE…

Over in the ongoing Justice League title I have been introducing loads of Wildstorm concepts to really shake things up. Right now, you’re just seeing the foundation being laid for some really out there stories, but with Justice League #8 (out last week) I introduced Majestic as well as Ten Years Later’s own Shrike for good measure.

I knew I was going to introduce Stormwatch as an organisation, and I knew that the endgame for this run of the book was to backdoor pilot a new title at some point, namely, The Authority. I knew I wanted to send a group of characters who I’d utilise in Justice League off into the multiverse for adventures, but I didn’t know how I was going to do it, then the ten year jump was proposed and the wheels started turning in my head.

This story, like David has said, is a bit of an outlier compared to the others, but is important because stories aren’t going to stop coming after Ten Years Later. They’re not going to stop coming after Omega Crisis. So this story is representative of this not being the final chapter of the DC2 as a website, or for stories being told on Earth-1. One door closes, another one opens. Who knows what’s happening during that ten year gap? Who knows what’s happening before the gap even takes place?

The Guardian is a character I love, and I’m excited to be using him in Justice League and I’m psyched to build him up to The Authority. It might be that we see him in both books concurrently, but there will eventually be a moment in Justice League when he departs one book and then everything syncs up so the books are in line with each other.

Not know when the first issue of The Authority is going to hit, I wanted to get a 'mission statement' story out there. This is just one example of the stories you can expect from this series. Crazy shit hitting the fan every single issue, facing versions of characters on versions of worlds that we're used to, and being awesome.

It's going to be good.

SUPERWOMAN: ONE WEEK


This one opened not only with a bang, but with a neat new villain in the Quiet King. Great concept, Charlie. I love how you have made it part of your mission that just because this is an "end-event" (and yes, I know we have unresolved different perspectives on that), doesn't mean you can't dazzle us with new and interesting characters and concepts. Bravo!

Hmmm... it's five years later, and Lois is offworld searching for Superman... with Lex Luthor? I wonder what that's all about? (Thanks for the shout-out to my forthcoming Superman 10YL mini, pal! ).



I think I actually shivered at that moment. Damn creepy. Great writing!

Lena Luthor: loved her physical description! Got a very Natalie Dormer-vibe (and that's not a bad thing), what with the half-shaved head and all (though as a Luthor, that is a cool little homage, too). Her relationship with Kara is very interesting... Who said a Luthor and an El can't play nice together!

I really like the cameo with Karen Starr A.K.A. Power Woman. It establishes a cool rapport between the two, and a pretty neat grounding in established DC2 continuity. Their connection with Superman made for a very telling conversation, too. It says a lot about Superman that he inspires that kind of faith.

The scene with Kon-El is a nice follow-up from the previous story and cements the whole "Superman Family" concept (which I can stomach much better than the "Batman Family" nonsense). Kon's situation becomes more interesting, and this solidifies Kara's position as the reigning "materfamilias" (if you will).

Speaking of Superman Family... the long-lost Kru-El returns! And I see he's shrugged off the indoctrination of Zod's cult of personality and being abandoned by Jor-El as a child. You've expanded his backstory and turned him into a much more interesting character, and he's actually made something of himself in Midway City... I'm sorta proud of him.

And that last line...! Pretty much says it all about Kara's yearning for family. Very poignant. Great ending.

Only it wasn't the ending! Steve Howard's pin-up of Superwoman is freaking magnificent! I declare it to be One of the Greatest Pieces of Art to Grace the DC2! Well done, Steve!

Awesome introduction to Superwoman, Charlie. Can't wait to see where she goes 10YL!

This is a long one and it might come across as rambling, but Superwoman is one of the main reasons I’m looking forward to Ten Years Later and all it entails. So let’s get to it!

I’m approaching Superwoman quite simply. Well, simply for me. Internally, my timeline for Superman suggests he’s been around for nine years in Earth-1 continuity. This is through established continuity and ties into the idea that Batman has been around for ten years (having debuted a year earlier than Superman) and allows for a sliding timeline. By my reckoning, Supergirl has been active on Earth-1 for two years. So, ten years later, Superwoman will have been a hero in the eyes of earth for twelve-ish years, while Superman will have shot off to outer space a decade prior, leaving everyone behind. Who do you look up to after something like that?

The first question: What happens when our favourite hero leaves us?

Sure, Superman is a bastion of hope and justice, he’s iconic, but in this day and age… what does that matter? We tear down our heroes as quickly as we elevate them, in fact, we do both in equal measure, punishing those we believe ‘owe us’ for their celebrity and reducing them to tabloid fodder. You can make Superman as iconic as all hell, but once he’s gone, we as the public at large (in-universe) are going to move on. And we’re going to move onto the coolest, smartest, strongest hero in sight, and in this instance, and through her numerous acts of heroism—inspired by Superman but also fuelled by her innate goodness—that’s going to be Kara Zor-El, aka the eventual Superwoman.

The second question: How do you build the best hero the world has ever seen?

Kara Zor-El has been through quite a lot in-universe, and we’ll be revisiting her ‘greatest hits’ through Superwoman: For Tomorrow (blatantly a play on ‘Woman of Tomorrow’, which could be Kara, Karen or even Lena, among others we’re hopefully going to be utilising). She and her family escaped the death of Krypton, and she was then rocketed away from Argo City with an expectation to join her baby cousin on Earth. We know the story. But we went somewhere else in the DC2. Instead of Earth, she crashed onto a jungle planet, and she had to adapt to those circumstances. Eventually, Superman found her, took her to Earth, and she had to adapt again. Kara is a survivor. More so than her cousin, she keeps having to pivot as the universe throws crap her way, changing her expectation and keeping her on the back foot. So she moves forward, doing the best she can, and that’s one of her defining characteristics.

If Superman embodies hope, then Superwoman embodies relentlessness in the face of impossible odds. Basically the same thing, just worded differently, but Kara lives hope every single day. She hopes that tomorrow is better than the day before, and will do anything she can to make that so. So to make her the best hero, it’s all about action, isn’t it? Everything she does is super. She will fight super villains, social injustice, natural disasters, anything that threatens a positive way of life. And for the world to fall in love with her, that means she has to fight impossible odds and win. And I'm not saying 'action' as in punching and kicking. I'm saying her actions. Doing the right thing, relentlessly. See what I did there?

ONE WEEK is taking my ‘thesis’ on Superwoman and applying it to a five day structure. It gets heavy handed at times, e.g. Superwoman saying “I wish they wouldn’t bother, it’s not that I’m not grateful for the attention, but it’s not what I do this for,” in the face of news that she’s going to be honoured for her worked the day before, but I wanted to be clear with my intentions for the character.

Monday, Superwoman fights a monster that has kidnapped the world. She wins the day with brains, not just brawn, but the brawn she demonstrates is immense and the brain spectacular. She tells the Quiet King that she will never give up, and neither would anyone else in her position, and she wins. Like I said in my previous post, this is her Miracle Monday.

Tuesday shows the world reacting, and Kara not resting on her laurels. She needed help, got help, and thanks the unlikely source. And she doesn’t give up on Metallo. I think that’s important. He’s a self-professed villain, a bad guy, but he helped her. That’s enough. She believes in the innate goodness in everyone, and Corben showed her a spark. What does that mean? Well, it’s enough for her, and she already believes everyone is capable of good. Now she knows for sure he does. This is exemplified by her relationship with Lena Luthor. Who in their right mind would trust a Luthor? Well, for one, Kara’s not lived through Lex’s continuous reign of terror against the El family. But Lena isn’t her father, so why should she weigh her expectations of Lena with the sins of the father. We’ll explore their relationship more come For Tomorrow, and it’s one of the central relationships in that book.

Wednesday, we see the first glimpse of Kara’s alter-ego, Carol. This is a nod to classic Supergirl stories, when she was Linda Lee Danvers; trying to find a modern name that is close enough to Kara as to not be ridiculous; and then landing upon Carol, which ties into Marvel’s Captain Marvel¸ which I have no problem with at all. It also highlights Kara’s relationship with her alternate dimension self, Power Girl (who we don’t call Power Woman!) which is another relationship we’ll see followed through with in For Tomorrow. Starr Industries are also an entity I want to look into more, and if I decide to launch an ongoing Superwoman book out of this, you know they’d appear there a lot too!

Thursday we revisit the events of the earlier Nightwing and Superboy story, and Kara’s response to Kon’s metamorphosis. She’s not one to get mad because of the change, but she doesn’t like being kept out of the loop when it comes to the health of one of her closest ‘family’ members. Of course she’s going to find it cool. Chronologically, she’s going to be in her mid-twenties, while Kon would be eighteen / nineteen, so they’ve got more of a sibling relationship than son / mother (ugh) which could have been followed through on if we were feeling icky.

Finally, on Friday, I get my plans for Kru-El out there or the world to see. Kru-El is a ridiculous name for a ridiculous character, and he was used sporadically throughout my time on the site. The second time, after his inclusion in The Apokolips Imperative as our version of Doomsday, involved him being royally shafted, depowered by Gold Kryptonite and sent to a parallel universe by Rip Hunter (I really did not know how to end that arc). I eventually returned him to Earth-1 without explanation (for the best) and laid the seeds for this transformation into our new Jonathan Kent, police officer of Midway City and general gruff bastard.

We see that Zod is even more of a monster than we originally knew, twisting people’s minds to make them follow him. That’s not to say he doesn’t have a certain cult of personality, but if he really wanted to mess with people, he knew how. He’d break families, grind them under foot, and then make them kneel. This isn’t Man of Steel’s Zod, who would do anything to preserve Krypton, our version is a sadistic psychopath with a narcissistic personality and an obsession with being in power. That’s something I think David will be touching upon with his Empire of Zod story he’s been teasing, but I don’t know if we’ll be seeing it play out during Ten Years Later. I hope we do! He certainly teased it in World of Tomorrow.

Kru’s slow rehabilitation will be witnessed throughout Of Tomorrow. Yes, this will be Superwoman’s book, but Super-books are always about the supporting cast, be it Lois, Jimmy and Perry, or in this case, Karen, Lena, Kru and Kon. I’m excited for this book, and can see the mini extending out into something more, if the response to it is positive (and even then, that’s never stopped me).

Sorry for going on, but we’ll be done soon!

David, thanks for the kind words-- I'll address them beyond my talky piece in a bit!

On WHATEVER HAPPENED TO YOUNG JUSTICE?...

Way back when, I didn’t collect anything other than the Buffy-verse comics Dark Horse were putting out (they were amazing, and I’m talking pre-Season 8) and anything that caught my eye in the discount bin. It was here I picked up my first issues of Young Justice, it had, I think, Darkseid and Secret on the cover, and it looked brilliant. I devoured the issue, found the surrounding parts of the story—then found out the book was being cancelled in favour of a relaunch of Teen Titans.

Since then, I picked up the two Young Justice trades (collecting the first issues of the title and the Sins of Youth crossover) and then the odd issues here and there. I fell in love with the characters and followed them into Teen Titans (by way of the Graduation Day mini) and beyond.

But there was something about this original group, as written by Peter David and illustrated by Todd Nauck, that I thoroughly enjoyed, and I really wanted a shot at writing them before I was done. To be fair, I also knew that with Ten Years Later coming, I had a hand in a lot of characters that fell into the Young Justice umbrella that I’d be remiss not to utilise!

So this is taking Young Justice and showing where they’d be in ten years’ time. No Teen Titans (we assume), no team break up that we’ve seen, just something different. I admit, there is a level of assumption that you know the original premise of the series, mainly the Secret story points, but apart from that I wanted a punchy introduction to the characters and the format fell into place.

Arrowette left the team after a particularly traumatic experience in the book, so it made sense for her to move away from the superhero set early on in the team's career.

The rest of the characters, where they're coming from and where they're at, I think I cover in the supplemental material I posted along with Jamie's brilliant designs. So that's that!

THOSE OF A GOTHAM PERSUASION:

Finally getting to the finale of Charlie's interlocking Ten Years Later stories, and it does not disappoint. From the first moment, we get a very concise and atmospheric introduction to the Gotham of 10YL, which is conspicuous by certain absences (the Gordons, Alfred... *sniff*). The comparisons drawn between Gotham and its shinier, happier sister-city of Metropolis help to clearly define both.

It's nice to see Charlie writing the Question again. He is so identified with the character that it would be a shame not to include him/her in this last hurrah. And this was a great intro to the new dynamic between the law and the vigilantes of Gotham.

Very nice touch to have Bruce celebrating that particular birthday. It's completely understandable that he should be having certain mortal ruminations now, which, of course, fits with the tone of these being "the last Gotham stories."

Silver St Cloud, huh? You faked me out with her purring in bed (there, maybe that will draw some more attention to the issue); I was sure it was going to be Selina with Bruce. If not her, than surely Vicki Vale or Talia... (Alas, poor Julie Madison was killed-off on the DC2's Day One). Hopefully Bruce can find some peace or happiness with her before the inevitable you-know-what starts to hit the fan.

The scene with Leslie Thompkins seemed to remind us that Bruce is never very far from that night on Park Row. It also struck me, that for such a loner ("My parents are de-e-e-ead!"), Bruce sure does have a lot of surrogate family (surrogate fathers, mothers, sons). Maybe that's why I always cringe when the Bat-Family dynamic is so much in evident, as it seems at odds with the core of what makes a character like Batman tick.

Speaking of Bat-Family... I actually enjoyed all of the proteges getting together to spend time with Bruce (and each other). There are a lot of seeds planted for other stories in there, too (All-Star Academy! Matthew Malone? Dick's wedding to... Starfire, I can only assume *crosses fingers*). All of them had very neat scenes together, though Jason Todd comes off best (I think that's the writer's preference bleeding through), and Tim is a bit of a cypher, though he has a very distinct personality (just low key).

Not sure if I like the direction you guys (I seem to recall Don had a say in this, too) are taking with Dick Grayson, what with the multiple superhero identities. I think I understand what you're doing, I think it's unique, I just don't know that it's particularly necessary or interesting. Since he was displaced as Robin in the 80s, I always sort of felt Dick deserved a more definitive costume/codename. I always thought Nightwing was a bit generic, but some creators made it work (until they got rid of the high-backed collar--- I loved that collar) (but then, I grew up in the 80s and poppin' the collar was not just a style choice, but a way of life). I actually always liked the E2 adult Robin costume (the red, yellow and green one, not the Batman Jr one, which is an abomination), as it was an evolution of the original. So maybe the 10YL approach will grow on me. I trust Charlie and Don to hit it out of the park in execution.

Great epilogue bookend of the story. Nice little reveal, great interplay with both characters, and a very ominous way to end the story, with something coming to disturb the equilibrium Gotham has wrested from chaos. Lots of players aligned on the board, but all on one side--- which just means there is a pretty big shoe to drop with the 10YL minis coming soon! And I can't wait to read about it!

Alright, let's do this:

WORLD OF TOMORROW! I liked this; very somber, good character work, nicely done shifting of the POV. I'm very much a fan of the idea that people have both love for Clark Kent and reverence for Superman, so seeing that play out at his funeral was cool to me. I also like the possibilities this opens up; a world without Superman is also something I like to see played with. Nice work.

THE AUTHORITAH! This was cool too, very actiony, very intense. Midnighter especially seems to get the star treatment here, and he makes the most of it. I suppose if I had any complaint, it's that I'd have liked to see a bit more of Hawksmoor since he's my favorite, but I suppose there's more of these stories somewhere down the line, yes?

NIGHTWING AND SUPERBOY! Very cool, very intense. While I'm not exactly as perturbed by Superboy's DC2 origin as others (it's squicky, but not too squicky), I do like this reinvention. Having him become a new version of Flamebird is a cool idea and helps set him apart from the rest of the Superfamily. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of this.

LSH! A bit minimalist, but I suppose that's the point. Still, it's a good set-up - the Time Trapper is ever a reliable source of drama - and it'll be interesting to see the rest of the Legion scattered across the cosmos. Looking forward to what comes next.

SUPERGIRLWOMAN! Now this is an idea I can get behind: a post-Superman world. It's part of why I loved 52 back when that came out. I like the "Day in the Life" (or "Week in the Life", as it were) setup; it allows for action and character and gives Kara time to shine. Also, is there a bit more to the relationship between Kara and Lena than what's on the page or am I just reading into things?

YOUNG JUSTICE! Very concise, very to-the-point. Still, it's a showcase for the new team and it works well in that regard. Some quick character moments, some quick action, it all works. Plus I like the new character designs.

HAWKMAN! I'll be honest: I've never gotten super into Hawkman. His backstory's just too convoluted and constantly changing for me to get into it. Still, this was cool; very ominous, very foreshadowing. Good stuff.

GOTHAM! I love seeing the Bat-family act like an actual family. It's so uninteresting when writers feel the need to have Bruce keep everyone at arm's length. Plus, we got the Question involved! I love that guy! Good character work, good set-up. I'm looking forward to what comes next.

HEX! I like the idea of taking the phrase "space cowboy" to it's literal extreme, so seeing this was actually a lot cooler than I expected. Really ominous with a great payoff. I'll admit I'm not the biggest fan of dialogue without contractions, but that didn't really bug me here. Now if only Hex had a pair of robot fists (POW!), we'd be golden.

All in all, this was a really cool anthology and I'm glad I got to read it. Plus that cover looks really really cool. Nice work all around.

-UDC

Thanks for the feedback, Scott. I made a conscious decision to focus (mostly) on the people who know Kal-El isn't really dead (for all they know, that is), and not on the pathos of an actual funeral (which may have necessitated a scene like the one Charlie suggests, but we do get a little of that with Jimmy and Perry).

My upcoming Ten Years Later mini is a straight-up Superman story (complete with loads of Superman!), but if the whole "world without a Superman" thing appeals to you, check out Charlie's Superwoman 10YL mini to see what that looks like in the DC2niverse.




No doubt the DCU Hawkman suffers from convoluted continuity, but Hawkman's story on the DC2 is fairly straight forward, and the neat thing about writing this 10YL mini is a chance to actually wrap up the story of Carter Hall: FINAL FLIGHT will be the ending promised from the beginning I made in THE IMMORTAL LEGEND OF THE HAWKMAN in 2005. I'm glad you enjoyed the preview and hope you'll like the mini.

Thanks for the feedback, buddy!

"Space cowboy"?  You can bet I wasn't ready for that...but I'm sure you know where it's at (yeah yeah yeah yeah).

The lack of contractions is a gag I tend to pull when writing what's supposed to be a non-English language: it sets off a little signal in your brain that what you're reading is a different speech pattern than you're used to, without having to resort to a different font.  It's along the same lines of when I write Hex's dialogue in "Jonah-speak" (i.e. writing out his accent phonetically), so the reader can recognize him even when he's "off-camera"!

I cannot promise robot fists, but I will try to deliver a good mix of sci-fi and typical Hex badass-ness.