In July 2018, some leaks about DC Comics appeared on 4Chan. I thought it would be fun to talk about them in retrospect. Remember October solicits HADn’t come out yet.
Link to article about post: Scotching Those 4Chan DC Comics Rumours - Bleeding Cool
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Tom King won’t be changing any of his plot ideas despite the public backlash of the wedding. Next two arcs will be about Bruce Wayne self-reflecting on if being Batman is a good thing. He’ll ask Dick to take over temporarily. The Bane cliffhanger won’t be followed up on until around December/January.
-TRUE, as far as we can tell, Tom King did what he intended 25 issues of Batman falling apart. He did self reflect in #51-53 in which Dick took over. Also, the Bane Cliffhanger didn’t get continued until Late October which though earlier than said.
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Dickbats won’t be a thing in Justice League, but it will spill over to Ben Percy’s Nightwing. It’ll double ship for a few months, and go back to monthly. DC’s also going to push the Nightwing-Batgirl relationship as damage control for the wedding trainwreck, but don’t expect anything big to come out of it.
True, Dick bats did not tie into Justice League, but it most certainly tied into Percy’s Nightwing. (Unfortunately)
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The solo Red Hood direction will just be for an arc. Scott Lobdell originally wanted to use Roy Harper’s death as the catalyst for this angle, but editors stepped in so that he could be used for Heroes in Crisis. Joker’s Daughter will be taking Roy’s place on the chopping block. Lobdell will be gone after this arc, by the way, to focus more on screenwriting.
-False, While I don’t know about the Joker’s Daughter because I haven’t read Red Hood and the Outlaws #14-25. I do know Red Hood: Outlaw was 10 issues long and two arcs. Also Lobdell stayed on the title.
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Peter Tomasi will be on Detective Comics, but not until after 1000. His pitch is a globe-trotting Batman fighting the League of Assassins worldwide.
-True and False, while Tomasi DID take over on Detective Comics, he did so for #994. It did focus on a globe trotting adventure though. It’s quite possible DC was just impatient though.
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Speaking of Heroes in Crisis, it’s in a messy state. Tom King originally wanted to do just a 6-issue mini-series about PTSD, but Didio wanted to be more like Identity Crisis 2.0. The three suspects are Booster Gold, Harley Quinn, and Wally West, since they’re the only survivors. The two victims are Ray Palmer and Kyle Rayner. Rayner doesn’t die until late in the event, though. The killer is Hunter Zolomon disguised as Wally.
-True and False. It was a mess, got extended to 9 issues. It is an Identitiy Crisis 2.0. The Suspects were right, but Roy and Wally died. Then Wally [SPOILER]
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After the fallout from Flash War and HiC, Wally will get a mini-series written by John Walker, about him getting his life together and back with Linda.
- True so far. Wally got a spin-off after Heroes in Crisis. However, it only just started so it’s hard to decide where Wally is going.
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Huge Justice League crossover happening in January, between Justice League, Justice League Dark, and maybe Odyssey (see below). Superboy Prime is unleashed from the Source Wall. Yeah, you heard me. Green Lantern Corps might have a tie-in, too.
- False. None of this happened. January’s arc was Justice League: Hawkworld followed by Sixth Dimension. However, it’s possible that this got replaced with Year of the Villain.
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Justice League Odyssey is dead on arrival, by the way. Editorial demanded that some changes in the script after Sejic had already drawn two issues. Sejic’s pissed about it, and is only going to do four issues instead of 12. Then he’ll write and draw his Black Label book.
-Likely true. Justice League Odyssey got delayed a month after this leak. Sejic left the title after 2 issues and williamson left after 5. We also know #1 and #2 were likely finished before the delay based on an interview with Williamson.
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Editorial is letting Adam Glass a lot of leeway with Teen Titans. He pitched it to them as “teenage Suicide Squad”, and they’re are letting him run with it. Expect new characters to join, and others to be killed off. The higher-ups are really happy with this direction so far.
- True. Teen Titans is a Teenage Suicide Squad and characters have been killed off and joined. Even as early as #21
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Titans, on the other hand, the top brass isn’t happy with. Abnett has about 8 issues of scripts done, and DC’s going to double-ship them just to get them out of the way before cancelling or revamping the title. They’re letting writers make pitches. The general feeling is that they want to move Nightwing out of the group, and replace him with Red Robin.
- True and False. Titans got cancelled after only 12 issues. Nightwing left because of Batman stuff, and this title more or less got replaced with Young Justice in January which red robin led.
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Bryan Edward Hill will be writing an Outsiders title, with Black Lightning, Katana, Geo-Force, Halo. Nightwing will replace Batman as the team supervisor (and for Young Justice synergy). Simon Baz will be on the team, too. A crossover between this and Percy’s Nightwing is planned.
- Likely True at the Time. While Hill is writing Batman and the Outsiders, the line up is different. However, they did note Geo-Force and Halo which I don’t think had been announced at the time. Also Simon Baz has disappeared for now. However, this title got delayed to May 2019 with a different team line up. The Nightwing crossover didn’t happen because well…
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Grant Morrison Green Lantern is real, btw, and it’s a 12-issue run about Hal Jordan exploring the Multiverse and learning about how Lantern willpower works in other worlds. Expect an SDCC announcement. Green Lanterns will be retitled as Green Lantern Corps (it’ll keep the numbering) and will follow the other Lanterns (John, Guy, Kilowog, etc), with Dan Jurgens writing.
- True and False. Announced as SDCC, Green Lantern was a 12 issue run which then took a break for Green Lantern: Blackstar. However, Green Lanterns didn’t get retitled and ended with Jessica Cruz heading to the Ghost Sector.
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KSD takes over Aquaman after the SS crossover, and she’ll be writing about Mera, Queen of Atlantis. Aquaman will stay as an underwater Robin Hood, and there will be a Romeo and Juliet doomed romance.
- True and False. Kellie Sue DeConnick took over Aquaman after the Suicide Squad Crossover, but waited until after a Justice League Crossover also took place to start. The Plot idea is false, but there is some Doomed Romance going on.
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Brian Azzarello is taking Suicide Squad back to its roots, kind of. Harley, Deadshot, and Boomerang are still on the team, but the rest will be expendable villains (like Cheshire, Clock King, Raptor), with a mix of old and new. DC might publish this under Black Label.
- False. Never happened. Because Suicide Squad was stopped at #50. It’s possible that DC decided they didn’t like it and decided to cancel the title rather than keep going.
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New Age of Heroes has been disappointing, saleswise. The Unexpected is done after six issues. Immortal Men and Damage are ending at 12. The Terrifics is doing well enough to last. Sideways and Silencer might get a few more issues because Didio likes them.
- True and False. New Age was VERY disappointing sales wise. However, Unexpected went to 8. Immortal Men stopped at 6. Damage went to 18. Sideways stopped at 12 while Silencer ended at 18. Notably Terrifics is the only New Age of Heroes title still going on having sold relatively well.
So what did you think of the leak. Did they know something or not? The misses aren’t even close while the correct ones are often slightly off.
-Nathan.Payson
(Your Friendly Neighborhood Reporter)
