UPDATE 2/27/2014 11:15 A.M. PT: Newsarama has the first word on the DC Comics weekly series that will follow September 2014's line-wide "Futures End" event.
"We are going to have another weekly series kicking off in October that will be set in the current DCU timeline that will have direct implications on what's happening with the 'five years later' storyline. And you'll see a level of connectivity that I think will help really bring into focus where we see the future of the DCU heading," DiDio told Newsarama.
Neither the title nor the run-length of the new weekly, which will be the third in DC's current line following "The New 52: Futures End" and "Batman Eternal," have been disclosed.
"It's not that we're adding more product in," DiDio said in the article. "It's just as the weaker books go away, we're adding weeklies, which we think have big stories that lead to more and exciting events as they start to unfold over the next year."
Over the past three years, DC Comics has established September as a very important month at the publisher -- and as revealed on Newsarama, they're looking to keep that momentum going with each of their mainline titles set to flash-forward five years into the potential future, along with the return of "Villains Month"-style lenticular covers. The issues will tie-in to DC's upcoming weekly series "The New 52: Futures End," which debuts in May.
"It gives some exciting teases of potential storylines that might be coming for our characters in the near future," DiDio told Newsarama of the month-long "Futures End" event. "These stories aren't going to just be tied into the weekly. But what you'll be seeing is a lot of the writers who are working on series right now projecting forward -- their ideas, their storylines, where they think their character might be five years from now."
The lenticular "Villains Month" covers -- featuring 3D and motion -- helped DC capture both unit and dollar share on the Diamond charts last September, but also led to allocations due to the process involved in printing the books. This year's covers will feature updated technology, according to DiDio.
"All the lenticular covers will be in the titles of the ongoing series," DiDio said to Newsarama. "The covers now will also have the ability to have a 'flicker' effect. That means that the images change and show the transformation going on... There is a level of change that is taking place with our characters during the course of this story."
In the article, DiDio said DC worked with retailers to devise a "structure and plan" that would be mutually beneficial and "make sure that the right amount of books are on the shelf."
In September 2011, DC launched "The New 52," rebooting their continuity and relaunching their entire DC Universe line with new #1s. DC follows a year later with "Zero Month," books set in the past; and "Villains Month" in September 2013. Each initiative has been a major sales success for the publisher. Notably, based on the "Superman" #35 cover revealed (specified as a sample, not a final product), titles appear to be retaining their normal numbering, unlike the past two September events.
Newsarama states that DC plans on launching new ongoing series in June and July that will be a part of the "Futures End" tie-in month, and that the September event will "lead into a new major project" starting in October. DC's announcement was made as part of the ComicsPRO retailers meeting currently ongoing in Atlanta, Georgia.
