"Blackest Night" One-shots
At the Baltimore Retailer Summit Monday night, DC Comics announced as expected that "Blackest Night" and all its tie-in titles would take a month-long hiatus in January. But keeping with its "Back from the Dead" theme, eight one-shots will ship in the first month of 2010, delivering new "final" issues of eight previously-canceled fan favorite series.
Each series will pick up on its original numbering and feature characters from their original runs as they deal with the events currently unfolding in the DC Universe.
DC has tagged an all-star cast of writers to pen the books, but arguably the most significant rise is "Starman" #81, written by series creator James Robinson.
The Eisner Award-winning series, believed by many observers as the quintessential superhero comic book of the 1990s, ended near-perfectly with #80 in August 2001.
Robinson revealed exclusively to CBR News late Monday that while the series is back for one issue, its star "Starman," Jack Knight, is not.
"It's very exciting to return to Opal City. And I'm trying to do a story that's satisfying for long-time fans of 'Starman' and also fans of the 'Blackest Night' series," said Robinson. "The only thing I will say now, probably to the disappointment of some fans, is that this is not the return of Jack Knight. This will feature cast members of 'Starman' and it will feature a Black Lantern Starman but it will not feature Jack Knight.
"Jack Knight is happily, much as I am, ensconced in San Francisco, happy to be alive and away from all the craziness."
The other one-shots and writers include the following:
- "The Atom and Hawkman" #46 by Geoff Johns
- "Catwoman" #83 by Fabian Nicieza
- "Phantom Stranger" #42 by Peter Tomasi
- "The Power of Shazam!" #48 by Eric Wallace
- "The Question" #37 by Greg Rucka
- "Suicide Squad" #67 by John Ostrander
- "Weird Western Tales" #71 by Dan DiDio
Artists for the one-shots were not announced.