At this year’s Comic Con International: San Diego, DC President, Publisher and Chief Creative Officer Jim Lee treated fans to a powerful lineup of surprise announcements, reveals and special guests, along with great conversations with top comic creators, during DC’s annual “Jim Lee & Friends” panel.
Lee welcomed comic book writers Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson, Tom King, Jeph Loeb, the writer, actor, and Count Crowley creator David Dastmalchian, along with DC Studios CEO, co-chairman and filmmaker James Gunn.
Dropping in from the Atlanta set of his much-anticipated next film Superman, Gunn conveyed his excitement about the new adult animated series Creature Commandos, coming to Max this December from DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation. The seven-episode series, co-produced by DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation, tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans. When all else fails…they’re your last, worst option. Headlining the new show is a star-studded cast that includes Steve Agee as Economos, Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana, Anya Chalotra as Circe, Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky, Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., Sean Gunn as GI Robot & Weasel, David Harbour as Frankenstein, Alan Tudyk as Dr. Phosphorus, Indira Varma as The Bride, and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller.
A lifelong fan himself, Gunn next surprised fans in the room by announcing that they would be the first in the world to see the official teaser for the Max Original before unveiling the first-look footage before the cheering crowd.
Delighting the fans in the audience, David Dastmalchian spoke to the fans about writing DC’s upcoming horror comic book series DC Horror Presents: Creature Commandos. Based on a character team first appearing in DC’s Weird War Tales #93, the new six-issue comic book series has a new cast of misfits on the team of monsters, ghouls and weirdos.DC Horror Presents: Creature Commandos launches in October with art by Jesús Hervás and will be available at local comic book shops beginning October 2.
Comic book writers Scott Snyder, Joshua Williamson and Tom King were on hand to talk about DC’s new publishing initiative launching this fall, DC ALL IN. Snyder and Williamson will have a one-shot comic book, DC All In Special #1, that will publish the first week of October, followed by several new DC “Absolute” universe comic books, and the beginning of new storylines for DC’s core comic book titles. King (Wonder Woman), Williamson (Superman) and Snyder (Absolute Batman) are ALL IN with DC in the fall, so look for their titles, and more, to launch with DC’s All IN initiative!
And in an additional teaser of news, Scott Snyder announced another title still to come in DC’s “Absolute” universe, revealing that writer Al Ewing and artist Jahnoy Lindsay will be joining forces on Absolute Green Lantern, debuting March 2025.
Jim Lee and James Gunn ended the panel with a surprise, revealing that the powerful and iconic DC Milton Glaser logo will return to a place of prominence at DC. Gunn revealed the DC Studios logo and stated, “Peter (Safran) and I knew we needed one logo that would bring us all together. We knew it needed to be something that was immediately recognizable, something that honored the comics, the legendary writers and artists who inspired everything we do – including our own Jim Lee – not to mention the generations of passionate and extraordinary DC fans.”
Lee revealed that, “bringing this powerful, iconic mark back into the world—back to its rightful place of prominence, on the front covers of everything DC” and that fans would start seeing the logo on comics this October.
