DC unleashes Frank Miller on Superman with its latest set of prestige comic offerings
DC is tapping some of its most talented and celebrated modern creators—and also its resident crazy genius, Frank Miller—for its latest prestige publishing project. According to Entertainment Weekly, the comics company has just announced a new “Black Label” selection, featuring work from all-star writers and artists like Kelly Sue DeConnick, Phil Jimenez, John Romita, Jr., and more.
To be sure, some of this stuff is incredibly exciting: For instance, DeConnick—who made her name in part with her work on Captain Marvel and other Marvel properties, and whose creator-owned Bitch Planet continues to be an exhilarating read every single time it’s released—is teaming up with Jimenez for a new Wonder Woman book, titled Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons. 12 Years A Slave author John Ridley, meanwhile, will embark on a series examining the history of the DC Unvierse from the point of view of superheroes from traditionally disenfranchised groups, while well-regarded Batman team Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo (whose best-known creations include the mysterious Court Of Owls) will return to the character for the futuristic Batman: Last Knight On Earth.
The most obvious question mark here, though, is Miller, who’s being handed the reins of Black Label’s Superman book, a Year One-style origin story. Miller—who revolutionized the industry’s treatment of Batman, decades before he attempted to pit him against al-Qaeda in the project that eventually became the truly bizarre Holy Terror—will team up with Romita for the book. Which would be all well and good, if we’d ever had any indication that Miller has any affection for the character of Clark Kent whatsoever; certainly, his Dark Knight books—which had a bestselling third installment, The Master Race, back in 2015—have consistently shown the character as little more than a contemptuous, easily controlled coward, afraid of his own power. It’ll be fascinating, if nothing else, to see Miller take on Clark’s origin stories; at least Superman will finally get the sexy, Asian mute prostitute sidekick the character has always needed in order to truly succeed.