DC Entertainment has announced a new epic graphic novel, which is slated to span the entire history of the DC universe, while crossing the paths of many of the publisher’s super hero characters.
The 94-page hardcover novel is written and illustrated (a rare feat in itself) by industry veteran Walter Simonson.
So far, all we have is the title, The Judas Coin, and the cover art, which prominently features the faces of Batman and Two-face, suggesting they will be the primary actors within DC’s current era.
However, the book is meant to take place across six loosely connected stories, each in a different era of the DC universe.
From the title, I’m guessing the stories will follow a particular artifact through history, whatever this Judas Coin is, it sounds perfect for an intersection with two-face, and his coin obsession. Luckily, that’s only a sixth of the book (have I mentioned I’m getting the littlest bit tired of Batman lately?)
Looking at the montage cover art, we’re going back as far as what appears to be an ancient Grecian Warrior, perhaps Phoenicia?
There is also what looks like a band of medieval spearmen, a pair of colonial frigates, an old-west cardgame, Batman, and a pair of upper-atmosphere vehicles surrounded by strange moons. It’s a span that will, if nothing else, present an interesting perspective on this detailed story-world and it’s distant pasts and futures.
“The cover for The Judas Coin was designed and drawn with inspiration provided in part by movie posters from the ‘60s and ‘70s,” Simonson is quoted as saying in the official DC blog post.
“In particular, I was thinking of the posters of Bob Peak, who did such beautiful work back then with montage. Peak was a master at creating a strong central image and surrounding it with smaller, often fairly loose images derived from various scenes in the movie.”
Simonson has worked all over the industry, starting with his moderately popular original series Star Slammers, and eventually writing for DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, and others, getting the chance to work, either as writer, artist, or both on titles like The Fantastic Four, Thor, Robocop, Batman, Star Wars, The Avengers, Conan the Barbarian, JSA, Iron Man, Captain America, Superman, Spider-Man, and many others. His work serves as an inspiration to many modern comics writers and artists.
Getting to see this master of the form take us throug ha whole historical sequence is going to be a lot of fun, I think.
The Judas Coin is slated to hit bookstore and comic books store shelves on September 18, 2012.
