Dark Days: The Forge #1 and Dark Days: The Casting #1 are a pair of specials that DC describes as the kick-off of a massive summer event and promises will "break new ground in DC's publishing line."
Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV will write and be joined by artists Andy Kubert, Jim Lee and John Romita Jr.
"Spearheaded" by Snyder, according to DC, the mysteries of The Forge (on sale June 14) and The Casting (on sale July 12) will reveal the dark underbelly of the DC Universe.
Art like this demands an epic story, says Snyder in DC's announcement. Dark Days posits a mystery that traces all the way back to when I started on Batman. I've hinted at them over the years with Easter eggs and clues. This is a mystery that literally begins at the dawn of man and spans generations of heroes and villains and ultimately leads to huge revelations about the past, present and future of the cosmology of DC. I couldn't be more excited for Dark Days. It's the prelude to the event we've been developing for years.
Were taking all the ethos and excitement of the work Scott and I have been doing in the Batman titles and unleashing it across the entire DC Universe, added Tynion IV. The size and scope of what we're looking to do with Dark Days could only be accomplished by the best of the best. Andy, Jim and John are legends. All of us on this project are pushing one another, and every concept, to the extreme.
The publisher also describes Kubert, Lee and Romita Jr., as driving DCs initiative to "bring artists to the forefront of the storytelling process."
Beginning with Dark Days, these creative team will collaborate to "develop new ideas and characters, further enriching the DC Universe."
Working with Scott and James on Dark Days is the culmination of the big ideas and endless brainstorming that came out of a recent creative summit, explained Lee, also of course DC's co-publisher. It was tremendous fun having peers like Andy Kubert and JRJr. in with some of our top writers. Strategically, Dan and I have talked for a long time about bringing the artist back to the table in the genesis of big, epic events. The creative summit was just that, and the level of collaboration was truly invigorating and electrifying. We cant wait to share Dark Days with the DC faithful
theyre in for a thrill ride!
DC declined to offer any further details about either the two specials or the event the serve as a prelude to, but in 2016 Snyder and with his former Batman partner Greg Capullo spoke about a planned reunion that may be related to these specials.
According to Capullo, their reunion project is something DC suggested.
"What we'll be doing next
we think is just going to smash the roof right off DC," Capullo told Newsarama. "It'll be very explosive stuff when we reunite."
Snyder described the project to Newsarama as "something really fun and big," and later to CBR as their "Batman heavy metal rock opera."
"Its going to be a big, epic Batman story with flaming armor, an over-the-top capstone to a lot of the stuff that weve done with him. The writer says that the name of the event has been decided, but is not at a place to reveal it yet.
Snyder further revealed that the event will veer away from the common trope of superheroes fighting superheroes, and will use current continuity to open up the doors for future stories ala Crisis On Infinite Earths.
Above all, what I really want it to be for fans is to not have it feel like the kind of event that weve seen before. I love DC events. Theyre bonkers and wonderful, but generally, they refer back to continuity, or they are all about where the line is at that moment in time, said Snyder. Geoffs [Johns] best ones have been plain-out great stories, but I think 'Crisis,' for example, is in conversation with what we need to do with the line, as good as they are. What I want this one to be is different. I want it built out of the stories happening now and creating new material and giving everybody a place to tell stories that fit what theyre doing on their books, and feels really modern and different and above all fun. I dont want it to be grim. I dont want it to be superheroes arguing over something. Superheroes wont be fighting superheroes. I want it to be celebratory, and huge, and crazy. I am going for out of control dinosaurs and lasers. It should be fun.
