Lazarus Planet. Heroes Transformed. Secrets Revealed. Powers Unleashed.
With those eight words, DC announces the first big event to rock 2023!
Anyone who’s read the first issue of the excellent Batman Vs Robin (and that’s everyone, right?) might have already come away with a sneaking sense that something big was growing here… Well, you’d be right! DC has revealed that events in December’s fourth issue will act as the springboard for Lazarus Planet and that BvR writer Mark Waid will be the showrunner for the whole event.
Following the events of Mark Waid and Mahmud Asrar’s Batman vs. Robin #4 this December, the Lazarus Volcano has erupted—spewing dangerous and transformative chemicals into Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in chaos across the DC universe! As these Lazarus clouds rain down upon the planet, people across the globe begin to develop strange new abilities, watch their already-extraordinary abilities change, and witness a whole host of chaos unlike anything the DCU has experienced before!
So that explains the rain we can see in the final teaser picture of the heroes looking rather different, including the front-and-center Batman wearing the Helmet of Doctor Fate.
DC then pulls the rather neat trick of teasing information through questions:
- Can Power Girl free herself from the out-of-control Omen?
- Who are the mysterious trio claiming to be resurrected siblings of Raven?
- Will Dreamer’s visions guide our heroes to the path of victory?
- Can Mercy Graves survive the transformation she’s undergone
- Will Martian Manhunter survive a psychic link to a Doomsday nest
- Can new hero City Boy hope to commune with Gotham in time to save it?
- How far would the Question go to chase a lead across a transformed Gotham City?
- Will the flame of Firestorm burn out yet another horrific host?
- What does DC’s Monkey Prince have to do with all of this?
Here’s a hint for the last one—Damian Wayne puts out a distress call for whoever can still hear it: come to the ruins of the Hall of Justice and help save the world! Blue Beetle, Power Girl, Cyborg, Batman, and more answer the call…but why could the fate of all life as we know it rest in the hands of…Monkey Prince?
Talk about a rapid ascendancy! The Monkey Prince was introduced to the DCU just this year firstly in DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superheroes and then in his own twelve-issue series by Gene Luen Yang and Bernard Chang.
He’s an adopted teen named Marcus Sun, who moved to Gotham City High School only to discover that he has previously adventured through the ancient Chinese novel “The Journey to the West”, can transform into 72 different creatures, and can clone himself using his hairs – and now he’s set to be at the center of a major DCU-spanning event.
Joining Mark Waid on the series are Riccardo Federici, Gene Luen Yang, Billy Tan, Nicole Maines, Skylar Patridge, Francis Manapul, Dan Watters, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, and Josie Campbell, with more to be announced.
Lazarus Planet is set to start in January and begins with the following titles:
- Lazarus Planet: Alpha (1/10)
- Lazarus Planet: Assault on Krypton (1/17)
- Lazarus Planet: We Once Were Gods (1/24)
- Lazarus Planet: Legends Reborn (1/31)
- Lazarus Planet: Next Evolution (2/7)
- Lazarus Planet: Dark Fate (2/14)
- Lazarus Planet: Omega (2/21)
Umbrellas at the ready, folks – this is going to be a major storm!
Images courtesy of DC.com