John Ridley and Giuseppe Camuncoli's upcoming series The Other History of the DC Universe will take a new look at classic moments from DC's comic book history - but will not be an actual comic book.
"It's definitely prose. It's different from sequential dialogue - It's not spot art, it's not sequential art," Ridley says in an interview inside the retail catalog DC Connect #4.
According to the publisher, the new series's title deliberately references 1986’s
"similar-in-format" History of the DC Universe by Marv Wolfman and George Perez.
That 1986 two-issue series was a post-Crisis on Infinite Earths retelling of the then-new continuity's history mostly told with splash pages accompanied by brief prose.
Here are examples from History of the DC Universe two issues:
DC has not released any interior art from The Other History of the DC Universe, but Ridley talks up Camuncoli's work in the interview.
"[Giuseppe Camuncoli] did a masterful job creating true flow for the book, from one moment to the next over time," Ridley continues.
Ridley explains that The Other History of the DC Universe is written as if it was an oral history of DC in the "'60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and the early 2000s." Each decade will be from the point of view of a different character from an often-marginalized group, from Black Lightning to Mal and Karen Duncan, Renee Montoya, Katana, and Thunder.
"In terms of the writing, I approached it as though it were an oral history; as though I had the opportunity to sit down with these characters and really ask them about their lives, their relationships, their successes, their failures," Ridley says. "It really was trying to treat these characters as though they were very real people."
The Other History of the DC Universe #1 (of 5) goes on sale November 24.
Black Lightning is one of the top Black superheroes, so check out our list of the Black superheroes who changed the face of comic books here.
