The long-awaited series, The Other History of the DC Universe promising to explore DC’s lengthy comic book mythology from a new angle, has been rescheduled for release this November. The series will reveal the hidden stories from the DC Universe’s 80-plus years of storytelling.
This groundbreaking series will be written by screenwriter John Ridley (12 Years A Slave) and will be his return to comics the second outing of The American Way, his alternate history series. Initially announced in 2018, this five-part series will re-examine some of DC’s comic book iconic moments in history from the point of view of characters including Jefferson Pierce / Black Lightning and Renee Montoya /The Question, both of which identify with traditionally disenfranchised groups.
Highlights from The Hollywood Reporter interview with scribe John Ridley include topics such as how he went about choosing which characters to focus on, such as Black Lightning, Mal, and Karen Duncan, and Renee Montoya. When asked why he chose these characters, Ridley said,
“It’s tough. I mean, on the one hand, as a person of color, I just feel like there aren’t enough characters like me out there. On the other end, when you’re talking about a limited series, there’s so many characters. So who are you going to go with? … Black Lightning, for what he meant to me — what he meant to the DC universe: the first character of color in the DC universe to topline a book. Most definitely, he was the character that I wanted to kick the series off with.
And then Mal and Karen Duncan. I wanted a couple of color that had their ups and downs, but were very committed to each other. It was very important to see people of color, beyond being heroes, beyond being [individual] characters, but characters who are in a relationship and were part of a larger organization — the Titans and the Teen Titans — but had their ups and downs in that group as well.”
Ridley also expressed the love he has for the DC Universe, its characters, and its history. Ridley also reminisced about going back through the stories of these characters and looking for certain characteristics that made each character relevant for the series. Ridley said that inspiration from the series came from the question of what it would look like to take these characters, put them in a real timeline and look at those moments in the history of the DC Universe.
Full interview can be found here.
Ridley will be joined by the art team of Giuseppe “Cammo” Camuncoli, Andrea Cucchi, and colorist José Villarrubia for the series, with covers from Camuncoli and Jamal Campbell (Far Sector, Naomi).
The Other History of the DC Universe will release later this year in November from DC’s Black Label imprint and will follow with releases every second month.