I’m a big DC Comics fan. I love Superman and the Flash. I even wrote a post about their many races. So I was perusing the DC comic blog The Source the other day and they announced a fun little event called DC Retroactive. It takes place this summer and is a throwback to the DC of the last three decades (70s, 80s and 90s).
The event will consist of 18 one-shot comics. The 18 one-shots will be split up into three groups representing the aforementioned specific decade in DC’s history. Here are the Retroactive logos for each decade starting with the ’70s.
I love these logos. They look exactly like the logos/typeface DC used in the respective decade. Like I said, the 18 one-shots will be split up into the three groups of six. Each group will utilize different writers/artists that are known for their output in that decade. DC just announced the writers for each decade and what comics they’ll be writing. They haven’t released the artists for each issue, but you can click the images above to read the full list of writers. Expect DC luminaries like Cary Bates, Marv Wolfman, Louise Simonson, Alan Grant, and Dennis O’Neill.
My favorite hero, The Flash, will be written by Cary Bates (70s), William Messner-Loebs (80s) and Brian Augustyn (90s). I’m very excited by these writers. Bates is a very popular writer from DC. He did a lot of his work in the ’60s – ’70s. He wrote a bunch of Silver Age Flash comics throughout the ’70s and early ’80s. Bates will also write the ’70s JLA issue. William Messner-Loebs wrote a slew of issues of the awesome Wally West Flash series starting around issue #15 in 1988. I still have the majority of his issues in my collection. Brian Augstyn was the editor on the aforementioned Wally West Flash series. He was the one that brought in Mark Waid in the early ’90s to help him plan a revamping of the series (Waid would’ve been another good choice to write the 90s issue). So, from the writing standpoint, these are all solid choices for the Flash books, which are the ones I’m mostly concerned about. However I am looking forward to the Superman books, too.
As for the other heroes, DC got Marv Wolfman to do the 80s Superman book. Great choice as he helped John Byrne plan out the Superman reboot of 1986, but I would have preferred to see John Byrne also included. They haven’t announced the artists, so they could have got John Byrne to draw the issue, which would be awesome. I think Byrne has to be involved in this event because he was such a large presence at DC in the 80s when he wrote and drew both Superman and Action Comics for nearly two years.
Anyway, to see the full list of writers, head over to DC’s The Source. They should be announcing the artists and other creative teams for these books in the near future. I, for one, think this is shaping up to be an awesome and wonderfully nostalgic event. DC didn’t say, but I’m hoping the stories for each decade actually take place in that decade. I want Barry Allen in the ’70s issue and Wally West in the ’90s. I don’t want it to just be nostalgic, I want the events to be taking place in that time period.
Should be a lot of fun.
Cavalcade of Awesome 