AQUAMAN and THE FLASH Part With Creative Teams


When DC Comics released their solicitations for December yesterday, many noticed that the writer for “Aquaman,” as well as the writer and artist for “The Flash,” was different. Well, it turns out that November will be the last issues for Geoff Johns on Aquaman and Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato on The Flash.

Johns’ will now dedicate his time to “Justice League” and “Forever Evil,” as well as a follow-up to the graphic novel “Batman: Earth One.” For Manapul and Buccellato, they announced that they are working on a new DC series which will be released in March 2014.

In Johns’ case, he accomplished his goal of taking a character that was almost universally made fun of and breathed new life into him. Not only that, but in an interview with IGN, Johns talked about the success of the comic itself.

I think Aquaman’s one of the most well-known heroes in the world. Aquaman #5 and #6 outsold every Marvel comic those respective months. Aquaman has the ability to be a huge character and I think we really brought him to a new level in comic books, and I’m hoping that new level continues to everything that is DC Entertainment. Certainly that’s the goal. He’s one of our most recognizable and most important characters, and it’s going to continue to stay that way.

His last issue will be the conclusion of the “Death of a King” arc, which he states will have ramifications that will leak over into “Justice League.” Jeff Parker will take over as writer, while Paul Pellitier will continue as artist.

For “The Flash,” Manapul and Buccellato’s last issue will be their tie-in to “Batman: Zero Year.” They released a statement that said while they enjoyed writing the character, they had reached the end of their story.

We were REALLY honored to have the opportunity to usher Barry, Iris, Patty, Lenny, Forrest and the entire Flash universe into the New 52. We’ve lived and breathed Barry and are sorely gonna miss him, but after 3 years and over 30 issues (annuals, zero, Villains Month), we felt it was time to Move Forward and take on a new creative challenge.

While December’s issue will be a standalone story written by Christos N. Gage and drawn by Neil Googe, it’s unknown who take over as the ongoing creative team.

As someone who enjoyed both of these series, I’m sad to these superstar players leave. Both have been part of those series since the beginning of the New 52, although Aquaman’s original artist Ivan Reis left after the “Throne of Atlantis” arc. Still, I have faith that the new creative teams will deliver. It’s no secret that many of DC’s titles haven’t been good, but when it comes to high-profile characters like Aquaman and The Flash, it’s more than likely they’ll hire people who are up to the task.

Still, Johns’ statement about Aquaman being important to DC Entertainment had me thinking: does the company have plans for him outside comic books. Johns’ has hinted in the past that Aquaman may get his own animated movie. Maybe they’re in the process of planning that, or (and this is just a very slim chance) perhaps they are taking a preliminary look at an Aquaman live-action movie. I doubt any news will be coming soon concerning the Flash considering we know he’ll be appearing in “Arrow.”

Regardless, it would be stupid of DC not to more with these characters both in the comic books and outside of them. There’s only so much they can do with just Batman and Superman.

SOURCE: IGN and BrianBooch.com