When I was a kid I had no idea that comic books came out every Wednesday. Growing up without much money made trips to the shops pretty scarce so I would rarely see the same books twice. For all I knew my store was visited by the comic fairy constantly since every time I went, there would be all new and amazing reasons to warrant the public humiliation of begging for 2 dollars from my Mom. Back then the only scheduled comics that I knew of and could look forward to came in the newspaper – the daily black and whites (which felt like nothing more than a temporary fix) and that glorious Giant Sized Sunday Annual that came buried beneath what felt like pounds of coupons every week.
This was definitely a highlight of my childhood, with Garfield, Peanuts, the Far Side and Dennis the Menace being particular standouts – the only thing that was obviously lacking was the inclusion of at least one superhero strip (my small town was apparently not cool enough to carry the weekly Spider-Man stories). Well, the wait is over because now after nearly 3 decades, there’s a little something extra to look forward to in the middle of the week as DC kicks off Wednesday Comics. An ambitious and sugar-sweet new 12-issue weekly series – a full on newspaper sized “comic” consisting of 15 serialized strips featuring the biggest icons DC has to offer (they’re even going so far as to print the series in an actual folded over *newspaper style, cranking that nostalgia factor up to 11).
As DC Editor-in-Chief Dan Didio explains:
“All the creators are working to make sure that these stories are being created from the standpoint that the reader is someone who has never seen or read anything with the character before, and really capture both the essence of the character as well as the magic of comics… The concept is that we are trying to recapture the spirit, format, and sense of enjoyment that people had from reading the Sunday comics that arrive in newspapers every week.”
And take a look at who some of these creators are. To back up just how committed the company is to the quality of the series, DC has enlisted some serious heavies. Names like Brian Azzarello, Neil Gaiman, Paul Pope, Kurt Busiek and Dave Gibbons just to name a few are set to tackle the short burst structure. You can check out the full list of the creative teams and which characters they’re taking on here , but brace yourself, it’s a doozy.
The Superman strip by itself will also be featured in issues of USA Today but the first issue of Wednesday Comics ships this week with a suggested retail price of 3.99, so be sure to hit your local comic shop the first chance you get.
*None of those annoying coupons included.
