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| "Tales of the Acro-Bat" from Chase #6 (DC, 1996) by D. Curtis Johnson, J.H. Williams III and Mick Gray |
The mid-90s saw a number of really cool, offbeat and thus short-lived series coming out of DC, including the well-regarded Chase, about a Department of Extranormal Operations operative tasked with monitoring superhumans, but who might possibly have powers of her own. It was one of those "tour of the DCU"-type books where anyone and anything might show up, and featured art by fan favorite J.H. Williams III before he was a star. Williams certainly has a fondness for Cameron Chase, and brought her into his New52 Batwoman book, but she should also thank Marc Andreyko who kept her alive in Manhunter, another offbeat book with cancellation issues. Chase's own book lasted only 9 issues, 10 if you count the 1,000,000 issue. But who knows, she might get another shot.
The above splash is an example of creating a new character for the obscure corners of the DCU, something I enjoy tremendously (see the recent Shade mini-series for the same kind of thing). We're always focusing on the same cities and times, but it stands to reason that in a universe where all that is possible, there's more of the same in every nook and cranny. Acro-Bat and the Justice Experience are characters that would have run around in the 60s, filling the void left by the sliding time scale, and gee, I want a mini-series exploring their weird adventures RIGHT NOW.
I bought the recent trade DC put out, and am hoping they publish one for CHRONOS. That book had a lot of DC Universe cameos going on, as well. I wasn't even aware of JH Williams III's art at the time, because I was enjoying the writing so much.
ReplyDeleteChronos is exactly the other series I was thinking of when I talked about short-lived, offbeat tours of the DCU. It gets splashed in a few days.
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