After eighteen years, two publishers, and some unforgetable stories, DC’s co-publishers Dan DiDio and (Wildstorm founder) Jim Lee announced today that the imprint will close its doors this December.
They did confirm that despite the banner title being removed, the character’s won’t be going away. However, they will be going on breaks while DC figures out what to do with them next which…..to be honest, doesn’t surprise me. For as much as I love the Wildstorm universe and its characters, I couldn’t tell you anything going on in Authority or WildC.A.T.S. if I tried. But the co-publishers, as well as creative officer Geoff Johns, have plans for these characters going forward, and I’m excited to see what they are. The kids titles as well as licensed books (Resident Evil, God of War, any number of video game comics they publish) will be moved under the DC banner, as the company moves to restructure to just two banners; DC and Vertigo (Zuda closes this week).
The Wildstorm editorial team is being restructured and folded into DC’s digital team as the company pushes forward in digital publishing, where they have seen success so far.
Wildstorm was founded by Jim Lee in 1992 as his Image imprint, and published titles like Stormwatch, WildC.A.T.S., and Gen13. The imprint was sold to DC Comics in 1999 and went on to release titles such as The Authority, Sleeper, and Planetary. Not to mention that they also had sub-imprints in Alan Moore’s America’s Best Comics (Top 10, Tom Strong, Promethea), Homage (Astro City, Strangers in Paradise, The Maxx). Brian K. Vaughan’s recently wrapped up Ex Machina was also published under the Wildstorm imprint.
So I guess the real question is how long until The Authority gets folded into DC’s main universe?
