Relaunched!

Last year, when DC Comics announced a sudden relaunch and revamp of their entire line, I had an idea to organize and curate something of a response to the event. I contacted some independent and alternative artists of my acquaintance – and had quite a few more introduced to me in the process – and asked them to imagine and create their own revamped take on DC’s vast volume of characters, titles and concepts.

The result was DC FIFTY-TOO, which received a lot of positive coverage all over the web. The participants also had a blast taking part, and I was encouraged to repeat the effort with MARVEL UNIVERSE TOO: WHAT IF, where the crew from Fifty-Too (plus a few extras) jumped in and tackled the Marvel Universe.

Even though I had the hectic job of managining and organizing the event, I even had time to get in on the act. From the Marvel Universe, I gave long-time Alpha Flight regular Puck his own ongoing series, and on the DC side I was ecstatic to pencil a Plastic Man cover which was subsequently inked by the great Stephen DeStefano, hands down one of my favorite cartoonists:

After Marvel Universe-Too, there was a lot of buzz among participants as to what to do next – Vertigo, Valiant, classic Golden Age characters, assorted independent titles, even Harvey Comics - but the fact was that running and organizing the events were taking a big bite out of my free time, and I didn’t think I could continue to run the show.

Luckily, all-around good dudes Ryan Cody and Benjamin Birdie stepped up to shoulder two-thirds of the burden. With the new year, we’ve rebranded the DC Fifty-Too/Marvel Universe-Too site as RELAUNCHED - inviting artists to reimagine any comic book property which tickles their fancy – and have opened to door to general submissions, so that anyone can participate.

Our first entry went up last Tuesday - a great take on Dennis the Menace and friends by Charles Guthrie – and our second entry is due to go up any moment now – plus we’ll be announcing our first theme month on Thursday! I hope you’ll check out the site and keep an eye on the new submissions, and – if you’re an artist yourself – that you’ll consider contributing as well. Swing on by!