'DCeased: Hope at World's End': DC Comics announces surpise release on its Digital First platform
Whether it's 'The Walking Dead', 'Marvel Zombies,' or DC superheroes infected by the Anti-Life Equation, the zombie genre has an enduring appeal that just refuses to die. After the popularity of 'DCeased,' in which the heroes of the DC Universe deal with a zombie-like outbreak caused by the Anti-Life Equation, writer Tom Taylor joins artist Dustin Nguyen, colorist Rex Lokus and letterer Saida Tomofonte to bring more tales of a world gone mad with 'DCeased: Hope at World's End.'
The series will follow the expanded adventures of the heroes of the DC Universe, before the end of the original 'DCeased' storyline, which saw the heroes of Earth leave the planet behind for good. In the announcement, Tom Taylor says, “there was a point in 'DCeased' where we had to make the decision to skip weeks of losses and triumphs and heroism or our first miniseries wouldn't exactly be a miniseries. But we knew we had a larger story to tell, so we seeded plots we could expand on and deliberately left huge characters off the table for the future. That future is here.”
The announcement reveals a whole line-up of artists who will be joining Taylor on the series: "Fan-favorite Injustice: Gods Among Us writer Tom Taylor’s epic DCeased story line continues on May 19 with DCeased: Hope at World’s End with art by Dustin Nguyen, Renato Guedes, Carmine Di Giandomenico and Marco Failla! Set in the span of DCeased #5’s time jump, DCeased: Hope at World’s End will expand the story of the Anti-Life War, featuring Superman and Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Stephanie Brown, Wally West, Jimmy Olsen, and more."
DC's 'Digital First' comics have been a response to the restricted comics release schedule caused by coronavirus concerns, releasing new digital comics on a daily schedule for Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and others. This is, of course, not Taylor's first time working with a digital format — he made his name on the weekly 'Injustice: Gods Among Us' series that expanded upon the plot of the 'Injustice' video games. He has continued the story of 'DCeased' with 'DCeased: Unkillables,' and will see the heroes return to Earth in June with 'DCeased: Dead Planet.'
The announcement also features the first few pages of the issue, which sees Jimmy Olson capture the outbreak's very first image, as those around him succumb to the murderous impulses brought about by the Anti-Life virus. The first issue is available now, on DC's many digital platforms, including ReadDC.com, Comixology, Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, DC UNIVERSE. New issues will come out twice a month, and the limited series will run for 14 issues.