DC turbocharges the return of the team that feuded with the X-Men in the 90s

DC Comics has acquired several studios over the years and, in the new phase, will bring back a team of heroes that rivaled the X-Men in the 90s.

The 90s weren’t very generous with superhero comics, but if there’s one franchise that did well at the time, it was the X-Men: every magazine that had an “X” on the cover sold thousands. of copies. Part of this success was due to the acclaimed stage duo Chris Claremont and Jim Lee, a designer who later launched a team that rivaled the mutants. Well, now at DC Comics, Lee’s creation has been relaunched, and he will get a “whirlwind” in an attempt to win back the hearts of readers.

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First of all, it is worth mentioning a brief history of Jim Lee of WildC.AT, as well as other talents of the time, such as Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefield and Marc Silvestri, were part of a revolution in the storytelling and the traits of the superhero comics . The drawings became very detailed and directed towards constant action, with more elaborate design in each character and pages that looked like they were straight out of a box office blockbuster in theaters.

In addition to reinventing storytelling, as well as the way superhero comics are drawn, inked, and colored, these and other authors created several characters that have become instant classics in Marvel comics — McFarlane, who worked with the Spider-Man was the father of Venom; Silvestri was a major influence on the “Australian” phase of the X-Men; and Liefield, though he can’t properly illustrate the anatomy to this day, was the one who created Deadpool.

When magazine sales reached an unprecedented level, somewhere between 100,000 and 300,000 magazines sold in a time of decline for superhero comics, artists felt under-recognized with the remuneration pouring into their pockets, especially in the rights issue. on character creation, something that had been debated on the market for decades.

It was then that Lee, McFarlane, Silvestri, Liefield and fellow illustrators Whilce Portacio, Erik Larsen and Jim Valentino created Image Comics, a publishing house that was, in reality, a label bringing together each individual studio — yes, it is the same company that will publish later Walking Dead AND invinciblebut that’s a story for another day.

And what does all this have to do with the news? Well, that’s where several comics and characters were born that rivaled the creations of these authors at Marvel: McFarlane, for example, created to producewhile Lee applied traits and storytelling that were successful in the X-Men to a very similar group in Image Comics, the WildC.ATs

Initially, the WildC.ATs were quite successful, even earning an animated series. But the lack of regularity in the releases and the change in the market itself made them irrelevant over time, precisely at a time when the title had even matured, with an artist who gave more depth to the stories, Travis Charest.

And, after Lee took over as chief creative officer at DC, all of his ownership of his Image Comics studio, WildStorm, went to the publisher who hired him. DC has even tried to revive WildC.AT a few times, including bets on characters that have been more successful, like Grifter; but nothing went very well.

What’s so great about the team that rivaled the X-Men in the ’90s?

Although the WildC.ATs have their charms, many people have always seen them as a generic copy of the X-Men and the Justice League “from the joke” of the early 90s. What the team has always lacked was the coherence and characters with weight equivalent to some Marvel or DC icon.

Well, to “boost” the return of the WildC.ATs, DC brings to June, in issue eight, some characters who usually steal the spotlight from their main franchises: Robin Damian Wayne, Green Arrow, the villain Scarecrow, among others others. Even if they are not top-level, they are adored by the fans and work well in a group like this.

Additionally, the storylines of the WildC.AT’s new adventure have interacted more deeply in the DC Universe, with subplots that touch on the Batman and Superman angle. It’s not yet known if this return will work this time around, but if it’s down to nostalgia and this denser interaction with publisher canon, it may well be that Lee’s group will once again rival the X-Men.

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WildC.ATs #8 hits newsstands on June 13, 2023.

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Source: Terra

Rose

Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.