Create A Cosmic Line: DC Edition

[lemonpeace]

Another poached thread idea. This time from Marvel.

The Task: Create your own Cosmic line of 4-5 titles, with creative teams and their mission statement. They can not be a Green Lantern book but you can use the characters and parts of their mythology (get creative with that workaround). You have to work within continuity and you can't split up JL:Odyssey (because I like that title). Other than that go brazy and create.

Bonus if you can pitch a crossover featuring the characters as well.

[Timothy Hunter]

New Gods: Genesis
Written by Brian K Vaughan Art by Christian Ward, JH Williams lll

The New Gods are in a desperate need, post Kirby of a critically lauded book under the franchise's belt to put them in the much deserved public spotlight and this is the team to do it. The book will also be the home of Cyborg, using the full potential of his Mother Box in his chest.

Darksied: Apocalypse
Written by Brian Azzarello Art by Paul Pope, James Sokoe

A comic that counteracts the New Gods title by shining a light into the more grimy and adversarial portion of the Fourth World mythos.

Manhunters (12 issue maxiseries) (M)
Written by Geoff Johns w/ Garth Ennis Art by Tyler Kikrham, Sebastian Fiumara

A series set in the far past detailing the rise and fall of the Guardians of the Universe's Manhuters experiment. The creative teams will switch every three issues. With Geoff Johns and Sebastian Fiumara detailing the Guardians's perspective of this story, and overall handling the continuity based historical aspect of this miniseries, while Ennis and Kirkham's portion of the narrative will center around a Manhunter who had achieved sentience.

Adam Strange: Man of 1000 Worlds (ongoing)
Written by Pat Mills drawn by various

An Adam Strange ongoing series in which every 24 hours, Strange is telaported to a new planet in the DC Universe. Each issue will stand on it's own, as well as being drawn by a different all-star creator.

[CRaymond]

Might seem weird but I still like my ideas for Hawkman.

[Timothy Hunter]

Might seem weird but I still like my ideas for Hawkman.

This?:
kay right. I'm suggesting that Thanagar become an interstellar empire reliant on slave trade for expansion and war. Osira and Eviless are both parts of the exploitative slave trade industry, but under different business leadership... Plus, Osira is thousands of years older than the others.

Okay, so to summarize where I'm at:

Earth humans can sometimes have a genetic mutation within them that allows their brains to access the fifth dimension/bleedspace/etc. It's hard to describe exactly, but it manifests differently in different people, at different strengths, and for different durations. It's not a mutation in the X-Men sense of the term, and what they do is SOMETHING like reality-warping Phoenix-level White Hot Room shenanigans, but telepathy and telekinesis aren't prerequisites or results. In any case, this mutation occurred randomly in two people, at the same time and place in Ancient Egypt. These were Chay-Ara and Khufu Maat Kha-Tar.

Wracked by similar nightmares and surrounded by weird happenings, they were brought together by the Pharoah's Vizier Nabu. Upon meeting, they fell madly in love. Under Nabu's eye, the two learned the magic of the Homo Magi, and together created a shared horcrux that would never allow their spirits to dissolve but to be reborn in order to spend eternity together. The enormity of their combined power brought them to the attention of other Homo Magi sorcerers who sought to destroy them before they destroyed the world.

In order to escape, Nabu informed them of lands far to the west that they could escape and create a "New Egypt". Nabu meant the continents of America, but Khufu and Chay-Ara's massive power created a stargate that reached through galactic space to an entirely different planet world. The stargate expanded and imploded, transferring an entire village of Ancient Egyptians, Khufu and Chay-Ara to this strange new world. They named this land Thanagar, enslaved the indigenous inhabitants as they'd done in Egypt --and with the couple's abilities to open gates through spacetime, began mining and refining ectoplasmic material found in bleedspace: Nth Metal.

Eventually, the King and Queen of Thanagar died of old age, but were reborn on the planet of their birth... over and over again. But their ability to breach spacetime was lost to them, as these new bodies didn't have the mutation.

On Thanagar though, the empire they started to escape Earth's threats grew like a cancer in their corner of the universe. With Nth Metal and an enslaved workforce, the Thanagarian Humans leapfrogged into space travel, under myths and legends that their original home was far, far away. Their leadership of Priestesses created a strict matriarchal rule that exploited the strength and expendability of males, engendering a hyper-aggressive, competitive culture that absorbed and brutalized every world they encountered. Among these Thanagarian Priestesses was the woman called Osira.

Using stolen Rannian Zeta Beam advanced technology, Osira heeded the legends of her people, and sought to find their original homeworld. On Earth, she might find and enslave men and women who were able to breach space. She arrived on Earth during the height of the Roman Empire, and was defeated by timetravelling superheroes. She retreated from the battle by faking her death and hiding in a stasis pod.

Eventually the lovers who created Thanagar found themselves in the bodies of Carter Hall and Shiera Sanders, college sweethearts who found they shared dreams of past lives, and sought to uncover them as archaeologists. Their dreams led them to Egypt, where Osira's ship was hidden deep in the ruins. Excavations disturbed Osira's stasis sleep, and she awoke to discover millenia had passed, and her ship had been ransacked. Carter and Shiera had stolen her ships' flightsuits and weaponry.

In due time, Osira faced off against the Hawks as well as Wonder Woman, and always managed to retreat to her safely hidden stasis pod. The Thanagarian technology present on Earth eventually alerted the now contemporary and even MORE advanced Thanagarian empire of a planet far, far away with a very old signal. Unsure of the origin, Thanagarian High Command sent Sky Warrior Shayera Thal to investigate and report her findings. They also informed their most distant slaver, Ava Las, of the planet's whereabouts... as the signal was coming from an encrypted slave ship. Both women arrived on Earth in the new century, just as their first Queen Chay-Ara's soul was being reborn into a new body.

[Lee Stone]

Omega Force - Mashup of Omega Men and the Atari Force characters that belong to DC. Features Tigorr and a few other Omega Men with Dart and Blackjak from Atari Force. Also starring Donovan Flint, from Star Hunters, who becomes the leader, and Kimyo Hoshi, who takes on a new name to dis-associate her from Dr. Light.
With freedom becoming more prominent in the Vega System, the team switches from being freedom fighters to being peace keepers and explorers. But some of the old enemies don't want to sit still and are trying to reclaim power.
And it gives Blackfire and Starfire another book to appear in from time to time.

Darkstars - Guy Gardner joins the Darkstars and they see themselves as an alternative to the Green Lantern Corps, which can't be everywhere (at least now that they've been shrunk down). This team would end up dealing more with social issues of planets with more personal interactions with the citizens.

Starman - Mikaal Tomas as the 'Superman of space'. If it's a major villain in space, this is where they appear... Starro, Despero, Brainiac, Blackfire, Maxima, Sinestro...

Adam Strange - Indiana Jones meets John Carter as Adam becomes an explorer for Rann, sent out into space to locate lost relics of the planet's past. More of a pulp fiction sci-fi book.

[lemonpeace]

Omega Force - Mashup of Omega Men and the Atari Force characters that belong to DC. Features Tigorr and a few other Omega Men with Dart and Blackjak from Atari Force. Also starring Donovan Flint, from Star Hunters, who becomes the leader, and Kimyo Hoshi, who takes on a new name to dis-associate her from Dr. Light.
With freedom becoming more prominent in the Vega System, the team switches from being freedom fighters to being peace keepers and explorers. But some of the old enemies don't want to sit still and are trying to reclaim power.
And it gives Blackfire and Starfire another book to appear in from time to time.

Green Lantern Corps - Drawing from the late '80s version, the team is shrunk down to eight members, but stationed in space. With Hal choosing to stay on Earth with the Justice League, the team consists of John Stewart, Katma Tui (if she's dead, she's not anymore), Kilowog, Jack Chance, Arkkis Chummuck, Tomar-Re, Sodam Yat and Boodikka.
All the other Lantern Corps have been dissolved. No more Red Lanterns, Blue Lanterns, Yellow Lanterns, Beige Lanterns or Fuchsia Lanterns.
They return to being a police force in space, but on a smaller scale to allow room for other DC cosmic characters to have a purpose again.

Darkstars - Guy Gardner joins the Darkstars and they see themselves as an alternative to the Green Lantern Corps, which can't be everywhere (at least now that they've been shrunk down). This team would end up dealing more with social issues of planets with more personal interactions with the citizens.

Starman - Mikaal Tomas as the 'Superman of space'. If it's a major villain in space, this is where they appear... Starro, Despero, Brainiac, Blackfire, Maxima, Sinestro...

Adam Strange - Indiana Jones meets John Carter as Adam becomes an explorer for Rann, sent out into space to locate lost relics of the planet's past. More of a pulp fiction sci-fi book.

I specified no Green Lantern pitches. You can incorporate elements or their mythos (Book of Oa, the Spectrum, Maltusians, Valthoom, Controllers, etc.) and/or their characters, but not titles about Green Lanterns; it's too easy. Also it has to work within the current continuity, as to avoid people falling back on "this things from x era but again" pitches. No offense or anything, I just want to see people really dig deep and pull something fresh and wild.

I do, however, really like your Omega Force idea. Sounds like a recipe for proper epic space stuff.

[Lee Stone]

I specified no Green Lantern pitches. You can incorporate elements or their mythos (Book of Oa, the Spectrum, Maltusians, Valthoom, Controllers, etc.) and/or their characters, but not titles about Green Lanterns; it's too easy. Also it has to work within the current continuity, as to avoid people falling back on "this things from x era but again" pitches. No offense or anything, I just want to see people really dig deep and pull something fresh and wild.

I do, however, really like your Omega Force idea. Sounds like a recipe for proper epic space stuff.

My bad. I saw the JL Odyssey bit and somehow overlooked the GLs. I tend to block them out. Lol.

[Exciter]

Adam Strange - Indiana Jones meets John Carter as Adam becomes an explorer for Rann, sent out into space to locate lost relics of the planet's past. More of a pulp fiction sci-fi book.

I’ll second the Adam Strange suggestion.

I would add a Lobo title – the classic Main Man getting in gritty adventures, going from point to point in the cosmic universe hunting bounties, etc.

[Timothy Hunter]

Starman - Mikaal Tomas as the 'Superman of space'. If it's a major villain in space, this is where they appear... Starro, Despero, Brainiac, Blackfire, Maxima, Sinestro...

.

Cool! I'm surprised that DC hasn't decided to launch another Starman series showcasing another non-Jack Knight Starman series after the critical success of the Robinson 90s Starman comic.