Wildstorm imprint to be revived by DC Comics in 2017

After being buried and merged with its flagship imprint DC Comics, Jim Lee’s Wildstorm Universe is making a grand comeback in early 2017. Comic Book.com reports that legendary comic book writer Warren Ellis will return to DC and spearhead the revival of the imprint, which housed popular titles such as Wild C.A.T.S, The Authority, and Team 7. Ellis will write a regular monthly comic called “The Wild Storm,” with art duties done by Jon-Davis Hunt.

“After a long reflection, I couldn’t turn down the invitation to reinvent the house that Jim Lee built, and refit its unique combination of cosmic paranoia and paramilitary conspiracy for the post-political space madness of the twenty-teens,” Ellis remarked. “Looking back to look forward.”

Originally part of the creator-owned Image Comics imprint in the 90s founded by a diverse pool of artistic talents, WildStorm was founded by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi in 1992. In 1998, DC Comics bought the imprint . It was editorially separate from DC, but allowed crossovers and their universes to collide from time to time. By the 2000’s, it was acknowledged in the series “52” that the WildStorm universe was part of DC’s large Multiverse of parallel worlds—designated Earth-50. By December of 2010, the imprint was shut down, making way for DC Comics’ eventual relaunch of its own line of books with “The New 52”—which absorbed and took existing WildStorm characters and made them part of the new DC Universe born after the events of the storyline “Flashpoint.”

While no creative teams have been announced yet for the new WildStorm imprint coming in February 2017, DC Comics co-publisher Lee expressed enthusiasm over the “Rebirth” of the imprint he helped start.

“There are precious few visionaries in our business and fewer still like Warren who can elevate mythos with both stylistic panache and idiosyncratic spectacle. His work at WildStorm remains the tone which best defines and reflects the WildStorm Universe,” he said. “I know I speak for WildStorm fans the world over when I say I can’t wait to see what Warren and Jon have in store for fans in February!” — BM, GMA News