DC Comics' newest Teen Justice team will debut in the upcoming DC’s Very Merry Multiverse. The story will take place on Earth-11 and feature both new takes on familiar characters, as well as a few returning heroes from across the multiverse.
The 8-page story by Ivan Cohen (Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace) and Eleonora Carlini (Buffy Hellmouth) will focus on the Teen Justice team from Earth-11. The story will also serve as the debut of the brand-new Future State Flash, Jess Chambers. Chambers, who goes by the name Kid Quick and is genderfluid (non-binary), will become the Flash in the upcoming Future State: Justice League series. The story will also feature new characters, such as Robin and Aquagirl. The gender-swapped heroes of Earth-11 originally appeared in Grant Morrison's The Multiversity Guidebook. We spoke to Cohen about his upcoming story.
Can you give us an insight into the Teen Justice team? Who are these new heroes?
Teen Justice is a new super-team on Earth-11, the world where there's a Justice Guild instead of a Justice League and the heroes are gender-flipped versions of the heroes of the traditional DC Earth. And while a lot of E-11's history is a fairly straightforward reflection of the mainstream DCU, things are different enough that Teen Justice may in fact be the first kid-hero team in that world, so their mentors have no experience in how to deal with the dynamics of their sidekicks and proteges setting out as their own independent team. The membership of Teen Justice includes Aquagirl (Jacqui Hyde), Supergirl (Laurel Kent), and Robin (Talia Kane), who all only seem familiar. Aquagirl is this world's Aqualad, Supergirl and Robin are the children of Superwoman and Batwoman, respectively. More-offbeat characters I doubt anyone would expect are Donald Troy – Titans fans know better than to ask "Who is..." – Zatara's protege, Klarienne the Witch Girl, inspired by a Kirby creation given bigger life by Peter David and Grant Morrison, so you know we're in seriously weird territory; and the super-fast Jess Chambers, aka Kid Quick, whose aunt is Jesse Quick.
Are any of these characters going to be appearing as a larger part of the Future State Event?
I think that's why we're here. The Flash character fans have seen teased as part of Future State is, in fact, a grown-up Kid Quick, who's an analog for the idea of Kid Flash in a world where Jesse Quick is the definitive speedster. A Titans-type team always has a super-fast member, but there are so many Flash characters in the DC Multiverse, we knew anyone we added to that category had to be really different from the rest: not just Wally West with curves. I suggested that Kid Quick could be Earth-11's first genderfluid character, and once editors saw Eleonora Carlini's terrific take on the character design, there was suddenly a lot of interest in them for stories beyond the Merry Multiverse Special in December. And while Kid Quick's the only Teen Justice character making their way into Future State that I know of, the reaction Kid Quick and the whole team's debut story by me and Eleonora has gotten from DC Editorial (led by our editor, Michael McCalister, who put me and Eleonora together and made sure other people saw the story and the designs) gives me hope that the whole team could play a larger part in the DC Multiverse's present and future.
What can readers expect from this DC’s Very Merry Multiverse story?
A New Year's celebration. Alien Starfish, which are a beloved tradition for super-team debuts. Mind-controlled heroes fighting their sidekicks. And a super-team origin story that has no need for any pre-existing knowledge of the multiverse or appearances by the Justice Guild. And a few unexpected gender-flipped cameos for old-school DC diehards. They'll also get the debut of Earth-11's Zatara, whose costume is... wow. And I can't say enough about Eleonora's artwork. I asked a lot of her in a very short story. A ton of characters, including New Years' revelers in desperate danger, action, and room for jokes, and she delivered. She brought an energy to the visuals that made the story move. And that's no small feat with maybe ten different characters having speaking parts in an eight-page action story. A real sign of how great her designs are is that they were good enough to impress other editors at DC, all during a time where there are no shared physical offices. I mean, it's one thing to call out to an editorial muckety-muck passing by in the hall to show off some art, it's something else entirely to take time out of a busy editorial schedule to send the workaround digitally, interrupting similarly busy other editors putting out fires on their titles. That's not a tribute to my writing – which, don't get me wrong, is amazing – as much as it is a tribute to the incredible design and storytelling Eleonora brought to the party.
Check out the rest of the designs for the Earth-11 heroes by Carlini below.
The Future State event spins out the current Dark Nights: Death Metal. The two-month, line-wide event will bring readers to a new DC future where new versions of heroes and villains exist. The event has already teased a new Justice League, Batman, Green Lantern, multiple versions of Wonder Woman, and more. The new Teen Justice team will debut in DC's Very Merry Multiverse, which is out on December 9th. Read the solicit below.
Joy to all 52 worlds-it's time to celebrate the holiday season across the DC Multiverse! In ten stories that will light your yule log and spike your eggnog, Batman decks the gaslit halls, Lobo goes Old Testament in space, Ragman learns the true meaning of Saturnalia, President Superman attempts to figure out how Bizarro stole Christmas, and Harley Quinn tries her hand at interdimensional caroling. These seasonal sagas are sure to help you have yourself a very merry Multiverse!