Breaking: David Pepose And Eman Casallos’ Powers Combine For ‘Captain Planet’ At Dynamite

by Erik Amaya

If you were watching cartoons in the 1990s, you know Captain Planet is a hero and that he’s gonna take pollution back to zero.

And now, as Dynamite announced on Tuesday, he’s back in a new Captain Planet comic book. Space Ghost‘s David Pepose and artist Eman Casallos take creative reins of the first licensed comic to feature the character in over 30 years. The original premise of the animated series saw five young people from across the globe — Kwame from Ghana; Wheeler from the US; Linka from Russia; Gi from South Korea, and Ma-Ti is from Brazil — becoming the guardians of a set of special rings that allow them to use elemental forces (while Ma-Ti’s ring uses the power of heart) to help defend the world from overreaching businessmen and callous polluters. But when they combine the powers of the rings in the most dire of circumstances, Captain Planet appears to help save the day.

“Every comic creator has their own personal white whale — that singular property they’ve been itching to make their mark on — and for more than a decade Captain Planet has been mine,” Pepose said in a statement.

According to Dynamite, Pepose will approach Captain Planet in a similar way to Space Ghost: a modernized retelling that takes the original ideas seriously and to the next level. In this case, this means giving a special focus to the Planeteers as they learn to trust one another, a concept featured in the original animated series pilot, but mostly resolved by the end of the first 25 minutes. Well, unless you count Wheeler’s continued standoffishness. To make matters more perilous, Gaia, the High Priestess of Earth, is kidnapped, leaving the thoroughly green Planeteers to face Lucian Plunder without proper guidance or training.

And considering the original cartoon was put on the air to shine a light on the ecological perils that generation of kids would face in the 21st Century, the first issue of Captain Planet is schedule to arrive in stores on Earth Day: April 23rd, 2025. Additionally, like all of Dynamites publications, it will be printed on 70% recycled paper.

Supporting the debut issue will be covers from Mark Spears, Christian Ward, and Ben Oliver while the first six issues will also feature a special connecting cover set by Jae Lee and June Chung.