NYCC 2026: DC Announce ‘Joker/Harley’ Sequel, New Black Label Books, And Vertigo News
by Gary Catig
DC Comics isn’t all about its main line superhero stories. They have titles that are outside main continuity as well as creator owned books. Both were highly featured at the DC Black Label and Vertigo panel during New York Comic Con 2026.
Black Label is known for its evergreen non-canon stories involving DC’s famous superheroes and villains DC. Jason Aaron and Tirso are working on Green Lantern: The Dying of the Light. Aaron described it as “Hal Jordan’s Dark Knight Returns.” Hal is locked in prison for 20 years. He finally escapes thanks to help from an old friend and goes on a journey to clear his name. Unfortunately, his ring is limited and he can only create crude weapons such as brass knuckles and a baseball bat wrapped with barbed wire rather than giant constructs. There are a few surprise appearances, including the main villain along with some familiar faces. Aaron also pulled from Tim Truman’s Hawkworld miniseries. If you are a fan of his Thor work, you should give the five-issue miniseries a try starting in March.
Kami Garcia, Mico Suayan, Cat Staggs, and Jason Badower are the creators behind Joker/Harley: Malicious Intent. It is a sequel to Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity, which both Garcia and Suayan worked on. Black Canary and Selina Kyle join Harley this time around, along with other cameos. It is a very realistic serial killer procedural. Harley comes back to Gotham after a series of killings. She is unsure whether the Joker is behind them or if he is orchestrating the slayings through someone else. She isn’t confident the authorities will solve the crime and works with Black Canary and Selina because they have people in their lives that were victimized by the killer.
Starting early next summer, a new anthology series will come out entitled DC Black Label Presents. Initially, the series will focus on artists who are writing their own stories. Terry Dodson, for example, has a Zatanna story. He wasn’t too familiar with the character, but did a few covers of the sorceress. It led to him filling in a backstory as he pondered more and more questions about the character. His frequent collaborator and wife Rachel Dodson provides the inks.
Amy Reeder is working on a Poison Ivy story. In it, she is sick of the animal kingdom, especially humans, messing with plants. The closing of the Gotham Botanical Gardens pushes her over the edge, so she kicks everyone out and sets up shop inside.
Denys Cowan and Ho Che Anderson have an O.M.A.C. story. Cowan is a huge fan of Fourth World characters, particularly Black Racer. O.M.A.C has to face something much greater and much bigger than he’s ever faced before and a lot of it is him facing himself.
On the Vertigo side, a new series arriving in January is called Hide Nor Hair from Adam Smith and Bob Quinn. Its the story of a makeup artist in 1950s Hollywood named Mallory. She makes creature masks only to discover they can come to life.
There was some news about current Vertigo titles. The magical super spy series Black Tower is meant to be an annual series with six issues each arc. Writer Ram V revealed the second book will eventually lead back to America and will answer the question of “What were they doing when they hired Aleister Crowley’s protege to build a nuclear bomb?”
In the upcoming ninth issue of Bleeding Hearts, Deniz Camp discussed the weirdest zombie called the Stalker — the guy with the nose and can track the live ones. “He’s a weirdly terrifying unstoppable guy that all the other zombies are deeply afraid of who does’t stop until he kills what he is after.”
There is some bad news/good news for fans of 100 Bullets: The US of Anger. It was originally planned as an eight-issue series, but it will be ending after issue #7 instead. The reason: there will be a new series in this world entitled 100 Bullets: Enemigos. It will release in 2027 and features the perspective of criminals who are above the law and what they think of regular people.
An example of Vertigo doing new things is the adaptation of the Webtoon comic called Dreambound. It is about a normal high school girl who learns there is a prince living in her dreams, but is also very real. It is written by the fictional Sadie Wilson-Finley with art by Brandt&Stein. The webcomic is actually part of the upcoming series Fanatic, which is about Wilson-Finley and Dreambound’s number one fan, Jane, and her obsession with the story. It comes from Grace Ellis and Hanna Templer. Events from each inform the other.
The gimmick, as Ellis describes it, “We are pretending that Fanatic is real and really happening. For all intents and purposes outside of this room, it is a piece of journalism. I am hanging out with my friend Sadie and she is telling me all the sh*t that is going on in the fandom of her come and we are reproducing it for our enjoyment.”
